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Episode #151: 'Decoding the Future with Energy Industry Forecasts' with Jeremy Bentham, Co-Chair of Scenarios at the World Energy Council [an Energy Central Power Perspectives™ Podcast]

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Forecasting the future of the energy sector, between supply, demand, and technological developments, is a cornerstone of the utility landscape, as such forward-looking exercises seek to inform investments, policies, and more. However, without a crystal ball to pull from, any such forecasts are subject to uncertainty and risks. In this compelling episode of the Energy Central Power Perspectives Podcast, Jeremy Bentham, Co-Chair of Scenarios at the World Energy Council, joins the conversation to delve into the intricate landscape of energy forecasting, exploring the myriad factors that shape expectations for the future energy landscape.

As Jeremy Bentham shares with host Jason Price and producer Matt Chester insights as informed by his illustrious career, spanning over 40 years in the global energy sector and his pivotal role at Shell Corporation, listeners will gain a deep understanding of the evolution of energy scenarios and strategies. From embracing decarbonization in the 1980s to navigating radical uncertainty in the ongoing energy transition, Jeremy offers valuable perspectives on how energy leaders can navigate the complexities of a rapidly changing industry. This episode is a must-listen for professionals seeking to grasp the nuances of energy scenarios and the critical shifts needed for a sustainable and resilient energy future.

 

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:

Jeremy Bentham's Energy Central Profile: https://energycentral.com/member/profile/jeremy-bentham/about

The Dodo Club Newsletter: https://thedodoclub.beehiiv.com/

Did you know? The Energy Central Power Perspectives Podcast has been identified as one of the industry's 'Top Energy Podcasts': blog.feedspot.com/energy_podcasts/ 

 

TRANSCRIPT

Jason Price:

Welcome to the Energy Central Power Perspectives Podcast, the show that brings leading minds from the energy industry to discuss the challenges and trends that are transforming and modernizing our energy system. 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. With me as always from Orlando, Florida is Energy Central Producer and Community Manager Matt Chester. Matt, for our energy-focused audience, looking ahead to the future is both a requirement for the sake of planning, but also an arduous assignment built on uncertainty, countless variables and an ever-changing landscape. Share with us some of the key factors you can identify that are regularly altering the expectations for the energy landscape in the future years.

 

Matt Chester:

Yeah. Thanks, Jason, and there really are countless factors that weigh into forecasting future energy scenarios. Navigating that landscape, as you mentioned, it's an ever moving target, but some of the key factors that we often hear about include things like advancement of new technologies to become either more efficient or more market ready. The evolution of the policy and regulatory landscape, traditional market dynamics and economic forces, and especially as those are impacted by national policy or geopolitical events, the moving needle of climate change and environmental concerns, changing consumer preferences, and then even the unpredictable global events, things like natural disasters, pandemics, trade wars and more.

 

Jason Price:

It's certainly a lot to keep track of and that's only scratching the surface of it, but doing the best to look into that crystal ball and anticipate future needs and risks is so critical. But to help our listeners better understand best practices and what lessons have been learned in this field over the years, we're excited to welcome today's guest who has been at the forefront of this space for many years. Joining the Energy Central Power Perspectives Podcast today is Jeremy Bentham. Jeremy is a busy man and currently serves as senior advisor of the World Energy Council, as well as senior fellow at Mission Possible Partnership, a president's council member at Pathfinder International and a senior advisor with Boston Consulting Group among other responsibilities that he'll go into.

He has over 40 years experience in the energy industry. What's most fascinating that we can dig into is Jeremy's final 15-year stint at Shell Corporation, one of the global energy majors where he led the global scenarios and strategy activities advising the CEO and board. He led the team in developing energy transformation scenarios. It was a job to explore how energy needs, technologies and opportunities will evolve in the coming century. It will be interesting to hear him contrast the team's work in the 1980s and 1990s and where we are today. So I'm ready to get started. So all the way from the Hague in the Netherlands is Jeremy Bentham. Welcome to today's episode of the Energy Central Power Perspectives Podcast.

 

Jeremy Bentham:

Thank you very much indeed, and it is a pleasure to join you and your listeners today. I hope everyone is well. I'm still smiling for both professional and personal reasons, so if my smile comes across on the podcast, I hope that isn't disconcerting for anybody.

