NewsData Reporter Roundtable!

People in Power – A NewsData Podcast

People in Power – A NewsData Podcast

1:03:29

Finally, we find out who is unbeatable, unhateable, and unbreakable in the final five episodes of Battle Camp Season One. Host Chris Burns is joined by the multi-talented comedian Dana Moon to relive the cockroach mac & cheese, Trey’s drag debut, and the final wheel spin. The Season One Winner joins Chris to debrief on strategy and dish on game play. Leave us a voice message at www.speakpipe.com/WeHaveTheReceipts Text us at (929) 487-3621 DM Chris @FatCarrieBradshaw on Instagram Follow We Have The Receipts wherever you listen, so you never miss an episode. Listen to more from Netflix Podcasts.…

about a year ago 36:11

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People in Power Episode 8: NewsData Reporter Roundtable! Looking to update your knowledge of emerging Western wholesale energy markets? This episode of People in Power features three experts on the topic, California Energy Markets Managing Editor Jason Fordney, Clearing Up Editor Steve Ernst and California Energy Markets Associate Editor and Southwest Editor Abigail Sawyer. They discuss both the California Independent System Operator’s extended day-ahead market and the competing proposal from the Southwest Power Pool, Markets+. You can hear about the latest dynamics around the markets, from solving the thorny governance issue to the effectiveness of the West-Wide Governance Pathways Initiative to where the Bonneville Power Administration will land. This is a critical listen for anyone involved in Western energy markets!

103 episodes

NewsData Reporter Roundtable!

published about a year ago

MP3•Episode home

103 episodes

All episodes

1
Jim Robb, president and CEO of the North American Electric Reliability Corporation 47:39

21 days ago47:39

47:39

Hear from the nation's top reliability official as he and California Energy Markets Editor Jason Fordney explore the topic of grid reliability. Generation retirements, load growth through data centers and electrification, and more frequent extreme weather are among the challenges facing grid planners and reliability officials. This episode digs deep into the issues, including the challenges of more inverter-based resources on the grid, gas-electric coordination, and how New York City almost lost its natural gas supply in what would have been a catastrophic event. Don't miss this one-on-one with an official who is on the front lines of the reliability situation!…

1
NewsData Reporter Roundtable! 36:11

6 weeks ago36:11

36:11

1
Rocky Mountain Natural Gas and Reliability in the West, With Jason Sandel 31:57

8 weeks ago31:57

31:57

In the latest episode of NewsData's People in Power, upstream natural gas drilling executive Jason Sandel, chair of the Western States and Tribal Nations Energy Initiative, sits down with Abigail Sawyer to discuss the value of Rocky Mountain-sourced natural gas for providing electric reliability and heat in the West. Sandel, who runs a family-owned drilling and well-servicing business in the San Juan Basin, also discusses how natural gas producers can pivot to drilling geothermal and advanced-geothermal wells to provide emissions-free baseload power with little to no investment in new equipment or retraining.…

1
President Donald Trump, The Inside Story With Neil Chatterjee 33:41

11 weeks ago33:41

33:41

In this episode of People in Power, Chatterjee, former energy advisor to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and former chairman of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, discusses what to expect from the new federal administration in terms of energy. Some of his thoughts are surprising, such as Trump’s embrace of clean energy, and how Trump is concerned about his legacy. First nominated to FERC by Trump in 2017. Chatterjee describes how Trump isn’t doing anything he didn’t say he was going to do, and offers some personal insights into the president. Other topics include winning the artificial intelligence war against China and bringing down the cost of electricity.…

1
Resource Planning and the Embrace of SPP’s RTO Expansion 33:15

13 weeks ago33:15

33:15

In the latest episode of People in Power, Abigail Sawyer and Tri-State Generation and Transmission Association CEO Duane Highley discuss threading the needle to satisfy diverse interests across a multi-state territory and the G&T cooperative’s decision to join the Southwest Power Pool’s RTO West expansion.…

1
Will Abrams on Wildfire Survivor Advocacy 31:48

16 weeks ago31:48

31:48

For this episode of People in Power, California Energy Markets Editor Jason Fordney speaks with Will Abrams, a leading wildfire survivor advocate who discusses some disturbing developments around compensation for wildfire victims in California—a situation stretching back years and tied to the bankruptcy of Pacific Gas & Electric in 2020. These developments include wildfire victims not getting paid; Wall Street hedge funds, attorneys and others profiteering off the proceedings; and state legislation that is designed more to benefit utility shareholders than wildfire survivors. Abrams, who is a participant in legal proceedings related to wildfire survivor compensation, takes us through a series of observations that provide great insight into the plight of wildfire survivors. Abrams is a tireless advocate for wildfire victims who has taken his message to the state Legislature in Sacramento.…

1
Antoine Lucas on the Virtues of Patience and Competition 44:00

20 weeks ago44:00

44:00

Antoine Lucas, Southwest Power Pool's VP of markets, talks with California Energy Markets Associate Editor Abigail Sawyer about waiting for federal approval of Markets+, SPP’s day-ahead market offering for load-serving entities in the West. Further regulatory delays could have implications for Markets+, which is in direct competition with the California Independent System Operator's extended day-ahead market. That competition, Lucas says, is good for everyone. Listen to the conversation on the latest episode of NewsData's People in Power.…

