Episode #111: 'The Future of Energy & Utilities' with Lincoln Bleveans, Executive Director of Sustainability at Stanford [an Energy Central Power Perspectives™ Podcast]

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Thanks to the sponsor of this episode of the Energy Central Power Perspectives Podcast: West Monroe.  

Key Links

• Lincoln Blevean's Energy Central Profile: https://www.energycentral.com/member/profile/107163/about

• Lincoln's First Appearance on the Podcast:  https://energycentral.com/c/um/energy-central-insights%E2%84%A2-podcast-episode-2-%E2%80%98waterskiing-churchill%E2%80%99-lessons

• 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: 

Welcome to the Energy Central Power Perspectives Podcast. This is the show that brings leading minds from the energy industry to discuss the challenges and trends that are transforming and modernizing our energy system. And a quick thank you to West Monroe, our sponsor of today's show. Now, let's talk energy.

I am Jason Price, Energy Central Podcast host and director with West Monroe, coming to you from New York City. And with me as always, from Orlando, Florida, is Energy Central producer and community manager, Matt Chester. Matt, tell us about today's guest. We've had him on before. What are you looking forward to for the upcoming conversation?

Matt Chester: 

Thanks, Jason. So today's guest is actually... We're having him back after being our second ever podcast guest. He appeared on the Energy Central Power Perspectives Podcast almost exactly three years ago at this point. And at that point, he was working at Burbank Water and Power, the utility in the Los Angeles area. And in the time since, he's taken on a new role, heading up sustainability at Stanford University. And we've been watching the work he's been doing, and the progress the university has been making ever since. And itching to get him back on the podcast. So we finally were able to find some time on the calendar and we want to catch up with what he's been doing in those years since. And see what the experience is going from the world of utilities to the world of higher education.

Jason Price: 

That's great, Matt. Great intro, and thank you for that. So let's bring him in. Lincoln Bleveans, welcome to Energy Central's Power Perspectives Podcast. Thrilled to have you back. Tell us what is going on in your life right now?

Lincoln Bleveans: 

Well, a whole lot. I joined Stanford University almost two years ago. And starting to find my way around after a COVID recruitment and a COVID onboarding, and a whole lot of COVID-driven operations. And really having an incredible time. The opportunities for innovation here are really astounding. Of course, the Brain Trust is the best in the world. And we have just incredible, incredible chances, incredible opportunities, to really transform the way we do things, whether it's energy; or water; or waste; facilities energy management inside the buildings. It is a wonderfully transformative time. And really having a great time with all of that.

Jason Price: 

Yeah. Let's remind our guests. So you were the assistant general manager at Burbank Water and Power. And we had you on early in the history of Power Perspectives. And then we brought you back when you had just made the transition over to executive director of sustainability and energy management at Stanford University. So you've been there since February of 2021. Dig in for us now, first, do a little compare and contrast. But then dig into what it means to be the ED at Stanford University.

Lincoln Bleveans: 

Sure. Burbank Water and Power is a municipal utility, water and electric utility, also, a little bit of telecom. Serving Burbank, California, which is, of course, basically, Hollywood. The Warner Brothers and Disney Studios are some utility's biggest customers. And for Burbank, I was running power supply, which is power generation, power marketing, power system operations, long-term integrated resources, resource planning, that sort of thing. And here, at Stanford, my job is quite a bit bigger. And, in fact, I call it the coolest job in the world without, I don't think, any hyperbole.

I am running both 24/7 operations, and long-term planning and investment, around a vertically integrated electric system, almost campus-wide thermal energy system. Water systems of all sorts of shapes and sizes, from irrigation water and dams up in the hills; to portable water; recycled water. Civil infrastructure, like roads and bridges. And then all the energy automation within the hundreds of buildings that we have here at Stanford. Plus, the Office of Sustainability, as well as resilience and emergency response. So it's a really wonderfully varied portfolio of things that are both mission essential for the 24/7 operation of the university. But, also, opportunities, as I said, for transformation in this brave new world of climate change.

