Los Angeles aims to be a global trendsetter in renewables and sustainability with a goal of going 100% renewable by 2035. In this episode of Grid Talk, host Marty Rosenberg talks with Lauren Faber O’Connor who is the Chief Sustainability Officer for the City of Los Angeles. The discussion focuses on how L.A. is achieving its goal. “We have the power within this city to be able to do that because we control our energy operations through municipal utilities so it’s an incredibly exciting process,”...
Aug 06, 2021•27 min
In this episode of Grid Talk, Host Marty Rosenberg talks with Elliot Mainzer who is the President and CEO of the California Independent System Operator (ISO). The discussion focuses on the effort to bring on more renewable generation in California and what that means for the delivery of energy. Battery storage will play a significant role in meeting peak demand. “The next five to seven years, California is going to be bringing on a monumental amount of new supply into the system. The amount of s...
Jul 26, 2021•26 min
Grid security and global energy policy are two of the top issues for the United States Energy Association (USEA). This episode of Grid Talk features Sheila Hollis who is the Acting Executive Director of the USEA. USEA’s members include more than 100 organizations from the U.S. energy sector, including governmental entities, nonprofits, and Fortune 500 companies and utilities. All of them are focused on securing the grid from attacks. “We have done an enormous amount of work on the cybersecurity ...
Jul 09, 2021•27 min
The wildfire season is in full swing and that has utility officials in the drought stricken Southwest preparing for an active summer. In this episode of Grid Talk, host Marty Rosenberg talks with Caroline Winn who is the CEO of San Diego Power & Gas (SDP&G). They’ll discuss how the utility has prepared for a fire season that lasts all year long, including how it uses technology to limit the impact of forced outages. “So having a more surgical approach has helped us ensure again that only...
Jun 24, 2021•31 min
As official hurricane season barrels down on the Caribbean, this month the LUMA Energy consortium embarks on an unprecedented $20 billion, 15-year project to rebuild the damaged, long-neglected electric infrastructure on Puerto Rico. In this episode of Grid Talk, host Marty Rosenberg follows up with two former guests to get an update on the project. Wayne Stensby is the President and CEO of Luma Energy. David Owens is the Vice-Chair of the Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority. “We will be admini...
Jun 04, 2021•33 min
With nearly 90,000 rooftop solar systems, Hawaii is a national leader when it comes to solar power. Now, the state is taking the next step in its clean energy journey with a goal to electrify most ground transportation by 2035. In this episode of Grid Talk, host Marty Rosenberg talks with Constance Lau who is the President and CEO of Hawaiian Electric Industries, the parent of Hawaiian Electric. The discussion focuses on Hawaii's renewable energy portfolio and the impact of going all EV. “We hav...
May 24, 2021•30 min
EVs are coming across the nation. But before that an avalanche of renewable electric generation will hit the Midwest territory served by the Mid-continent Independent System operator (MISO), with its 471 market participants serving 42 million people. Here is how its CEO John Bear put it to the Grid Talk podcast, www.smartgrid.gov/gridtalk : “Well, we’re having a significant portfolio change in the electric grid we’re operating. We’re going to – over the next five to ten years – double the amount...
May 06, 2021•18 min
Colorado leaders aim to have close to one-million electric vehicles zooming about the state by 2030. In this episode of Grid Talk, host Marty Rosenberg talks Alice Jackson who is the President of Xcel Energy – Colorado. They discuss efforts to lower the barriers for customers to purchase EVs, from tax credits to infrastructure. “It is a big target and a goal but it’s one that we’re really excited about taking on,” said Jackson. Jackson described Xcel as an enabler when it comes to transportation...
Apr 22, 2021•27 min
In this episode of Grid Talk, host Marty Rosenberg talks Barbara Sugg who is the President and CEO of the Southwest Power Pool (SPP). The discussion focuses on February’s extreme cold weather event that knocked out power in parts of Texas and impacted some of SPP’s operations. “The issues that Southwest Power Pool had were similar to that in ERCOT in the case that we had more load than we could supply energy for, but it wasn’t nearly as significant as what happened in ERCOT,” said Sugg. Ms. Sugg...
Apr 01, 2021•31 min
Texas energy regulators and operators are investigating the causes of a massive power outage that hit the state in February during an extreme weather event. In this episode of Grid Talk, host Marty Rosenberg talks with Ken Medlock who is the Senior Director for the Center for Energy Studies at Rice University’s Baker Institute for Public Policy. Mr. Medlock is leading a group digging through the micro-data to determine exactly what happened and how cold weather could knock out the system. “This ...
