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Episode #150: 'Looking Back on 2023: The Best Moments from the Energy Central Power Perspectives Podcast' [an Energy Central Power Perspectives™ Podcast]

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To celebrate the end of another year on the Energy Central Power Perspectives Podcast, this special edition recognizes four years of insightful conversations that have shaped the future of the energy sector. In addition to the podcast being led, as usual, by host Jason Price and Community Manager and podcast producer, Matt Chester, this episode welcomes back the Vice President of Energy Central, Audra Drazga.

In this milestone episode that serves as a testament to the dynamic growth and impact of the podcast, Audra, Matt, and Jason take turns recalling some of the top guests, episodes, and moments of 2023 in the podcast. This 'Best Of' episode features CEOs, Hall of Famers, and industry stalwarts, all of whom have been in the virtual podcast booth in the past 12 months. As the podcast team prepares for an even more exciting lineup in 2024, use this episode to catch up on guests you may have missed, remember your favorite ones past, and join us in celebrating these important conversations that encapsulate the essence of this transformative year in the energy industry.

Prefer to Read vs. Listening? Scroll Down to Read Transcript

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

 

Key Links:

Episode #123: 'Exploring the Role of Gas in the Decarbonization Journey' with Suzanne Ogle, President and CEO of Southern Gas Association: https://energycentral.com/o/energy-central/episode-123-exploring-role-gas-decarbonization-journey-suzanne-ogle-president-and 

Episode #127: 'The Resurgence of Nuclear as a Utility Decarbonization Pathway' with Kimberly Cook-Nelson, Chief Nuclear Officer at Entergy: https://energycentral.com/o/energy-central/episode-127-resurgence-nuclear-utility-decarbonization-pathway-kimberly-cook 

Special Episode: 'Unlocking the Power of GIS: Sharing, Understanding, and Capturing Utility Data' with Pat Hohl and Bill Meehan, Directors at ESRI: https://energycentral.com/o/esri/special-episode-unlocking-power-gis-sharing-understanding-and-capturing-utility 

Episode #134: 'From Saving Pucks to Saving Power, Transitioning from Hockey Hall of Famer to Clean Energy Warrior' with Mike Richter, President of Brightcore Energy: https://energycentral.com/o/energy-central/episode-134-saving-pucks-saving-power-transitioning-hockey-hall-famer-clean 

Episode #114: 'Cleaner and More Affordable Power for Long Island' with Tom Falcone, CEO of Long Island Power Authority: https://energycentral.com/o/energy-central/episode-114-cleaner-and-more-affordable-power-long-island-tom-falcone-ceo-long 

Episode #146: 'Pioneering a Rational Decarbonization & the Gas Sector’s Role in New Jersey' with Michael Renna, President & CEO of South Jersey Industries: https://energycentral.com/o/energy-central/episode-146-pioneering-rational-decarbonization-gas-sector%E2%80%99s-role-new-jersey 

Episode #125: 'Traversing the Utility ESG Journey' with Christine Waller, Vice President of Communications and Corporate Responsibility at Duquesne Light Company: https://energycentral.com/o/energy-central/episode-125-traversing-utility-esg-journey-christine-waller-vice-president 

Episode #113: 'Reaching New Heights with Community Solar' with Jason Spreyer, EVP at Summit Ridge Energy: https://energycentral.com/o/energy-central/episode-113-reaching-new-heights-community-solar-jason-spreyer-evp-summit-ridge 

Episode #111: 'The Future of Energy & Utilities' with Lincoln Bleveans, Executive Director of Sustainability at Stanford: https://energycentral.com/o/energy-central/episode-111-future-energy-utilities-lincoln-bleveans-executive-director 

Did you know? The Energy Central Power Perspectives Podcast has been identified as one of the industry's 'Top 25 Energy Podcasts': 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 am your host, Jason Price of West Monroe, and I'm coming to you from New York City. As always, I'm joined by Energy Central's community manager and podcast producer Matt Chester, dialing in from Orlando, Florida. But because this week we're doing our traditional end of year review, we're also joined by the VP of Energy Central, Audra Drazga, calling in from Colorado. So Matt and Audra, this is a special episode for another reason as we're now able to recognize the four-year anniversary of the Power Perspectives podcast. Four years, can you believe it?

 

Audra Drazga:

I can't believe it. Four years. It's truly remarkable. It feels like just yesterday when we collaborated to Launch Energy Central's inaugural podcast venture. Now with over 150 episodes under our belt, we're thriving more than ever.

 

Matt Chester:

Yeah, I'll agree with Audra there. What started as the nugget of an idea to give our Energy Central community and its experts just another avenue to share their message and a new audience who maybe is more inclined to listening in than reading, and it's really surpassed all of our expectations. So this episode is certainly one that I think is well worth celebrating.