Jason Price: 

That's great. That's quite a jump from Burbank to basically running the utility infrastructure at a major university. So share with us what are some big achievements over the past year? And what are you aiming to solve or address in the upcoming year?

Lincoln Bleveans: 

Sure. Well, I'll focus on the energy side because that's where we've had the biggest accomplishments over the last year. We had, really, two significant ones. One is that we reached 100% renewable electricity supplying the campus. We are a wholesale customer of the California ISO. And we had our second share of a solar PPA come online back in March. That's a project called Slate, S-L-A-T-E in Lemoore, California. And that is actually not just solar panels, but a substantial amount of batteries. And so what that got us to was about 120%, 125% of our annual usage now being offset by utility scale solar generation. So that's a really big deal. And it's even a bigger deal because we use that electricity for keeping the lights on and other sorts of standard electric uses. But we also use it to run our Central Energy Facility, which is a really innovative thermal facility, producing both hot water and chilled water. And then feeding that out into the campus through dozens of miles of pipe. So having electrified that, now to be able to run that with more than 100% renewable electricity is really astounding.

At the same time though, we just doubled the cooling capacity of the thermal energy facility. We've seen both climate change and campus growth happening quite a bit faster than I think the original planners expected 10 years ago. Which is astounding in itself. But we have been able to add both more heat recovery chillers, as well as more standard electrically driven chillers. So that we can provide a whole lot more cooling capacity to the campus on what are increasingly hot days during the summer. So big news on the sustainability front, big news on the engineering front. And, of course, making it better for Stanford, but also providing, we hope, an exemplar for the rest of the world.

Jason Price: 

That's really great. The last time you were on, it was right before both IIJA, the Infrastructure and Jobs Act, had passed, and of course, IRA, the Inflation Reduction Act. So have either of those acts been resources to tap into, play a role at Stanford, play a role in the work you're doing at Stanford? Can you talk about that? Has that impacted you in any capacity?

Lincoln Bleveans: 

Not directly. We are a nonprofit institution, so we don't have a tax appetite as such. That said, we are looking at the provisions that might apply to us, and are taking a very deep dive on that. No conclusions yet, but at the same time, it's one thing for us to take advantage of that directly. It's another thing for our vendors and our service providers to take advantage of that. And then we get the advantage indirectly through lower prices or a better supply, or what have you. I think it's still early days. Obviously, the world of infrastructure and utilities does tend to move pretty slowly. And I think that's the case here. That said, I am a huge fan of what the Federal Government has been doing. I think it is the right thing, at the right time, for the country. And as I said, we're still turning pages on it, but I'm hopeful that we can find ways to benefit as well.

Jason Price: 

Sure. So you're in an interesting and unique situation. You are leading the whole energy management system at an elite university. You happen to be in a state that is known for being innovative. You're at a university that has, basically, helped pioneer industries. We're talking about Stanford University here, which is certainly world class. Can you talk at all, or share, where's the crossroads between what you're doing, what Stanford is doing, in energy management to run the university, and any kind of innovation, next generation leaders in the student base? Is there any crossroads, any exchange programs going on, any pilots or innovations that you draw from? Or do you ever serve as a resource, like R&D, in any way? So where's the traditions of what Stanford University is known for? Does it ever bleed into the domain that you're in at Stanford University?

Lincoln Bleveans: 

Oh, absolutely. And we do a lot, and I'm hopeful that we can do a lot more, in fact. When I look at our world here, I see a feedback loop with a couple of cogs in it, so to speak. I don't know if that's... I'm probably mixing my metaphors. But we have 24/7 operations here, in terms of both electricity and water and waste. And because we are essentially a small, full service city, so we have an incredible depth of knowledge and experience in terms of hands-on operations. That's one part of the feedback loop. Another part of the feedback loop is the long-term planning and investment we do from a utility perspective. And that's something that, in a lot of ways, this would be familiar to any utility professional around the country, around the world. Integrated resource planning, water resource planning.

