On The Grid

Distributech 2020 just wrapped up and we have our podcast crew's breakdown of the goings on at the convention. The Erins have graciously taken time out of their media whirlwind to describe what they see as the emerging trends for the year to come. We do a classic top 5 experience rundown and postulate on the meanings of buzzwords.

Check out our redesigned website for more upcoming Dtech media!

https://zpryme.com/

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It's time to take a peek behind the curtain here at Zpryme and talk to some of the people creating our new venture into Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality development for utilities. The head of the project, Jorge Ortiz, AR/VR Specialist Bekah Diaz, and Digital Media Manager Chris Holt sat down with Erin at our office in Austin to talk about why we believe in this technology and what its applications are to the industry.

If you've ever been interested in how a VR program is constructed or what needs in the industry the technology can actually address, you don't want to miss this one!

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Happy New Year! Now that a new decade is upon us, it's time to get introspective. How was 2019 for the energy industry? Interesting yet slow for a time of such apparent upheaval. CEO Jason Rodriguez talks with us about changes and lacks thereof in energy trends over the course of the year and see how our predictions stacked up (spoiler alert: eeehhhhhh) which of course does not stop us from making even more bold predictions for energy in 2020. Let us know yours!

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Today's guest is Paula Gold-Williams the President and CEO of CPS Energy. That should really be all that needs to be said but just because we love you so much, we'll let you know that within this podcast is an in-depth discussion about the relationship between utilities, cities, and communities. We also go into Paula's own rise to prominence in the industry and what she plans and expectations are. We also talk about bizarre Texan delicacies!

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Debbie Brodt-Giles from NREL joins the podcast to discuss the American Made Solar Prize as well as what solutions are out there that NREL is discovering through this process. We also play an appropriately festive game.

Later, Dylan talks to two winners of the first round of the prize, Ethan Good, Principal of Phase 3 Photovoltaic, and Bill Nussey, cofounder of Solar Inventions. They go over what kinds of startups and technologies are needed to move the needle on solar in the United States.

If you want to register for round 3, go to https://americanmadechallenges.org/solarprize

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What are you thankful for this year? We're thankful for research! Content gurus Erin Hardick and Chris Moyer from the research team have come on to talk about what we did over the summer research-wise as well as the key findings and lessons learned therein.

Business Model Transformation report: https://etsinsights.com/reports/transformation-of-the-utility-business-model/

DERMS Report: https://etsinsights.com/reports/managing-complexity-in-the-distributed-reality-a-utility-perspective-on-derms/

IIoT and Water Report: https://etsinsights.com/reports/iiot-and-analytics-maximizing-it-ot-data-for-water-utilities/

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SPECIAL EPISODE ALERT!

"Startup." That word has a lot of baked-in connotation. One imagines an individual, or small group of individuals, having a "eureka!" moment where opportunity is found in a market and against all odds, a company and journey are started. But is the startup life as simple as that image?

In this special episode, we talk to four founders of energy-based startups and ask them the same set of questions Inside The Actor's Studio-style: Kumar Parameswaran founder of Nirvanasoft https://nirvanasoft.net/

Natalie Goodman founder of Incentifind https://incentifind.com/

George Koutitas founder of Gridmates https://www.gridmates.com/

And a bonus fourth interview you'll have to listen to the episode to find out.

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Start@ETS was a wonderful event! Startups from many different areas of the industry came and pitched their ideas to our judges. One of the Judges, Bridgewater Consulting SVP of Business Strategy Ernie Lewis, sat down with Dylan at the even to talk about projects that impressed him, and what solutions he believes are necessary for the future of the industry. With a few decades of experience under his belt, Ernie talks about the crossroads the industry is at and what will determine how we look on the other side of it.

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We're talking about data standardization with Cengizhan Yenerim ,Director of Demand Risk Management at Engie North America. What starts off as an episode explaining the difficulties of data standardization region to region evolves into a discussion on creating the right ecosystem within organizations and communities to allow for a healthy and secure data ecosystem. Our industry is flush with data but putting it to work efficiently and securely seems to have us dragging behind other data-driven industries. For insight into customer-centric data application strategies, take a listen!

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This week, Director of Research Programs Erin Autin returns to the podcast for a lively discussion on Scooters. Perhaps you've seen them around your town. We dive deep into new research to figure out what ordinary people are saying about them and also what the safety concerns are.

There is still time to register for Start@ETS head over to https://start19.co/ for registration if you're interested in checking out these finalists:

ANKA Labs

Brilliency Incorporated

Drones of Prey Inc

H2Optimize

Moye Consultants

Re:3D Inc

Simuwatt Inc

Go Pawz Go

Xage Security

Amperon

Athena Power Inc

EVmatch Inc

Evolve Energy

GridX Inc

MicroEra Power Inc

Ping Things Inc

Switched Source LLC

GreenPocket GmbH

Packetized Energy Technologies Inc