Mar 16, 2021•31 min
In this episode of Grid Talk, host Marty Rosenberg talks with Gil Quiniones who is the President and CEO of the New York Power Authority (NYPA). The discussion focuses on NYPA’s investment in large scale renewable energy projects. It’s part of a ten-year plan called VISION2030 that includes significant investment in offshore wind. “The manufacturing of components for offshore wind will happen there (Albany and Brooklyn), and we’re creating jobs and stimulating economic development in our state,”...
Mar 02, 2021•27 min
Exelon Utilities is leading by example when it comes to electrifying our transportation system. In this episode of Grid Talk, Exelon Utilities CEO, Calvin Butler, talks about serving customers with affordable electricity, while transitioning to a clean energy future. “Electrification of the transportation industry is one of the biggest things that we can do to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to help our environment,” said Butler. With more and more people, companies, and government agencies adop...
Feb 15, 2021•29 min
In this episode of Grid Talk, host Marty Rosenberg talks with Tom Fanning who is the Chairman, President and CEO of Southern Company. Southern Company has a physical presence in 18 states and is a recognized provider of customized energy solutions across the country. The discussion focuses on several topics including cybersecurity, a carbon-free future, distributive energy, and rapid changes in the utility industry The podcast starts with a discussion about cybersecurity and the electrical grid ...
Jan 29, 2021•30 min
In 2019 Google announced it was purchasing $2 billion worth of wind and solar energy to ensure the company is 100% renewable. Now the company is out with a new goal – carbon-free 24x7. In this episode of Grid Talk, we hear from Raiford Smith who is Google’s lead for Energy, Analytics, and Markets. Mr. Smith explains the difference between 100% renewable and carbon-free 24x7. “We now want to have carbon-free energy every hour of every day everywhere at all times by 2030… not just to do it on the ...
Jan 13, 2021•27 min
Texas leads the nation when it comes to wind energy. In fact, there are only four countries in the world with more wind energy than Texas. In this episode of Grid Talk, host Marty Rosenberg talks with Bill Magness, who is the President and CEO of the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT). Mr. Magness talks about the challenges of managing and delivering large amounts of intermittent wind energy. “We had to get educated about when and where the wind blows and make our best forecast for wh...
Jan 04, 2021•29 min
A new company is starting a $10.5 Billion rebuild of Puerto Rico's electrical system. In this episode of Grid Talk, host Marty Rosenberg talks with Wayne Stensby who is the President and CEO of Luma Energy. The company is in charge of Puerto Rico's energy transformation after hurricanes devastated the Island's electrical infrastructure. "It will be more resistive to storms and have fewer outages, but following storms and subsequent outages, it will be able to come back into service more quickly,...
Dec 15, 2020•28 min•Season 2Ep. 3
In this episode of Grid Talk, host Marty Rosenberg talks with Arshad Mansoor of the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI). Mr. Mansoor is the President at EPRI and will take over as CEO on January 1, 2021. The podcast focuses on EPRI's research efforts to address the challenges of delivering reliable and affordable electricity, including coming up with a pathway to accelerate the transition to clean energy. "We need to rethink, what is the design basis of this power system to be more resilien...
Dec 01, 2020•25 min•Season 2Ep. 1
The second season of Grid Talk kicks off with a discussion about rebuilding and modernizing Puerto Rico's electric grids after devastating hurricanes. Host Marty Rosenberg talks with David Owens who is the Vice-Chair of the Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority. Mr. Owens talks about how his organization is working to use solar energy and microgrids to build a more resilient and reliable energy system. "A grid for renewable technologies is a grid very distinctly different in many respects from a ...
Nov 13, 2020•27 min•Season 2Ep. 1
CenterPoint Energy is leading the digital revolution in the electric industry. In episode 24 of Grid Talk, host Marty Rosenberg talks with Kenny Mercado who is the Senior Vice President of Electric Operations at CenterPoint Energy. The discussion focuses on CenterPoint’s investment in technology to provide a premiere digital platform for service delivery. “I think we have a leadership model not only in the Southwest region of the U.S., but across the country and across the globe,” said Mercado. ...
Oct 16, 2020•23 min•Season 1Ep. 24
NorthWestern Energy has one of the largest, and most rural, service areas in the United States, taking in most of Montana and South Dakota. In this episode of Grid Talk, host Marty Rosenberg talks with Bob Rowe, who is the President and CEO of Northwest Energy, about the challenges of delivering power in rural America. “The entire West is concerned about the ability to meet peak. Within the Pacific Northwest, that concern has, for a number of years, been more acute, but for us the arrow has been...