But the thing that I think really sets Stanford apart, really two things. One is that, unlike a municipal utility, our customers are ourselves, in the big picture. In other words, instead of a municipal utility selling to customers that are owned by others and have their own motivations, when we sell to our customers, we're selling back to our colleagues at Stanford. Whether it be academic, or residential life, or athletics, or what have you. So we have a feedback loop there that, basically, around the dinner table of the Stanford family, so to speak, that we can take advantage of. But then, as you point out, Stanford is really the beating heart of Silicon Valley. And Silicon Valley is the beating heart of global innovation. So we have this, not just an alumni network, but an ecosystem around us. And a culture that we've helped create, but we also benefit from, of innovation and defaulting to possible, instead of impossible, and defaulting to collaboration. All of the things that make Silicon Valley so unique. We live in that world.

Now, we do a lot of that. When we developed our Central Energy Facility, for example, and our whole energy supply concept, we leaned heavily on our colleagues on the academic side to help us work through the challenges and understand the possibilities. I'm actually very focused on creating an even stronger feedback loop. And that is especially true now that we have Stanford's new Doerr School of Sustainability, which is a multidisciplinary new school. Our first new school in 70 plus years, that is just getting started. And we see tremendous collaboration opportunities, and de-risking opportunities, and exploration opportunities, with that school. Including helping the next generation of engineers, and social scientists, and literally everyone involved in addressing climate change. We see tremendous opportunities to be a living lab for them, as they pursue their studies and their research. It's a little bit head spinning sometimes, but in a very good way.

Jason Price: 

Who is the provider of last resort, should things not work out, From a weather event or something else that happens that disrupts the energy flow on campus?

Lincoln Bleveans: 

Well, we actually have a somewhat complicated service territory map from an electrical perspective. Stanford, my group, serves almost all of the campus, as the retail utility effectively. So we are the provider of last resort across most of the campus. Stanford hospitals are actually in the city of Palo Alto, although we do provide thermal energy for them. City of Palo Alto has its own very progressive municipal utility. And then we also have some housing that is in the surrounding Pacific Gas and Electric territory. So it's actually a very interesting challenge from a customer service standpoint. Because most people, not energy geeks like us, but most people only pay passing notice of who their utility is. And so when the lights go out, and you're wondering who that provider of last resort is, sometimes we have to sort that out on the fly. For the vast majority of electrical needs on campus, it is my group that is the retail provider.

Jason Price: 

Okay. Are you responsible for electric, gas, and water? Or is it more electric? Can you just talk about that?

Lincoln Bleveans: 

We have a little bit of gas still on campus. Most of it is electrified. Here at the Central Energy Facility, we still have some gas-fired equipment on the basis of California regulations around hospitals. Because we do serve the hospitals, we have to have that as a backup. We have some gas in the dining halls for cooking. We have some gas in the laboratories for burners. And we have some gas for sterilization and those sorts of applications.

We are working on getting rid of that last 10%, 20% of our Scope 1 and 2 GHG emissions, which is basically that gas. But we have to do that in a way that doesn't imperil the teaching and research and healthcare mission of the university. So my group does worry about that gas, that's part of our world. But especially with the investment that's been made over the last 10 years in electrification, it's become a smaller and smaller part of our world. And a smaller and part of our risk profile. And like I said, by 2030, we hope to be zeroed out on Scopes 1 and 2, which would mean remaining natural gas electrified and retiring... Well, almost all of our buses are electric now, but we still have a couple of diesel buses. The cats and dogs that we have to figure out an alternative zero carbon solution for.

Jason Price: 

Yeah. It seems like your campus would be a great demonstration site for hydrogen innovations, whether the manufacturing and the offtaking of hydrogen or anything around the H2. Is the campus doing anything in that space? Or is there other plans to look at hydrogen in any capacity?

Lincoln Bleveans: 

Well, we have a very active academic effort on the hydrogen side, as part of the Precourt Institute, which is part of the school's sustainability. From an operational perspective, we are starting to look at it. One of our challenges is to create a reliability and resilience at an even higher level. It's already very high. At an even higher level, without imperiling our greenhouse gas goals. And one of the implications of that is that our emergency generators need to either be repowered with some more environmentally friendly fuel, other than diesel fuel, or go full electric storage, what have you. And green hydrogen may play a role there. We are still investigating that. Obviously, the whole world is investigating that at this point. But I'm familiar with green hydrogen from my work on the Intermountain Power Project repowering, back when I was at Burbank Water and Power. Which, of course, is one of the flagship green hydrogen projects in the world. I see that as a possibility. But how that gets applied here, in a campus setting, we're still at the very beginning of that investigation.

