The Energy Central Power Perspectives Podcast has come quite a long way since episode 1 was published in December 2019. Now three years and over 100 episodes in, and we continue to bring the leading voices of the energy and utility sector to our listeners who are working in the industry as well. As a way to celebrate the completion of another wildly successful year of podcasts and to recap the fun we had throughout 2022, this week we present our now traditional year-in-review episode.
Listen in as podcast host Jason Price and producer Matt Chester are joined by Energy Central's VP, Audra Drazga, as they each share clips from their favorite episodes of the year. We dive into the key thinkers, the most critical stories and themes, and even the lighthearted moments of personality shared by the guests of the podcast. Whether you're a regular listener who wants to take a stroll down memory lane with this recap or you're a new listener who wants a crash course in what episodes you may have missed, download and listen to this episode as you celebrate the holidays and ring in the new year, and we'll see you again for more great episodes in 2023 and beyond!
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Thanks to the sponsor of this episode of the Energy Central Power Perspectives Podcast: West Monroe.
Key Links
- Episodes Referenced During this Recap:
- 66: 'Are You Overlooking a Critical Tool for Solving the Most Pressing Challenges Your Utility Faces?' with Jamie Crawford of Critigen: https://energycentral.com/o/energy-central/episode-66-are-you-overlooking-critical-tool-solving-most-pressing-challenges
- 71: 'Road to Decision: Exelon’s Vision of a Private Broadband Network for Grid Modernization' with Russ Ehrlich of Exelon and Ryan Gerbrandt of Anterix: https://energycentral.com/o/energy-central/episode-71-road-decision-exelon%E2%80%99s-vision-private-broadband-network-grid
- 72: ‘Keys to Developing Successful Utility EV Programs’ with Kevin Hernandez, Partner at ScottMadden: https://energycentral.com/o/energy-central/episode-72-keys-developing-successful-utility-ev-programs-kevin-hernandez-partner
- 76. 'Preparing For The EV Shift' With Lauren Youngdahl Snyder, Consumers Energy: https://energycentral.com/o/energy-central/episode-76-preparing-ev-shift-utility-perspective-lauren-youngdahl-snyder-vp
- 80: 'Taking a Geographic Approach to Public Grid Investment' with Bill Meehan and Pat Hohl of Esri: https://energycentral.com/o/energy-central/episode-80-taking-geographic-approach-public-grid-investment-bill-meehan-and-pat
- 85: 'Elevating Utility Energy Efficiency Programs To The Next Level' With Larry Rush of AVANGRID: https://energycentral.com/o/energy-central/episode-85-elevating-utility-energy-efficiency-programs-next-level-larry-rush
- 86: 'Keeping Electricity Affordable Among High Energy Costs' With Jacob Williams, CEO and General Manager of FMPA: https://energycentral.com/o/energy-central/episode-86-keeping-electricity-affordable-among-high-energy-costs-jacob-williams
- 88: 'Eyes on Energy Efficiency, Grid Resilience, and Clean Energy in the Lonestar State' With Rudy Garza, Interim President & CEO of CPS Energy: https://energycentral.com/o/energy-central/episode-88-eyes-energy-efficiency-grid-resilience-and-clean-energy-lonestar-state
- 91: 'Creating Tangible Transmission Improvements' with Charles Marshall and Brian Drumm of ITC: https://energycentral.com/o/energy-central/episode-91-creating-tangible-transmission-improvements-charles-marshall-and-brian
- 94: 'Prioritizing And Advancing Battery Fire Safety At Utilities' With Jay Sadler Of Duke Energy: https://energycentral.com/o/energy-central/episode-94-prioritizing-and-advancing-battery-fire-safety-utilities-jay-sadler
- 95: 'Debating Utilities' Role In Transportation Electrification' With Esri's Bill Meehan & Pat Hohl: https://energycentral.com/o/energy-central/episode-95-debating-utilities-role-transportation-electrification-esris-bill
- 96: ‘Tracking Gas Flows and Infrastructure with GIS and Other Digital Tools' with Angela Marra of TECO Peoples Gas: https://energycentral.com/o/energy-central/episode-96-%E2%80%98tracking-gas-flows-and-infrastructure-gis-and-other-digital-tools