Sep 30, 2020•31 min•Season 1Ep. 23
The Western Area Power Administration (WAPA) delivers federal hydropower to more than 40 million Americans every year. In this episode of Grid Talk, host Marty Rosenberg talks with Mark Gabriel who is the CEO and Administrator for WAPA. Mr. Gabriel explains how market dynamics are pushing the transmission grid to its limits. “We’re adding more and more of the very thing that is pushing us to those limits. I think we’ve got to get a balance of those things.” We’ll also hear what’s holding up doze...
Sep 11, 2020•27 min•Season 1Ep. 22
This episode of Grid Talk features Vivian Bouet who is the Chief Information Officer for CPS Energy in San Antonio. The discussion is centered on how artificial intelligence is being implemented by utilities to improve decision making and improve performance across the value chain. AI is being used to better inform market operators about demand response, both consumption and production, and even alert potential customers of when and how much power to use at a certain time. It’s also helping util...
Aug 31, 2020•27 min•Season 1Ep. 21
In this episode of Grid Talk, host Marty Rosenberg talks with Sam duPont who is the Principal of Strategic Programs at Baltimore Gas and Electric. Mr. duPont explains a new program to set customers up with smart and connected home technology. The company will evaluate the impact of the smart home technologies and how to help customers take full advantage. “The technology can be brilliant. It can be leading edge. It can be amazing, but if no one actually uses it, then it doesn't really matter. We...
Aug 10, 2020•23 min•Season 1Ep. 20
Xcel Energy delivers power to homes and businesses in eight states in the Midwest and West. In this episode of Grid Talk, we hear from the Chairman and CEO of Xcel, Ben Fowke. Mr. Fowke discusses his company’s goal of being carbon-free by 2050 and what we need to invest in now to accomplish the last 20%. “The technologies that I think about to get that last 20% out are things like the hydrogen-- development of hydrogen fuel as well as storage, advanced nuclear, carbon capture, dispatchable renew...
Jul 29, 2020•22 min•Season 1Ep. 19
In this episode of Grid Talk, host Marty Rosenberg talks with Steve Malnight, President and CEO of Duquesne Light Company in Pittsburgh. Mr. Malnight talks about how Duquesne Light is redefining what it means to be a modern electric utility and how he is using lessons learned from California. “We're going to serve customers safely, reliably every day with the power they need but do it in very different ways, in ways where customers are not just flipping a switch on and not thinking about where t...
Jul 16, 2020•26 min•Season 1Ep. 18
Austin Energy is taking a new, market-based approach to accelerate reduction of carbon emissions in its energy portfolio. In this episode of Grid Talk, Marty Rosenberg talks with Thomas Pierpoint who is the Vice President of Electric System Engineering and Technical Services at the municipal utility. Mr. Pierpont explains how the market-based approach works to benefit and protect ratepayers. He also talks about implementing new technologies to better manage the grid, including the advantages of ...
Jun 30, 2020•22 min•Season 1Ep. 17
A first-of-its-kind housing project is up and running in the mountains of Colorado. In this episode of Grid Talk, Marty Rosenberg talks with Bryan Hannegan, President and CEO of Holy Cross Energy. Mr. Hannegan explains how a net-zero, all electric community is delivering affordable housing in a Colorado tourism town. He’ll rundown the features that are helping homeowners keep energy costs down. Mr. Hannegan also talks about how this project is an opportunity to take new technologies from the res...
Jun 16, 2020•26 min•Season 1Ep. 16
This episode of Grid Talk focuses on grid security. Marty Rosenberg interviews Jim Robb, president and CEO of the North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC). Mr. Robb talks about how utilities have weathered the COVID-19 crisis and what his number one concern was for employees working remotely. He’ll also explain what risks we face during the rapid evolution of the grid and why he calls it a 3D transformation. James B. Robb has been president and chief executive officer of NERC since...
Jun 02, 2020•28 min•Season 1Ep. 15
In this episode of Grid Talk, host Marty Rosenberg talks with Patti Poppe who is the President and CEO at CMS Energy in Jackson, Michigan. The company is using new technology and old school techniques to accelerate its clean energy plan. Ms. Poppe discusses a first-of-its-kind partnership with Google and UpLight to optimize energy usage. Also, find out how Jackson, Michigan became the most energy efficient small town in the United States. Ms. Poppe joined CMS Energy in 2011. She was named Presid...
May 19, 2020•31 min•Season 1Ep. 14
In episode 13 of Grid Talk, host Marty Rosenberg, talks with Drew Murphy who is a Senior Vice President at of Edison International. The discussion focuses on Edison international’s efforts to meet California’s mandate of delivering 100% carbon-free energy by 2045. Mr. Murphy talks about what changes we will see to meet that objective and the impacts on other parts of the economy. Mr. Murphy joined Edison International in 2013. He is Senior Vice President of Strategy and Corporate Development, re...
Apr 22, 2020•28 min•Season 1Ep. 13
