Energy Central

As utilities grow in profile in the eyes of customers and in urgency in the eyes of politicians, the leaders who are steering these major companies and community pillars are being recognized for the critical role they play in society. Tough decisions have to be made, forward-looking views have to be considered, and any missteps of wrong decisions are subject to scrutiny and criticism in the media, in townhalls, and even in Congress.

Given that high-pressure situation, utility professionals would be forgiven for being hesitant to step into the C-Suite, but certain leaders have been unequivocally rising to the occasion in recent years to guide utilities into the energy industry of tomorrow. Last year, Garrick Rochow joined the Energy Central Power Perspectives Podcast when he was still freshly minted as the President and CEO of Consumer Energy, but at the time of recording this follow up episode with him he had just crossed the two year mark as the head of the Michigan power company. Garrick and Consumers Energy were kind enough to invite podcast host Jason Price to visit the Consumers Energy campus in person for this special episode to discuss what Garrick has learned in his time as CEO and what the future looks like for Consumers Energy.

Key Links
Full Post with Episode Transcript: https://energycentral.com/o/energy-central/episode-105-leadership-evolution-utility-c-suite-garrick-rochow-president-and-ceo

Garrick Rochow's Energy Central Profile: https://energycentral.com/member/profile/garrick-rochow/about

Garrick's first appearance on the podcast: https://energycentral.com/o/energy-central/energy-central-power-perspectives%E2%84%A2-podcast-episode-29-rising-moment-creating

Did you know? The Energy Central Power Perspectives Podcast has been identified as one of the industry's 'Top 25 Energy Podcasts': https://blog.feedspot.com/energy_podcasts/

A main focus on note in the utility industry that's been gaining headlines more and more has been grid reliability and ensuring that no matter where and when energy is needed that the power sector is able to provide it. While some of the challenges in this arena come from unexpected events like extreme weather or equipment failure, another source that must not be overlooked is from planned maintenance. Equipment needs to be powered down regularly to perform fixes and upgrades, but taking those assets off the grid needs to be carefully timed so the aggregate flow of power can continue humming in the direction it's needed.

Managing such planned outages is critical not just for the customer to get their power but also so utilities aren't losing too much money in the meantime. These needs combine to make the topic of this week's episode of the Energy Central Power Perspectives Podcast so exciting, and that is via conditional monitoring of assets and performance of necessary generator maintenance without needing to plan for wider outages. Steven Turner, a Senior Engineer at Arizona Public Service, has been advancing new techniques and technologies to advance this field, a topic he recently addressed at the IEEE Annual Conference. For those who were not able to attend live, Steven joins podcast host Jason Price and producer Matt Chester to share the crucial message and speculate on how these advancements can improve the utility sector in the coming years.

Key Links:
Energy Central Post with Full Transcript: https://energycentral.com/o/energy-central/episode-104-conditional-monitoring-generator-maintenance-without-downtime-steven

Steven Turner's Energy Central Profile: https://energycentral.com/member/profile/steven-turner-1

Generator Restoration Following a Protection Operation:https://energycentral.com/c/gn/generator-restoration-following-protection-operation

Did you know? The Energy Central Power Perspectives Podcast has been identified as one of the industry's 'Top 25 Energy Podcasts': blog.feedspot.com/energy_podcasts/

Recent advancements and modernizations in the utility industry have hinged on the availability of data. Data from across the grid can come in massive quantities, in real time, and require immense plans and assets necessary to analyze and make the best use of it. But those efforts are undoubtedly worthwhile, as they bring about new operational efficiencies, improve options to boost reliability, and more.

However, just because the world of utility data is valuable does not mean it is easy. Entire departments of the utility industry need to be reworked to think about what data can do for them and how to best utilize the data coming in. Even policymakers and regulators are getting involved in the process, such as the landmark New York statewide energy data integration project. To understand exactly what this entails and how it's preparing New York utilities for the future, this week's episode features two key utility professionals at the frontline of these efforts: Damian Sciano, Director of Distributed Resource Integration, and Leon Bukhman, Project Manager, both from Con Edison. Listen in as Damian and Leon walk podcast host Jason Price and producer Matt Chester step by step through this process.