 

Jason Price:

Well, I hope you're going to go in and share with us a little bit of why you're smiling, Jeremy.

 

Jeremy Bentham:

Well, from the professional side, at this very moment, we have the ongoing COP28 in Dubai. One of the announcements that was made there was the launch of the Industrial Transition Accelerator, and that is really focused around the harder to abate sectors of the economy of the energy system. That is something that we've been working on for quite some time with mission possible partnership, which has been given birth to this accelerator and will act as the Secretariat for it. So that's the professional reason for smarting that that was just announced in the last couple of days. But also from the personal side, my beloved football team, soccer team, as people in the U.S. would call it, Everton managed a very important victory. It was so important for our future that it has left me with a warm feeling in my heart and a big smile on my face.

 

Jason Price:

Very nice. Well, two wins. That's great to hear. You have a very impressive career in the energy world. So in our introduction, I only scratched the surface. So could you dive in, tell our audience a bit about yourself and what you've been involved with in the global energy sector?

 

Jeremy Bentham:

Oh, thanks. Well, indeed, I had more than 40 years in the industry, largely in what would've been thought of as the traditional oil and gas industry, but that was already really a broader energy environment and energy industry. I did many roles from technical to operational, from the downstream side, to the manufacturing side, the refining side and the upstream side. Indeed, laterally, as you mentioned, I had the privilege of leading the scenarios and strategy team for Shell. Prior to that, I was the early chief executive officer of Shell Hydrogen as we began to really put some focus on that new emerging industry.

 

Jason Price:

That's great. I want to dive into the Shell scenario planning role, and I think that's going to really hit a note for our audience. But before we do that, you mentioned, and we mentioned the World Energy Council. Share with us what is the purpose of this organization and the role you serve in it?

 

Jeremy Bentham:

The World Energy Council has got just over really a 100-year history. It was formed after the first World War in the aftermath of that as you had not only many geopolitical pressures and tensions working themselves out as people know, but also rebuilding and rebuilding of economies and the beginnings of new technologies, new energies coming into the economy. So it has been really at the forefront of bringing together decision makers and stakeholders from across the world in deliberating and designing energy system that has a number of different forms. It's a membership organization in just about 100 countries. There's a branch of the World Energy Council with then a central Secretariat to convene and inspire all that activity. The first congress that it brought together was called actually the World Power Conference in 1924. It has been hosting and convening regularly congresses since that time, but also providing tools and insights to all kinds of not only the members but others in the world into the significance of energy and also energy progress and energy transitions.

So that's a little bit about the World Energy Council, and I have one of those titles that sounds grander than it is. I retired from corporate executive life in the past year, and one of the aspects of the portfolio that I've developed is as co-chair for scenarios of the World Energy Council. That means that really, I'm a senior advisor and a sounding board to their work on insights on trying to help people grapple with the complexities of energy systems, the human realities of energy systems. Humanizing energy is one of the big themes there, but also considering the different ways that that can evolve in the future and to try and promote that evolution being as positive as possible in terms of being good for people and good for the planet.

 

Jason Price:

Yeah, our audience has had an experience through the National Labs, the scenarios that they work on, and we've had some guests in the past. It's been really fascinating, but it's always been from a Nationals Labs perspective. Here you're a major gas corporation that's looking at scenarios, so I want to dive into that now. Some people may be surprised to learn that these scenarios included an embrace of decarbonization within a half century ago. For the record, and to be clear here, your former team's role at Shell back in the 1980s was to help the corporation think about plausible futures including decarbonization. So let's dig into that. Talk to us about this work. How was it received?

 

Jeremy Bentham:

I'll step back just a little bit further and then step forward into that if you don't mind, because this kind of work took place in the company since the late '60s. In fact, it was very prominent in the run-up to what became one of the big dislocations in the industry with the formation of OPEC in the beginning of the '70s. So scenarios that had been developed by the corporation had explored the possibility of that kind of thing happening before it happened so that when it happened, there was at least an understanding of the dynamics and how to adapt to that. So this is not about having a crystal ball or having a way of predicting a future, which is impossible, but you can still explore systematically future possibilities and prepare for them, respond to them, et cetera. So indeed in the '80s, there was this increasing recognition of the science and the reality of climate change.

