Energy Central

Episode #55: Artificial Intelligence in the Modern Digital Utility with Bhavani Amirthlingam of Ameren and Jeremy Renshaw of EPRI [an Energy Central Power Perspectives™ Podcast]

Artificial intelligence (AI) has transformed every industry it's touched, from commerce to transportation to social media, but arguably some of the most widespread impact that AI-enabled tools is on the electric power grid. Amid a time where utilities are seeking ways to make the supply and demand markets efficient, optimize the maintenance of immense stretches of assets across their coverage areas, and find ways to integrated clean energy resources, AI appears to be one of the key tools that will unlock new possibilities.

This digital topic is one that can quickly become complex and hard to understand, so the Energy Central Power Perspectives Podcast wanted to bring in some of the undisputed leaders in this space to help break it down for us and highlight the trends and opportunities that utilities everywhere should be honing in on. To do that, we were lucky enough to get into the podcast Bhavani Amirthalingam, the SVP and Chief Digital Information Officer of Ameren, coming off of the honor Forbes gave her as one of the top 50 innovative technology leaders this year. Joining her is one of the utility's key utility partners, Jeremy Renshaw of EPRI. Jeremy is the Senior Program Manager of Artificial Intelliigence at EPRI, and along with Bhavani he's helped to accelerate the impact of AI and machine learning on Ameren's grid that serves 2.4 million electric customers and 900,000 gas customers. These two titans of utility AI join Matt Chester of Energy Central in the podcast booth to discuss the past, present, and future of AI on the modern digital grid.

A special thanks to EPRI for supporting this edition of the Energy Central Power Perspectives Podcast.

Key Links:

Energy Central Post with Full Episode Transcript: https://energycentral.com/o/energy-central/special-edition-artificial-intelligence-modern-digital-utility-bhavani

Jeremy Renshaw’s Energy Central Profile: https://energycentral.com/member/profile/jeremy-renshaw

EPRI on Energy Central: https://energycentral.com/o/EPRI

Learning to Run a Power Network with Artificial Intelligence: https://energycentral.com/c/iu/learning-run-power-network-artificial-intelligence

5 Artificial Intelligence Grand Challenges for the Electric Power Industry: https://energycentral.com/c/pip/5-artificial-intelligence-grand-challenges-electric-power-industry

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/

The electrification of vehicles has swiftly gone from a curiosity to a trend to an inevitability, and few industries are poised to be quite as deeply impacted as the power sector. Utilities are already seeing the greatest amount of new load demand added to their portfolios in decades, and they'll continue to have requests to build out new transmission and distribution infrastructure just to meet the growing electricity needs of electric vehicles. At this moment, utilities find themselves as a crossroads where they are reasonably able to keep up with these changes as they happen, but thanks to policies supporting vehicle electrification and falling EV prices the market will soon reach a pivot point where the adoption increases much more rapidly. As such, power providers are best served by preparing today for the coming EV revolution in the days ahead.

That message has been espoused widely by Kevin Hernandez, a Partner and Grid Edge Lead at ScottMadden. Kevin has studied the trends and the forecasts deeply, and he's measured them against the current capabilities of utilities across the country in a way that's highlighted where the energy industry needs a boost to properly prepare for the changes that are happening with increasing speed. To spread this message further to the utility leaders who must be making these investments today, Kevin joins the Energy Central Power Perspectives Podcast to chat with host Jason Price and producer Matt Chester about his observations and recommendations.

Key Links:
Kevin Hernandez’s Energy Central Profile: https://energycentral.com/member/profile/kevin-hernandez-1

ScottMadden on Energy Central: https://energycentral.com/o/scottmadden

Link to Register as a member of the Energy Central Community: energycentral.com/user/register

Energy Central post with full transcript from this episode: https://energycentral.com/c/pip/special-edition-preparing-utilities-ev-revolution-kevin-hernandez-scottmadden

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/

Episode #53: 'Shining a Light on the Solar Grid of Tomorrow' with Garrett Nilsen, Acting Director of U.S. DOE Solar Energy Technologies Office [an Energy Central Power Perspectives™ Podcast]

Under the Biden Administration, the U.S. Department of Energy has seen a revitalized focus towards solar energy as a means to transform the U.S. power grid. Recently, the Department put out the Solar Futures Study which outlined what was needed to get solar generation to 45% of the nation's power mix by mid-century, highlighting that doing so was not a pipe dream but was actually technologically and economically feasible with the right set of incentives and policies. These goals won't be accomplished in a vacuum, however, and the leaders of utilities in the Energy Central Community must take an active role towards this solar future, and our guest in this episode joined to deliver exactly what those actions could look like from utilities in the coming years.