Key Tracks
Energy Central Post with Full Episode Transcript: https://energycentral.com/o/energy-central/episode-103-unleashing-power-integrated-data-damian-sciano-and-leon-bukhman-con

Damian Sciano's Energy Central Profile: https://energycentral.com/member/profile/damian-sciano

Leon Bukhman's Energy Central Profile: https://energycentral.com/member/profile/leon-bukhman

Did you know? The Energy Central Power Perspectives Podcast has been identified as one of the industry's 'Top 25 Energy Podcasts': blog.feedspot.com/energy_podcasts/

These days, utilities seem to have more potential threats to worry about than ever before: cyber attacks to equipment failure to big storms knocking down portions of the grid. But certain power companies, particularly those on the West Coast, must stay ever vigilant to a less common but higher priority potential disaster: earthquakes. Ensuring the grid infrastructure is prepared to handle the 'big one' that may always be a day away, as well as that the utility companies are ready to respond at a moment's notice after the fact, is a job for every day even if the earthquakes themselves are less frequent.

Learning from how utilities and their equipment have fared in different earthquakes across the globe is the best way to prepare for the future. Assessing the results and the response from power companies all over the world is one of the key jobs of Dr. Leon Kempner, Principal Civil Engineer for Bonneville Power Administration and the industry-leading expert on preparing the power sector for major events like earthquakes. And one of the utilities that has regularly retained the unparalleled insights of Dr. Kempner is Central Lincoln PUD. Specifically, Shamus Gamache, the utility's Director of Engineering, has worked regularly with Dr. Kempner to prepare the Oregon utility to be prepared for the persistent threat of earthquakes and tsunamis off the U.S. West Coast. Both of these experts join podcast host Jason Price and producer Matt Chester to provide their keen perspectives on what it means to prepare for once-in-a-generation events.

Key Links:
Energy Central Post with Full Transcript: https://energycentral.com/o/energy-central/episode-102-%E2%80%9Cbig-one%E2%80%9D-coming%E2%80%94-your-utility-ready-shamus-gamache-central-lincoln

Did you know? The Energy Central Power Perspectives Podcast has been identified as one of the industry's 'Top 25 Energy Podcasts': blog.feedspot.com/energy_podcasts/

The utility sector has a reputation over its history for being somewhat insular: common ways of thinking persist and radical changes to the status quo are met with resistance and take some amount of time to be embraced. Fortunately, that reputation is finally falling as the various revolutions across the power industry are being embraced: digitalization, clean energy, and more.

Today's guest on the podcast, though, entered the energy industry from a complete outsider's perspective to identify where the sector could be most suitably and impactfully disrupted. Seeing the need for the clean energy transition and thinking about what that would mean for the future of energy, Bill Nussey set out to interview hundreds of people in the sector and publish a book on what he learned, titled Freeing Energy. Now, Bill joins podcast host Jason Price and producer Matt Chester to share the lessons surrounding the two D's he sees as critical to the energy industry of tomorrow: Distributed and Disruptive.

Key Links:
Energy Central Post with Full Transcript: https://energycentral.com/o/energy-central/episode-101-disrupting-energy-entrepreneurial-perspective-bill-nussey-energy

Bill Nussey's Energy Central Profile: https://energycentral.com/member/profile/bill-nussey

Freeing Energy: https://www.freeingenergy.com/

Did you know? The Energy Central Power Perspectives Podcast has been identified as one of the industry's 'Top 25 Energy Podcasts': https://blog.feedspot.com/energy_podcasts/

Since the advent of the power sector over a century ago, the business model has seen incremental evolution over time but for most of that time has remained pretty consistent. Centralized power plants, long distances of transmission, and embedded utility companies being the sole provider for a given region. But the past decade or two have seen some landscape-shifting progress: new digital technologies, priorities towards clean energy, the availability of distributed resources, and the shift of consumers to prosumers. Together, those changes collectively warrant a reevaluation of the utility model, what can be considered Utility 2.0.