- 98: 'Maximizing Innovative Grid Tech to Transform the Power Sector' with David Groarke, Paul Sayour, and Leo Trudel of Indigo Advisory Group: https://energycentral.com/o/energy-central/episode-98-advancing-world-grid-tech-david-groarke-paul-sayour-and-leo-trudel
- 99: 'Creating Real Change With Utility Equity Investment' With Calvin Butler, Senior Executive VP and COO of Exelon: https://energycentral.com/o/energy-central/episode-99-creating-real-change-utility-equity-investment-calvin-butler-senior
- 101: 'Disrupting Energy with an Entrepreneurial Perspective' with Bill Nussey: https://energycentral.com/o/energy-central/episode-101-disrupting-energy-entrepreneurial-perspective-bill-nussey-energy
- 103: 'Unleashing The Power Of Integrated Data' With Damian Sciano And Leon Bukhman, Con Edison: https://energycentral.com/o/energy-central/episode-103-unleashing-power-integrated-data-damian-sciano-and-leon-bukhman-con
- 104: 'Conditional Monitoring & Generator Maintenance Without Downtime' with Steven Turner, Senior Engineer at Arizona Public Service: https://energycentral.com/o/energy-central/episode-104-conditional-monitoring-generator-maintenance-without-downtime-steven
- Did you know? The Energy Central Power Perspectives Podcast has been identified as one of the industry's 'Top 25 Energy Podcasts': https://blog.feedspot.com/energy_podcasts/
TRANSCRIPT
Jason Price:
Hello and welcome to the Energy Central Power Perspectives Podcast. This is the show that brings leading minds to discuss the latest challenges and trends transforming and modernizing the energy systems and the utility industry of the future. And a quick thank you to West Monroe, our sponsor of today's show.
I'm your host, Jason Price of West Monroe, and I'm coming to you from New York City. And joining me as always, based in Orlando, Florida, is Energy Central community manager and podcast producer Matt Chester. Matt, can you believe another year is coming to its end already? It seems just like last month we did our 2021 year end wrap up.
Matt Chester:
Yeah, I'm with you on that, Jason. The year has really flown by, and it's hard to believe that we're already reviewing all of 2022 and what we've learned during the course of the year on this podcast. But I'll tell you this. I'm excited because last year, our year end episode where we looked back on some of our favorite guests, topic, and stories, it really was a blast. And I think it serves as a great reminder for those who have been with us throughout the year, as well as a terrific introduction to newer listeners of ours who may have missed out on certain guests and stories if they joined us later in the year.
Jason Price:
That's all true, Matt. And last year's year end episode was so much fun, we definitely wanted to do it again. And as listeners of last year's episode know, that means it's time that once again we invite our special guest to join us. You may not hear her voice in the podcast each week like you do ours, but she's hard at work helping us book guests, build our audience, and create even more value out of the entire Energy Central community platform. And I'm talking of course about the VP of Energy Central, Audra Drazga, joining us all the way from Colorado. Welcome back, Audra.
Audra Drazga:
Thanks, Jason. I've enjoyed working with our podcast team over the last couple years. Thanks to both you and Matt, we have gone from just an idea to a full fledged series. We are now averaging about four episodes a month, with an average of 500 plus listens per episode, plus our weekly podcast newsletter has over 50,000 subscribers, and our site posts with the podcast transcripts are averaging 1,000 views. To top it all off, this year we celebrated our 100th episode. I can't wait to see what we do in the 2023 year.
Jason Price:
Yeah. Now, before we dive into each of us recounting our favorite memories on podcast episodes this past year, I think we'd keep the other tradition that we started with last year's episode, which was highlighting some of the major events that struck the utility sector in the past 12 months. A reminder of how jam packed this year has been. Matt, why don't you start us off?
