Welcome to the new Energy Central — same great community, now with a smoother experience. To login, use your Energy Central email and reset your password.

Home
Energy Central Podcasts
Energy Central Podcasts
 · Posted in Home

Power Perspectives™ Podcast: Using AI to Predict & Protect: Grid-wide Storm Resilience (with Rob Brook, Neara)

Be sure to sign into your Energy Central account (register for free here) to access this full post with the podcast recording.

In this episode, Rob Brook, Senior Vice President and Managing Director – Americas at Neara, joins the Power Perspectives Podcast to discuss a pressing challenge for the energy sector: the growing impact of severe weather on energy infrastructure. As storms increase in frequency and intensity, Rob shares how utilities must enhance their resilience strategies and what Neara is doing to harness the power of AI and simulation to help utilities predict, prepare for, and respond to these extreme weather events.


Listen in as Rob discusses:

  • How AI-driven simulations model the impacts of severe weather on utility networks
  • The types of data required to build accurate simulations and how utilities manage data quality
  • Insights from Neara’s collaboration with CenterPoint Energy, focusing on storm preparation post-Hurricane Beryl
  • Applications of AI in utility operations beyond storm resilience, including asset management and grid modernization
  • Overcoming regulatory and cost challenges to implement cutting-edge technology

For any utility stakeholders aiming to make our grid more resilient, this episode is for you. Join host Jason Price and producer Matt Chester as they explore the future of storm preparedness and grid resilience with Rob Brook.

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:

Rob Brook's profile on Energy Central: https://energycentral.com/member/profile/robert-brook

Ask a Question to Our Future Guests: Do you have a burning question for the utility executives and energy industry thought leaders that we feature each week on Power Perspectives? Leave us a message here for your chance to be featured in an upcoming episode: www.speakpipe.com/EnergyCentralPodcast 

 

TRANSCRIPT

Jason Price:

In October, Hurricane Milton devastated large parts of central Florida, and this is the 10th major storm in the past six years. Utilities are under pressure to elevate their focus and storm preparedness and use all the tools at their disposal in its response. With severe storms lurking on the horizon, how can modern thinking and technological innovation help utilities stay a step ahead? How can we plan our infrastructure differently? And what role can AI serve in simulating and predicting the impact of severe weather on energy infrastructure? We'll ask these questions and a lot more next on Energy Central's Power Perspectives podcast.

I'm Jason Price, your host coming to you from New York City. And with me as always is Matt Chester, Energy Central producer and community manager from Orlando, Florida. Matt, I'm glad you are safe and I'm sure you can speak first hand on the recent hurricane that went through your region. What can you share and what are you hearing from the Energy Central community on this topic?

 

Matt Chester:

Yeah, thanks for that, Jason. We're used to it in Orlando, occasionally getting those direct hits, but we're always grateful when we come out the other side safe. And then to your point about Energy Central, of course the topics of storm resilience and restoration, they're not new ones. They're challenges that utility sector, it's dealt with for decades, not just here in Florida, but wherever those natural disasters strike. But there's definitely no denying that the heightened frequency and severity of these storms, along with our increased reliance on digital infrastructure for everyday life that requires that constant connection to the grid, all of this has come together to emphasize the need for grid preparations and hardening more than ever before. So rather than it just being a topic that you hear about on Energy Central during hurricane season, storm preparedness, it's buzzing all year round. And yeah, after these back-to-back hurricanes hitting the southeast United States in October, that focus is that fever pitch.

So today's conversation is one that's going to fit right into that environment, and I know we're going to have eager listeners looking to learn about what more can they be doing for that preparation process.

 

Jason Price:

Absolutely, Matt. Before we dive in though, we want to give a thanks to West Monroe, our sponsor of today's episode. West Monroe works with utilities on grid modernization, clean energy projects and digital transformation to make programs like this possible. And joining us discuss this all too frequent topic of hurricanes and utility resilience and infrastructure planning is Rob Brook, senior vice president and general manager for the Americas at NERA, where he leads efforts to help utilities strengthen grid resilience using AI-powered technology. With over 30 years in the energy and IT industries, Rob's an expert in transforming utility operations through advanced simulation and asset management strategies. So without further ado, Rob Brook, welcome to the Energy Central Power Perspectives podcast.

