Grid Geeks

Grid Geeks is on hiatus for while...but, check out this new podcast: Electrify This! with host Sara Baldwin. This podcast explores the burgeoning movement to electrify everything as a core strategy to decarbonize all sectors of our economy. Three experts highlight the most important policy, regulatory, and market issues surrounding electrification of transportation and buildings. What are leading states are doing right? How will the new Biden-Harris Administration tackle clean energy? What can decision-makers can do to ensure the movement to electrify is equitable for all? Subscribe to Electrify This! where you get your other podcasts! Guests: Rose McKinney-James, Managing Principal of Energy Works LLC and McKinney-James and Associates, and a former Commissioner with the Nevada Public Service Commission; Sue Gander, Managing Director of Electric Vehicle Policy with the Electrification Coalition and former Director of the Energy, Infrastructure and Environment Division with the National Governors’ Association; and Mike Henchen, Principal of Building Electrification with the Rocky Mountain Institute and a former US Navy Officer. Electrify This! is an Energy Innovation original podcast.

Introduction Electrify This! - a new podcast devoted to the theme of electrification for decarbonization. Electrify This! features electrification experts from around the world who are advancing the transition of all sectors of our economy to 100 percent clean electricity. Hosted by Sara Baldwin, Energy Innovation's Electrification Policy Director (and former Grid Geeks podcast host), the show will explore the policy, regulatory, and market issues surrounding electrification of transportation, buildings, and industry, and demystifies complex issues to better understand the challenges and identify scalable solutions. Preventing the worst impacts of climate change requires rapid reductions in greenhouse gas emissions economywide. Electrification – replacing the technologies and systems that still run on fossil fuels, such as gas and oil, with alternatives that run on electricity, like electric vehicles, heat pumps, and induction stoves – is a proven way to transition away from highly polluting fuels to a clean energy economy without compromising reliability, affordability, comfort, or economic growth. We have the technologies and capabilities to run the electricity grid on 90 carbon-free resources (such as renewable energy, energy efficiency, energy storage, distributed energy resources, nuclear, demand response, etc.), and if we “electrify everything,” we can leverage this clean grid to drive deep emissions reductions across every sector of the economy. Electrify This! investigates promising electrification work underway in nationally and in states and communities across the country, highlighting what policymakers, regulators, businesses, and individuals should know and do to support economy-wide electrification.

Distributed energy resources (or DERs) – such as distributed solar or wind, demand response, and energy storage – have long been touted as part of the solution to create a more flexible, resilient and clean electric grid. These DERs are growing in popularity and the demand for consumer-sited resources is surging, as prices drop and people seek greater energy security. Yet, despite their fanfare, DERs still remain a relatively small percentage of the electricity grid and an underutilized resource when it comes to utility distribution system operations and planning. DERs have the potential to yield a more flexible and resilient (and, ultimately, a more reliable) grid – but only if that potential is allowed to be realized. In this episode, I speak with Jessica Shipley of the Regulatory Assistance Project (RAP) and Brian Lydic of the Interstate Renewable Energy Council (IREC)to explore what is happening on the cutting edge of DER policies, regulations, codes and standards. We’ll also talk about grid flexibility, resilience, and what more is needed to unlock the full potential of DERS.

Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, utilities and system operators have continued to manage and operate the electric grid, while dealing with a number of challenges, including: keeping utility employees safe, responding to abrupt changes to electricity demand, protecting customers and preserving reliability. In this episode of Grid Geeks, I discuss the challenges and experiences brought by COVID-19 with two electrical energy industry experts: Dean Sharafi, who heads System Management for the South-West Interconnected System in Australia and Senior Member of IEEE and Member of the IEEE Power Energy Society Governing Board and Juan Carlos Montero, Network Analyst in the Costa Rican National Power Control Center and IEEE PES Vice President of Membership and Image. (Host Sara Baldwin)