Strategy & Planning

Hydropower’s role as a balancing resource is going to be more important than ever. Hydropower is reliable, flexible, and clean, which makes it a perfect companion to intermittent renewable energy resources.

PUF’s Paul Kjellander talked with two leaders on all issues pertaining to hydropower and what its future looks like. Bonneville Power Administration CEO John Hairston and Idaho Power CEO Lisa Grow have much to say on this important subject.

How much is enough? That’s so often the central question for those considering investments in our national defense. Along with secondary questions of nearly equal importance, such as, should we invest in this particular defense program? Or that one instead?

For more than a decade, EPRI has been studying AI and its potential impacts on the energy sector, and in the last six years, the Institute has accelerated its activities around AI and data science. To date, EPRI has been involved in more than 75 projects related to AI applications in the energy sector.

At the core of this transformation are the utility IT systems, which have historically focused on administrative support, customer billing, and essential network management. To support Grid Mod, these systems must be significantly upgraded.

“Here, the focus is on the high-voltage transmission infrastructure of one hundred thirty-two kilovolts and above, from an unfortunately overlooked perspective, that of the customers and ratepayers who will pay the bill.”

“We bring in processes and techniques that let us go through an area of concern, evaluate pole by pole, and make a determination of what is the likelihood of that pole being compromised by this storm or not targeting the invest.”

“We have a pragmatic and prudent approach to both IT and OT data integration. The utilization of OT data is a critical path for utilities to address the energy transition and build resilient and flexible grids.”

“The idea of building a safe, resilient utility in California where climate ambitions are high, and the call for PG&E to be able to serve so we can lead the clean energy transition was compelling. I felt that could be a very important body of work professionally, but also personally to know I did something that made a difference.”

“I’m pulling every lever we have to make sure we meet the reliability needs and coordinate the gas and electric side. What’s clear to me is we need somebody, it doesn’t have to be me, FERC, or NERC. We need somebody to step into that gap and make sure they’re focused on the job of protecting our gas reliability.”