 

Rob Brook:

Thanks Jason. It's great to be here. I look forward to the conversation.

 

Jason Price:

Absolutely. As are we. So Rob, let's start with a quick background on you. Can you tell us about your pathway from a world of IT and into the world of energy? And how exactly does that experience position you today?

 

Rob Brook:

That's a good question. I'll try not to turn this into a thesis. You can tune in some other time for the expanded version of this, but I think these two areas go hand-in-hand. Often, IT provides the how and the lines of business inside of utilities provide the what. So we're consistently looking at challenges and different portions of that, but our historical methods for being able to address those challenges have changed. It used to be 20 years ago it was manpower and time that we would apply to them, but we're starting to come across problems that are large enough, that manpower and time is not the answer anymore.

And this is one of those places that AI has come into fruition in utilities, and I don't want to give people the impression that AI is making decisions as to what's happening at utilities because that's not the case. It's actually providing information for the people in those utilities to make educated decisions. So I think that realm of it and the realm of utilities is really at that crossroads. So I like to think that the history I've had over the last 30 years in the industry has brought me to a point where I've learned an awful lot about technology and now I spend most of my time trying to help utilities determine where and how they should play.

 

Jason Price:

That's great, Rob. Thank you. But let's now talk big picture. You've been on record saying, "As we are asking the grid to do more in the next 10 years than we've asked and let's say in the last 50 years." So can you tell us how that relates to the challenge of extreme weather events and what utilities are facing today?

 

Rob Brook:

We used to think of extreme weather events as something that happened every once in a while. I'm not sure that extreme weather events is actually even the right term for it anymore because it seems to be something that we're facing consistently. I look at my forecast in the Pacific Northwest and I have a couple days of sun, and then as far as the horizon goes, it's rain every day. California doesn't seem to have just warm periods anymore. It seems to be like that every year. We used to talk about wildfire season being a chunk of the year, but now I actually think it's something that utilities are preparing for 12 months out of that year. This is probably a banner year for hurricanes. The storm fronts that we see go through the Midwest, etc, these are events that we see all the time. So I'm not sure if anybody's ever read that book The Perfect Storm, but I feel like we're sort of in that mix right now.

So these extreme weather events and how utilities are facing it is a topic that I think most utilities are thinking about and resiliency is a term that we hear all over the place, but we hear it sort of situationally placed, like we're talking about what's happening in Texas or we're looking at what's happening in Florida. But I think resiliency is a term now at every utility, and having the ability to maintain their operations consistently and satisfy their constituents and the customers is critical.

 

Jason Price:

Rob, one of the areas you're working on is the ability to simulate storm impacts on utility networks. So how does that simulation process work and how does that help utilities respond more effectively?

 

Rob Brook:

So it's really hard to respond to something that you don't know, don't understand and don't know the outcomes for. So I think any piece of information that a utility can get is critical to how they're going to respond. But the simulation is pretty interesting. This is one of those places where historically, we weren't able to do this kind of work and it's because humans have the ability to cover a certain number of things. The number of factors involved in how this operates is pretty sizable. So it's one of these places where a computer and AI really helps in how those decisions are made. The first principle I think in there when we think about how this is done is the data. Data is only as good as the system was collected with, how accurate it is, so any result is dependent on the input data that comes to it.

So for us, the way that we start this is by having very detailed information about those assets themselves. So we understand where they are, we understand what they are, we understand how they perform. And this magic that exists inside of the NERA's platform is really not to show where and what assets look like in three dimensions. There's all kinds of ways to be able to do that. What we do is simulate what happens. How do they react? What's their behavior? So there's an engineering and physics library that sits inside of the platform, and this data really feeds that engineering and physics library so that we can properly model how an asset will perform under conditions. And then we have a finite element analysis tool that dissects something like a pole into each one of its individual components so we can understand the stress and strain associated.

