Explorez tous les épisodes du podcast Energy Changemakers Podcast

John Berger has won big and lost big. He founded Sunnova out of his Houston apartment in 2012 and grew it into one of the largest residential solar companies in the country, before it ended in bankruptcy. Now he’s back as CEO of Otovo, betting that the next big solar business isn’t installing panels but keeping them running.

In this far-ranging conversation with host Elisa Wood, Berger explains why installation and service are two different businesses, what it means for a solar system to be “orphaned,” and why he built a company that avoids heavy debt and policy exposure. He also shares why he wishes the Inflation Reduction Act had never been so politically visible, why data centers and oil producers are turning to behind-the-meter power, how Otovo is using AI to run service operations, and whether humanoid robots could soon be working in the field.

Plus: Europe as a “sleeping giant,” balcony solar, and what eating glass has to do with entrepreneurship.

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Utilities and distributed energy companies often talk past each other, and each side blames the other for the stalemate. Navneet Trivedi, co-founder and COO of Vrinda Inc., has spent more than three decades working with over 100 utilities in eight countries, and he calls himself an "energy transition realist." In this episode, host Elisa Wood talks with Navneet about why utilities behave the way they do, why he called New York's REV initiative flawed when everyone else was celebrating it, and his proposal to change the relationship. If batteries, microgrids, and other DERs make customers more resilient, Navneet asks, should responsibility for reliability, and the pay that comes with it, be shared between the grid and distributed resources? It's a candid conversation from someone who loves utilities and wants them to change.

Check out Vrinda's latest white paper: https://energychangemakers.com/resource-library/grid-utilization/

Autonomous vehicles are more than cars without drivers. They’re “robots on wheels” — and they will need enormous amounts of electricity at the grid edge.

In this episode of the Energy Changemakers Podcast, host Elisa Wood talks with Mike Calise, CEO of EV charging company Tellus Power, about why the rise of autonomous fleets could make microgrids and distributed energy a strategic necessity.

Calise sees two massive transformations colliding: the electrification and automation of transportation, and a power system already confronting soaring demand from AI and data centers. Microgrids could help bridge the two by generating and managing electricity close to where autonomous vehicles operate — while bidirectional charging allows the batteries inside those vehicles to become grid assets rather than simply new loads.

The conversation explores a real-world example at Oakland Unified School District, where 74 electric school buses can act as dispatchable batteries, returning energy to buildings or the grid when the buses are sitting idle. It also looks ahead to robotaxis, delivery vehicles, drones and other forms of “physical AI” — and what it will take to power them as they scale.

Calise calls it a collision between the multi-trillion-dollar energy and transportation industries. At the center of that collision may be one of distributed energy’s biggest opportunities yet: using microgrids, storage and vehicle-to-grid technology to power the machines emerging at the edge.

What if the model to solve many of our biggest electricity problems already exists—we've just never used it to its full capacity? In this episode, Keith Taylor, a UC Davis  institutional economist, makes the case that America's 800-plus co-ops are a form of "latent community capacity" hiding in plain sight. Keith proposes federating cooperatives so that they compete in the microgrid era, and what a Lake Tahoe utility crisis reveals about who really gets served when data centers come knocking. It's a hopeful, practical conversation about doing "policy from below."

• Look beyond the market and the state. Drawing on Nobel laureate Elinor Ostrom's insight that "there are no panaceas," Keith argues we systematically overlook the civic economy — a third leg of the stool alongside the market and government — where cooperatives operate on logics of service at cost rather than profit.

• We already have energy democracy. The U.S. has more than 800 electric cooperatives serving roughly 42 million Americans, generating about $42 billion a year in revenue. Of those members, some 8,000 serve as elected board directors — a political economy of its own that's ready to be leveraged, not built from scratch.