Matt Chester:
Sure. January saw the California Public Utilities Commission proposing a change to the incentives for rooftop solar, and the status of installations across the state, a story that's still playing out today as they try to find that sweet spot to encourage clean energy build-out without distributing the cost and burdens of doing so unevenly and inequitably.
Jason Price:
February brought us one of the most defining stories of the year, both in energy and otherwise, with the Russian invasion of Ukraine, and all the ways that impacted global fossil fuel markets, both gas and oil.
Audra Drazga:
In March, DOE's Loan Programs Office continued its high profile trends as a way to bring new energy tech to market, with March being notable as a month when a risk rating review of LPO's portfolio concluded it had been upgraded and verified as an investment grade portfolio.
Matt Chester:
Moving on, in April on Energy Central specifically, we saw focus of the HR side of the utility business, as companies across the economy, utilities and otherwise, rustled with the great resignation.
Jason Price:
And in May, we saw imports of solar panels in the U.S. come to a halt as the Commerce Department announced an investigation in potential circumvention of tariffs on Chinese equipment, providing a significant bump in the road for U.S. solar installations.
Audra Drazga:
Then in June, the federal efforts to boost U.S. offshore wind energy were fully energized, with federal state partnerships, new funds, DOE studies, and more.
Matt Chester:
July's big story was the rising gasoline and other oil prices here in the United States, and President Biden's subsequent trip to the Middle East to try to compel Saudi Arabia and OPEC to increase production to better meet global demand, a request that was ultimately rebuffed.
Jason Price:
In August, the Inflation Reduction Act was signed into law, and brought the U.S. utility sector the single biggest source of investment and funds than at any other point in history, a story that will define 2023 and beyond, no doubt.
Audra Drazga:
During September, in the wake of the IRA passing, the electric vehicle sector was one that saw rapid growth, from the new production facilities to increased sales projections and long term planning for charging infrastructure across states.
Matt Chester:
This next one's more of an in-house story than a major energy industry story, but we want to recognize that October is when the Energy Central Power Perspectives Podcast published our 100th episode, a milestone that we're exceedingly proud of and looking to build upon.
Jason Price:
In November, global energy and climate voices descended to Egypt in the annual climate conference, COP27. While some notable negotiations fell short, this COP meeting did bring the most notable amount of discussion and agreement on climate payments from wealthy nations to the vulnerable lower income nations.
Audra Drazga:
And for this month, utility leaders watched in horror as one of the worst fears took hold, which was the calculated destruction of a substation in North Carolina with a high powered rifle that brought a major blackout to 45,000 people. And I'm sure there will be more to learn from this event in the coming year.
Jason Price:
Thank you, Matt and Audra. And that's just the list we came up with. For anyone listening who thinks we've skipped over any of the most important stories, be sure to drop us a line and we'll put your additions in the transcript of this podcast, along with your name next to it if you'd like.
So all that to say that, yes, 2022 was a remarkable year, enough to keep us all busy as ever. And with so much going on in the energy and utility industry, we hosted 34 podcasts this year and received unexpected attention from every corner, from crisis management experts, to leaders in the C-suite. As part of this year in review episode, is it okay with you both if I kick things off with a few podcast sessions that stood out for me this past year?
Audra Drazga:
Let's go for it, Jason.
Matt Chester:
Yep, agreed. I'm excited to hear what stood out to you the most.
Jason Price:
Great. Well, to start with one of our more recent episodes, episode 103, we had a dynamic duo of Damian Sciano and Leon Bukhman of Con Edison join the call to discuss the exciting topic of utility data democratization and the participation of Con Edison as it prepares its customer energy data for the statewide data hub referred to as IEDR. I asked Damian point blank what this is all about, and he had one word response, which he then went on to elaborate. Let's listen in.
Damian Sciano:
That word is "green." And the stakeholders are everybody. If you want a sentence, we're trying to leverage data to inform customers and others to make clean green energy choices. We want to use that data to quantify progress, so that we can continually adapt our policies and help New York State meet their ambitious clean energy goals. And those goals, I think they're pretty much well known. They're nation leading. We're looking to go to 70% electric generation from renewables by 2030, 100% by 2040, and 85% economy-wide decarbonization by 2050.