 

Jason Price:

Yeah, I agree with both of you. We've grown our audience, we've developed our best practices to create best possible episodes, and we've attracted guests and listeners alike that have an even more far-reaching influence in the world of utilities than ever before. And like Audra says, this is a victory lap, right? This is just the beginning of continuing these terrific conversations with leaders, innovators, decision makers across the utility sector.

So as has become our December tradition, it's now time to give a specific look back at some of our favorite guests, episodes and clips of the past year on the podcast. We find that doing so serves as a great reminder for those who have been with us throughout the year to enjoy revisiting these last weeks of year when work at the office might be slow, as well as serve as a terrific introduction for new listeners who maybe haven't fully explored our back catalog. So Matt and Audra, are you both prepared to talk about some of your favorite guests?

 

Matt Chester:

You bet.

 

Audra Drazga:

Certainly Jason. It has been an exceptional year with incredible guests. Narrowing down the episodes to showcase and even selecting the best nuggets of wisdom and insight from those episodes is quite a task. Nevertheless, I feel prepared for the challenge.

 

Jason Price:

Okay, well if that's the case, Audra, then why don't you start us off?

 

Audra Drazga:

Happy to do so. The first episode I want to highlight came in May of this year with Suzanne Ogle, the CEO of Southern California Association. In episode 123, which was titled Exploring the Role of Gas In the Decarbonization Journey, Susan shared about the ways in which gas can be seen as a partner of, not an enemy of renewable energy in the pursuit of a low and no carbon future. Here is a key clip from that episode.

 

Suzanne Ogle:

A lot of people look at natural gas as a bridge fuel to maybe a lower emissions today from these higher emitting energy. I'm going to tell you this is one of the things that I keep pounding my drum on is people inside our industry and people outside our industry keep using the word transition. And I think that's a really misleading word. I think it's been the catalyst for some confusion and misinformation that we're bombarded with. If I think about the word transition, that means to move from one to another with one going away and practically and ideologically, that's not going to happen, nor is it the best solution.

So I believe everybody should replace this word transition with the word evolution, which is exactly what we're doing with our energy system. And our industry's doing that as well. We're evolving. And so if you ask me what's in store for the natural gas industry, I'm going to tell you it's more technology. It's simpler processes, it's higher productivity, it's tighter systems, and all these things are going to curb the impact on the environment.

So natural gas, our industry's road to internal sustainability, I would tell you I believe runs parallel to environmental sustainability. And so while there are people who are entrenched in the assumption that the world can survive without natural gas or fossil fuels for that matter, I would tell you that we're actually the hero here to help people reach the common goals and provide intergenerational wellbeing and a really predictable and resilient, which is probably the key word is resilient, energy system.

 

Audra Drazga:

This particular clip caught my attention because it delivers a message that challenges some common assumptions, providing a nuanced perspective that I find crucial. Another standout episode for me occurred in June when Entergy's chief nuclear officer, Kimberly Cook-Nelson graced the podcast booth in episode 127, titled The Resurgence of Nuclear as a Utility Decarbonization Pathway. Kimberly shared insights on the rising public support for nuclear energy and its role as a pivotal tool in achieving a clean energy future. One memorable moment from that conversation emphasized just that. Tune in.

 

Kimberly Cook-Nelson:

Public support and nuclear's popularity does continue to grow as the country looks to decarbonize. In fact, a recent Gallup survey found that 55% of the US adults support the use of nuclear power, its highest level of public support since 2012. With nuclear power being clean, carbon-free and available 24/7, 365 days a year, there is an understanding that nuclear with solar and wind and hydro is paramount, and that's really important for our goals at Entergy.

We made a commitment to achieving net-zero carbon emissions by 2050, and an interim commitment to have 50% of our power generation rate come from clean, carbon-free energy sources like nuclear by 2030. We also plan to retire all of our coal power generating plants by the end of 2030, so really keeping nuclear in our energy mix makes those retirements possible. In addition, public support for nuclear will help us in the regulatory arena when we seek to relicense our current nuclear facilities in our fleet.

 

Audra Drazga:

Finally, I must express my gratitude to Energy Central's invaluable partners at ESRI. Since our inception, we've been fortunate to feature at least one ESRI guest on the podcast each year. Notably this year, they took it a step further by spearheading their own miniseries, released on the podcast feed this past August. This series delved into the indispensable role of GIS in the utility sector and the inaugural episode of the miniseries, featuring Bill, provided an excellent introduction to the topic. Here's Bill exploring the power of GIS at the utility level.

 

Bill Meehan:

When I think about engagement for that particular problem, one of our customers has done some really good things. What they have done is actually created a mechanism where the city, the municipality, could in fact update the utilities GIS using web services, to be able to show where they're paving. And so now you could say, "Okay, where you're paving and where I'm digging." Put it together. It's GIS 101, it's perfect. And having that kind of mechanism in place does require collaboration, communication, connection, and so forth between the municipalities and the utility. That's really the essence of what I call a smart city.

