Energy Central

The EC Network

Welcome to the Energy Central Podcast Network—your ultimate resource for the biggest ideas, boldest perspectives, and best insights from across the electric power industry.

We publish…

Power Perspectives. From CEOs of major utilities to founders of energy tech startups pushing the envelope, Power Perspectives curates the news, thought leaders, and big picture conversations most important to modern power professionals—every week on Tuesdays.

The Watt & Why. Dive deep into utility business strategies, straight from the minds of the leaders deciding what comes next. Host Mike Smith leverages his own decades of power utility industry experience and leadership to get to the bottom of what inspires, drives, and challenges utility decision makers.

Piloting the Future. Hosts Kim Gergen and Lee Krevat go deep with the leaders, innovators, and forward thinkers responsible for not just imagining where our power future is headed…but building it day by day.

The GISt. This action-packed limited series demystifies the rapidly evolving world of Geographic Information Systems through focused, expert-led deep dives into the most future-defining GIS topics.

And there’s even more to come.

Energy Central is a community where 250K electric power professionals share, learn, and connect in a collaborative environment. Want to join in? Visit www.EnergyCentral.com to register for free.

Episodes

Mentioned books

Dec 26, 2022 • 31min

107. '2022 Year in Review Highlighting the Top Episodes, Guests, and Moments of the Year'

Dec 18, 2022 • 36min

106. 'Infusing Innovation Across The Utility Sector' With Alan MacAnespie, Baltimore Gas & Electric

Innovation is a state of ongoing action for any company, including utilities. That is to say, innovation is not about achieving some hypothetical level or process, but it's about continuous improvement and working towards the next possibility driven by innovative culture and ways of thinking. In today's utility sector which is undoubtedly changing more than ever before, the importance of understanding what it is to embrace innovation and everything it means cannot be overstated. That said, too many organizations will still position innovation as a checkbox to be marked by the Board of Directors or in annual reviews rather than focusing on what it really means and how it's evolving constantly. As a creative and driven force at Baltimore Gas & Electric (BGE), no one may better embody that spirit of innovation than Alan MacAnespie, BGE's Principal Innovation Specialist. In this episode of the podcast, host Jason Price and producer Matt Chester eagerly dive back into the fundamental who, what, why, and-- most importantly-- how of innovation at BGE with Alan as the tour guide. Key Links Energy Central Post with Full Episode Transcript: https://energycentral.com/o/energy-central/episode-106-infusing-innovation-across-utility-sector-alan-macanespie-baltimore Alan MacAnespie's Energy Central Profile: https://energycentral.com/member/profile/alan-macanespie 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/

Dec 11, 2022 • 29min

105. 'Leadership & Evolution From The Utility C-Suite' with Garrick Rochow, CEO of Consumers Energy

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/

Dec 5, 2022 • 30min

104. 'Conditional Monitoring & Generator Maintenance Without Downtime' with Steven Turner at APS

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/

Nov 21, 2022 • 32min

103. 'Unleashing The Power Of Integrated Data' With Damian Sciano And Leon Bukhman, Con Edison

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/

Oct 31, 2022 • 32min

102. 'The Big One Is Coming' With Shamus Gamache, Central Lincoln PUD, & Leon Kempner, BPA

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/

Oct 23, 2022 • 35min

101. 'Disrupting Energy With An Entrepreneurial' With Bill Nussey

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/

Oct 17, 2022 • 18min

100. 'Innovating The Model With Utility 2.0' With Jereme Kent, CEO Of One Energy

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/

Oct 10, 2022 • 23min

99. 'Creating Real Change With Utility Equity Investment' With Calvin Butler, SVP And COO Of Exelon

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/

Oct 4, 2022 • 34min

98. 'Maximizing Innovative Grid Tech to Transform the Power Sector' With Indigo Advisory Group

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/

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