So first of all is data. The second one is making sure that we understand the performance around those individual metrics. The third one is understanding the environments that those assets are going to have to live inside. Lots of them are much more microclimatology than they are macroclimatology. Geo 95 for California is an example. It gives us an understanding of what winds we need to be able to model the equipment performance against. What does it have to be able to withstand?

So with that understanding, the when, the where, the equipment, how do they respond more efficiently and effectively is that next step after you sort of understand the equipment and what occurs with it. What you really want to be able to do is ensure that you have the right staff and the right place with the right training to be able to do the work you need. You want to make sure that the yards in the field have the right equipment to be able to replace things that fail, but also not just have a giant storehouse of equipment because that's money that sits without having a purpose. The models should form what happens with the equipment, but they also inform supply chain, inform procurement, they inform staffing, they inform crew behavior, these kind of things.

 

Jason Price:

All right, I want to ask you about the data a bit further, so I might want to push on that point, but we all know that data must be governed, it must be cleansed, it must be the right data, and utilities have struggled in this area. So Rob, really want you to talk about how do you overcome this? How do you challenge this? You're creating models based on data. How confident are you in that? What are some of the inputs that are needed to run the simulation successfully? Where have you seen it go wrong? Just talk to us about that, will you?

 

Rob Brook:

Sure. And it's not as complicated a topic as we would think, right? The utilities have a lot of information that sort of fit for purpose, right? Jaya system, a very powerful tool, but it's a mapping tool. So it's not meant to be inch-accurate or centimeter-accurate. It's meant to fit the purpose that it has. So for us being, able to model what the equipment is where it is, is really important. So we use the point cloud to do that and generally, we'll create that point cloud from LiDAR because LiDAR is the most accurate representation of the equipment that we can get in the field.

We supplement that with a combination of either data that comes from the GIS, the attributes and details about what those pieces of equipment are, like pole type, the time that it was put into the ground, condition assessments, these kinds of things, and also with the construction records or the construction standards that the utility has. So if they have really good construction records about what was put in the field, the red lines were adapted into a system, we'll take information from there.

Most utilities... Actually, I can't say most. I think all utilities have these design files which document what they built in the field. So they might have 40, 50, 60, 70 different types of pole combinations that they put out there and they have those as well. So being able to pull that information into that system is really important. But that's the foundation of what we need to have to be able to run the simulations and models that we've got the exact location of where that equipment is and then what the equipment is itself because it's pretty hard to be able to accurately model something like sag-sway associated with a cable if you don't have very good details about where both ends of those cables exist.

So that last one again is understanding the challenges that particular piece of equipment is going to have to withstand. And we've generalized a lot of that, right? Even Geo 95 for California is a pretty generalized standard as to what people expect to see in those areas. I think this is where a utility can tailor. In almost every case, you have the base requirement of what's required from a regulatory organization, but you can also extend and go beyond that. If you know more about the operating parameters of your equipment in different places and instead of an 80-mile-an-hour wind, you feel like you need to withstand 90-mile-an-hour wind, then you can make those adjustments to it. It's that stack of information. Where are things? What are they? What information do we have about it? And then what does it have to withstand?

 

Jason Price:

Great. Well, take us through a case study. I know that you've done some work with Centerpoint after Hurricane Beryl. What was that relationship like working with Centerpoint? What was the outcome of that? And where are you today with that relationship?

 

Rob Brook:

Sure. So I'm going to use a couple of quotes we've got from our efforts in association with the Centerpoint staff. Texas is in an epicenter of major global energy challenges that are all coming to fruition. And the rest of the country I think is really watching what's happening there. They're watching what's happening in Texas. So I want to kind of highlight what Jason Wells said about their challenges shortly afterwards. "Leveraging technology and AI to deliver better outcomes for our customers and communities is a significant part of the commitment we've made after Hurricane Beryl." Really what he's seeing here is the requirement and the ability to predict the future. That's what most utilities would like to be able to do because if you can understand what's happening in front of here, then you can determine what you do to be able to react against it.

So until recently, most utilities were forced to maybe use a pencil instead of a supercomputer to solve serious challenges like this. They were looking at individual pole design, individual pole assessment, not a scalable analysis across an entire operating area that helped them make decisions about what they were going to do. So this is where that partnership begins.

