Electric Perspectives Edison Electric Institute

In mid-April, EEI International Programs hosted the Global Electrification Forum (GEF), which brings together EEI’s domestic and international member companies, industry experts, and thought leaders from around the world. This conference is dedicated to addressing the most pressing challenges and opportunities facing the electrification of our society.
This year’s event featured a line-up of distinguished speakers, and on this episode, you’ll hear from a few. Dr. Lawrence Jones, EEI senior vice president of international programs, gives an overview of the GEF. Then, we hear from Nigel Barbour, CEO of Orion Group (New Zealand); Peter O'Shea, Head of Corporate and Regulatory Affairs at ESB (Ireland); and Greg Jackson, CEO of Octopus Energy (England), about innovation, powering economies, electric transportation, and more.
Want to see the sessions for yourself? All the GEF programming recordings are available now through the conference registration portal.

Charlotte Blount-Lewis worked at EEI from 1982 and 1997 and helped lead the charge to develop industry business diversity programs and helped organize the first Business Diversity Conference, which continues to bring together electric companies and diverse suppliers, in 1984. Today, electric companies spend billions of dollars per year on diverse suppliers, including businesses owned by minorities, women, and veterans. We celebrate these partnerships and the important roles these suppliers play in helping electric companies safely operate 24/7, 365 days a year.
 
On this episode, EEI Senior Vice President, Chief Diversity Officer, and Chief Human Resources Officer Courtney Peterson leads a conversation with Charlotte, who reflects on the origins of the business diversity programs, the key partnerships that contributed to these important efforts, the lessons that that today's suppliers can learn from the experiences of those pioneering efforts of the 1980s, and more. 

It takes a highly skilled workforce to provide reliable electricity service to customers, who depend on it more and more every day to power their lives. As electricity demand grows and our industry continues to deliver increasingly cleaner energy, the next generation of energy workers must be prepared to build, maintain, and operate energy infrastructure and equipment, including for new and emerging clean energy technologies. And, they must continue to work in the necessary positions to keep the lights on.
On this episode, EEI Senior Vice President, Chief Diversity Officer, and Chief Human Resources Officer Courtney Peterson and Center for Energy Workforce Development (CEWD) Executive Director Missy Henriksen discuss trends in workforce development, how companies are preparing the next-generation workforce, resources that CEWD offers to help companies with workforce development, and more!

Consumers Energy announced that in 2023, nearly 90 percent of customers who lost power had it restored in less than 24 hours. This progress is thanks in part to the company’s work to enhance its energy grid infrastructure, which includes adding smart technology, clearing tree branches away from power lines, and more. These efforts are part of a strategic plan called the Reliability Roadmap, and it’s an essential piece of Consumers Energy’s vision to limit the scope and length of power outages in the near future.
On this episode, Tonya Berry, Consumers Energy’s senior vice president of transformation and engineering, joins us to discuss the goals of the Reliability Roadmap, how Consumers Energy is enhancing grid reliability in Michigan, its efforts to prepare the next generation workforce as part of the plan, and more.

On this episode, EEI Senior Director of Electric Transportation Kellen Schefter and Consumers Energy Product Manager of Commercial Electric Vehicles Bethany Tabor discuss how the Michigan-based company is helping to support 11 school districts in its service territory to deploy and operate electric school buses and how the Environmental Protection Agency's Clean School Bus Program is helping to support these kinds of efforts.
Be sure to also listen to part one of this series, in which Schefter discussed a new white paper titled “Electric School Buses: Accelerating Equitable Deployment through Understanding Grid Impacts and Policy Solutions” with three co-authors of the report: Exelon Director of Clean Energy Initiatives Chris Budzynski; CALSTART Lead Project Manager, Northeast School Buses Ian Fried; and Sue Gander, World Resources Institute Director of the Electric School Bus Initiative.  

When we think of the acceleration of electric transportation, the spike in light-duty vehicle sales comes to mind, but it’s not just passenger vehicles that are scaling up. Medium- to heavy-duty vehicles, including school buses, are increasingly becoming electrified, much to the benefit of the communities they operate in.   
This episode takes a deep dive into electric school buses and how electric companies and other stakeholders are working together to ensure a smooth and equitable transition. EEI Senior Director of Electric Transportation Kellen Schefter discusses a new white paper titled “Electric School Buses: Accelerating Equitable Deployment through Understanding Grid Impacts and Policy Solutions” with three co-authors of the report: Exelon Director of Clean Energy Initiatives Chris Budzynski; CALSTART Lead Project Manager, Northeast School Buses Ian Fried; and Sue Gander, World Resources Institute Director of the Electric School Bus Initiative.  
Be sure to tune in to our next episode for more on electric school buses! Schefter will join Consumers Energy Product Manager of Commercial Electric Vehicles Bethany Tabor to discuss how the Michigan-based company is helping to support 11 school districts in its service territory to deploy and operate electric school buses.