Best Smart Grid Forums Podcasts (2025)

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PJM and the capacity crunch 33:43

Play Pause

37m ago33:43

33:43

The PJM capacity auction this month broke records with sky-high wholesale power prices — and that was by design. Under PJM’s auction rules, tight supply raises prices, incentivizing the development of new generation and encouraging existing generation to stay online. The big driver of that tight supply? Data-center driven load growth. The independe…

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Are Power Grids Being Left Exposed? 24:41

10h ago24:41

24:41

As power grids go digital, are we outpacing our own ability to secure them? In this episode of Powering the Future, Mandana White speaks with Styrmir Jonsson, CISO at Landsnet, about the rising cybersecurity risks in the energy sector.By Smart Grid Forums

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Repurposing EV batteries for grid storage 29:35

7d ago29:35

29:35

The job of an EV battery is unforgiving. If its performance slips too far — say, lost acceleration or range — it's probably off to the recycling heap. That’s even though it may have plenty of usable life, if only for something less demanding than powering a vehicle. Grid storage is theoretically a gentler job, involving slower discharging and more …

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Leveraging IEC 61850 to future-proof the power grid 14:42

11d ago14:42

14:42

In this episode of Powering the Future, Mandana White catches up with Jackson Moore, Application Engineer at Triangle Microworks, to demystify IEC 61850, the global standard that keeps power systems connected, secure, and future-ready.By Smart Grid Forums

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Why Grid Flexibility is Key to Renewable Success 13:09

11d ago13:09

13:09

As renewables surge, so does the need for smarter, more flexible grids. In this episode, Mandana White speaks with Davide Della Giustina of A2A about how energy storage is transforming grid flexibility—and the future of clean power.By Smart Grid Forums

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Can the Grid Handle Renewables? 16:35

11d ago16:35

16:35

As the world races toward clean energy, our grids are under pressure to keep pace. Smart Grid Forums CEO Mandana White speaks with Davide Della Giustina, Head of Business Development and Transformation Officer at A2A Smart Infrastructure, to find out how we're integrating renewable energy into existing power systems.…

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Are EVs Helping or Hurting the Grid? 13:24

12d ago13:24

13:24

EVs are on the rise, but can our power grids keep up? In this episode of Powering the Future, Mandana White speaks with Baerte de Brey, Vice President of The European Association for Electromobility, about the real impact of electric vehicles on the grid.By Smart Grid Forums

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Five big questions emerging from the OBBB 46:19

14d ago46:19

46:19

The One Big Beautiful Bill (OBBB) complicates things. Together with a related executive order, it dismantled key parts of the Inflation Reduction Act, while also injecting uncertainty into tax credit eligibility. The uncertainty in particular throws a wrench into project planning and leaves big questions about the impact across climate tech. So wha…

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Tumult in residential solar 36:34

21d ago36:34

36:34

Residential solar has had a rough couple of years. In 2024, the market contracted 31% and major companies like Sunpower and Titan went bankrupt. Now, only halfway through 2025, Sunnova and Mosaic have filed for bankruptcy, too. The market has suffered from low demand, high interest rates, and major policy changes like California’s cuts to net meter…

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Fresh intel from state utility regulatory filings 38:34

28d ago38:34

38:34

You’ve probably heard about Nat Bullard’s massive decarbonization slide decks, filled with charts and insights into decarbonization drawn from climate and energy data. This time he's waded through piles of utility regulatory filings — countless PDFs that hint at the inner workings of utilities and large customers — to find clues about everything fr…

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The Force Behind Smart Grid Forums 15:05

1M ago15:05

15:05

She’s the driving force behind the leading technical forum for the power grid sector. In this episode, Mandana White, CEO of Smart Grid Forums, shares how she built the business, what’s keeping grid operators up at night, and the global solutions taking shape.By Smart Grid Forums

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GM's big new battery tech push 38:35

1M ago38:35

38:35

Lithium-manganese-rich (LMR) batteries could offer a rare combination in energy storage: high energy density at lower costs. They swap much of the expensive nickel for abundant, affordable manganese. But technical hurdles — like poor cycle life, voltage decay, and long formation time — kept them on the sidelines. Now GM says it’s solved these chall…

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The story of steam 35:06

1M ago35:06

35:06

Addison Stark thinks waste heat is a waste of time. The real opportunity, he argues, is decarbonizing industrial steam, which accounts for roughly 30% of industrial heat in the U.S. But doing that means deploying alternatives to the fossil fuel boilers industry currently relies on. So how do you clean up steam? And why does Addison think waste heat…