Today's guest on the landmark 100th episode of the Energy Central Power Perspectives Podcast is Jereme Kent. Jereme is the CEO of One Energy and earlier this year he was recognized as an Innovation Leader by Energy Central for his efforts to shift towards this Utility 2.0 model. As a utility-scale distributed-generation wind energy developer and operator, Jereme and his team at One Energy aren't afraid to shake things up and push the envelope in utility evolution even further, so Jereme joins podcast host Jason Price and producer Matt Chester to share how the company has gotten to this point and what he sees as the future of the utility sector.

Thanks to all of our guests, listeners, and team members at Energy Central for supporting the Power Perspective Podcast over the course of the last 100 episodes. This milestone is only possible because of the hard work of many people behind the scenes, but also the enthusiasm and the intelligent discussions prompted by the Energy Central Community. Here's to the next 100 episodes and beyond!

Key Links
Energy Central Post with Full Episode Transcript: https://energycentral.com/o/energy-central/episode-100-innovating-model-utility-20-jereme-kent-ceo-one-energy-energy-central

Jereme Kent's Energy Central Profile: https://energycentral.com/member/profile/jereme-kent

Energy Central Announces: The 2022 Innovation Champions: https://energycentral.com/o/energy-central/energy-central-announces-2022-innovation-champions

Did you know? The Energy Central Power Perspectives Podcast has been identified as one of the industry's 'Top 25 Energy Podcasts': https://blog.feedspot.com/energy_podcasts/

Recent years have seen the critical topic of equity in opportunities in utilities finally elevated to the top of the priority list across the sector. Ensuring that potential advancements and transformations are accessible to wider portions of the population, eliminating the risk that any negative impacts are borne only by disadvantage communities, and raising the playing field for all have rightfully become a top focus of utility executives. That said, many organizations who strive for equitable outcomes may not know the best way to start towards those goals.

Fortunately, leaders have stepped up across the utility industry to demonstrate with actions within their company the best way to make sure equity isn't a buzz word but is a core principle from the top to the bottom. The guest on this episode of the Energy Central Power Perspectives Podcast is one of the most respected voices in this regard. Calvin Butler, Senior Executive VP and Chief Operating Officer of Exelon, has brought equity to the forefront of one of the nation's most prominent utilities and has been recognized for this leadership as one of the "Most Influential Black Executives in Corporate America" by Black Enterprise Magazine and ETS Thought Leader of the Year by Zpryme. Calvin joins podcast host Jason Price and producer Matt Chester to give tangible advice and examples on how utilities can and should take their steps on the equity journey.

Key Links
Energy Central Post with Full Episode Transcript: https://energycentral.com/o/energy-central/episode-99-creating-real-change-utility-equity-investment-calvin-butler-senior

Calvin Butler's Energy Central Profile: https://energycentral.com/member/profile/calvin-butler

Investing in Minority-Owned Small Businesses Is Part of How we Recover Equitably from the Pandemic: https://energycentral.com/c/ec/investing-minority-owned-small-businesses-part-how-we-recover-equitably-pandemic

Did you know? The Energy Central Power Perspectives Podcast has been identified as one of the industry's 'Top 25 Energy Podcasts': blog.feedspot.com/energy_podcasts/

The utility industry is amidst a revolution of the types, complexity, and scale of advanced technologies that are transforming the sector. Building on the foundation of successful smart grid deployments over the past decade, we are now in the golden age where operational data, new ways of working and emerging applications are converging to help the sector achieve ambitious decarbonization targets. For power companies, understanding the array of applications, vendors and successful implementations will be key as we continue this decade of clean technology deployments.

As such, this episode of the Energy Central Power Perspectives Podcast seeks to explore how the current landscape of solutions are poised to deliver, and how frontier technologies will accelerate this evolution. To discuss these topics, this week's episode features a tremendous trio from Indigo. David Groarke (Managing Director), Paul Sayour (Strategy & Research Analyst), and Leo Trudel (Innovation & Technology Director) join podcast host Jason Price and producer Matt Chester to break down the fast-moving area of grid tech and give our listeners an inside view of the state of these markets and where they are seeing opportunities for power companies.