Jason Price:
I love the grit of Damian and this team, and enjoyed the session thoroughly. The next one I want to highlight is episode 88 with Rudy Garza, CEO of CPS Energy. If you recall, some of the fallout of the winter storm of February 2021 caused a ripple effect in leadership in Texas, and at CPS, which appointed Rudy Garza to take the helm. In fact, he took over as Texas was going through one of the hottest seasons on record, putting similar strains on the system as Storm Uri the previous year. Let's hear how Rudy managed these challenges early on as CEO.
Rudy Garza:
Well, at the time that we transitioned into my term as interim president and CEO, it was probably one of the most difficult times for CPS Energy here in the San Antonio community. And so I had a lot of folks question whether I was making the right decision, but I can tell you without a doubt that with every challenge comes tremendous opportunity, and stepping in to the CEO role at the time that I did was necessary to stabilize our organization, to try to rebuild some trust in the community that we had lost for all kinds of reasons. And not lost on me is the fact that, for a community like San Antonio that's 70% Latino, being the first Latino president and CEO of CPS Energy, even on an interim basis, is a privilege and an honor. I couldn't be more proud to be leading this fine organization.
Jason Price:
I really appreciate the pride that Rudy has for his home state and local community. Matt and Audra, speaking of state pride, I want to head up to Michigan, where we heard on episode 76 from Lauren Youngdahl Snyder, VP of customer for Consumers Energy. When I asked about Governor Whitmer's bold 2 million EVs on the road by 2030, Lauren framed it as a it takes a village effort. Let's hear how she described how the state of Michigan is coming together to reach this goal.
Lauren Youngdahl Snyder:
So this whole idea of what I think good looks like in the future, of being your one stop shop resource, I don't know if we would've thought of that if we weren't pushing ourselves to be really bold in this space. So I think that our governor and our regulators and the key stakeholders, the autos here in Michigan, we are really coming together in a collaborative way to make this EV adoption something that we'll look back on and say, "Look at all the goodness that came from that."
Jason Price:
Another podcast session that stood out for me was episode 85. You had to recognize the roll up your sleeves, pound the pavement, door to door work of Larry Rush, manager of residential conservation and load management at Avangrid. Both Connecticut and Massachusetts have aggressive climate goals and are winding down dirty generation, but to meet current local demand will require less energy usage, and this means having a successful energy efficiency program. Much of it starts and ends with education. Let's hear some of the unique programs that Larry has helped launch at Avangrid to serve his territory.
Larry Rush:
One of the things also that we've recently done to try to expand this education and knowledge in, Connecticut, we started a Energize Connecticut mobile exhibit. The mobile exhibit goes around to different schools in the areas, and we made sure that we integrated environmental justice community metrics into that, to teach kids about energy efficiency, teach their parents about energy efficiency, go to different events, which also includes clean energy jobs. So we're really trying to make this field... There's a lot of opportunity in this field for people to see and understand, and getting that word out or trying to get that word out is important. And we have to do it through multiple channels. There's not just one right way. The worst thing they say in business is doing it the same way isn't the right way, and I totally believe that. Keeping on shaking it up and trying new things is important. So we're always trying to pivot to see what we could do next and what we could do better.
Jason Price:
Matt and Audra, I was inspired by the creativity and community devotion that Larry brought to the discussion. Now I want juxtapose Larry, a front line work in the fight for energy equity to the CSuite. Now the last one I wanted to highlight, let’s hear from Calvin Butler, CEO of Exelon, the largest IOU with 8 operating companies in the United States on the topic of equity for communities in desperate need of help in the energy burden so many face today in episode 99.