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The tape that led to a fusion breakthrough 50:41

1M ago50:41

50:41

In 2021, Commonwealth Fusion Systems proved it had built the most powerful magnet in the world. The breakthrough was based on a specific material - a tape - that conducts massive amounts of current with very little loss. Rick Needham, Chief Commercial Officer for CFS, says the breakthrough led to a $1.8 billion Series B fundraising round. Since the…

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Frontier Forum: Fixing distributed energy's finance gap 41:55

2M ago41:55

41:55

Clean energy attracts nearly $3 trillion in investment annually, but most of that capital flows to massive utility-scale projects through the world's biggest banks and large-scale asset managers. Meanwhile, smaller distributed projects — rooftop solar, batteries, microgrids — face a structural financing challenge that Amanda Li calls "death by a th…

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The state of play of data center development 39:24

2M ago39:24

39:24

The future of the grid increasingly hinges on where and how data centers get built. To forecast the kind of power infrastructure we need to meet AI’s growing appetite, we first need to understand a laundry list of variables: data center size, workload type, latency, reliability — even the variety of a data center’s coolant system. So what’s the sta…

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Will AI Replace Power Grid Jobs or Reinvent Them? 10:21

2M ago10:21

10:21

Mandana White sits down with Ronan McKeown, Future Networks Director at NIE Networks, to explore how artificial intelligence is reshaping the energy workforce.By Smart Grid Forums

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Solving the Grid’s Talent Crisis 16:40

2M ago16:40

16:40

As demand for clean energy surges, grid operators face a new challenge: attracting and retaining the next generation of engineers. In this episode, Ronan McKeown breaks down the workforce crisis gripping the energy sector. One Planet. One Power GridBy Smart Grid Forums

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The gas turbine crunch 42:04

2M ago42:04

42:04

Demand for turbines is growing fast, but so are lead times — causing serious headaches for developers. In Texas, one of six projects that pulled proposals from consideration for a valuable financing program cited “equipment procurement constraints” as the reasons for its withdrawal. Lead times are stretching to four years and sometimes more. Costs …

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FOAK tales 52:55

2M ago52:55

52:55

This week, we're bringing you a special episode of Catalyst with Shayle Kann, a show about how to decarbonize the planet. In this episode: what it takes to secure investments for first-of-a-kind infrastructure projects. First-of-a-kind projects need infrastructure investment, the kind of money that costs less than venture capital and usually comes …

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Using AI to Stabilize the Workforce and Accelerate Transition 18:30

2M ago18:30

18:30

What if AI could solve the workforce crisis in the energy sector? Mandana White talks to Leon Kuiper, Lead Data Scientist at Stedin, about how AI is being used to stabilize the grid workforce and fast-track the energy transition. One Planet. One Power Grid.By Smart Grid Forums

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How geothermal gets built 35:01

2M ago35:01

35:01

Geothermal seems to be nearing an inflection point. With rising load growth, clean, firm power is more valuable than ever. Next-gen geothermal players like Fervo Energy and Sage Geosystems are signing PPAs with major tech firms. Even U.S. Secretary of Energy Chris Wright — a known critic of renewables — has praised the potential of geothermal. The …

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Closing the Gap Between Grid Leaders and Technicians 21:13

2M ago21:13

21:13

Are your grid leaders and technicians speaking the same language? Mandana White, CEO of Smart Grid Forums, sits down with Ashley Boroda, founder of Ashley Boroda Communication and Development. One Planet. One Power Grid.By Smart Grid Forums

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What to make of Trump's deep-sea minerals push 37:04

2M ago37:04

37:04

In April, the Trump administration issued an executive order to accelerate the development of deep-sea minerals — part of its broader push for “energy dominance.” The world’s oceans hold vast, untapped deposits of critical minerals like nickel, copper, manganese, and rare earth elements — all essential to batteries and clean energy technologies. De…

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Building Fervo's geothermal giant 42:38

2M ago42:38

42:38

In 2023, Sarah Jewett was on her honeymoon in France when she received a life-changing text: steam was flowing from Fervo Energy's first commercial geothermal project in Nevada. That moment confirmed their revolutionary approach—applying horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing from the oil and gas industry to tap heat resources previously cons…

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A former race car engineer on battery safety and supply chains [partner content] 26:37