• Co-ops are often more efficient, not less. Investor-owned utilities serve about 30 households per mile of line; the average co-op serves about 7 — yet co-ops deliver comparable rates. In the 1930s, IOUs claimed lines would cost $2,000/mile; co-ops innovated the cost down to under $650/mile. Keith sees the same pattern today in broadband, where a South Carolina co-op (Carolina Connect) is stringing fiber for ~$15,000/mile against incumbent telco estimates of $200,000–$300,000/mile.

• Small doesn't mean weak — they federate. Individual co-ops stay locally controlled but pool into federations for financing (CoBank, the National Rural Utilities Cooperative Finance Corporation, and USDA's Rural Utilities Service together hold over $300 billion in assets), insurance (Federated Insurance), and white-label marketing (Touchstone). Keith's vision: a "microgrid federation" that makes co-ops a trusted vendor for communities building distributed energy.

• The Tahoe warning. A pocket of ~50,000 Californians around Lake Tahoe is served by the Nevada grid — and as Nevada's data-center demand grows, that region may be dropped in about 18 months, facing spot-market rates and rolling blackouts. It's a concrete example of customers losing out to data centers, and of why platforming alternative institutional models matters.

• Policy parity works. Co-ops have lagged on renewables largely because of incentive structures — they were historically excluded from renewable subsidies and often exempt from state renewable portfolio standards. When the Inflation Reduction Act's "direct pay" provision finally gave them parity with IOUs, co-ops rapidly expanded their renewable and distributed-energy portfolios.

• Start local, start now. Keith's call to action is bottom-up: engage your co-op's board and member-relations staff, join a member advisory committee, or run for the board. Where there's no co-op, look to public utility districts, community choice aggregators, or form a new association. As Ostrom put it: "We can, so we must."

Most people in solar assume the industry started with the trade-show boom of 2006–2007. It didn't. It started decades earlier, in the logged-over hills of Humboldt County, California, where back-to-the-land hippies were hacking a self-sufficient life out of the wilderness — powering their homes off car batteries, micro-hydro, and windmills just so they could keep the lights on and play a little music.

Host Elisa Wood sits down with filmmakers Jeff Spies and Jason Vetterli, whose two-hour documentary Solar Roots: The Pioneers of PV traces how an expensive military, space, and petrochemical technology found its way into the hands of ordinary people — and, in doing so, became a real industry. It's a story of catalog salesmen, off-grid homesteaders, cannabis-funded land deals, conservative ranchers won over one panel at a time, and a scrappy magazine that connected them all. Along the way, Jeff and Jason make the case for why solar has already won the price war, why the remaining fight is cultural, and why this history had to be captured now, while its pioneers are still here to tell it.

From homeowners to businesses to AI data centers, customers are investing in distributed energy for their own reasons — and collectively rewiring how the entire electric system evolves. Recorded live to open The Great Transformation conference in Bend, Oregon, host Elisa Wood sits down with three people who aren’t just watching this shift — they’re shaping it: Cameron Brooks of Think Microgrid, Greg Castle of Schneider Electric, and Mike Grenier of Elexity.

The panel digs into the data center power boom (a reported 114 GW of behind-the-meter generation in the pipeline — roughly 20% of U.S. peak load), why falling battery prices are flipping "two yeses out of ten" into "eight," the "Frankenstein microgrid" phenomenon, and how flexible interconnection deals in New Jersey and the Google–Voltus capacity agreement point toward a grid that’s built from the outside in. It’s a candid, optimistic conversation about ownership, resilience, and scaling what already works.

Wildfires, record heat, and a grid under more strain than ever have turned “resilience” from a buzzword into one of the fastest-growing categories in energy technology. Host Elisa Wood talks with Julia Hamm — who spent nearly 20 years growing the Smart Electric Power Alliance (SEPA) before becoming a partner at The Ad Hoc Group — about how resilience became its own market, the AI cameras and wildfire-spread software utilities are deploying today, why microgrids are still an emerging (not mainstream) resilience play, and why the length of the utility sales cycle remains startups' biggest obstacle. They also discuss why Julia launched the Power Resilience Forum to keep this conversation from being crowded out by the AI and data-center load-growth story dominating the industry right now.

