Public Power Underground

In a wide ranging, engaging, and entertaining conversation, Humaira, Matt and Paul interview Jesse Jenkins. Jesse is an assistant professor at Princeton University with a joint appointment in the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering and the Andlinger Center for Energy and Environment. He is also an affiliated faculty with the Center for Policy Research in Energy and Environment at the Princeton School of Public and International Affairs and an associated faculty at the High Meadows Environment Institute. He leads the Princeton ZERO Lab - the Zero carbon Energy systems Research and Optimization Laboratory -- which conducts research to improve decision-making to accelerate rapid, affordable, and effective transitions to net-zero carbon energy systems.

05:26 - Public Power's role in the energy transition
17:13 - Intermission Game: “Parametric Uncertainty or Structural Error”
28:46 - How much are we gonna electrify? and is a Northwest RTO necessary for our region to do it?
40:59 - Nuanced approached to the energy transition
52:52 - Hope for the kids
58:40 - The Demand Balance Constraint, on merch

One area of conversation we didn’t get to because we ran out of time isthe Power Genome project and GenX model which Jesse has been involved in developing. Hopefully he’ll come back again to dive into open source models, and how electric utilities can utilize them in public processes.

You can find the podcast on Apple Podcast, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. Remember to share this with any friends you have that are electric utility enthusiasts like us!

Public Power Underground, for electric utility enthusiasts! Public Power Underground, where you’re valued and appreciated.

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit publicpowerunderground.substack.com

Ahlmahz Negash, Dan Catchpole, Karen Heim, and Paul Dockery talk about the latest in public power and public-power-adjacent news, plus a preview of an upcoming interview with Northwest Natural’s Chris Kroeker about the future of hydrogen!

06:48 - Arin Reports with Karen Reporting
12:13 - Ukraine and the European Union to urgently link electric grids (which successfully occurred after recording)
19:13 - Columbia REA let’s employees bring dogs to work
22:44 - Spring 2022 Energy Justice Speaker Series
26:50 - Jason Fordney’s article debriefing Arne Olson’s presentation at the February 25th NewsData and CJB Energy Economics video conference on Western Electric System Transformation
29:53 - Ahlmahz talks about her paper on Allocating the Cost of Demand Response Compensation in Wholesale Energy Markets
37:29 - Matt and Paul talk to Northwest Natural’s Chris Kroeker
42:03 - TL;DR the rest of the news in “Short to Ground”

other sources of energy news related to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine mentioned in the episode

• Germany may speed up renewables (Reuters)
• No taboos for Germany’s energy future (Reuters)
• Another energy podcast tackles macro energy impacts (The Carbon Copy)

You can find the podcast on Apple Podcast, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. Remember to share this with any friends you have that are electric utility enthusiasts like us!

Public Power Underground, for electric utility enthusiasts! Public Power Underground, where you’re valued and appreciated.

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit publicpowerunderground.substack.com

We assembled an ad-hoc crew to record an emergency podcast. You can find the podcast on Apple Podcast, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. 

Thanks to @DrEricDing for breaking the news into @aPowerManager’s feed.

Remember to share this with any friends you have that are electric utility enthusiasts like us!

Public Power Underground, for electric utility enthusiasts! Public Power Underground, where you’re valued and appreciated.

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit publicpowerunderground.substack.com

In this bonus episode Matt and Paul have a conversation with the Executive Director of PGP and former Vice President of Transmission Regulation and Market Policy for PacifiCorp: Mary Wiencke!

Reference Materials:
PGP’s Market Retrospective
Western States’ Market Study prepared by Energy Strategies
Handbook on Electricity Markets
FERC Landmark Orders

Remember to share this with any friends you have that are electric utility enthusiasts like us!

Public Power Underground, for electric utility enthusiasts! Public Power Underground, where you’re valued and appreciated.

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit publicpowerunderground.substack.com

Russ Mantifel, Jason Fordney, Paul Dockery, and Ludgie Gelin talk about the latest in public power and public-power-adjacent news, plus a preview of an upcoming interview with PGP’s Mary Wiencke!

08:08 - Arin Reports with Paul Reporting
14:20 - Roundtable on rural broadband at Mason PUD #3 plus other broadband news
21:38 - CAISO adopts Phase 1 of Resource Sufficiency test rule changes
30:24 - The Wall Street Journal’s long-form article on the grid’s reliability
44:30 - the cost of going underground
51:05 - 2021 Power Plan in pre-publication, final form
58:50 - Matt and Paul talk to PGP’s Mary Wiencke
1:09:49 - TL;DR the rest of the news in “Sound Bites”

Remember to share this with any friends you have that are electric utility enthusiasts like us!

Public Power Underground, for electric utility enthusiasts! Public Power Underground, where you’re valued and appreciated.