Calvin Butler:
As our industry is transitioning to this decarbonized era, there are several things that step to the forefront on what we're talking about and what we need to do as an industry. First and foremost, transportation electrification is an equity issue. Distributed energy resources or DER enablement is an equity issue. All the utilities have set path to clean goals to achieve net zero operation driven emissions. And for Exelon, as you stated in the introduction, that's across six utilities impacting over 10 million customers. That's an equity issue. It's core to us because we cannot afford to leave poor communities, our communities of color, behind when addressing the important topic, or in my view the most important topic of our generation, climate change. And when you think about those communities that you said that Exelon serves, we have a privilege to serve some of the most diverse communities in the country. And unfortunately, we also know that those communities are the most impacted by climate change. So that's why this issue is so important, and that's why equity across the utility spectrum must be at the forefront of what we do.
Jason Price:
So those are the messages and the key leaders that stuck out for me. Audra, I'm curious, what have you dug up as the most memorable for this year? I want to see how who and what we remember differs.
Audra Drazga:
Jason, I love the highlights that you selected. I'm going to take a little bit of a different approach. One of the elements that we added to the podcast series in the past year was the lightning round. The idea was to do something a little fun and off script. As Energy Central is a community for professionals in the utility industry, I chose to highlight my top five favorite lightning round questions and answers, counting down from number five to my number one. Starting with number five from episode 101, Disrupting Energy with an Entrepreneurial Perspective, with Bill Nussey, Jason asked Bill about the best gift he has ever received.
Jason Price:
What's the best gift you've ever gotten?
Bill Nussey:
I'm looking at a hand-drawn portrait of Doc Brown from Back To The Future, and underneath it says, "Where we are going, we don't need any roads." And that was given to me when I shifted my career out of software tech into energy.
Audra Drazga:
As the movie is from my generation, I have to love anything that references one of our most iconic movies, Back To The Future. Number four on my top five is with two of my favorite community contributors or members, Bill Meehan and Pat Hohl of Esri. Both Bill and Pat bring numerous years of experience to the industry and the Energy Central community. I love their answers to Jason's question as to the best advice they've received during their careers, shared in their second episode of the year, Debating Utilities' Role In Transportation Electrification. Here is the clip.
Jason Price:
What's the best piece of advice you've gotten over the course of your career?
Bill Meehan:
Best piece of advice is think differently. Challenge your own internal assumptions often.
Jason Price:
Pat.
Pat Hohl:
This is a very difficult question, because I've received a lot of good advice over the course of my career, but I'm going to say this one. Never pass up an opportunity to do something new.
Audra Drazga:
And number three of my top five is from episode 104, Conditional Monitoring And Generator Maintenance Without Downtime, with Steven Turner, senior engineer at Arizona Public Service. Jason asked Steven about his role models. I love his response. It is amazing how role models can shape your future and who you become.
Jason Price:
Who are your role models?
Steven Turner:
Dr. Aaron Phadke was my first role model and he was my professor when I was at Virginia Tech. The next mentor I had, I only had it for a week, but his name is J Lewis Blackburn. He, at one time was the chief application engineer for ABB in Westing College. Before that, I took a course with him when I was very early in my career. And the people in the course were young, I was like, say 25, 26 at that time. And a lot of the other students were protection engineers that worked for other utilities. And we just had himself and I had a lot of amazing conversations, technical conversations, and I just realized that I could do a lot more with my career at that time. And it changed me. When I came back from that training, I was a different person and I wanted to do a lot more with my career, after that.
I said I worked for a British relay manufacturer. I had three mentors there. One was the person that was in charge of, we had an office in New York City, so we would service our service territory was the US and he is excellent protection engineer. And also, he has excellent presentation skills and I learned a lot about how to present from him. And then the factory that was located in England, the chief development engineer and the chief application engineer, I mean these guys, I say they were genius level between the two of them, there was no question, question that I could ask that I would not get an amazing answer. And they would give very thorough answers so that if you asked them a question and you phrased it well, they would answer it in such a way as that you would understand. And then after that, I'm just thinking then when I worked for Beckwith Electric, Dr. Murty Yalla, he's a fellow in the IEEE.