 

Audra Drazga:

These are the three highlights that stood out to me in 2023. But I'm keen to hear about your favorites too. Jason, it struck me that week after week, you were on the move to visit more of our guests than ever.

 

Jason Price:

Yeah, you're right about that, Audra. The podcast has allowed us, now that the pandemic is behind us, to do more face-to-face and to get more of the personal touch on these kinds of interviews. So it's been great to visit guests on their home turf, in their corporate office or power plants, which has allowed for conversations that were engaging and impactful. So I really appreciated our guests to open their doors and allow us to come visit them in their environment.

One of the few that really stood out for me this past year was for all those New York Ranger fans, I had a great chat with Mike Richter. He's the Hall of Fame and champion-winning goalie for the New York Rangers in the 1990s. He was on Power Perspectives to chat about the career that followed, and that's in clean energy, from hockey sticks to geothermal energy. So in episode 134, titled From Saving Pucks to Saving Power, Transitioning from Hockey Hall of Fame to Clean Energy Warrior, the parallels Mike drew between the world of sports and energy definitely resonated. Listen in.

 

Mike Richter:

I'm out of my element when I left the rink, really. Here I was, 38 years old and looking to start a new career. Someone once called me a surprise environmentalist, and I thought, "Well, as an athlete, I'm a surprise environmentalist?" First question is, what does an environmentalist look like? What does somebody who cares about the environment look like? I would argue it is everybody. This is not a political thing, whether you're conservative or liberal, you want clean air, clean water. How you go about it may be different, but I think we all do want the same thing. So this is something that is very much necessary in our society and supported by people.

 

Jason Price:

Yeah, another great in-person episode came from my trip to LIPA, the Long Island Power Authority. It's a chat with CEO Tom Falcone. Tom's a really great guy and he is a great guest. In episode 114, titled Cleaner and More Affordable Power for Long Island, Tom's take on offshore wind will especially be worth revisiting given the recent developments of that sector on the East Coast. Here's that clip.

 

Tom Falcone:

And it's very possible, for economic reasons, that we'll have a lot of offshore wind well in excess of what we need for our own grid. We currently have a grid that's about 5800 megawatts; in 20 years, maybe about 7,000 megawatt peak. We're talking about could be 18,000 megawatts offshore. And it's very likely that you could have numbers that far exceed our average need or peak need. And so to try and plan for a grid like that is a very interesting thing. Are we planning for a 7,000 megawatt grid or we planning for a 12,000 megawatt grid? Because a lot of that is going to be export.

Those decisions are going to play out over time, but it's a unique issue of being an island and jumping out into the ocean, kind of being God's extension cord to the offshore wind resource for New York State. And a lot of decisions will be made over time, but we're making a lot of progress between now and 2030, and we're very focused on planning the back end of this investment that is going to happen between really 2030 and 2040.

 

Jason Price:

And lastly, another CEO from the utilities, who I was able to visit in person during the podcast this year, actually came out in November, so fairly recently. In episode 146, called Pioneering a Rational Decarbonization and the Gas Sector's Role in New Jersey, I visited the New Jersey offices of Mike Renna, CEO of South Jersey Industries. Mike has a keen perspective on the role that the gas utilities are playing and the role of decarbonization, which may run counter to what would expect a natural gas executive to say. For example, I thought this clip really stood him out. So let's take a listen.

 

Mike Renna:

Our target was first to decarbonize our own operations, scope 1 and scope 2 emissions. So we really were focused on bringing down the emissions of our facilities and our operations. And then between the investments that we've made in modernizing our infrastructure, which as you mentioned, significantly brings down leak out, because you've now got modern infrastructure that has replaced our aging infrastructure that was more leak prone and more vulnerable.

That brings down the fugitive methane emissions. So there's a direct environmental impact from all those investments, and then you start to think about things that we're doing internally, whether it's putting solar on our buildings or the utilization of fuel cells or CNG vehicles, all that was really to drive down the emissions from our operations. And we're tracking very well towards those goals. I have full confidence that we'll achieve those goals.

 

Jason Price:

So those are three really exciting in-person visits I got to experience this past year on the podcast. And hopefully potential guests for 2024 who are listening are getting excited to do this in person as well. And I'm curious to hear about Matt's top episode. So Matt, without further ado, what have you highlighted for this year?

 

Matt Chester:

Yeah, thanks for that, Jason. And I'll stay coming from my chair as the producer of the podcast, where I'm operating a little bit more behind the scenes and on the back end, one of the areas I wanted to give more of a nod to are the episodes we publish that have garnered the most downloads. So the ones I've pulled for our listeners are in no particular order, three of those most popular episodes from 2023. And maybe we can find some commonality between them to see what is it that really spoke to and resonated with the audience to make them so popular.

