At The Great Transformation conference in Bend, Oregon in July, a panel addressed the question: How much will the creation of the new grid be in the hands of utilities versus the customers?

Moderated by Elisa Wood, founder and Editor at Energy Changemakers, the panel included Cameron Brooks, executive director, Think Microgrid, Greg Castle, commercial leader, power & grid segment, Schneider Electric and Michael Grenier, president at Elexity.

The panel also discussed how the energy industry can help address opposition to data centers by delivering community benefits.

Moderator: Elisa Wood, founder, editor and publisher at Energy Changemakers.

Panelists:

Cameron Brooks, executive director at Think Microgrid.

Greg Castle, commercial leader, power and grid segment at Schneider Electric.

Michael Grenier, president at Elexity.

Also discussed in this episode is a separate panel about creative interconnection ideas. David Namura, Google's government affairs and public policy manager for the Pacific Northwest, described the company's Clean Transition Tariffs.

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Learn about Lisa's energy writing at CleanEnergyWriters.com.

A report from consultant Wood Mackenzie pointed to the dangers of bursts of power demand in AI data centers.

ZincFive says it has an answer. The company's nickel-zinc energy storage provides short, high-power dischages for data centers to address AI power surges and also provides outage backup. The Oregon-based business has deployed 2 GW of its product, saw its annual revenue doubling from 2024 to approximately $66.9 million in 2025 and has plans to go public.

Tod Higinbotham, CEO of ZincFive, explains the company's technology, describes its partnership with Spark I Acquisition and says why the company believes ZincFive's storage is less expensive than lithium-ion based batteries.

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Learn about host Lisa Cohn's energy writing at CleanEnergyWriters.com

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In Iceland, which has vast geothermal resources, Syntholene Energy, with support from Idaho National Laboratory, is testing synfuel production that combines geothermal heat with high-temperature electrolysis. The company says its synfuel is 70% less expensive than synfuels produced using other clean energy options and could reach price parity with fossil fuels in about 10 years.

While Iceland has plenty of water resources, the company says water management will be critical as it rolls out its product commercially to other, less water-rich regions.

About the guest:

Dan Sutton, co-founder and CEO at Syntholene Energy.

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Email host Lisa Cohn with episode ideas at [email protected]

Learn about Lisa's energy writing at CleanEnergyWriters.com

In December 2023, a winter storm hit Highland Park, Michigan, and the ensuing power outage lasted four days – a common occurrence in the community, which has a high poverty rate.

Partially in response to the outages, Juan Shannon created Parker Village, with plans to provide clean, low-cost local energy to the residents, including net zero homes, two solar microgrids and an electric transportation loop.

Another goal is to keep wealth in Highland Park, which covers three square miles close to Detroit and ranks in the 94th percentile for low-income status in the U.S., with 45% of the population living at or below the poverty line.

About the Guest:

Juan Shannon, executive director, Parker Village Foundation

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Under the first-of-a-kind Oregon Power Act, data centers served by the state's two investor-owned utilities can't drive up utility bills or undermine Oregon's clean energy goals. The law has attracted interest from other states considering similar measures.

While Portland General Electric and PacifiCorp are required to follow the provisions of the law, the state's public utilities do not, and in Umatilla Electric Cooperative territory--home to many data centers--emissions have increased by about 570% over the last 15 years, said Joshua Basofin, Oregon clean energy program director at Climate Solutions.

Oregon is attracting data center development because it has relatively low energy costs, access to undersea data cables and offers incentives to draw businesses to the state. Data centers hae been a major factor in driving up utility rattes by 50% since 2021, said Charlotte Shuff, communications director at the Oregon Citizens' Utility Board.

Ideas for helping Oregon meet clean energy goals include asking data centers to deploy energy storage during peak hours. Another proposal offered by Rewiring America: Require data centers to pay for residential customers' heat pumps and rooftop solar to free up capacity on the grid for data centers.

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Temperatures, altitude, snow, wind, sunshine and road surfaces can significantly shorten or lengthen how far an electric vehicle (EV) driver can go on a charge.

Lasse Lumiaho, head of automotive at Vaisala Xweather, which provides weather data and intelligence for many Fortune 500 companies, describes a recent study about the factors that affect EV range.

Read the study here.

About the guest:

Lasse Lumiaho leads automotive product development and strategic initiatives at Vaisala Xweather. He has experience working with autotive OEMs and technology suppliers, including Audi, BMW, Bosch, Cerence, Hyundai, KIA, Mercedes-Benz and Volkswagen to integrate weather intelligence solutions that make roads safer. He focuses on developing innovative solutions that enhance vehicle safety and optimize routing.

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Learn more about host Lisa Cohn at CleanEnergyWriters.com

With oil prices at the time of this interview–April 2026–close to $100/ barrel because of the war in Iran, will we see higher deployment of renewable energy and electric vehicles (EV)?

Wesley Herche, co-founder of Sustainability Decoded and director of energy and sustainability solutions at Prologis, where he deploys solar, battery storage and commercial EV charging infrastructure for the world's largest companies, provides a global perspective on the status of clean energy and the effects of high oil prices.

Topics discussed include:

• Why large U.S. companies are investing in renewable energy and how high oil prices could affect them.

• EV purchases make up 80% to 90% of new car sales in certain parts of the world. Will this trend continue?

• How China's aggressive deployment of solar will impact oil prices there.

• How Pakistan is insulated to some degree by its solar deployment.

• Why gasoline prices have jumped so quickly in the U.S.

Learn more about host Lisa Cohn at https://cleanenergywriters.com/

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Enel North America's Blue Jay Agrivoltaics project in Grimes County, Texas spans 2,700 acres, produces 270 megawatts (MW) of solar and includes a 59-MW battery storage system. It uses sheep for vegetation management and includes pollinator habitat, veteran-managed apiaries and drone maintenance. Jesse Puckett, director of sustainability projects and community affairs at Enel North America describes how the project helps improve the company's business, bottom line, the environment and the local community.

Learn more about the Blue Jay project and Jesse Puckett Subscribe to this podcast on Apple Podcasts Check out host Lisa Cohn's energy writing at CleanEnergyWriters.com

Millions of people are driving electric vehicles (EV) which, with bidirectional charging, can provide value to the electrical grid and back up homes and businesses during outages.

What's standing in the way of unlocking these benefits? Steve Letendre, an energy economist, senior advisor to the Vehicle-Grid Integration Council and the founder and editor of V2G News, says bidirectional charging technology is trapped behind one-way rules. He offers policy ideas that could advance bidirectional charging.

About the Guest:

Steve Letendre's work centers on unlocking the value of distributed energy resources, especially bidirectional EVs to accelerate the clean energy transition. He has led regulatory affairs at two leading V2G companies (Fermata Energy and Nuvve), where he developed and executed cross-functional strategies to shape state and federal policy, influence regulatory proceedings and align market rules with emerging technologies.

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Since 2021, Public Service Electric & Gas (PSE&G), New Jersey's largest utility, has added 30,000 electric vehicles (EV) to its system, in part by offering rebates and other incentives. Before January 2026, the growth rate was double-digit, but is now flat, because of the loss of the federal EV tax credit and changes in the market.

Dawn Neville, senior manager of electric transportation at PSE&G, describes the program's successes and challenges. How to get more chargers installed at multi-family housing complexes? How much do demand response programs for EV drivers help out in the summer? And how might a new time-of-use rate that varies from 9 cents/kWh (off peak) to 60 cents/kWh (on peak) help save money for people who charge at home?

About the guest:

Dawn Neville, an environmental engineer who transitioned from working on hazardous waste sites to transportation electrification at PSE&G's EV charging program

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