Plug-in solar — widely known as “balcony solar” — is one of the fastest-growing entry points into clean energy, and it is finally gaining a legal foothold in the United States. In this episode, host Elisa Wood talks with Stephan Scherer, co-founder and CEO of CraftStrom, who spent roughly a decade in the European plug-in solar market before bringing the technology to the U.S.

The conversation unpacks what plug-in solar actually is, how small systems can offset a meaningful chunk of a household's electricity bill for a fraction of rooftop-solar costs, and why the technology sidesteps the interconnection agreements and “soft costs” that make traditional residential solar expensive. Scherer addresses the two big safety debates head-on — line-worker protection and grid export — and explains the certifications, anti-islanding shutoffs, and “zero-export” approaches that underpin safe deployment.

They also explore the technical breakthroughs that made plug-in solar practical (lightweight bendable panels, integrated Wi-Fi monitoring, simplified installation), the economics and payback math, the addition of plug-in batteries and virtual power plants, and the wave of state laws — now five enacted — reshaping access for homeowners and renters alike.

The grid is straining under AI-driven demand, aging infrastructure, and climate-fueled weather events — and Robert W. Cross believes the answers already exist. The harder question is whether the industry can come together to deploy them. In this episode, host Elisa Wood talks with Cross, founder of Cross Consulting and principal at the cleantech design studio Outfit, about why distributed energy may be the relief valve utilities need, why storytelling is the industry's most underrated tool, and what he's building at The Great Transformation 2026, a curated, single-track summit in Bend, Oregon (July 8–10).

They dig into the collision between an "irresistible force" — distributed energy resources — and the "immovable object" of the legacy utility model, the gap between feasibility and bankability, and why Cross is intentionally designing his event to create constructive professional conflict. It's a candid conversation about scale, finance, policy whiplash, and the case for getting builders, bankers, regulators, and dreamers into the same room.

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Electricity prices are rising, data centers are struggling to connect, and consumers are feeling the pinch — yet utilities keep reporting record earnings. What's going wrong, and how do we fix it? In this episode, Elisa Wood speaks with Michael Lee, former CEO of Octopus Energy US and founder of Distributed Grid, about the structural flaw at the heart of the American utility model: an incentive system that rewards building infrastructure regardless of whether it is needed.

Lee argues that this cost-of-service model — largely unchanged for a century — is driving an inflationary spiral in electricity rates and blocking the distributed energy resources that could make the grid more affordable and resilient. But his argument is not simply that utilities are bad actors. It is that utilities are rational actors operating under the wrong rules. Change the rules — and the business model — and utilities could earn more revenue by coordinating a decentralized grid than by building poles and wires.

Lee lays out a detailed roadmap: from reframing utilities as "network coordinators" to paying them for outcomes (reliability, affordability, speed to power) rather than capital deployed. He also confronts the political and social complexities — utility shareholders who depend on dividends, governors who fear blackouts, and a public that has never had to think about how electricity works. The conversation is both an indictment of the status quo and a genuine blueprint for a better grid.

Produced in partnership with Xendee, this podcast explores the market dynamics that led the company to create a free, non-commercial gathering for the microgrid industry. In their conversation, Elisa Wood and Xendee CTO Michael Stadler discuss what's been holding microgrids back from achieving their full market potential, how utilities treat them, and why data centers are opening up opportunities that are reconfiguring what microgrids look like.Called University Week, the virtual event will be held June 8-10, 2026. Sessions will focus on:—Misperceptions and limited knowledge about microgrids and DERs—Macro market challenges—Older centralized technologies and grid limitations—Fragmented market with no common voice for the industryRegistration is free: https://xendee.com/xendee-university-week?.

What does it take to build a billion-dollar biofuels company from inside one of energy’s most durable entrepreneurial firms?