Jason Price: 

Understood. I want to ask you a couple of recent events and just get your thoughts on them. So, first, I think that this unfortunate attack on the substation of North Carolina has raised the alarm on people looking at the security of our infrastructure in three dimensions, as opposed to, say, two dimensions. It's not just cybersecurity, it's physical security on a whole new level than we would've imagined. What was your immediate reactions when you read about that event? Any thoughts to share? Anything you want to comment about?

Lincoln Bleveans: 

Well, it actually echoes an attack on a substation near here a few years ago, where, as far as I know, is still unsolved. But I think, historically, we've been pretty open about our electrical infrastructure. You drive by a substation, and it's chain link fence, and you can see through. Clearly, a bullet can get through or whatever threat there is. I think that's going to have to get hardened over time. I wish that wasn't so, but it seems as though the world is pushing us in that direction. I think though that it also begs the question of supply diversification. And that goes a couple of different ways. One is thinking about the transmission system and the distribution system as a whole. And thinking about alternate feeds and alternate paths. Making the spiderweb an even more complex spiderweb to create resilience against the electrical impacts of that sort of attack.

But I also think it speaks to this very slow but inexorable trend towards localization. I think we'll rely on the power grid, the electric grid, as a whole for quite some time. I think we'll be relying on local distribution networks for quite some time. But as we've seen over the last 10, 20 years, we're seeing a lot more generation storage behind the meter. And I think that that is something that is the other part of the resilience equation. I would much rather think of resilience against earthquakes, or resilience against wildfires, or sea level rise. But, unfortunately, we also have to be resilient against some of our fellow human beings. That's incredibly unfortunate, but it seems to be the reality. So I think rethinking, or at least taking another look at the distribution system in particular, the network of substations, both at the transmission level and the distribution level, and how those are connected. But then, also, looking at behind the meter generation, not just as an environmentally effective solution, but also as more of a resiliency solution.

Jason Price: 

The other event that I wanted to ask you about, since you're closer to it than I am in here in New York, is this breakthrough in energy up at the Lawrence Livermore Lab announced this past week, the fusion activity. Do you have any thoughts around that?

Lincoln Bleveans: 

I am incredibly excited about it, but I'm excited about it from the perspective of an ultra-marathoner, as opposed to a sprinter. It is a massive breakthrough. But what it does is open up a path, a very long path I think, towards technologies that can be commercialized and that can be implemented in the world. That said, without those sorts of breakthroughs, you never get anywhere. So I am incredibly excited about it but, also, I maintain some caution about the pace at which it will become reality for the world outside the laboratory. But these are the sorts of breakthroughs that if you give them a little bit of time, and the appropriate amount of investment, are truly world changing. So, again, very, very excited, but excited like an ultra-marathoner, as opposed to being excited like a sprinter.

Jason Price: 

Yeah, that's good. So I want to give you the floor to share any other thoughts before we jump into the lightning round. And then you will have the last word, but is there anything else you want to talk about, top of mind, as you look back at the recent year and as we enter into the new year?

Lincoln Bleveans: 

Well, I feel, again, cautious optimism that the world is changing. The world is starting to see climate change and the need for decarbonization, the need for depollution, so to speak, in a more urgent and more realistic light. I feel like we are starting to see that much more clearly. And, certainly, Gen Z is not taking no, or even slow, for an answer. It's very real to them. And they are, of course, inheriting our world. So cautiously optimistic that we are, hopefully, shifting up a gear or two in addressing climate change and pollution. And, frankly, the social and economic justice issues that are intertwined with that, inseparable from that. I'm cautiously optimistic that we're accelerating a bit in making those solutions happen.