Garrett Nilsen is the Acting Director of DOE's Solar Energy Technologies Office, and in this role he's leading a dedicated team to optimize what the future of solar energy in the United States looks like. From motivating entrepreneurs to enter this clean energy space to encouraging U.S. solar manufacturing to enacting the right types of public policies, Garrett is approaching this challenge with the type of full court press it deserves, and he highlights the challenges and opportunities in doing so with podcast host Jason Price and producer Matt Chester.

Key Links

Energy Central Post with Full Episode Transcript: https://energycentral.com/o/energy-central/episode-43-shining-light-solar-grid-tomorrow-garrett-nilsen-acting-director-us

Solar Futures Study: https://www.energy.gov/eere/solar/solar-futures-study

SHINES funding program: https://www.energy.gov/eere/solar/sustainable-and-holistic-integration-energy-storage-and-solar-pv-shines

Webinar with presentations from SHINES awardees, with slides: https://www.energy.gov/eere/solar/right-combination-solar-storage-and-demand-response-webinar-series

Solar Prize Round 5, which is taking submissions till Oct. 5: https://www.energy.gov/eere/solar/american-made-solar-prize-round-5

ALL the American-Made Challenges: https://americanmadechallenges.org/

Incubator funding program, which awarded $25M for the grid-forming technologies consortium led by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory: https://www.energy.gov/eere/solar/solar-energy-technologies-office-fiscal-year-2021-systems-integration-and-hardware

SETO Systems Integration: https://www.energy.gov/eere/solar/systems-integration

SETO Manufacturing and Competitiveness: https://www.energy.gov/eere/solar/manufacturing-and-competitiveness

SETO’s newsletter to get the latest on funding opportunities, prize competitions, webinars, and more: https://www.energy.gov/eere/solar/solar-newsletter

The early days of the electric power industry began with the installation of small microgrids that connected energy consumers with nearby sources of generation, but as the industry grew the economies of scale dictated that central power plants and massive webs of interconnected grids were the best way to industrialize and grow. In recent years, however, energy sector thought leaders have been pushing forward the value that can come from re-integrating microgrids in conjunction with our established modern grid system. With an eye towards increased reliability, clean energy, and consumer empowerment, microgrids have become one of the hottest topics in utility spheres today.

To tap into that momentum, the Energy Central Power Perspectives Podcast is thrilled to welcome this week’s guest, Peter Asmus, Research Director at Guidehouse Insights. Peter has been researching, writing, and sharing about the future of the grid for decades, and he’s been a long-time member of the Energy Central community where he’s shared insights about how and why this microgrid revolution should come into being. As such, host Jason Price and producer Matt Chester thought it was finally time to bring Peter onto the show to speak directly to the Energy Central Community about the microgrid trends he’s seeing today and provide advice for the utility leaders looking to stay one step ahead moving forward.

A special thanks to Guidehouse Insights for supporting this edition of the Energy Central Power Perspectives Podcast.

Key Links:
Peter Asmus’s Energy Central Profile: https://energycentral.com/member/profile/peter-h-asmus

Guidehouse on Energy Central: https://energycentral.com/o/Guidehouse

Once Laggards, C&I Customers Are Now Microgrid Leaders: https://energycentral.com/o/Guidehouse/once-laggards-ci-customers-are-now-microgrid-leaders

Link to Energy Central Post with Bonus Clip and Full Transcript: https://energycentral.com/o/energy-central/special-edition-microgrids-utility-challenger-asset-peter-asmus-guidehouse-energy

Link to Register as a member of the Energy Central Community: https://energycentral.com/user/register

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/

The electrification of transportation is coming whether or not utilities are ready for it. A decade ago, the prospect of vehicles being plugged in every night was enough to keep grid operators up at night at the thought of such an unprecedented load increase, but today the forward-looking utility should instead be looking to the EV revolution as an opportunity and not a threat.

At least that's the position of Charlie Botsford, Program Manager at CWB Solutions and a member of Energy Central's Network of Experts. On today's episode of the podcast, Charlie highlights the baseline situation of EVs on the grid today and how utilities can and should approach everything from increased load, V1G and V2G charging, government EV incentives, and really all the ways that EVs can go from liability to asset. That is, of course, if the utilities plan now to take advantage. And that's what Charlie shares with host Jason Price and producer Matt Chester in this can't-miss episode of the Energy Central Power Perspectives Podcast.