Michael Bakas has spent 25 years at Ameresco — and now he’s leading Neogenyx Fuels, a new $1.8 billion joint venture with HASI. Elisa Wood of Energy Changemakers gets the full story: the cocktail-napkin founding of Ameresco, the dual energy crisis (geopolitics + AI demand), and why RNG’s global moment has arrived.

Whether you work in energy development, finance, policy, or utilities — or you’re simply watching the clean energy transition unfold — this conversation is a rare look at how one company has been building the infrastructure for what now appears to be America’s biofuel moment.

Produced in partnership with Xendee, this podcast explores the market dynamics that led the company to create a free, non-commercial educational gathering for the microgrid industry.

In their conversation, Elisa Wood and Xendee CTO Michael Stadler discuss what’s been holding microgrids back from achieving their full market potential, how utilities treat them, and why data centers are opening up opportunities that are reconfiguring what microgrids look like.

For more information, join Xendee and Energy Changemakers at University Week, a virtual event that will be held June 8-10, 2026.

Sessions will focus on:

• Misperceptions and limited knowledge about microgrids and DERs
• Macro market challenges
• Older centralized technologies and grid limitations
• Fragmented market with no common voice for the industry

Registration is free. https://xendee.com/xendee-university-week?utm_source=ecm

This episode revisits one of the most-listened-to conversations in Energy Changemakers history—a three-way dialogue between Kay Aikin (CEO of Dynamic Grid, Maine), Lorenzo Kristov (independent grid market architect and formerly of California ISO), and Mark Paterson (Principal and Lead Systems Architect, Energy Catalyst, Australia). The original episode aired in 2024; this return engagement goes deeper, reexamining the concept of energy abundance through a more refined and urgent lens.

The conversation takes direct aim at the dominant political narrative of “generate, generate, generate”—the idea that energy problems are simply solved by producing more power. The guests argue that this approach confuses quantity with quality, and supply with access. They introduce the concept of “smart abundance” versus “dumb abundance,” and make the case that a truly abundant energy future must be planned from the bottom up, starting closest to the user, not at the distant bulk power system.

Ranging across economics, physics, regulatory law, and systems theory—and drawing analogies from photosynthesis to mycelial forest networks to Windows 97—the three guests explain why the current grid architecture is structurally incapable of delivering on the promise of energy abundance, and what reforms in planning, regulation, and market design would make the transformation possible. Australia’s experience with surplus renewables and minimum system demand serves as a real-world case study of what happens when abundance arrives without the right operating system to manage it.

The Pew Charitable Trusts has released a long-awaited policy playbook for scaling distributed energy resources (DERs) across the United States. In this episode, host Elisa Wood sits down with the two co-chairs of the Pew DER Advisory Council — Audrey Zibelman and Pat Wood III — to unpack what the playbook says, why DER deployment has stalled despite a clear business case, and what policymakers can do right now to change the trajectory.

The conversation moves from high-level regulatory philosophy to the practical mechanics of utility incentive design, FERC jurisdiction, virtual power plants, and the pros and cons of America's 50-state laboratory approach to energy regulation. Both guests bring decades of first-hand experience reshaping the grid — Zibelman from New York's REV framework and Australia's national DER strategy, Wood from opening the Texas and wholesale power markets.

The US grid is under pressure — surging demand from data centers, EVs, and industrial expansion is forcing expensive infrastructure upgrades. But what if a significant share of that relief could come for free? In this bonus episode, Elisa Wood sits down with Vincent Petit, SVP of Climate and Energy Transition Research at the Schneider Electric Sustainability Research Institute (SRI), to explore a provocative finding from the institute's latest research: when building owners invest in microgrids to optimize their own financial returns, the grid benefits as a byproduct — at zero marginal cost to grid operators.

The research, spanning five commercial building types and 13 geographies worldwide, finds that microgrids can deliver 20–40% power headroom recovery on average, with some configurations reaching 60%. And in 80% of modeled scenarios, the building owner achieves payback in under ten years — meaning the grid gets relief without spending a dollar.

