Grand Analogies of the Energy System

Conleigh, Farhad, Ahlmahz, and Paul start season six with a discussion of ways to understand the energy system and analogies that can be used to explore its complications

Conleigh Byers, Farhad Billimoria, Ahlmahz Negash, and Paul Dockery discuss various ways of understanding the energy system in the Season 6 Premiere of Public Power Underground. The episode starts with “Short-to-Ground,” a TL;DR segment where the hosts run through summaries of topical news from around the world and then have a short discussion of trends in the industry. Paul then introduces the ground rules for a season-spanning Energy System Analogies World Cup tournament. Lastly, the hosts discuss analogies for the energy system for consideration by future guests on Season 6. 

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04:17 - Promotion for Conleigh’s upcoming presentation for the Harvard Kennedy School’s Energy Policy Seminar: “The Future of Resource Adequacy in a Decarbonized Grid" - March 25, 2024 - Register with the link

06:54 - Short-to-Ground; a segment where we blow a fuse covering the news.

• Increased EV-Charging Demand and Changing Load Profile Underscore Need for Cross-Sector Collaboration
• Utilities, EV charging companies must collaborate to avoid bulk power system disruptions: NERC
• Another tower collapse poses more questions about transmission
• Preliminary Thoughts after Preliminary Report: A few early thoughts following the release of the AEMO Preliminary Report into the recent Victorian power system event.
• Industry to drive tripling of natural gas consumption in India by 2050
• ISO-NE recommends capacity market reforms
• ISO New England proposes capacity market changes, further 2-year delay for upcoming auction
• CAISO Postpones New Interconnection Requests Due to High Volume

27:57 - 2024 ENERGY SYSTEM ANALOGIES WORLD CUP

33:04 - The electric sector is like the human body

37:00 - The electric sector is like a water catchment and irrigation system

44:30 - The electric sector is like back country skiiing

49:38 - Electric utilities function like a P-I-D controller for the energy system

59:43 - The electric sector is like air

01:01:20 - The electric sector is like the