Key Links:
Charlie Botsford's Energy Central Profile: https://energycentral.com/member/profile/charles-botsford-pe

The latest EV capability - vehicle to load: https://energycentral.com/c/iu/latest-ev-capability-%E2%80%94-vehicle-load

Link to Energy Central Post with Full Transcript and Exclusive Bonus Clip: https://energycentral.com/o/energy-central/episode-42-evs-grid-asset-will-utilities-take-advantage-charlie-botsford-energy

Link to register as a member of the Energy Central Community: www.energycentral.com/user/register

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/

Through pressure from federal and international governments to market forces, the move towards a carbon-free power sector seems to be on a critical path. The need to decarbonize and replace fossil fuels with cleaner energy sources is close to undeniable at this time, but as anyone who spends time in the thick of debates in the utility sector (including those taking place every day in the Energy Central Community) knows, we’re far apart from a consensus on exactly what tools are the best ones to tap into to meet these climate change challenges. And while renewable energy and energy storage are often grabbing the mainstream headlines, many in the industry find that the most important tool to tap into is one that’s been around for decades longer: nuclear energy.

Nuclear energy has its fair share of detractors, from those who worry about repeats of the disasters on Fukushima and Three Mile Island to those with environmental concerns about nuclear waste to others who simply aren’t sure the economics add up to build new nuclear plants. But today’s guest on the Energy Central Power Perspectives Podcast, Rudy Shankar—Director of Energy Systems Engineering at Lehigh University—opined in a recent Energy Central article that it’s well past time for the U.S. power grid to embrace a renaissance of nuclear power and tap into it as the readily available, carbon-free, and economic clean energy source that it is. While Rudy understands the hesitations some feel about nuclear energy and recognizes the need for renewables to continue to grow as well, he shares with podcast host Jason Price and producer Matt Chester the outline of why nuclear energy needs to be embraced to play an increasing role in the fight against the climate crisis.

Key Links
Rudy Shankar’s Energy Central Profile: https://energycentral.com/member/profile/rudy-shankar

The Increasing Role of Nuclear Energy to Meet Climate Change Challenges: https://energycentral.com/c/cp/increasing-role-nuclear-energy-meet-climate-change-challenges

Link to Energy Central Post with Full Transcript: https://energycentral.com/o/energy-central/episode-42-increasing-role-nuclear-energy-meet-climate-change-challenges%E2%80%99-rudy

Link to register as a member of the Energy Central community: energycentral.com/user/register

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/

Too often, the utility industry looks at the buildings sector as simply customers of the power companies, but thanks to rapidly advancing technology and innovative leaders buildings can now be looked at as assets in their own right. Tapping into opportunities like demand response, energy efficiency, on-site generation and storage, and the aggregation of these and other features means that buildings really can be turned into generation assets that measure up with generation itself, especially when done intelligently and thoughtfully. This process of bringing smart grid tools and modern building technologies together to create new opportunities has become the mission of SensorSuite, and specifically the company’s CEO & President Glen Spry. In this episode, Glen joins host Jason Price and producer Matt Chester to discuss the work being done in Energy Efficient Grid Resource Buildings, or EEGRs. As Glen notes, EEGRs are eager to be part of the solution of climate change and bolster grid reliability as opposed to being a liability like the buildings sector of old. This episode will dive deeper into the possibilities of EEGRs and where the utility-building relationship appears to be moving.

A special thanks to SensorSuite for supporting this edition of the Energy Central Power Perspectives Podcast.

Key Links:
Glen Spry’s Energy Central Profile: https://energycentral.com/member/profile/glen-spry

EEGR Buildings are in Peak Demand: https://energycentral.com/o/sensorsuite/eegr-buildings-are-peak-demand

EEGR Buildings Target the 58% of all Energy Wasted Each Year: https://energycentral.com/o/sensorsuite/eegr-buildings-target-58-all-energy-wasted-each-year

SensorSuite - The emergence of Energy Efficient Grid Resources (EEGRs) to support decarbonization: https://energycentral.com/o/sensorsuite/sensorsuite-emergence-energy-efficient-grid-resources-eegrs-support

Energy Central Post with more details and full transcript: https://energycentral.com/o/energy-central/special-edition-energy-efficient-grid-resource-buildings-glen-spry-ceo-president

Link to register as a member of the Energy Central community: https://energycentral.com/user/register

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 #48: 'Elevating Customer Care for Electric Cooperative Members’ with Sean Vanslyke, CEO and General Manager of SEMO Electric Cooperative [an Energy Central Power Perspectives™ Podcast]

The landscape encompasses a wide variety of power providers, and while investor-owned utilities are often the largest and most influential, it’s the smaller players that may be setting the bar for customer care. Specifically, electric cooperatives recognize their end consumers not just as ratepayers, but indeed as members of the electric co-op, and the smaller and more local nature of these power providers empowers them to more easily meet customers where they are, innovate in new ways to educate and engage those end consumers, and create a customer care ecosystem that’s the envy of larger utilities.

