Grid Heads to New Era Via Infrastructure Spend

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 and how to get those accelerated in terms of their development and deployment. Some of this is going to go through existing programs like the low-income home weatherization program to make buildings more efficient.”

Mr. Reicher talks about specific items for infrastructure spending and explains what he calls the clean energy triangle.

“If we can integrate around that triangle: technology, policy, and finance; if we can find more common ground than we are finding to date, I think we’ve got a real chance to do well and to do good in clean energy and have a real shot at successfully addressing the climate crisis.”

Dan Reicher is a former Assistant Secretary of Energy in the Clinton Administration. Mr. Reicher is currently a senior research scholar at the Stanford Woods Institute for Environment.  Mr. Reicher joined Stanford in 2011 as the executive director of Stanford's Steyer-Taylor Center for Energy Policy & Finance. Before joining Stanford, he was the Director of Climate Change and Energy Initiatives at Google.

Mr. Reicher holds a B.A. in biology from Dartmouth College and a J.D. from Stanford Law School.