Predecessors in the team seriously began to explore that, and in fact, even went very public with some of that exploration, produced a film called A Climate of Concern, which was published right at the beginning of the '90s. Then of, course, you had the Earth Summit in I think 1992, which began to really raise the profile of that. We began to adapt our thinking and some of our decision-making with that in mind, right from that time. So during the course of the 1990s, there were scenarios, all of which recognized the component of climate change and the need for decarbonization. It fed through to decision-making in the sense that by the end of the 1990s, Shell had invested in its company Shell Solar and Shell Wind Energy, and then the company that I was privileged to be the early CEO of, Shell Hydrogen.

Now the challenge whilst we understood these things, the world as a whole, so society as a whole, but that also means our customers as a whole, were not following that pathway towards decarbonization at a particularly rapid pace at that time. So these were useful experiments, but there was not the demand at that time to be able to grow these into big significant businesses. But nevertheless, we continued to recognize this type of decarbonization pressure and importance in the scenarios through the time when I led the team and kept things that might otherwise have faded away like the hydrogen perspective right on the radar screen, so that now the company remains in a much better position to be investing in that as the recognition and the demand for hydrogen infrastructure and hydrogen as a fuel is beginning to grow now. I hope that least touches on some of the points you were hoping for me to touch upon.

 

Jason Price:

Yeah, no, that's great. Really interesting. I want to learn more about the process of working in scenarios. I think that's just really fascinating, so overall, the methodology and such. So can you break down what that actually means? What does it mean to have a scenario mindset? What is the process you go through, and what is the end result?

 

Jeremy Bentham:

I'm glad you used the term scenario mindset because it's really a way of thinking and grappling with the world and grappling with uncertainty as much as it is a tangible product. People often see a tangible product because there is a booklet or a presentation, but it's really about the way that you see the world and you're trying to help others, sometimes to educate others to grapple with the world and with uncertainties in a richer way that helps them make wiser judgments. So I always think of it as surfacing important and relevant insights and then bringing these to life in the minds, the hearts and the actions of decision makers. When doing that, you are recognizing that this way of thinking is both fundamental and secondary. Now, let me explain what I mean by that.

It's fundamental because our world is being shaped by many, many powerful currents, and every current generates countercurrents, and it is impossible to tell in advance which of these currents are going to be the stronger. So it's inevitable that at all times there are different plausible outcomes for the future. Now, that may be an inconvenient truth, but it is a truth. We have to recognize that we have to grapple with that reality, but the future isn't random. You can grapple with it. You can sensibly explore possibilities. What are reasonably stable expectations or what are really critical uncertainties? A lot of people like to talk about facts and what are the facts, but the reality is there are no facts about the future, there are only our assumptions. But we can explore those in systematic and in responsible and thoughtful ways, and that's what you're doing with the scenario type of work.

So the two crafts in that exploration are the technical craft and the social craft. Now, the technical craft is because you build on the expertise of people who are thinking about macroeconomics or geopolitics or social developments or technology or legal perspectives, et cetera, and you are weaving those together to try and understand how those different currents may be leading towards different types of future landscape. That's the analytical or the technical craft. The social craft is more subtle, and that social craft is associated with bringing these insights to life in the minds and the hearts and the actions of decision makers. So the end result is that people see and understand the world and the possibilities of the future world better than they otherwise would do, and hence, can make wiser decisions.

One of the things I like to say to my former team is that I use a quote from Schopenhauer, the philosopher, said that "New truths, new insights are first ignored or ridiculed, then vehemently opposed and then taken to be self-evident." So you're trying to take people on a journey from where they are either ignoring something or thinking it's ridiculous through to it becoming self-evident. Now, along that way, along that pathway at the beginning, if you are doing this kind of work, you are either ignored or thought ridiculous. Along the way, you're often thought to be the enemy that's speaking truth to power, the enemy. At the end, you're thought irrelevant because we knew it anyway. You don't get necessarily a huge amount of affirmation from this work, but you get the pleasure and the inspiration of seeing it have an effect on the kinds of decisions that people make, the kind of perspective that they have on the world. So that's something about the nature, the challenges of that kind of work.

 

Jason Price:

Let's stay with this for a second. Could you just describe your team? What was the makeup, the profile, the skillset of the team that you worked with to think through this process?