2M ago26:37

26:37

From his days as an IndyCar race engineer to his current role as chief product officer for a leading storage integrator, Tristan Doherty has always worked at the intersection of high performance and risk management. Today, he's applying that expertise at LG Energy Solution Vertech to build more resilient, domestically manufactured energy storage sy…

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What does it take to lead in a transforming grid landscape? 26:55

3M ago26:55

26:55

Torsten Roeglin and Dr. Mihai Paun reflect on the strategic value of SGT25—from the technologies shaping grid modernization to the high-impact conversations that happened behind the scenes. This episode offers key insights on where the industry is heading, and how to stay ahead. One planet. One power grid.…

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Terrawatt Infrastructure’s billion-dollar strategy 38:53

3M ago38:53

38:53

This week, we're bringing you a special episode of The Green Blueprint, a show about the stories behind first-of-a-kind climate projects. In this episode: Terawatt Power's first commercial electric truck charging depot, which opened in April near the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach. It was a significant milestone for the industry. So how’d Tera…

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The U.S. nuclear groundswell 40:27

3M ago40:27

40:27

By Latitude Media

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Were you at SGT25? What stood out? 15:55

3M ago15:55

15:55

As we look ahead to SGT26, what do you want to see more of? Deeper collaboration, real-world case studies, honest conversations about what’s working (and what’s not)? In the first episode of Powering the Future, Mandana White puts these questions to leading SGT vendors Paul Van Dijk and Johan Malstrom. One planet. One power grid.…

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Terawatt Infrastructure’s billion-dollar strategy 33:43

3M ago33:43

33:43

In 2021, Neha Palmer co-founced Terawatt Infrastructure with a bold mission: create the backbone for America's electric trucking revolution. Within its first year, Terawatt secured a billion-dollar investment. But as the company developed plans for a nationwide charging network, it confronted the daunting challenge of building infrastructure for an…

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Frontier Forum: Unlocking next-generation VPPs 26:16

3M ago26:16

26:16

In the mid-2000s, Ben Brown started his career designing demand response programs that relied on pagers and telephones. Today, as Renew Home's CEO, he's leveraging AI and tens of millions of connected smart devices to help households save energy and create an entirely new approach to grid management. Renew Home is building a new kind of virtual pow…

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Catalyst Live at SF Climate Week 46:55

3M ago46:55

46:55

It’s a Catalyst first-of-a-kind: our very first live event! We hosted it last Wednesday at San Francisco Climate week. In this episode, Shayle talks to Mike Schroepfer, co-founder and partner at Gigascale Capital and former CTO of Meta, and Nick Chaset, CEO of Octopus Energy US. Together they cover: Lessons on building products that consumers love …

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The geopolitics of rare earth elements 34:24

3M ago34:24

34:24

China’s new export controls on rare earth elements (REEs) are a problem for EVs, renewables, and other industries that rely on the minerals, especially the permanent magnets they’re used in. The vast majority of the global supply chain is in China. Plus, Chinese companies control supply chain operations around the world. So is it possible to stand …

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The scrappy beginning of Tesla’s energy business 35:40

3M ago35:40

35:40

In 2014, Drew Baglino was helping build Tesla's energy division with a passionate, scrappy team. Using parts from Tesla's vehicles, they created the first Powerwall home battery. But as demand grew, they hit a critical bottleneck: cell shortages. Customers across multiple markets were already excited about the new product, but Drew’s team struggled…

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What’s next for the battery storage boom? [partner content] 20:04

3M ago20:04

20:04

The U.S. storage market is experiencing hockey-stick growth, with multiple gigawatts being installed quarterly. But new policy uncertainties around tariffs and the Inflation Reduction Act are threatening this momentum. But Jeff Waters, the CEO of Powin, remains optimistic. "This industry will figure out a way to work with it," says Waters, who brin…

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Serving data center load with carbon capture 39:07

4M ago39:07

39:07

Big tech’s data center construction boom is fueling a flurry of natural gas development, despite the fuel’s challenges, and it’s complicating big tech’s climate goals. But carbon capture and storage (CCS) could mitigate emissions from those new plants, and hyperscalers could secure low-carbon power while meeting their needs for speed and reliabilit…

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How climate disasters are shaping insurance markets 35:01

4M ago35:01

35:01

Premiums are rising. Insurers are leaving markets. But people keep building in risk-prone areas, and the climate disasters just keep coming. Can insurance markets adapt? In this episode, Shayle talks to Dr. Judd Boomhower, an assistant professor of economics at the University of California-San Diego and a faculty research fellow at the National Bur…

