Federal spending of one-trillion dollars is aimed at transforming the electric grid and transitioning to clean energy. In this episode of Grid Talk, we talk with Sheri Givens, president and CEO of the Smart Electric Power Alliance (SEPA). The discussion focuses on the opportunities and challenges that lie ahead. “In looking and listening to our many members and regulators who are involved in accessing those funds, I think it’s an exciting time for clean energy investment and investment in infras...
Apr 08, 2023•26 min
The electric grid in in America’s northeast industrial heartland is in the midst of profound transformation. In this episode of Grid Talk, host Marty Rosenberg talks with Kenneth Seiler who is vice president for PJM Interconnection. Seiler talks about how the electric system is rapidly evolving with PJM evaluating 2,700 new major grid related projects. “We just went through the interconnection reform process to get those most-ready projects out the door.” said Seiler. There are some difficult ch...
Mar 30, 2023•31 min
In this episode of Grid Talk, host Marty Rosenberg chats with Audrey Zibelman about the push to make the national grid fully digital. Zibelman is an experienced energy regulator who is advocating for giving the grid a “digital spine. Zibelman was the chair of the New York State Department of Public Service when it introduced its REV new vision for electric energy. She’s also been CEO and managing director of the Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO) and, most recently, was vice president of a...
Mar 24, 2023•28 min
Two Danish islands will serve as hubs of massive new offshore wind turbines to serve itself and neighboring countries and spur development of clean hydrogen green fuel for aircraft and factories. In this episode of Grid Talk, host Marty Rosenberg talks with Hanne Storm Edlefsen who is the vice president of Energy Islands, a project of the Energinet transmission system operator in Denmark. One complex will be on Bornholm Island in the Baltic and link up 3,000 megawatts of wind power, simplifying ...
Feb 14, 2023•28 min
Two major fusion initiatives are making headway in the decades long goal to find the ultimate source of clean energy. In this episode of Grid Talk, we visit with Laban Coblentz who is the head of communications at the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER) project in the south of France. Coblentz described the long quest for fusion and its implications. “Fusion has the potential to give a baseload source of energy without only a fraction of the waste concerns of fission, without...
Jan 30, 2023•30 min
Fusion power, clean and limitless, long elusive to scientists, may be headed our way sooner than many suspected thanks to a breakthrough experiment in early December at the Lawrence Livermore National Lab (LLNL) in California. In this episode of Grid Talk, host Marty Rosenberg talks with Annie Kritcher, the physicist who designed the successful experiment that recreated the energy source of the sun. She explained: “What we’re doing here is essentially creating a miniature star in a lab about the...
Jan 19, 2023•26 min
In this episode of Grid Talk, host Marty Rosenberg talks with Michael Sachse who is the CEO of Dandelion Energy. Dandelion Energy’s mission is to enable the widespread adoption of geothermal. “If you think about what we need to decarbonize, heating’s really a challenge because so much about heating comes from burning natural gas; a lot of homes burn fuel oil, and so really, we got focused on that problem,” said Sachse. The company offers homeowners affordable geothermal heating & cooling sys...
Dec 22, 2022•27 min
Kansas City, Missouri is working to place the largest municipal solar farm in the nation next to its $1.5 billion new Kansas City International Airport. In this episode of Grid Talk, host Marty Rosenberg talks with the Brian Platt who is the City Manager. “If we ever want to make positive change and progress in these existential and generational challenges that we’re facing, we have to be big and bold,” said Platt. The project is adding to Kansas City’s reputation as a leader in reducing carbon ...
Dec 16, 2022•29 min
The federal government is spending $7.5 billion on Electric Vehicle infrastructure to increase EV adoption across the country. In this episode of Grid Talk, host Marty Rosenberg chats with Nick Voris who is the senior manager of electrification for Evergy. “It’s going to unlock nationwide travel with respect to EVs,” said Voris. The money will be spent over the next five years to create electrification corridors. “The National EV Infrastructure Program… is intent on creating charging sites every...
Oct 18, 2022•26 min
In this episode of Grid Talk, host Marty Rosenberg talks with the General Manager of Austin Energy, Jackie Sargent. The discussion is focused on the city-owned utility’s push to be carbon free by 2035 and ensuring equity for electric customers. “When we are at looking moving forward and reaching those carbon-free goals, affordability is part of that equation, and it’s really important for us that we address the customers who are most vulnerable within our community,” said Sargent. Austin Energy ...