 

Jeremy Bentham:

There's a team and then, of course, there's the networks into which the team is connected. So within the team there would be subteams; so the economics team, the politics team, the social team, the technology team, the energy markets analysis teams. The group climate advisor would be part of the team. So you had functional expertise and you also had energy specific expertise as well. A number of these people would be world leaders in their field. They are known across the world. So a company like Shell, for example, isn't renowned to be at the place where you develop world-leading macroeconomist, but we would recruit, I would recruit a world-leading macroeconomist into the team to be the chief economist of Shell.

So we had that kind of functional expertise. A company like Shell, of course, develops people with great insight into different energy markets, and so largely, those people could be homegrown into the team. My role was to both help with that first craft that we spoke about, helping to weave together these different understandings, but also bridge that into what is key decisions for the company. Now when it comes to numbers in the team, you could talk about people who are spending a lot of their time purely on scenarios through to people who are working more broadly into helping set the economic parameters for all the big investments that the company is making.

But I used to estimate that in doing big scenario work, then there was probably a core team of a dozen people, but the whole team is more like 40 people. Maybe 150 people in Shell were part of the activity, but twice that many, 300 or more people outside Shell would be involved in some way. Now some of that might be because of a piece of sponsored research very specific. Some of it may just be through a conversation about some of our thinking that we want to have somebody respond to as a sounding board. But that's the kind of scope that it can be if you are talking about scenarios of global extent and extending out over decades as very often energy thinking has to be. But, of course, that scenario mindset, you can also apply in a much more modest ways for particular markets or particular issues, and then the team and the resources involved would be modest as well.

 

Jason Price:

Interesting. Important group dynamic, I'm sure. In our lead up to this call, you had mentioned radical uncertainty, and you talked about it with the assumptions. In scenario planning, there's a set of assumptions to accept and process through. I want to ask you about leadership today. We're talking about a power industry that's facing enormous transition, transformation, decarbonization, it just goes on and on. It requires a special individual to manage and wade through all that and take on radical uncertainty or build on assumptions. So maybe you can talk a little bit about the leadership in our space. What do you see as what energy leaders should be doing and how to deal with radical uncertainty in the various investments that they plan to make?

 

Jeremy Bentham:

Sure, a few thoughts on that. First of all, it is good to explore what are going to be the relatively stable expectations. So one of those relatively stable expectations is that decarbonization is going to be happening. That is an almost inevitable pathway, but there are a lot also of really critical uncertainties. Of some of those are technical uncertainties, e.g., I don't know what kind of fuels will fuel heavy transport. Will that be battery electric vehicles at the heavy side, hydrogen fuel cell vehicles at the heavy side? If you're talking about shipping, will it be ammonia? So there are technical uncertainties, but the really main uncertainty is timing. The way people think about this is often about how fast can this be? Will this move quickly or slowly? But I think leaders actually need to embrace a slightly different perspective on this. It is partly how fast, but the really main uncertainty is when will things happen? Because when the stars come together around a new development, competitive dynamics bring that into a position where things happen really quickly. So the speed is always going to be fast.

The uncertainty is the timing of the stars coming into alignment for that. When I talk about fast, what we see globally, just look at the history of transitions is that in this explosive phase of growth, you're talking about 25% growth globally per annum, 30% growth, 35% growth, it's very, very explosive growth. Because the energy system is so large, that explosive growth may be the reality for three decades more and still only have reached one or 2% of the global energy system when other dynamics begin to play through and you begin to get saturation in particular niches and things like that. I think leaders who can be comfortable enough to lead in situations that have ambiguity, leaders who are comfortable to explore different possibilities, to really embrace this time dimension in their thinking along with the competitive dynamic dimension. Again, to give you an idea, we have a lot of human biases and frailties, and many of those biases hold us into the status quo. We are twice as averse to losing something as we are motivated by the prospect of gaining something.

So this kind of way of thinking can help us step back from that a little bit and to recognize features like if you get on the front foot in preparing for a development or promoting a development that hasn't yet taken off, then you might be a little bit disappointed with the returns in that period before it takes off. But that is quite often a modest regret compared to not being on the front foot and it's taking off and you being left behind. So if you adopt this perspective, you begin to see in all these situations that I've been involved with, that I've seen, that I've analyzed that there's often a bigger regret to thinking you can go along with the mainstream when it happens than the regret of being an early mover. So I think that there's something about a leadership which is genuinely prepared to be on the front foot that is important in these times of transition.