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LineVision's quest to win over utilities 29:16

4M ago29:16

29:16

In 2018, LineVision was a young company with revolutionary technology for electric transmission lines. Its dynamic line rating sensors and software could increase the capacity of existing power lines by up to 40% without building new infrastructure — a critical solution for integrating renewables and meeting growing electricity demand. But to prove…

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Frontier Forum: Future-proofing data center power infrastructure 28:58

4M ago28:58

28:58

Data centers face a critical timing problem. They need massive amounts of power immediately, but grid upgrades can take more than seven years to complete. Microgrids could be a solution to this growing power gap. "How do you future-proof your systems through adaptability of technologies? Microgrids are really a nice technology to address that," exp…

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Specialized AI brains for physical industry 39:02

4M ago39:02

39:02

Everyone wants a piece of general purpose models. Instacart has deployed ChatGPT for recipes and meal planning. The Mayo Clinic is using it to summarize patient records. Schneider Electric is using an OpenAI LLM to generate sustainability reports. With such powerful models, what’s the need for specialized models built for specific industries, espec…

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The potential for flexible data centers 33:29

4M ago33:29

33:29

Tyler Norris says regulators have been getting two different stories. On one side, they’ve been hearing that data centers are largely inflexible loads. On the other, last year the U.S. Department of Energy recommended data center flexibility, and EPRI launched its DCFlex initiative to demonstrate the same. So he and a few other researchers wanted t…

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Nextracker's blueprint for 100 gigawatts of solar trackers 32:14

4M ago32:14

32:14

Dan Shugar has been trying to move solar panels around since the 1980s. What started with a few experiments as a young engineer has turned into one of the biggest solar tracker companies in the world. In 2012 he founded Nextracker with a single product. Since then, Nextracker has revolutionized tracking technology through an array of innovative pro…

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Frontier Forum: How tax credit transfers are reshaping energy finance 34:03

5M ago34:03

34:03

In 2023, the U.S. market for transferable clean energy tax credits was just getting started. One year later, that market has tripled in size, with credits diversifying beyond wind and solar into nuclear, manufacturing, and other technologies. "The statistics on just how much it grew over that period are really impressive — indicating the transparen…

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The coming robotics wave 45:53

5M ago45:53

45:53

Robots are becoming cheaper to make and more powerful because of AI. In the climate tech space, they’re already laying transmission lines, inspecting wind turbines, and installing solar panels.. And with labor productivity stagnating, immigration restrictions tightening, and the cost of labor rising, they’re looking even more appealing. So where mi…

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An ode to electrochemistry 37:40

5M ago37:40

37:40

Batteries were electrochemistry’s breakout hit. For years it was a field that kept a low profile, outshined by flashier cousins like biotech and computer science. That is until lithium-ion batteries became big business, showing that studying the relationship between chemicals and energy could unlock technical pathways that other disciplines could n…

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Electric Hydrogen’s bet on supersized electrolyzers 35:53

5M ago35:53

35:53

When Raffi Garabedian co-founded Electric Hydrogen in 2020, he saw existing electrolyzers as too small and expensive to make green hydrogen economically viable. Instead of building standard sub-megawatt units, his team aimed for 100-megawatt systems at half the industry cost. Initial market enthusiasm brought millions in capacity reservations, fuel…

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How AI is solving real utility challenges [partner content] 17:32

5M ago17:32

17:32

Laurent Boinot, a power and utilities leader at Microsoft, remembers the moment he discovered the power of artificial intelligence. Years ago, as a student using a basic AI model to assess World Bank project risks, he was amazed to discover the technology outperformed human experts. "With a very basic AI tool, we were able to replicate that risk an…

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A skeptic’s take on AI electricity load growth 56:23

5M ago56:23

56:23

The predictions are coming in hot. Data centers could grow to consume more than 9% of U.S. electricity generation by 2030, according to EPRI. That’s more than double its current estimated data center load. AI will increase global data center power demand 165% by 2030, says Goldman Sachs. And billions of dollars are at stake. Utilities, megasite dev…

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Cultivated meat’s “trough of disillusionment” 43:48

5M ago43:48

43:48

Between 2013 and 2023, cultivated meat companies raised a total of nearly $3 billion. In 2020, Singapore approved the world’s first cultivated meat products, with the U.S. and Israel following close behind. But head to the meat department of any American grocery store today, and you won’t find cultivated meat for sale. After short-lived restaurant …