Centerpoint has some of the brightest minds in the industry and we're proactively predicting outcomes and thus providing them with information, essentially giving these talented professionals a new weapon to be able to use in this battle against Mother Nature. And I remember in university, I was doing an engineering course and the professor this time said, "The perpetual challenge of a utility is to build the right infrastructure and then spend the rest of its existence trying to defeat Mother Nature's attempt to destroy it." We're really giving them the information to be able to make the right decisions around that.

So the second part of what Jason said in this press session a little while ago is also kind of describes what our partnership was founded on. "By simulating the potential impacts of severe weather events on our infrastructure and customers, the nearest platform and tools will provide our plans and actions, before, during, and after major weather events to help reduce the impact and duration of power outages. Understanding how weather scenarios and their risks could affect our operations will position us to be several steps ahead on our preparation of response."

This is really the fundamental nature of what our relationship is with them right now. We're helping them identify these risks faster and make proactive repair decisions specifically related to vegetation management and ultimately reduce the duration of these outages. So to date, we've involved in the tactical efforts needed, building a model out that they can use for prediction, like I said before, pulling the right information into that model.

So our goal is to provide that critical information that Centerpoint can use to mitigate storm outcomes and ensure that resilience. And I think they would be in a better place to comment on the steps that they've made in relation to this storm preparation, because as I said, our role in that is to be able to stand up this highly analytical, proactive platform to generate information that they're really skilled users are using to go through and perform their mitigation process.

 

Jason Price:

All right. Well, that's really cutting edge. So talk to us about what's beyond storm preparedness. What are the use cases is NIRA working on or that you've already applied in the field? Just share with us what's beyond just the storm preparedness side of the discussion.

 

Rob Brook:

Sure. I've spent my whole life in this environment. So one of the things that I've always struggled with in the past is that a utility is this complex combination of a whole variety of vertical solutions that they have to solve problems. Often you don't have a single system of record, you don't have a single representation of infrastructure that everybody's working on. So it's hard to be able to bring different groups inside of the company, compare the results, compare the analytics, and be able to work together on these sorts of things. And this is a place where I think NIRA really stands above.

We have a platform. We have this what we call a digital network model inside of it, but we have a whole variety of use cases that run on top. So really, it allows people in vegetation and people in electrification, people in design to be able to use that same set of information to solve all those problems in the right consistency and it's also highly accurate.

So beyond resiliency, I'd like to pick a couple of examples. Like I said, we've got a number of use cases, but I think there are some that are sort of upstream and downstream of the challenges that are being faced in Texas. Upstream, I think it's being able to design these systems. And we have designed use cases in our platform. So being able to design and analyze. Our strategy on that design side is to take an engineer who right now might spend 100% of their time executing a design, and allow them to create and execute that design in 40%. So they can spend that other 60% of their time running simulations, understanding how to mitigate long-term events, being able to look at repositioning equipment to reduce vegetation management challenges, really try to undo a problem before that problem has occurred. So design is one of those areas where that process has been the same for utilities for a number of years and it's an area where I think we're able to pull the blanket back and provide new methods and better methods to be able to reduce the long-term operating challenges.

The second one is around load growth. I think that's probably one of the biggest challenges that utility is going to face, both from that transmission side through the distribution side. FERC has stuck their foot into that FERC 81 we're they're looking at line reading requirements. So we have a line reading tool inside of our application, but it's more situational than anything else. And what 81 does is it gets utilities to think about their transmission system and think about how they maximize the capacity of their transmission system.

What we do is that capacity challenge isn't in the transmission system. It's someplace in their distribution system and we provide an efficiency from the end of that transmission system all the way through to where that capacity challenge is in distribution. And we can do that by minimizing clearance measures. Utilities are pretty conservative about that, but that decreases the capacity that can be pushed through those lines. So I think there's a number of things that we can do for an organization. Having a platform that allows them to attack a number of different areas with the same tool set I think is really valuable. Those are a couple examples of other things that we're doing inside of this space.