I've looked at many of the transitions historically and ongoing. If you look back into the late '60s and the '70s with the global energy, liquified natural gas was the big thing then. Then companies like my former company, Shell, which was on the front foot in developing that industry, are still the global players in that industry. If you look at the light duty, the passenger electric vehicle market, the stars came together in a particular way. Tesla was on the front foot in aligning those stars and is still by far the most valuable vehicle company in the world in just a short time. So I think that this is not a council to be foolishly running ahead, but this is a council to recognize that being thoughtfully on the front foot is an important aspect of leadership and bringing people along with you who are risk averse is an aspect of leadership that is also going to have to be cultivated and applied. So just a few thoughts on that topic. I hope that's helpful.

 

Jason Price:

Yeah, very much so. So it really does lead to my next question. This may play into your thesis you're describing, and that is that it's really, and I think you've written about this to some degree, is the difference between the demand-led transition rather than a supply-led one. So could you elaborate why this is significant and how it shapes the strategy for energy transition?

 

Jeremy Bentham:

Yeah, certainly. This is about having a little bit of an understanding of how the system works, how the economy works, how the world works, which unfortunately, many people in society don't really have that understanding, and we need to recognize that and work with that. Many of the demands that you see are supply focused, so just stop fossil fuels, just stop producing oil, just stop producing gas. That's if you like disrupting the supply side. Those of us who are in the know that if you disrupt the supply side and there is demand, then that demand has to be substituted. People have to look for alternatives, and that can be if you are running a hospital, you need to switch... if your electricity supply is disrupted, you have to switch to your diesel generators or whatever. There have to be alternatives.

But in many areas there are limited alternatives and certainly, that's the case in the energy field as well. So then what happens is that you have competition for the available supply that leads to huge price spikes and effectively rationing through pricing. There those who are the poorest, generally the most vulnerable are those who get pushed out of the market, pushed out of supply. So mantras like just oil really mean just punish the poor unless there's been the capacity invested in it over time to provide substitutes. So a much better way of putting this is just substitute fossil fuels, just substitute oil, just substitute gas.

Then that helps at least balance the recognition that the development and the investment in technologies that enable switching to take place, that enable demand to be flexible are really the critical factor in transitioning a system. So demand-led transition will, for example, if we're talking about people like to talk about, "When will peak oil be?" Or, "Is that peak oil? When is that?" As it's demand-led you have supply following it, you actually can have a transition that is not destructive in that way that I just mentioned, that doesn't bring those kinds of societal pressures, but supply can be adjusted rather straightforwardly to that decline in demand. Whereas, if something is supply push driven, supply disruption, demand cannot adjust easily and simply in line with that. Then you get destructive things happening in the economy.

 

Jason Price:

Thank you for that, Jeremy. I want to bring it down to the individual level now, you're a strong advocate, not just for system-wide change, but also encouraging all of us to make decisions that can help our broader energy transition. What do you say to the potential disillusioned individual who is listening in on today who doesn't see how he or she can really make a difference as just one person? What actions, what individual actions are your favorite ones for which to advocate?

 

Jeremy Bentham:

That's a really, really good question. I think the frustrations that we see around is people as individuals feeling helpless in the face of the pressures that they see because they're not in a position to be making multimillion, multi-billion dollar decisions about investment, et cetera, et cetera. But I think there are five things that every individual can focus on. So first of all, as a citizen, then you have your vote. You can really look at the policies that are being promoted and being presented and use your vote in constructive ways, but also you can join citizens' movements in different ways that are trying to advocate for changes that are constructive in your mind, whether those are changes to do with the accessibility or energy changes to do with decarbonization. So number one, as a citizen, secondly, as a consumer, we are always consuming energy one way or another, directly or indirectly.

You can't operate, build or move anything without energy. So as an individual consumer, you can make choices, but even more so as consumer groups, you can make choices and have an influence. So for example, there are just five or six supply chains for familiar goods that account for a huge percentage of total emissions when you go through the whole supply chain. So for example, take something like fashion or electronics, those are some of those sectors which have a big impact. So you could join consumer movements which are demanding low environmental footprint fashion or low environmental footprint electronics. That sends a signal to the big businesses that there is a market here or potentially a premium market to be served.