Key Links
Energy Central Post with Full Episode Transcript: https://energycentral.com/o/energy-central/episode-98-advancing-world-grid-tech-david-groarke-paul-sayour-and-leo-trudel

Grid Tech – Analyzing the Decade of Deployment: https://energycentral.com/o/indigo/grid-tech-%E2%80%93-analyzing-decade-deployment

The Grid Tech 150 - Identifying the Leading Utility Partners and Applications: https://energycentral.com/c/gr/grid-tech-150-identifying-leading-utility-partners-and-applications

David Groarke's Energy Central Profile: https://energycentral.com/member/profile/david-groarke

Paul Sayour's Energy Central Profile: https://energycentral.com/member/profile/paul-sayour

Leo Trudel's Enregy Central Profile: https://energycentral.com/member/profile/leo-trudel

Did you know? The Energy Central Power Perspectives Podcast has been identified as one of the industry's 'Top 25 Energy Podcasts': https://blog.feedspot.com/energy_podcasts/

Episode #97: 'Providing a Jolt to Virtual Power Plants from DOE's Loan Programs Office' with David Nemtzow, Senior Advisor at DOE's LPO [an Energy Central Power Perspectives™ Podcast]

Virtual power plants (VPPs) have been making waves in the utility sector in recent years, truly disrupting what the status quo for power generation and delivery could look like. As the industry moves forward towards goals that cannot be missed, namely the reliable and affordable delivery of a cleaner energy mix, shifting away from the centralized power plant paradigm seems inevitable. Simultaneously, the rise of smart and connected technologies is allowing the virtual power plant model to leapfrog from theoretical to practical.

Among the entities that have keen interest in fostering the developments in VPPs is the U.S. Department of Energy. In particular, recent years have seen DOE's Loan Programs Office (LPO) empowered to move the needle in emerging clean energy markets, and VPPs are a key area of focus in that regard. To discuss the impact and importance of VPPs, David Nemtzow, the Senior Advisor on Virtual Power Plants at DOE's Loan Programs Office, joined the Energy Central Power Perspectives Podcast. David discusses with podcast host Jason Price and producer Matt Chester why VPPs are top priority, what the goals of the Loan Programs Office are, and what ultimate success will look like.

Key Links

Episode Transcript: https://energycentral.com/o/energy-central/episode-97-providing-jolt-virtual-power-plants-does-loan-programs-office-david

Did you know? The Energy Central Power Perspectives Podcast has been identified as one of the industry's 'Top 25 Energy Podcasts': https://blog.feedspot.com/energy_podcasts/

Episode #96: ‘Tracking Gas Flows and Infrastructure with GIS and Other Digital Tools' with Angela Marra of TECO Peoples Gas [an Energy Central Power Perspectives™ Podcast]

In today's modern world, everything has data behind it that can be tracked, monitored, reported, and analyzed. Nowhere across the economy is that truer than in the utility sector, where investments in infrastructure are major sources of public spending, where anything going wrong and interrupting energy supplies can be dangerous for customers, and where the rapidly advancing concept of the digital utility is forcing leaders to rethink what can be turned into data. Especially with the gas utilities who inherently put their expensive installations underground and reaccessing them for maintenance or repair is both costly and largely inconvenient, using advanced tools to track this infrastructure has gained a lot of steam in recent years.

Among the leaders of this charge for better digital tracking of gas infrastructure has been TECO Peoples Gas in Florida. In the past few years, TECO has undertaken the massive project to implement GIS and mapping services for every single piece of gas infrastructure placed underground, tracking the model of the equipment, who the welder was, the precise location it lives, and so much more. To get a better insights into the how and why of it all, the Energy Central Power Perspectives Podcast is thrilled to welcome Angela Marra, Supervisor of GIS and Mapping Services at TECO Peoples Gas. She dives deep into this topic with podcast host Jason Price and producer Matt Chester to highlight the benefits of this practice and why other utilities should catch up to implement these solutions as well.

Thanks to the sponsor of this episode of the Energy Central Power Perspectives Podcast: West Monroe.

Key Links

Angela Marra's Energy Central Profile: https://energycentral.com/member/profile/angela-marra

Did you know? The Energy Central Power Perspectives Podcast has been identified as one of the industry's 'Top 25 Energy Podcasts': https://blog.feedspot.com/energy_podcasts/

Transcript: https://energycentral.com/o/energy-central/episode-96-%E2%80%98tracking-gas-flows-and-infrastructure-gis-and-other-digital-tools