Sep 29, 2022•31 min
Italian utility powerhouse Enel is championing a surge of renewable investments in America and transformation of the grid. In this episode of Grid Talk, host Marty Rosenberg talks with Mona Tierney-Lloyd who’s head of U.S. Public Policy at Enel North America. Enel is the world’s leading private electricity distribution provider and it’s also the world’s largest renewable developer. The discussion focuses on the significant transformations happening in the energy sector. “This is the most interes...
Sep 23, 2022•28 min
Italy is at the forefront of major utilities worldwide realizing its vision of the future of electricity. The massive utility aims to be carbon neutral by 2040. In this episode of Grid Talk, host Marty Rosenberg talks with Antonio Cammisecra, who’s the head of the Enel Grids within the Enel Group in Italy. Enel Grids operates a massive 1.5 million miles of predominately distribution lines. “Without a doubt we are the most digitized distribution company in the world,” said Cammisecra. “We are the...
Sep 13, 2022•30 min
Alaska is global leader in microgrid technology with one of highest concentrations of renewably powered microgrid projects in the world. In this episode of Grid Talk, host Marty Rosenberg talks with Peter Asmus who is Executive Director of Alaska Microgrid Group. The group offers access to expertise from the utility industry and research community to leverage decades of experience designing, building and operating microgrid projects across Alaska. “What’s unique about Alaska is it’s number one i...
Aug 22, 2022•25 min
Three out of four Americans are served by utilities out to slash carbon emissions, according to Julia Hamm, the President and Chief Executive Officer of the Smart Electric Power Alliance. In this episode of Grid Talk, Hamm sits down with host Marty Rosenberg to talk about how the power industry has changed over the last 19 years. “73% of all U.S. electric customers are served by a utility that has a public target for a hundred percent carbon reduction, so I’d say that’s pretty significant,” said...
Jul 29, 2022•29 min
A federal infusion of $80 billion in infrastructure spending is generating new levels of innovation and cooperation when it comes to maintaining and upgrading the electrical grid. In this episode of Grid Talk, we hear from Dianne Solomon who is a commissioner on the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities (NJBPU). She also is a member of the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners and currently serves as Chair of the Committee on Critical Infrastructure. This gives her a unique per...
Jul 08, 2022•25 min
The push to decarbonize electricity production in the U.S. focuses heavily on solar and wind generation. But delivering reliable energy from intermittent resource will require an upgrade in energy storage capabilities. This episode of Grid Talk features Don Sadoway who is the John F. Elliott Professor of Materials Chemistry at MIT. He’s one of the leading experts on emerging battery products and at the helm of about a half dozen startups ready to speed deployment of the most promising approaches...
Jun 24, 2022•27 min
America’s reliance on nuclear power is poised to rapidly expand given a new generation of more affordable small modular reactors (SMR). In this episode of Grid Talk, host Marty Rosenberg talks with Maria Korsnick who is the President and CEO of the Nuclear Energy Institute. The conversation focuses on how SMRs can deliver carbon-free energy. “We are about 90 gigawatts of generation today so it will be an additional 90 gigawatts of generation and because we’re talking more small modular reactors,...
Jun 03, 2022•31 min
The nation’s largest municipal utility, serving Los Angeles, wants to move to 100% clean energy by 2035. To do that, the utility needs to significantly boost renewable energy generation and it’s banking on the rapid development of energy storage technology. In this episode of Grid Talk, host Marty Rosenberg talks with Simon Zewdu who is the Director of Transmission Planning, Regulatory Processes and Innovation at the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (LADWP). The price tag to reach 100% ...
May 18, 2022•25 min
The federal government is on track to invest $1.2 trillion to overhaul American infrastructure, with $80 billion headed to the electric grid. In this episode of Grid Talk, we talk with Christine Harada who is the Executive Director of the Federal Permitting Improvement Steering Council. It was created in 2015 to help facilitate government approvals of major projects. “I want to make sure that we’re putting boots on the ground—that we have the construction workers who are there and actually makin...
Apr 28, 2022•27 min
Commonwealth Edison (ComEd) is one of the nation’s largest utilities, serving Chicago. Last month, ComEd announced it is spending $113 million a year on “income-tested programs” to slash energy use and energy bills for those who can least afford them, while combating climate change. In this episode of Grid Talk, host Marty Rosenberg talks with Gil Quiniones who is the ComEd CEO. They’ll talk about initiatives to make sure disadvantaged communities and historically underserved communities are pri...