1
Unpunished Wrongdoing in Southern California? 36:45

28 weeks ago36:45

36:45

Jason Hunter, a former employee of Riverside Public Utilities, is still looking for answers regarding contracting activity he witnessed at the organization years ago. Bolstering his claims of wrongdoing is the fact that some of the individuals involved in the alleged activity are now serving prison sentences for later activities at Los Angeles Department of Water & Power. It’s a wild story complete with employee harassment; police harassment; Federal Bureau of Information raids on LADWP offices; and conflicts of interest, as well as shell companies, luxury cars and beachfront condos. Hunter alleges that after years of seeking the truth and seeking an audit of the contracting activities he witnessed more than a decade ago, the alleged crimes were never punished. He is still waiting for the City of Riverside to perform the audit, which nobody can seem to complete. Check out the latest episode of People in Power to hear the whole story.…

1
People in Power Podcast, Episode 1 40:11

32 weeks ago40:11

40:11

The effort to create a regional wholesale energy market in the West moved forward in 2023 when a group of state regulators from Arizona, California, New Mexico, Oregon and Washington advanced a proposal “for ensuring that the benefits of wholesale electricity markets are maximized for customers across the entire Western U.S.” This led to the creation of the West-Wide Governance Pathways Initiative, driven by stakeholders across the West who realize the reliability and cost benefits that could be created with a wider wholesale market that includes California. In the inaugural episode of People in Power, NewsData’s Jason Fordney speaks with Kathleen Staks , director of Western Freedom and a member of the WWGPI Launch Committee, about the effort. This interview was conducted just prior to the issuance of WWGPI’s Step 2 proposal, which would create a new regional organization to oversee the market. NewsData's Abigail Sawyer also shares her thoughts about observing the demolition of the San Juan Generating Station in New Mexico.…

1
Virtual Power Plants Already Are Making Real Differences 41:03

46 weeks ago41:03

41:03

Virtual power plants are an old idea being revolutionized by new technology. VPPs bundle distributed energy resources, such as rooftop solar, demand response, energy storage and electric-vehicle chargers, into a single grid-scale resource. Proponents say they are essential to decarbonizing and meeting growing demand. The U.S. Department of Energy says VPPs could provide as much as 20 percent of demand in 2030. John Manetti and Aaron August come on Energy West to talk about Puget Sound Energy's VPP, which launched in November. It is about 30 MW now. The company plans to expand it to at least 86 MW by the end of 2025 and could provide 10 percent or more of the company's demand in just a few years.…

1
Locational Marginal Pricing Methods, With Kyri Baker 21:25

51 weeks ago21:25

21:25

In the latest episode of NewsData’s Energy West podcast, California Energy Markets Editor Jason Fordney interviews Kyri Baker, an assistant professor at the University of Colorado, Boulder, about her research into the locational marginal pricing methods currently used by most independent system operators. During her research, Baker noticed that LMPs mimic the behavior of direct-current circuits, leading to her research paper published in late March. Tune in to Energy West for details on this entirely new way to understand wholesale energy pricing in ISOs!…

1
Odd Bedfellows: Big Tech, Artificial Intelligence and Electric Power Utilities 30:40

1 year ago30:40

30:40

Demand for artificial intelligence and machine learning is booming—and so is AI’s energy demand. AI requires massive amounts of computing power, which means huge data centers need to be built to enable AI’s widespread adoption. AI’s energy demand is expected to grow faster than new generation comes on line. Solving that will be hard enough, but differences between the tech industry and the electric power industry make it even more difficult in some ways. The tech industry evolved with a move-fast-and-break-things ethos, while the electric power industry is one of the most heavily regulated and conservative industries in the country. Developing a new data center takes 12, 18, maybe 24 months, whereas adding new generation and transmission takes years. Tech and power are odd bedfellows, and while they are getting to know each other better, they still have plenty more to learn. Ben Lee, a computer scientist at the University of Pennsylvania, is one of the handful of people in the country who works in the space between the electric power industry and big tech. He says there are opportunities for the two to work more productively together. There are also some things that likely will not make much of a difference to accommodating AI demand in the near future, such as time-of-use rates.…

1
Columbia River Treaty and Low Snowpack with K. C. Mehaffey 22:49

1 year ago22:49

22:49

NewsData’s Clearing Up reporter K. C. Mehaffey stops by Energy West with updates on Columbia River Treaty negotiations between the United States and Canada, the low snowpack in the Northwest and efforts to save salmon in the Columbia River Basin.

1
CAISO CEO Elliot Mainzer Talks Markets, Reliability and Future of the West, Part 2 39:23

1 year ago39:23

39:23

In Part 2 of a wide-ranging interview with California Energy Markets Editor Jason Fordney, California Independent System Operator President and CEO Elliot Mainzer dives into his current priorities, including increased connectivity across the West, transmission planning that looks out 20 years, CAISO's pause of new interconnections to reduce queue clogging and the upcoming extended day-ahead market.…

1
CAISO CEO Elliot Mainzer Talks Markets, Reliability and Future of the West, Part 1 23:55

1 year ago23:55