He's another amazing person. And I just learned so much about generator protection from him. He was another mentor that I had. And I would say those gentlemen were the ones that really had a very strong influence on my career and being successful in getting to where I am today. This is one thing I'll just say for young people, it's really important to know what you want to do with your career. And the best training you could get is on the job. And anywhere I ever worked, I would always try to find out who is the most knowledgeable, and I would ask lots of questions. You just can't wait for people to come to you and they're going to explain everything. And it really doesn't work that way. You have to be active in seeking out mentors.
Audra Drazga:
Number two of my top five is from episode number 86, Keeping Electricity Affordable Among High Energy Costs, with Jacob Williams, CEO and general manager of FMPA. Jacob talks about timing from the question around the best advice he has ever received. Here is the clip.
Jason Price:
Best piece of advice you've ever gotten.
Jacob Williams:
Especially for the current role I've had, one of the best pieces of advice is, when you're trying to get boards and people to make decisions, you've got to understand there's two important things. Number one is, it comes down to timing. There's times that some certain solutions are not the right time to bring up, because the group's not ready for it. And so you got to have both the right time and you got to have the right solution. And quite often I see people who they want to jam something through, and you got to say, "It's just not the right time. The right solution, but we're not ready for that." And in the last five, six years, I've had to manage that quite often. And John Maxwell was always a big proponent of saying, "You got to get both of those right, or else you're going to have a bad outcome with... Leaders are going to have bad outcomes." And it's come in handy so often.
Audra Drazga:
And I know you've all been waiting for my number one of the year. It's from episode number 94, Prioritizing And Advancing Battery Fire Safety At Utilities with Jay Sadler of Duke Energy. Jay was a former fire fighter who brought his experience to the industry, helping utilities prepare and respond to fires, specifically those in energy storage facilities. While the question was not specific to the lightning round, it is fitting for this section. Jason asked the former New York fire fighter if he was ever featured on the famous New York fire fighter calendars. The question brought a little laughter to us all.
Jason Price:
That's quite a journey. No doubt you have the background to really fit this role, so it's amazing, the match. And you started out as a firefighter, so you must be in great shape. Were you ever on a calendar?
Jay Sadler:
I was not on a calendar. My wife would really get a kick out of that one.
Jason Price:
Being from New York City, the firefighter calendars, it's more popular than the New York Times let's put it that way. All right. This is a great conversation.
Matt Chester:
Audra, that was a great trip down memory lane, and I love how it highlights the people behind the news. Utilities are at their core a people business, and hearing their personalities really drives that home. But in the end, as an enthusiast in the world of energy, I'm always eager to identify the year's themes and see what we can learn from those, and maybe predict what that'll show for the year to come. So if it's okay with you both, I'd love to end our year end episode today by showcasing some of the key topics I heard come up again and again, and play some of the shrewd insights from our guests that I think we should all keep in mind for 2023 and beyond. How does that sound?
Audra Drazga:
Let's hear what you have, Matt.
Jason Price:
Let's hear it, Matt.
Matt Chester:
The first topic that stuck out, and perhaps it's because I'm such a novice in this area, and so I learn so much more when we have guests talk about it, is GIS or geographic information systems. To a novice, at first glance it would appear pretty mundane and non-interesting to talk about digital mapping of equipment, and why that would be so important and so challenging. But in actuality, what we've learned is it's such a complex and essential tool at the disposal of today's utilities. So I've pulled a few clips on episodes on this topic. You'll hear first from Bill Meehan of Esri on what GIS is, followed by Angela Marra of TECO Peoples Gas sharing about the value GIS creates for utilities, and ultimately Jaime Crawford of Locana, to highlight how GIS is changing the possibilities for renewable integration into the energy systems.
Bill Meehan:
Too many people think of GIS as, that's just a way of automating maps, making maps in a much more efficient way. No, it's really about... Some people say, what's the first word that comes to mind when you hear the term GIS? And everybody says, maps. And I say the first word that comes to mind when you hear the term GIS, or spatial analysis, is discovery. Finding out something new, being able to say, "Aha, now I understand why we're doing something, or why we should do something."