Apr 20, 2022•35 min
The U.S. Department of Energy is closing in on a timeline for disbursing $80 billion allocated to electric grid upgrades contained in the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law passed by Congress. In this episode of Grid Talk, host Marty Rosenberg talks with Michelle Manary who is the Acting Deputy Assistant Secretary for Energy Resilience Division in the Office of Electricity at the U.S. Department of Energy. The discussion focuses on when and how the money from the infrastructure package will be spent....
Apr 08, 2022•29 min
The federal power market spanning the Midwest and West is poised to capitalize on an enormous infusion of funds from the federal bipartisan infrastructure law. In this episode of Grid Talk, we sit down with Tracey LeBeau who is the Administrator and CEO of the Western Area Power Administration (WAPA). “There are a number of provisions that seek to provide additional opportunities or tools to help facilitate the development, the investment, and the construction of new or expanded transmission inf...
Mar 02, 2022•24 min
With society becoming more and more dependent on electricity, upgrading the electric grid is an urgent challenge. In this episode of Grid Talk, host Marty Rosenberg talks with Andrew Phillips who is the Vice President of Transmission and Distribution Infrastructure for the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI). The conversation focuses on what it will take to ensure the reliable delivery of electricity in an age of electrification. “We have the opportunity and to build new transmission lines ...
Feb 11, 2022•30 min
Grid Talk is back for its third season, and we kick things off with a discussion about the impact of the massive Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, which will funnel more than $60 billion to Department of Energy. Host Marty Rosenberg talks with former U.S. Assistant Energy Secretary Dan Reicher about where and how that money will be spent. “Some of that’s going to be in the so-called ‘innovation hubs’ where they’re going to certain areas of the country and focusing on certain technologies a...
Feb 03, 2022•27 min
Iowa is a national leader when it comes to satisfying electric demand with renewable energy and it is poised so get greener. In this episode of Grid Talk, host Marty Rosenberg talks with Mike Fehr who is Senior Vice President of Renewable Generation and Compliance at MidAmerican Energy. The company serves customers in Iowa, Illinois, South Dakota and Nebraska. In Iowa, 60 percent of electric needs are generated with wind. Fehr talks about what it will take to get to 100% renewable generation. “I...
Nov 11, 2021•25 min
In this episode of Grid Talk host Marty Rosenberg talks with Leo Denault who is the Chairman and CEO of Entergy Corporation. Entergy delivers electricity to three million utility customers in Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas. The podcast focuses on the electric grid devastation caused by Hurricane Ida and re-evaluating grid assets used to power customers. The utility and policymakers must consider whether it is time to pick up the pace of transmission and distribution line upgrades, ac...
Oct 29, 2021•34 min
In this episode of Grid Talk, host Marty Rosenberg talks with Rudy Wynter who is the president of National Grid New York. The discussion focuses on the investments needed to reach the state’s climate goals. “We have very ambitions climate goals in New York State, 70% renewable electricity by 2030; 100% decarbonized electricity by 2040. In order to get to those kinds of targets we need to start now,” said Wynter. According to Wynter, that means massive investments in infrastructure and technology...
Oct 18, 2021•25 min
America’s vast electric grid is about to go through a major evolution as it adapts to the looming electrification of transportation. In this episode of Grid Talk, we talk with Philip Jones who is the Executive Director of the Alliance for Transportation Electrification. Mr. Jones talks about the need for more generation and transmission. “We as a nation as we electrify transportation … there’s going to be a significant increase in use, probably 15 to 20% over the next 20 years.” Jones said. “Thi...
Oct 06, 2021•29 min
The push for clean energy in the United States means there is a massive need for increased transmission capacity as more renewable energy is generated. In this episode of Grid Talk, we talk with Shawn Schukar who is the Chairman and President of Ameren Transmission Company of Illinois. “We have increased the investment in our grid by nine to ten times what we were making 10 years ago,” said Schukar. According Schukar, that’s just the beginning of what is needed to ensure reliability for a system...
Sep 23, 2021•28 min
With a goal of going 100% renewable by 2035, Los Angeles will need to amp up its transmission resources and nearly double its renewable energy production. In this episode of Grid Talk, we talk with Jason Rondou who is the Director of Resource Planning, Development and Programs, at the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (LADWP). “2030 is right around the corner and we have the opportunity and the plans to get to 80% renewable by 2030 which will put us at 97% carbon-free and so we’ve got th...
Aug 24, 2021•30 min