 

Jason Price:

Any action or activity or investment that the utilities want to make still requires regulatory approvals. So talk to us or share with us what feedback have you seen or heard from the regulatory perspective? What position do they have on your technology? Just to share with us what are perhaps some lessons learned that we should all be thinking about?

 

Rob Brook:

So I'd like to take a quotation that I saw a little while ago and just double-click on it. I read something earlier this year that said that 60% of rate case submissions are being rejected. And I spent a lot of time thinking about that and trying to understand why. Having worked at a utility in the past, I've gone through the whole process of being able to pull together rate cases, and I've watched organizations that I've worked with. When I think about why a lot of those submissions are being rejected, my understanding is that there's not the supplementary information to be able to justify what's inside of them. So there's been a tradition inside of the utility community about what goes into a rate case and what it's meant to do. But I think what the commissions are asking for now is more justification and understanding as to why utilities need that money, why utilities need to do that specific piece of it.

We're creating that supplementary information to help utilities understand that if I've got a hundred-pole area inside of here, and historically I would've come in and said let's just remove all those poles and put composite poles in place because that's sturdy. It's a more sexy engineering project as well. There's a whole variety of different things you can do inside of that space to turn the cost and the effectiveness style up and down. A lot of poles will fail because of a tension imbalance on one side or the other, so maybe a retentioning exercise is the answer to solving some of those challenges. Maybe bracing will work in other cases, maybe some of them have to be replaced. But what we've done there is actually go through and produce an analysis that expresses what the challenges are inside of that area. That's the first piece of supplementary information.

The second one that we've done is gone through and used a variety of different tools with different costs to be able to determine how to close that gap. That's the second piece of information that can be provided. So when this goes into a rate case now, we can provide a clear understanding that we know the problem. We understand the problem in front of us in this area.

We also understand the ways that we can fix it. So do we accept that the problem is significant? We've got supplemental information to be able to indicate that that is the case. Now we've come to you with the most effective way of combining solutions to be able to remove that as a problem, and the supplemental information is there to support that too. So when I go back and think about it, I think regulators are really trying to do what all of us are trying to do. We're looking at how do we spend our money better? How do we understand where we're getting the top value out of every dollar? And we're helping the utilities actually come back with that supplemental information to justify the actions and build that case through it.

 

Jason Price:

Rob, you really know your stuff here. I'm really impressed and you're really taking very timely topics, AI and overall grid planning and preparedness and bringing it to real life. So I want to thank you for that and I know our audience is going to have a lot to talk about in all this. And I'm sure they're going to follow up with some questions.

Before we let you go, we want to give you the final word. We do have something called the lightning round where we pivot to learn a little bit more about you the person rather than you the professional. So I'm going to throw a handful of questions at you. We ask you to keep your response to one word or phrase. So are you ready?

 

Rob Brook:

Sure, let's go.

 

Jason Price:

All right. What would be the superpower you would wish for?

 

Rob Brook:

None. I believe that any single person solving a problem is the challenge. I think that the best way to solve our problems is through teamwork, bringing the right minds together to be able to go through and poke at a problem and provide an answer. So I would say none unless you want to give me the power to be able to create people.

 

Jason Price:

All right. Go-to movie snack?

 

Rob Brook:

That's a good question. I'm not very much of a sweets person, but maybe kettle corn.

 

Jason Price:

Who are your role models?

 

Rob Brook:

I have a ton of them, but I'm going use the one that's really personal. It's my dad. My dad worked until he was 87, and the reason he did is because he actually just loved what it was he did. I think every day, he took that approach where he was in the office before anybody else and was the last one to leave, not because he was trying to make an impression, but because it gave him the time to be able to tackle a challenge. I think that passion for what people do is really important and it's something that I try and model on a daily basis.

 

Jason Price:

Rob, we collect lightning round questions from past podcast guests to ask future guests. So we have one here for you from Sam Hartzman of Duquesne Light and Company who challenged the future guests with the following question. Tell us about your dream dinner party. Who would you invite and what would you serve?