That begins to create the motivation for the big investments upstream in the supply chains that can deliver those low footprint type products. Thirdly, as a professional, you are in a supply chain. You are involved in that, so you can look beyond your little part of the supply chain into the upstream, into the downstream of that and think about how, for instance, you can be part of aligning some of those stars to make some of these new developments really take off. Fourthly, I would say you can be a lifelong learner. You can take the time to listen to these types of podcasts, to join webinars, to learn about the system and the system dynamics and in that way, see the bigger picture of the energy system. Then fifthly, as a family member or as a community member, you can help raise awareness with others. So those would be the five things that I think as an individual you can give attention to.

 

Jason Price:

Well, certainly those are five very practical and sensible things to consider as an individual and as a steward of the planet. So Jeremy, thank you for that. We want to take you now to learn more about you, the individual rather than you, the professional. So we have what's called the lightning round, which gives us an opportunity to ask you a set of questions. We ask you to keep your response to one word or phrase. So are you ready?

 

Jeremy Bentham:

I haven't prepared for this, so go ahead. Let's see what comes out.

 

Jason Price:

All right. Well, what's your favorite late night snack?

 

Jeremy Bentham:

I'm going to have to say Everton Mints.

 

Jason Price:

Do you have any hidden talents?

 

Jeremy Bentham:

Theater has always been a big love of mine, and so just written my first play in 30 years.

 

Jason Price:

What are you bringing with you on a deserted island?

 

Jeremy Bentham:

I think I'm going to bring something that can receive podcasts.

 

Jason Price:

If it wasn't for the energy field, what alternative career would you be doing?

 

Jeremy Bentham:

Yeah, I would either have been an actor or a writer.

 

Jason Price:

What are you most motivated by?

 

Jeremy Bentham:

My purpose over the last 20 years could really be summarized by promoting a better life for people with a healthy planet.

 

Jason Price:

Well, you have successfully navigated our lightning round, and you earn the final word. So for our listeners to our conversation today, what's the most important message you hope they take away from this episode?

 

Jeremy Bentham:

I think that first of all, energy is so intrinsic to society and life. We can't operate, build or move anything without energy, and so we are now in the time when we're having to rewire the entire global economy. We need this for prosperity. We need this for the healthy planet, so we need to decarbonize. In order to decarbonize, we have to think from our everyday life what we use, what we do, and work back upstream from that into those activities where the emissions emerge and channel the revenue from our choices towards motivating those big investments that are required to keep us all in a much better place than we will otherwise be if we don't take that task ahead.

 

Jason Price:

It's nicely stated. Jeremy, I don't think I've ever suggested to a guest to write a book, but I feel like you would have so much important lessons to share in perspectives and methodologies to think through as we go for this transformation that would really help the next generation of leaders. So now that you've written your play, perhaps you have some time now to think about putting together, if not already, I may have missed that, a book that we could all learn from and think about as we enter into this next transition in our energy space.

 

Jeremy Bentham:

Mate, thanks for that. I haven't written some chapter design. I'm going to work on a book, but your listeners might be interested in the fact that I actually do already produce a newsletter. It's called The Dodo Club Newsletter, and so people might look out for that where I share some of the experience and insights into the energy system that I have.

 

Jason Price:

Very nice. You can get that at dodoclub.com or how would you get that?

 

Jeremy Bentham:

Why don't we put that on to your website?

 

Jason Price:

Energy Central, perfect, the link to sign up. Fantastic. Well, I got to say this has been really insightful and a thrill to have you on, and thank you for making this a cross continental opportunity. We really appreciate the time you share, the wisdom you've bestowed on us, and again, your time today on the podcast. So thank you again, Jeremy, for joining us.

 

Jeremy Bentham:

Thanks very much for giving me the opportunity, and I wish you and your listeners a fantastic time ahead.

 

Jason Price:

Fantastic. You can always reach Jeremy through the Energy Central platform where he welcomes your question and comments. We also want to give a thanks, a shout-out to our podcast sponsors that made today's episode possible. Thanks to West Monroe. West Monroe is a leading partner for the nation's largest electric, gas and water utilities, working together to drive grid modernization, clean energy and workforce transformation. West Monroe's comprehensive services are 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 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.

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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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