Angela Marra:
So in a perfect world, a technician could go out, download their work, complete it electronically in a day, get it uploaded, and an inspector can go in and review it, and if it looks good, push it right through for our GIS team to review, and could be in the system all within a day. So that's a huge, huge time saving. So that saves money, it's peace of mind for the company, for the customer, knowing and having that accuracy.
Jaime Crawford:
I think the most significant area that GIS can play a part in is really to help model and understand the system that utilities have in place. So data, data, data is the big thing. Detailed information about your system become even more important. And the spatial aspect of your system will be critical with the increased amount of energy coming from renewables.”
Matt Chester:
Next, when we talk about the utility needs of tomorrow, the other topic that we'd be remiss to overlook is electric vehicles and what power companies need to be doing today to prepare for EVs tomorrow. So next, you'll be able to listen in to hear Pat Hohl of Esri highlight what utilities will need to do in the years to come, while Lauren Youngdahl Snyder, who Jason referenced earlier from Consumers Energy, she'll spotlight the opportunity it provides in engaging with utility customers. And lastly, Kevin Hernandez of ScottMadden provides us some insights as to how utilities should be preparing.
Pat Hohl:
So the migration to electricity requires a lot more electricity. In fact, I was just reading this morning that current estimates are about 30% more capacity. That is a huge change. And so utilities have to respond to a tremendous change in the sales of their product while they maintain safe, reliable service at cost effective rates.
Lauren Youngdahl Snyder:
EVs is a perfect opportunity for us to help the customer really connect to this whole clean energy transformation that we're embarking on. Imagine this, you purchase your electric vehicle. And the next phone call that you make is to Consumers Energy, and we help you get everything set up. It's a seamless one stop shop type of service, where we help you select the right charger. We help you get that charger installed. We rebate that charger for you so that it's essentially not even that much cost for you. You don't have to hit your hot pocketbook. We get you on the right rate, and then we help you to other program offerings that can help really step you into creating a smart home.
Kevin Hernandez:
One of the things we hear consistently from customers is that the number one thing utilities can do to facilitate EV growth and EV integration is to have a dedicated EV team in place to interface between customers and the technical experts within utility.
Matt Chester:
And last but not least, the grid seems to have been more in focus in the mainstream, non-wonky headlines than ever before this year, from the Inflation Reduction Act funds to new technologies and more. I'm going to let these clips speak for themselves, where you'll hear Inigo Advisory speak on grid tech, Brian Drumm of ITC talk about grid capacity issues, and lastly, Ryan Gerbrandt of Anterix on the reliability and resilience of the grid.
David Groarke:
So grid tech for us is all of that networking and software and data management processes that utilities deploy and manage the grid. Where we draw the line is, we're not per se looking at generating technologies. We're looking at technologies that sit on the transmission distribution network, those technologies that coordinate distributed energy resources, and it's a very software heavy market. And that's what grid tech means to us.
Brian Drumm:
So we are going to be in a capacity crunch in the near term, which means that the margin on the generation side is decreasing. So that just puts more pressure on the transmission side and the ability to move power to where it needs to get to. So there's two sides to that coin. They both need to be there. The generation piece is going to come along, eventually we'll get on top of that, but we need to make sure that the transmission system keeps pace. In the meantime, we're going to be leaning on the transmission system to resolve some of these generation capacity issues as well.
Ryan Gerbrandt:
All of that is new environmental factors that utilities need to really think about the design of their systems. The communications network in itself inherently needs to be, I'll say more reliable than the systems that it's built to monitor and support because it's the system that needs to be up to help Russ and customers like Exelon, be able to support disaster recovery and get the systems back online, and deal with some of these events.
Jason Price:
Wow. So it seems like we've covered a lot this year, wouldn't you say? But what excites me the most isn't the podcast episodes already completed, but rather the conversations these are leading to and the new ground we're going to break. With this type of yearly wrap-up episode, we hope to spark the interest and attention of you, the listener, on any topic maybe you missed, or guests you need to go back and revisit. We'll be sure to include links to each of these episodes in the show notes. And with that, you can also leave questions and comments on the posts that our guests will be alerted to if you want to keep those conversations going live with these esteemed guests.