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit publicpowerunderground.substack.com

Rebecca Sexton, Crystal Ball, Dan Catchpole, and Paul Dockery run through the latest in public power and public-power-adjacent news. There are a few instances where we go off the rails - - - as it often does when discussing public-power-adjacent news.

1:12 - Rebecca breaks news in her opening, Celebrity Guest, monologue
11:46 - Arin Reports with Rebecca Reporting
15:20 - follow up on Arin Reports with discussion on Northeast natural gas prices
21:10 - CAISO issued a 20-year draft transmission outlook plan (coverage by NewsData and Utility Dive)
29:40 - Hydropower’s Contributions to Grid Reliability and Resilience (coverage by Utility Dive)
36:36 - we go off the rails (calling on BPA people who have access to THE teletype, we need a sound sample!)
40:02 - Maersk is launching an offshore vessel-charging venture
44:45 - 2022 Pan-Pacific Winter High Seas Expedition
48:00 - Silicon Valley Clean Energy’s Controlled EV-Charging Pilot
53:36 - TL;DR the rest of the news

You can find the podcast on Apple Podcast, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. Remember to share this with any friends you have that are electric utility enthusiasts like us!

Public Power Underground, for electric utility enthusiasts! Public Power Underground, where you’re valued and appreciated.

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit publicpowerunderground.substack.com

In this bonus episode Matt and Paul have a conversation with the Administrator and Chief Executive Officer of Bonneville Power Administration: John Hairston!

4:50 - One-Year Anniversary Celebration and presentation of an honorary fry-weight Anadromous Championship
15:25 - Boardman to Hemingway (B2H) news
20:34 - New content begins here!
21:43 - A new, public power underground game: seen // heard // nothing
25:45 - Fish risk (on hydro operations)
37:03 - Organizational re-alignment
45:52 - what electrification might mean for BPA’s transmission business unit
50:25 - a promo for BPA’s Science Bowl
51:05 - Administrator’s choice of topics
59:52 - parenting advice (maybe the first “Parent Corner” segment on the underground?)

Public Power Underground, for electric utility enthusiasts! Public Power Underground, where you’re valued and appreciated.

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit publicpowerunderground.substack.com

4:39 - Arin Reports
8:16 - B2H news
13:58 - Advanced nuclear fission projects in the news and fun twitter follows
23:10 - Dispatches from #energytwitter on ev charger siting
32:35 - California Public Utilities Commission takes up NEM 3.0 and Jason has some thoughts
41:20 - Seattle City Light’s newly released electrification study
48:57 - Matt and Paul interview BPA CEO and Administrator, John Hairston and celebrate his one year anniversary as Administrator
1:07:30 - TL;DR the rest of the news

You can find the podcast on Apple Podcast,

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit publicpowerunderground.substack.com

Karen Heim, Dan Catchpole, Ian Bledsoe, and Paul Dockery get up to speed on public power and public-power-adjacent news!

04:05 - Arin Reports with Ian Reporting!
08:20 - Northwest winter storm
14:36 - BPA's land acquisition program
20:23 - Another electric truck
25:21 - EDAM stakeholder process update
30:13 - PG&E Building ‘Remote Grids’ in Fire-prone Areas, and containerized microgrid systems
38:20 - Where Does Santa Go When the Arctic's Summer Ice Is Gone?

You can find the podcast on Apple Podcast, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. Remember to share this with any friends you have that are electric utility enthusiasts like us!

Public Power Underground, for electric utility enthusiasts! Public Power Underground, where you’re valued and appreciated.

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit publicpowerunderground.substack.com

It’s the finale for Season 3 and our Holiday Special! We welcomed special celebrity guests Crystal Ball, Emeka Anyanwu, Russ Mantifel, and NewsData’s Mark Ohrenschall to do a 2021 Energy News Countdown and 2022 prognostication. The episode is interspersed with Energy Carols!

08:06 Careful ‘cause it’s time change
46:04 Silver Generators
1:08:54 Simply forming a wonderful western market
1:18:52 O Power Plan
1:24:52 Ridiculous Things [a Daryl Wayne Dasher original and fitting tribute to public power underground]

The 2021 Energy News Countdown includes a discussion of each of the celebrity guests’ top 5 energy news stories. Each of us had our own list with our own reasons, it’s a great conversation. My top 10 is included here for your enjoyment! Spoiler alert, my list wasn’t the best list!

#10 WRAP Phase 3A
#9 BPA Rate Decrease
#8 Ted Lasso/Dolly Parton/Energy Twitter cross-over
#7 The Power Grid makes John Oliver’s “Last Week Tonight”
#6 Infrastructure Investment & Jobs Act
#5 Heat Dome event
#4 Texas blackout
#3 European energy crisis driven by Natural gas ^$ 
#2 Iron Air, Long Duration Batteries
#1 F150 EV

Public Power Underground, for electric utility enthusiasts! Public Power Underground, it’s work to watch!

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit publicpowerunderground.substack.com