Jason Price: 

Yep. And no doubt, being on a campus, certainly helps solidify that thinking even further. So at this point, we have what's called our lightning round, which gives us an opportunity to learn more about you the person, rather than you the professional. We have five questions. These are random questions. Then, we usually ask to keep the response to one word or phrase. So are you ready?

Lincoln Bleveans: 

Sure.

Jason Price: 

All right. So I understand you're going to New York City soon. When you land, what's going to be your favorite food you're going to seek out?

Lincoln Bleveans: 

Whatever my mother-in-law cooks. I say that in all honesty.

Jason Price: 

Okay, sounds good. What is your dream vacation?

Lincoln Bleveans: 

Oh my. I'll just say Italy, it doesn't matter where.

Jason Price: 

Who in your household tends to leave the lights on?

Lincoln Bleveans: 

The teenagers, and I turn them off.

Jason Price: 

What would you be doing if you hadn't ended up in the energy industry?

Lincoln Bleveans: 

I truly have no idea. I fell into the energy industry pretty much by accident, and I could not imagine what my professional life would've been like had I not done that.

Jason Price: 

Best career advice you've ever gotten?

Lincoln Bleveans: 

Oh my. Less advice and more mindset. I've had a lot of people take big chances on me. And I have done my best now, as a leader, to take big chances on younger people. And I feel like if you land on a high floor, you got to send the elevator back down. And been trying to live by that, especially as I get older than I'm willing to admit.

Jason Price: 

And last question before we give you the floor for the final thoughts, and that is, what are you most motivated by?

Lincoln Bleveans: 

I am most motivated by the people that I work with, the people that I interact with. I have a fantastic team here, a fantastic team. And all up and down across the org chart. And they push me. They don't know it, maybe they don't know it. But they push me to do my best work and my best thinking. And, frankly, to really focus on making whatever positive difference I can in the world, not just for me but for them as well. So I'm just very motivated by my interactions with people, day in, day out.

Jason Price: 

Well, I appreciate that. All right, so we've covered a lot of ground in this conversation. And, again, I really appreciate your insight. And always enjoy listening to you, whether it's on our show, or another podcast, or video clips that you're involved in. You're very generous with your time; and thought; and willingness to share knowledge, which is also very appreciative and emblematic of the energy industry that we're in. So you really are a shining star and a credit to the industry. So giving you the final thought, what would you want our listeners at Energy Central, people, your peers in the industry, what would you like them to take away from this episode?

Lincoln Bleveans: 

Well, I think a sense of possibility. But, also, a sense of obligation. And that obligation being to make sure that we're not just doing the right things for our own organization, but that we're doing the right things for the world. And that sounds very, very 100,000 feet aspirational. But as we innovate, as we invest, as we make discoveries, think about how those can be scaled, how those can be rolled out. How what you're doing can de-risk a great solution for the next person or entity that does it. I feel like when an engineer at Volvo invented the three-point seat belt, I think in 1955 maybe, Volvo made a really impactful decision. They said, "You know what? This is just too good to keep. We are not going to patent this. We're not going to do anything with it. We're going to share this with the world. It is that important."

And so, I guess I'd just ask everybody, think about creating those exemplars. Think about de-risking great solutions for the next people who need them. But also wonder, is what I'm doing the three point seatbelt? Should I do what Volvo did and make sure that access to those solutions is as broad as I can possibly make it? We're all in this together. Climate change is a species level threat. And I'm hopeful that we can pull together in big ways, and in small ways, to help each other through this. So that would be my closing thought. And, hopefully, you can hear the theme music swelling in the background.

Jason Price: 

Well, I can't think of a better guest to have to kick off the new year. So these are great insight and great words, Lincoln. Executive director of sustainability and energy management at Stanford University, Lincoln Bleveans, thank you again for joining the show.

Lincoln Bleveans: 

Thank you.

Jason Price: 

You can always reach Lincoln through the Energy Central platform, where he welcomes your questions and comments. And we also want to give a shout out of thanks to the podcast sponsors that made today's episode possible. Thanks 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, and 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.

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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.

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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.  

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