 

Rob Brook:

Thanks, Sam. This is going to come as a little bit of a gear shift, but I would invite Anthony Bourdain, Wade Davis and Bill Buford. I always thought Anthony Bourdain had the job that I was most envious of, being able to travel to these unique places around the world and be able to experience their food culture and understand about it and have the luxury of writing about it. I'm not sure that I could actually ever spend enough time with him to understand those sorts of things and to hear what he had to say, so I would invite him.

Davis is a Harvard ethnobotanist. If you have a chance to be able to look at some of the materials he's written are fascinating. It's about how the world has used biological products through time. He's a Canadian, pretty interesting life, but I think he'd be another fascinating guest. Bill Buford is a former writer for I think the New Yorker, and he's written a series of really sort of interesting food books about places in the world where he digs into the history behind it and helps us understand elements of food culture that we probably don't know. So he's written a book called Dirt, another one called Heat. They're just fascinating books.

So what would I serve? I have a real fascination with Asian cuisine, mostly because I think we use meat as a supplement in that, not necessarily as the main course. So something in that realm. Or I have this steak recipe that I got years ago from a chef in Northern Manitoba, if you can believe it. It's pretty spectacular and it requires some aging and precooking and slicing, and I might do that.

 

Jason Price:

You'll have to put that recipe on the show notes. Now it's your turn. What lightning round question do you want to challenge a future guest to answer? And of course, it could be topical and related to energy or it can be an off-the-wall question.

 

Rob Brook:

So I'm going to use an energy question. I really have a lot of interest and passion around this concept of localized generation and consumption. When I look at the transmission challenge we have across the country, I think this is one of the ways that we're able to solve it. It's not the only way, but it's one of the ways that we're able to solve it. So I'd ask someone, what's your perspective on localized generation consumption? What's missing? How do we bring it to life?

 

Jason Price:

Fantastic. And lastly, what are you most passionate about?

 

Rob Brook:

Well, outside of what I do every day, because I particularly passionate about the safety side of what we're able to do. I feel right now I work for a company who has the best solution to mitigate risk that utility has.

Outside of that, food is a real passion for me. Those of you who know me have heard me talk about flour, and that's maybe a psychosis I've punished a number of people with, but I feel like our perception about what processed food is greatly underrated. And we are what we eat. You see a much higher instance of illnesses in people today. My mom had Crohn's in her sixties. I got it in my forties and my daughter got it when she was seven. There's something in there that is an underpinning to what's happening, and food is one of my passions. I think it's a way to be able to extend our lives and basically extend this species as a whole.

 

Jason Price:

That's very interesting. Thank you for sharing that. So Rob, I did share with you that we've got the ear of the utility industry. A lot of decision makers and leaders are listening in on this podcast. So what would you like to be your final and lasting message that you hope that this audience would take away from the conversation today?

 

Rob Brook:

Well, this is something that I've become more and more convinced about as my career has gone on. As industry leaders, I think it's an opportunity for us to pick up our heads, which 90% of the time we're heads down trying to accomplish what's in front of us. And take a look at what's coming towards us. Energy is a challenge, but I don't feel like this is something that any one of us can solve on our own. Capacity, electrification, the transmission challenge we have in the US, we need to work together to be able to solve these problems. So we can kill each other trying to compete over opportunities, or we can put that sort of sword down and figure out how to work together to be able to address these challenges. So in every one of those opportunities, we've gotten the chance to be able to partner with somebody or we have the chance to be able to work with conflict. I would encourage us all to spend time trying to figure out how we work together to solve these challenges.

 

Jason Price:

Wise words. I really appreciate your insight. Thank you so much for being part of this podcast, and I'm sure our listeners will have questions and comments and even follow-ups. So we invite them to post them on the website on Energy Central. And Rob, please keep the conversation going. Certainly go on the website itself and provide responses or comments to any of the questions that are posted. So until then though, we just want to thank you for sharing your insight with us in today's episode.

 

Rob Brook:

Thanks, Jason. Appreciate the time.

 

Jason Price:

You bet. You can always reach Rob 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 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. Plug in and stay fully charged in the discussion by hopping into the community Energy Central.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:

1 reply