With Great Power

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The electric grid is one of the most complex machines ever built. And it’s changing faster than ever. ‘With Great Power’ is about the people building the future grid, today. Each episode features stories about the technology, climate, security, and economic shifts that are reshaping utilities and the electricity system.

HACE 2 DÍAS

A second shot at smart meters

In 2015, Laura Sherman and her colleagues from Colorado Sen. Michael Bennet’s office rode horses into a special part of the Rocky Mountains called the Thompson Divide. Laura had landed in Sen. Bennet’s office after grad school as part of a policy fellowship with the American Academy for the Advancement of Science. At the time she was a legislative assistant to Sen. Bennet. She and her colleagues were working on legislation to protect federally-owned portions of the Divide from future energy and mineral extraction. It was all part of a plan she made years earlier, while studying geochemistry at the University of Michigan. Laura realized that to influence climate policy, she needed to connect her research to policymakers. Today, Laura continues to connect people and policy as president of the Michigan Energy Innovation Business Council, a trade association that’s advancing clean power in the state. This week on With Great Power, Laura Sherman talks about the state of advanced metering infrastructure in Michigan, why she wants utilities to deploy next-generation smart meters, and the value the technology provides to Michiganders and consumers everywhere. Credits: Hosted by Brad Langley. Produced by Mary Catherine O’Connor. Edited by Anne Bailey. Original music and engineering by Sean Marquand. Stephen Lacey is executive editor. The GridX production team includes Jenni Barber, Samantha McCabe, and Brad Langley.

24 min
2 SEP

Crunching the numbers on the nuclear renaissance

Mike Kramer has always liked puzzles. But in 2017 he faced one harder than any sudoku. This one involved the livelihoods of hundreds of American families. As director of business operations and the chief financial officer for Exelon Corporation’s eastern region, Mike Kramer was accountable for the financial health of seven nuclear generation facilities across four states. And things were not looking good. The trend lines for nuclear power had been heading down. In much of the country, renewables had reached grid parity and cheap natural gas was edging out nuclear power. He couldn’t make the math work at one of the reactors Exelon had operated for nearly 50 years – Three Mile Island Unit One. So in September 2019, it shut down. But last fall, things started turning around. Exelon spin-out Constellation, where Mike is now VP of data economy strategy, is restarting the plant as the Crane Clean Energy Center. And things are looking up at Constellation’s nuclear plant in Clinton, Illinois, which it is relicensing to operate for another 20 years. This week on With Great Power, Mike shares his take on the nuclear energy renaissance, what it’s been like to go from decommissioning to recommissioning a plant, and what growing demand for emissions-free power means for Constellation’s nuclear fleet across the country. With Great Power is a co-production of GridX and Latitude Studios. Subscribe on Apple, Spotify, or anywhere you get podcasts. For more reporting on the companies featured in this podcast, subscribe to Latitude Media's newsletter. Credits: Hosted by Brad Langley. Produced by Mary Catherine O’Connor. Edited by Anne Bailey. Original music and engineering by Sean Marquand. Stephen Lacey is executive editor. The GridX production team includes Jenni Barber, Samantha McCabe, and Brad Langley.

25 min
19 AGO

Energy outreach from small towns to the world stage

In the early 2000s, when she was doing legal work in her native Texas, Sheri Givens held state government roles that put her in the thick of energy policy-making. And in 2009, Texas Governor Rick Perry appointed Sheri the chief executive of Public Counsel of the Texas Office of Public Utility Counsel. That made her, in effect, the consumer advocate for all 20 million Texas utility ratepayers. To do that job well, Sheri wanted to sit down with consumers across the state. So she spent days crisscrossing the state in her truck advising consumers on their energy utility choices. Sheri went on to consultancy and executive roles in the energy sector. Now, as president and CEO of the Smart Electric Power Alliance (SEPA), a non-profit organization for energy sector professionals, she still has that same enthusiasm for empowering people. Amid tremendous demand for clean energy and deep uncertainty around federal energy policy, SEPA convenes folks from across the sector, the country, and the world to learn from each other. This week on With Great Power, Sheri shares why she’s bullish on states' progress toward clean energy goals despite federal headwinds, and what strategies utilities are using to advance policy and innovation right now. With Great Power is a co-production of GridX and Latitude Studios. Subscribe on Apple, Spotify, or anywhere you get podcasts. For more reporting on the companies featured in this podcast, subscribe to Latitude Media's newsletter. Credits: Hosted by Brad Langley. Produced by Erin Hardick and Mary Catherine O’Connor. Edited by Anne Bailey. Original music and engineering by Sean Marquand. Stephen Lacey is executive editor. The Grid X production team includes Jenni Barber, Samantha McCabe, and Brad Langley.

20 min
5 AGO

Taming explosive load growth with rates

Fifteen years ago, Scott Engstrom thought utilities were boring, bureaucratic organizations where people went for job security. But after co-founding GridX in 2010 during the smart meter era, he discovered an industry full of dedicated people tackling complex challenges. GridX went the next five years without a paying customer. Then, in 2015, California mandated time-of-use rates, and the start-up found its footing. Today, Scott helps utilities nationwide design and implement sophisticated rates for a variety of programs, from electric vehicle charging to demand response programs and virtual power plants. Because as load growth from AI data centers and industrial customers strains the grid, sophisticated rates have become more critical than ever. This week on With Great Power, Scott outlines how rate design helps utilities manage unprecedented load growth from data centers and why "growth pays for growth" protects existing customers from new infrastructure costs.