With that, I want to thank Matt and Audra for joining me today, and the entire Energy Essential team for supporting this podcast over the past year. Similarly, we want to give an end of year shout-out to our podcast sponsor, to West Monroe. West Monroe works with the nation's largest electric, gas, and water utilities in their telecommunication, grid modernization, and digital and workforce transformations. West Monroe brings a multidisciplinary team that blends utility operations, technology expertise to address modernizing aging infrastructure, advisory on transportation electrification, ADMS deployments, data and analytics, and cybersecurity. And once again, I'm your host Jason Price. Plug in and stay fully charged in the discussion by hopping into the community at energycentral.com. And we'll see you next time at the Energy Central Power Perspectives Podcast.
About Energy Central Podcasts
The ‘Energy Central Power Perspectives™ Podcast’ features conversations with thought leaders in the utility sector. At least twice monthly, we connect with an Energy Central Power Industry Network community member to discuss compelling topics that impact professionals who work in the power industry. Some podcasts may be a continuation of thought-provoking posts or discussions started in the community or with an industry leader that is interested in sharing their expertise and doing a deeper dive into hot topics or issues relevant to the industry.
The ‘Energy Central Power Perspectives™ Podcast’ is the premiere podcast series from Energy Central, a Power Industry Network of Communities built specifically for professionals in the electric power industry and a place where professionals can share, learn, and connect in a collaborative environment. Supported by leading industry organizations, our mission is to help global power industry professionals work better. Since 1995, we’ve been a trusted news and information source for professionals working in the power industry, and today our managed communities are a place for lively discussions, debates, and analysis to take place. If you’re not yet a member, visit www.EnergyCentral.com to register for free and join over 200,000 of your peers working in the power industry.
The Energy Central Power Perspectives™ Podcast is hosted by Jason Price, Community Ambassador of Energy Central. Jason is a Business Development Executive at West Monroe, working in the East Coast Energy and Utilities Group. Jason is joined in the podcast booth by the producer of the podcast, Matt Chester, who is also the Community Manager of Energy Central and energy analyst/independent consultant in energy policy, markets, and technology.
If you want to be a guest on a future episode of the Energy Central Power Perspectives™ Podcast, let us know! We’ll be pulling guests from our community members who submit engaging content that gets our community talking, and perhaps that next guest will be you! Likewise, if you see an article submitted by a fellow Energy Central community member that you’d like to see broken down in more detail in a conversation, feel free to send us a note to nominate them. For more information, contact us at [email protected]. Podcast interviews are free for Expert Members and professionals who work for a utility. We have package offers available for solution providers and vendors.
Happy listening, and stay tuned for our next episode! Like what you hear, have a suggestion for future episodes, or a question for our guest? Leave a note in the comments below.
All new episodes of the Energy Central Power Perspectives™ Podcast will be posted to the relevant Energy Central community group, but you can also subscribe to the podcast at all the major podcast outlets, including:
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Energy Central Power Perspectives™ Podcast on iTunes: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/energy-central-unnamed-podcast-series/id1488804391
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Energy Central Power Perspectives™ Podcast on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/5jiUn8vzSq1t99WtECLn1j
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Energy Central Power Perspectives™ Podcast on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fV_zeSLbcDA&list=PLOFTK18LIdud8gULyJPpWh-GXO45OXviN&ab_channel=EnergyCentralTV
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Energy Central Power Perspectives™ Podcast on Amazon Podcasts: https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/e573c7f0-cbe6-49af-9b46-16fbcb8dbaa7/energy-central-power-perspectives%E2%84%A2-podcast?-podcast
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Energy Central Power Perspectives™ Podcast on Stitcher: https://www.stitcher.com/podcast/energy-central-tobenamed
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Energy Central Power Perspectives™ Podcast on TuneIn: https://tunein.com/podcasts/Business--Economics-Podcasts/Energy-Central-Podcast-p1274390/
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Energy Central Power Perspectives™ Podcast on SoundCloud: https://soundcloud.com/energycentral