To peel back the curtain on the unique relationship electric co-ops have with their members, today’s episode brings in the CEO and General Manager of Missouri’s SEMO Electric Cooperative, Sean Vanslyke. Sean walks podcast host Jason Price and producer Matt Chester through the engagement SEMO’s utilized over the past year and a half to aid its members through COVID, the keep power costs affordable, to empower its surrounding community, and to educate customers and employees alike about every component of the utility business. While an electric cooperative has a more moderate budget and footprint, the largest and smallest utilities alike have many lessons to learn from how, why, and where Sean Vanslyke has created customer service opportunities in his service area.

Key Links:

Energy Central Post with Full Episode Transcript: https://energycentral.com/o/energy-central/episode-40-elevating-customer-care-electric-cooperative-members%E2%80%99-sean-vanslyke

Sean Vanslyke's Energy Central Profile: https://energycentral.com/member/profile/sean-vanslyke/about

Episode #10: ‘The Past & Future of Circuits & How GIS is Transforming the Grid, COVID-19 Response, & More’ with Pat Hohl of Esri - [an Energy Central Power Perspectives™ Podcast]

Marking the 10th episode of the Energy Central Power Perspectives™ Podcast, we are joined by Pat Hohl, the Director of Electric Industry Solutions at Esri. Pat is a prolific writer and contributor to the Energy Central community, and he shares with us how even though distribution circuits are beloved—even revered—in the utility business, the future of these building blocks of the grid are undergoing some long awaited evolution. We also hear from Pat how Esri is pushing the boundaries with geographic information systems (GIS) to open up a new world of energy industry data, as well as empowering an even wider spectrum of businesses to streamline operations, sastisfy customers, and even help track and address the COVID-19 outbreak.

Pat brings with him over three decades of experience in business and is considered to be a pioneer in leveraging GIS technology for the electric utilities. It’s no wonder his writing is so popular on Energy Central, so we knew we had to bring him in for an episode of the Energy Central Power Perspectives Podcast!

Key Links:

Energy Central Post for Episode: https://energycentral.com/c/iu/energy-central-power-perspectives%E2%84%A2-podcast-episode-10-%E2%80%98-past-future-circuits-how

Pat Hohl’s Energy Central Profile: energycentral.com/member/profile/204983/about

Three Ways Distribution Circuits Will Disappoint You - Part 1: energycentral.com/o/esri/three-way…point-you-part-1

Three Ways Distribution Circuits Will Disappoint You - Part 2: energycentral.com/o/esri/three-way…point-you-part-2

Three Ways Distribution Circuits Will Disappoint You - Part 3: energycentral.com/o/esri/three-way…point-you-part-3

Esri’s ArcGIS for COVID-19: gisanddata.maps.arcgis.com/apps/opsdas…67b48e9ecf6

Episode #46: 'Wholesale Power Agency, Small Town Utility, and the Power of Working Together’ with Jody Finklea of FMPA and Jody Young of the City of Bushnell [an Energy Central Power Power Perspectives™ Podcast]

In the Energy Central Community, July is all about customer care and everything that means and encompasses for the utility industry. In that light, this episode seeks to highlight the unique relationship between a wholesale power agency and its member utilities, the customer experience not through the lens of the end consumer and its utility but the relationship between the power producer and the local utility and how they team up to make magic happen for the ratepayers. On one side of this story is the electric utility department at the City of Bushnell, Florida, a small city in Central Florida with such a small coverage area and a small team that having resources and expertise in different areas can be a challenge. That’s where Florida Municipal Power Agency (FMPA) enters, as a wholesale power agency that is owned by 31 municipal electric utilities across the state, including Bushnell, and empowers its member utilities.

Today, podcast host Jason Price and producer Matt Chester are joined by FMPA’s General Counsel and Chief Legal Officer, Jody Finklea, and Bushnell’s City Manager and Finance Director, Jody Young. They’re here to share how FMPA aided Bushnell to expand the city’s electric customers by a whopping 50%, from 1,100 to nearly 1,800. Increasing the customer base that dramatically allowed the city to then enhance its already reliable power systems and provide affordable power to its customers, generating some critical lessons for customer care across the utility sector.

Key Links:

Energy Central Post with Full Episode Transcript: https://energycentral.com/o/energy-central/episode-39-wholesale-power-agency-small-town-utility-and-power-working-together%E2%80%99

Jody Finklea’s Energy Central Profile: https://energycentral.com/member/profile/jody-lamar-finklea

Jody Young’s Energy Central Profile: https://energycentral.com/member/profile/jody-young/about

Power of Working Together for Affordable, Reliable Electricity: https://energycentral.com/c/um/power-working-together-affordable-reliable-electricity