24 min
22 JUL

Bringing organized markets to the Wild West

In December 2001, Carrie Simpson sat at her desk on the trading floor of Enron confused, disenchanted, and unsure of what would happen next. A recent college graduate and brand-new power trading analyst at the company, she could barely wrap her head around the news that the power trading giant had just filed for bankruptcy. So she left the world of electricity and became a teacher at her hometown high school just outside of Houston. But she knew she didn’t want to be a teacher for the rest of her life. In 2007 Carrie went back to the power sector, and since then has developed deep expertise in the arena of organized electricity markets. Today, as vice president of markets at Southwest Power Pool, she is helping implement SPP’s newest offering to the utilities of the American West: Markets+. This week on With Great Power, Carrie explains why utilities in the West are finally ready for more organized power markets; and how Markets+ was designed and is being implemented today. With Great Power is a co-production of GridX and Latitude Studios. Subscribe on Apple, Spotify, or anywhere you get podcasts. For more reporting on the companies featured in this podcast, subscribe to Latitude Media's newsletter. Credits: Hosted by Brad Langley. Produced by Erin Hardick. Edited by Anne Bailey. Original music and engineering by Sean Marquand. Stephen Lacey is executive editor. The Grid X production team includes Jenni Barber, Samantha McCabe, and Brad Langley.

24 min
8 JUL

Your attic insulation is a grid asset

A Jurassic Park clip at an audio-visual store in Indianapolis got Seth Little thinking about smart homes as a teenager in the 1990s. That moment led him to a career in energy efficiency. Today, he's the director of market development and partnerships at CLEAResult, one of North America's largest energy efficiency implementation firms. Seth has a provocative take on the energy transition: attic insulation is a grid-responsive asset. While the industry has been moving toward digital solutions, Seth argues that traditional efficiency measures should complement, not replace, active technologies. Unlike demand response programs that require internet connectivity, a well-insulated attic is always working to reduce peak demand—and it's often more cost-effective than deploying multiple digital systems. This week on With Great Power, Seth explains why we need a full set of solutions to achieve grid responsiveness, how high-resolution meter data is changing program design, and why utilities need to do more with customer data. With Great Power is a co-production of GridX and Latitude Studios. Subscribe on Apple, Spotify, or anywhere you get podcasts. For more reporting on the companies featured in this podcast, subscribe to Latitude Media's newsletter. Credits: Hosted by Brad Langley. Produced by Erin Hardick. Edited by Anne Bailey. Original music and engineering by Sean Marquand. Stephen Lacey is executive editor. The Grid X production team includes Jenni Barber, Samantha McCabe, and Brad Langley.

21 min
24 JUN

From pandemic to power grids

Adam Helman has spent his entire career in emergency management. But after working for the New York State Department of Health during the COVID pandemic, he wanted something new. So in 2023, Adam moved from responding to a public health emergency to responding to the climate emergency, in addition to other hazards utilities have dealt with for decades. Just two years into his role as director of emergency services for the energy services company Avangrid, he’s already seen a number of back-to-back emergencies caused by everything from winter storms to gas leaks. This week on With Great Power, Adam shares with Brad some of the ways that Avangrid’s emergency response operations are evolving as intense weather and other hazards put more physical and mental stress on first responders. They also discuss why meteorologists play an increasingly vital role in utility emergency response, and how utilities are integrating new threats, like wildfires in the Northeast, into their planning. With Great Power is a co-production of GridX and Latitude Studios. Subscribe on Apple, Spotify, or anywhere you get podcasts. For more reporting on the companies featured in this podcast, subscribe to Latitude Media's newsletter. Credits: Hosted by Brad Langley. Produced by Erin Hardick and Mary Catherine O’Connor. Edited by Anne Bailey. Original music and engineering by Sean Marquand. Stephen Lacey is executive editor. The Grid X production team includes Jenni Barber, Samantha McCabe, and Brad Langley.

20 min
10 JUN

Building AI tools to outsmart wildfires

In 1994, Joaquin Ramirez took a job with a wildland fire-fighting crew in his native Spain. That year, Spain saw some of the most destructive fires in its history, and Joaquin quickly realized he just wasn’t cut out to be a wildland firefighter. He left the crew, but he kept thinking about the outdated maps his fellow firefighters had relied on, and wondering how better sensing and mapping technologies could make fighting wildfires safer and more effective. That curiosity led him to found Technosylva in 1998 to provide firefighters with advanced fire mapping and prediction tools. In 2007, the company expanded to the U.S. This week on With Great Power, Joaquin tells Brad how Technosylva provides wildfire risk analysis services to utilities and fire agencies, and how incorporating AI into its wildfire risk forecasting tools can help utilities make more informed decisions in managing power infrastructure. With Great Power is a co-production of GridX and Latitude Studios. Subscribe on Apple, Spotify, or anywhere you get podcasts. For more reporting on the companies featured in this podcast, subscribe to Latitude Media's newsletter. Credits: Hosted by Brad Langley. Produced by Erin Hardick and Mary Catherine O’Connor. Edited by Anne Bailey. Original music and engineering by Sean Marquand. Stephen Lacey is executive editor. The Grid X production team includes Jenni Barber, Samantha McCabe, and Brad Langley.

21 min

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The electric grid is one of the most complex machines ever built. And it’s changing faster than ever. ‘With Great Power’ is about the people building the future grid, today. Each episode features stories about the technology, climate, security, and economic shifts that are reshaping utilities and the electricity system.