The first of those episodes was with Christine Waller, the VP of communications and corporate responsibility at Duquesne Lighting. She joined us back in June on episode number 125 that was called Traversing the Utility ESG Journey, diving into the type of corporate mindset shifts that are currently taking place across the utility sector. So let's listen in on how she discusses this topic in the following clip.

 

Christine Waller:

Yeah, so obviously Duquesne Light is not the first utility to issue a public-facing ESG report. And while we celebrate this as a really significant milestone and it being the most comprehensive public-facing Disclosure around our ESG strategy to date, as you note Jason, this is work that the company has been doing for decades. And I think as important, it's what the report says about our readiness to be a leader in the region's energy transition that is the real milestone and the reason for us deciding to publish this report now.

We recognize that transparency builds trust, and our focus is on being a trusted partner to all of our stakeholders, not the least of which are our customers. And they want to understand what our efforts are to make a difference in their lives. People know that we deliver electricity. We're known regionally, we have very strong brand recognition regionally for being the electricity provider of the Pittsburgh region, but we see ourselves as having actually a lot more to offer as we embark on a clean energy journey together.

Our vast and our deep experience during pivotal moments in history, from the steel age to the medical advancements of world-class institutions, which we'll talk a little bit more about in terms of our region's ESG journey, these are all proof points that we've been an integral part of Pittsburgh's past and we're poised to be driving its energy future. That's an exciting place to be. And that's what this report is all about, is demonstrating our readiness to be a leader, not only through stories of impact, but hard data that we've included in this report around our environmental, social, and governance performance.

 

Matt Chester:

Another pretty wildly popular episode of ours came from the world of community solar, where we featured the executive vice president of business development at Summit Ridge Energy, Jason Spreyer. Jason was with us on episode 113, which we called Reaching New Heights with Community Solar, and he shared with us and our audience the ways that the Inflation Reduction Act was serving as what he called rocket fuel for the community solar industry. Let's hear him describe that.

 

Jason Spreyer:

We believe the IRA actually provides several benefits for community solar. In fact, when looking back at the intent of the Inflation Reduction Act, you see several of the different incentives there are provided to incent investment in low to moderate income communities. It's actually provided for the opportunity to include certain interconnection costs in the basis that will be eligible for ITC, for projects five megawatts AC and below, incenting you to build within energy communities, use domestic content in your project delivery schedule as well as your execution.

So when you look at those and start to unpack them, what does that mean? Investment in interconnection process is one of the areas that we see a lot of cost in the distributed space, whether it be making upgrades on the distribution level itself or the transmission level. So it's to include some of those costs in basis allows us to actually more efficiently interconnect those projects and not see projects die as a result of interconnection costs within those distribution networks.

 

Matt Chester:

And lastly, one of our top episodes in terms of listens this year came from a repeat guest as we welcomed back Lincoln Bleveans in episode 111 after he had previously appeared all the way back in episode 2 of the Power Perspectives. This time, Lincoln's episode, which was titled The Future of Energy and Utilities, covered the unique perspective he has at the pace and structure of utility innovation after he had started his new role, which was executive director of Stanford University's sustainability teams. That unique role is one of the areas he shared and described for us, as you'll hear in this clip.

 

Lincoln Bleveans:

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, 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.

 

Matt Chester:

And so I think it's safe to say when listening back to these clips of popular episodes, that sustainability, innovation and looking to the future were all some pretty common themes when it comes to what resonated with our podcast audience in 2023.

 

Jason Price:

Wow. We've definitely covered a wide array of topics and perhaps our best lineup of guests to date this year. And as we teased in the beginning, we intend to keep that momentum going. As we conclude this annual look back episode, we hope that it inspires our listeners to do the same and revisit the guests and subjects that sparked their curiosity and inspired them to continue the evolution of the energy sector. As always, we'll share links to each of these episodes discussed today in this episode's show notes. With that, you can also leave questions and comments on the post and keep those conversations going live with these esteemed guests.

With that, I want thank Matt and Audra for joining me today and the entire Energy Central team for supporting this podcast over the past year. Similarly, we want to give an end of year shout out to our podcast sponsor, West Monroe. West Monroe is a leading partner for the nation's electric, gas and water utilities, working together to drive grid modernization, clean energy, and workforce transformation. West Monroe brings a comprehensive set of services designed to support utilities in advancing their digital transformation, building resilient operations, securing federal funding, and providing regulatory advisory support.

With a multidisciplinary team of experts, West Monroe offers a holistic approach that addresses the challenges of the grid today and provides innovative solutions for a sustainable future. Once again, I'm your host, Jason Price. So plug in and stay fully charged into the discussion by popping 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: