The Electric Wire

Brent Ridge, President and CEO, Dairyland Power Cooperative, and Phil Montgomery, former Wisconsin legislator and PSCW Chairperson, join host Kristin Gilkes, Executive Director, Customers First! Coalition, to discuss the future of nuclear power in Wisconsin and how new small modular reactor (SMR) technology may help facilitate the clean energy transition.

Matthew Spencer of Madison Gas & Electric joins host Kristin Gilkes for a short conversation previewing an upcoming event hosted by the Customers First! Coalition to discuss state policies impacting electric vehicle adoption.   

The event is titled "CFC Power Dialogue: A Candid Conversation about Electric Vehicle Policies" and will be held from 2 pm - 6 pm on Tuesday, May 3, 2022 at the Madison Club in Madison, WI.   

Register to attend the May 3 Power Dialogue event here: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/cfc-power-dialogue-a-candid-conversation-about-electric-vehicle-policies-registration-315742663807  

Watch the Power Dialogue event on Wisconsin Eye live on May 3, 2022 beginning at 2:30 pm CST:  https://wiseye.org/live/

Rebecca Ryan and Lauren Azar join the Electric Wire for a conversation about change in the energy industry and in our world. Rebecca, one of the nation’s leading futurists, discusses local and global trends that everyone should be preparing for. Lauren, one of America’s most respected utility attorneys, leads the conversation about change in the energy industry, as they answer the following questions, and more:

· How do we get those in the utility industry to start thinking like futurists?

· How important are governmental or industry goals to get where we want to go?

· What does the future look like for EV’s and electrification?

· What are the craziest changes coming by 2050 that we haven’t thought of yet?

Cari Anne Renlund, Vice President, General Counsel and Secretary of Madison Gas and Electric Co., joins Kristin Gilkes, Executive Director of the Customers First! Coalition, as co-host (and bonus guest) for a lively and inspiring conversation about the direction of the industry.

Links from the Episode:

More on MGE’s 2030 and 2050 Carbon Reduction Goals:

IPCC: Sixth Assessment Report

Note from Rebecca: The Good Judgment Project (https://www.gjopen.com) makes predictions on EV penetration and MANY other things. The Good Judgment Project was founded by the author of Superforecasting, Phil Tetlock who found that regular people can learn to do foresight as well or better than trained CIA agents.

Long Bets is also does long term wagering about the future, fueled by a bunch of futurists and thought leaders. I just dropped on and Steven Pinker has a challenge about Bioterrorism.

How to Become a Cyborg from MIT Technology Review:

On February 23, 2022, several legislators invited representatives from Wisconsin’s investor-owned utilities to provide information to legislative offices at the Wisconsin State Capitol about the higher-than-average costs of natural gas heating bills this winter.

On this episode of the Electric Wire podcast, we share a recording of the briefing, including information provided by Bill Skewes, Executive Director, Wisconsin Utilities Association; Rich Stasik, Director of State Regulatory Affairs, WEC Energy Group; Sara Mead, Director of Gas Supply, WEC Business Services; and, Matt Vincent, Senior Manager of Energy Markets and Fuel Supply, Alliant Energy.

Energy Information Administration: Fluctuating weather this winter has significantly affected natural gas prices…

“Natural gas prices in the United States fluctuate during the winter months due to a variety of factors, including the levels of natural gas inventories, production, consumption, exports, pipeline congestion, availability and competition with other energy sources in electricity generation, and weather.

Unusually cold winter weather events result in increased demand for space heating and may be accompanied by production disruptions (such as well freeze-offs) or natural gas infrastructure disruptions (such as compressor outages).”

Link:

We Energies: Understanding the PGA line on your bill

“Natural gas is bought and sold on the commodities market, similar to goods like oil or milk. The price we pay for the gas is the same price you pay — there is no mark up.”

Link:

Related Resources

Home Energy Plus Application

Keep Wisconsin Warm Fund

Episode 21 of the Electric Wire podcast features a conversation about wind turbine blade recycling with Nicholas Killen, Director, Head of Manufacturing Lifecycle Services, Regional Manufacturing AME, Vestas Blades. Commissioner Tyler Huebner of the Public Service Commission of Wisconsin joins Kristin Gilkes, Executive Director of the Customers First! Coalition, as a co-host.

The interview addresses the following questions and more:

How do wind turbines work and how long do they last?

What is the process for recycling wind turbine blades?

What does the recycled material become at the end of the recycling process?

What is the future for the recycling of blades?

What are the costs and benefits of recycling the blades?

Both Killen and Commissioner Huebner share what they’d do with “all the power” in the industry for the final question of the episode.

Video of episode is available on the Customers First! Coalition YouTube channel here: https://youtu.be/IebcxHpMf5M

Public Service Commission of Wisconsin on Twitter: @PSCWisconsin

Nicholas Killen on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nicholas-killen/

Electric Wire on Twitter: https://twitter.com/theelectricwire

The Year-in-Review Crew is back to break down the top energy stories and ideas of 2021! Carrie Templeton, Heather Allen, Chris Hubbuch, and Matthew Spencer join to share their picks for top energy story, idea, and shock of the year, along with their predictions for 2022 and, of course, what they'd do with "all the power." We also ask the Crew to share their favorite Electric Wire episodes of the year, and those episodes are linked below.

Favorite Electric Wire Episodes of 2021:

Kristin Gilkes:

Episode 9 – Utility Regulation and Protecting Customers with Commissioner Nowak and Bill Malcolm

Episode 14 – 10 Powerful Moments on the Electric Wire

Matthew Spencer:

Episode 16 – A Lucid EV Conversation with Daniel Witt

Carrie Templeton:

Episode 17 – Navigating the Roadmap to Zero Carbon with Joe Fontaine

Episode 14 – Energy Assistance during the Pandemic with Barb Krug and Kristy Nieto

Heather Allen:

Episode 15 – Thinking Outside the Landfill: A Conversation on Solar Panel Recycling with Chris Stearns

Chris Hubbuch:

Episode 17 – Navigating the Roadmap to Zero Carbon with Joe Fontaine

How closely have you been tracking the energy provisions in the Bipartisan Infrastructure Framework (BIF) that recently passed Congress? Denise Bode, Partner at Michael Best Strategies, and Senior Partner, Michael Best & Friedrich LLC, helps us deconstruct the BIF and the Build Back Better plan that is still working its way through Congress.

Denise leads the federal policy practice at Michael Best Strategies with over 30 years of experience in trade association and coalition management as well as development of public policy strategies, at both the state and federal level. She has been following these landmark pieces of legislation closely as they relate to the energy industry, including transmission, smart grid, electrification, and hydrogen infrastructure provisions.

Jennifer Shilling of Dairyland Power Cooperative joins Kristin Gilkes of the Customers First! Coalition as co-host for the nineteenth episode of the Electric Wire podcast.

Is there a second life for retired power plants? We joined Dan Schooff, currently the Chief of Staff and Secretary at Beloit College, and a former Beloit-area legislator and WI Department of Administration Secretary, to tour the Beloit College Powerhouse on the banks of the Rock River to see the transformation that has taken place there. The Beloit College Powerhouse was originally a coal plant built in the early 1900’s and was recently reimagined as a student center for the college. Dan led the efforts on this massive undertaking, and in our interview, he shares more about preserving and restoring the historic power plant, and the core mission of sustainability that drove efforts to use geothermal heating and cooling on this award-winning structure. The YouTube version of this podcast has video clips from our tour included, and our Twitter page, @theelectricwire, has pictures from the tour as well.

Link to YouTube video:

Link to Electric Wire Twitter page:

https://twitter.com/theelectricwire

Sit back, crack open a PBR, and enjoy the latest episode of the Electric Wire podcast featuring an interview with Joe Fontaine, the case coordinator for the Public Service of Wisconsin’s current open docket on the Roadmap to Zero Carbon (5-EI-158). Joe helps navigate the Commission’s recent order in this docket, and we discuss upcoming items relating to Performance Based Regulation (PBR), the Focus on Energy Quad Planning Process, utility resource planning, and consumer affordability.

Link to article:

'This is starting on the right path': Hawaii sees early successes with performance-based regulation (July 29, 2021)

Link to Docket 5-EI-158:

https://apps.psc.wi.gov/APPS/dockets/content/detail.aspx?id=5&case=EI&num=158

Daniel Witt, Head of State and Local Public Policy at Lucid Motors, joins the podcast to discuss more about Lucid, the benefits of electric vehicles, EV battery reuse and recycling, making supply chains local, and policies impacting the electric vehicle industry.

Links mentioned in the episode:

Lucid Motors

https://www.lucidmotors.com/

TechCrunch: Lucid Motors sees a second life for its EV batteries in energy storage

https://techcrunch.com/2021/03/17/lucid-motors-sees-a-second-life-for-its-ev-batteries-in-energy-storage/