This conversation reframes microgrids not as niche resilience tools, but as a scalable, privately financed mechanism for managing the coming demand surge — if the price signals are right.

Montgomery County, Maryland — located just outside Washington, D.C. — has emerged as one of the most ambitious local governments in the United States when it comes to distributed energy, microgrids, and clean power resilience. Since its first microgrid went online in 2018, the county has built out a portfolio of advanced installations at public safety facilities, a correctional facility, electric bus depots, and smaller community sites. Now, with 23 “resilient hub” microgrids under development and plans to produce on-site green hydrogen for its transit fleet, Montgomery County is redefining what local energy leadership looks like.

In this conversation, host Elisa Wood sits down with two key architects of this vision: Michael Yambrach, Chief of Montgomery County’s Office of Energy and Sustainability, who has overseen the county’s energy evolution since 2014; and Khaled Fakhuri, Senior Vice President of Schneider Electric’s Microgrid Business, the county’s long-term development partner. Together, they unpack how the county got here, how the public-private partnership model works, and what the future of microgrids looks like at local, national, and even data-center scale

For years, utilities and the distributed energy industry fought bitter battles over net metering, revenue erosion, and who controls the grid. Now, something has shifted. In this episode of the Energy Changemakers Podcast, host Elisa Wood sits down with Marco Krapels, SVP and Chief Marketing Officer at Enphase Energy, to explore a striking reversal: utilities that once viewed rooftop solar as a threat are now actively seeking out DER companies as partners.

The catalyst? Data centers. The explosive growth of AI and digital infrastructure is driving electricity demand at a scale that centralized generation simply cannot meet fast enough — and utilities are starting to realize that 80 million untapped American rooftops may be part of the answer.

Krapels brings both battle scars and optimism to this conversation. A former investment banker turned clean energy executive, he helped build SolarCity into the country's largest solar company and fought landmark net-metering wars in Nevada. Now, from Enphase — which celebrates its 20th anniversary this year — he describes a world where bundled, flexible distributed energy resources (solar + battery + bidirectional EV charger + smart home management) form dispatchable virtual power plants that utilities can actually rely on. And he argues it's not a future scenario. It's already happening.

Distributed wind has long played third wheel to solar and storage — but new market conditions may be opening the door to a comeback.

In this bonus episode, Elisa Wood speaks with analyst Peter Asmus about whether distributed wind can find new life in microgrids, virtual power plants (VPPs), and rural energy systems. They explore wind’s surprising early dominance in microgrids, why it lost ground to solar, and how rural co-ops, farm policy, and complementary generation profiles could bring it back into the mix.

While unlikely to compete head-to-head with solar, distributed wind may play a valuable supporting role in hybrid, distributed energy systems.

According to Markus Virta, Co-Founder of Cascadia Renewables, the answer has almost nothing to do with solar panels and batteries—and everything to do with listening.

In this episode, Markus—who has spent 16 years at the intersection of clean energy and Pacific Northwest policy—explains why microgrids fail when engineers lead and communities follow, and how inverting that paradigm leads to faster projects, fewer change orders, and infrastructure that communities actually use.

Markus offers a template for community microgrid development and provides examples of how it has worked in real-world projects. He tells the story of the Orcas Center Microgrid (Solar Builder Magazine’s Microgrid Project of the Year): a solar-plus-storage system built for a performing arts center on Orcas Island that turned out to be the community’s real resilience hub—not the fire station, not the school, but the place where people actually gather when things go wrong.

You’ll also hear about: a tribal nation moving to higher ground ahead of a looming earthquake, a rural fire district running almost entirely on diesel for 30 years, and a national museum doubling as an emergency medical equipment hub. Each project started with a community conversation, not a technical spec.

Markus also breaks down Washington State’s unique policy and funding ecosystem, including its cap-and-invest program, Commerce technical assistance grants, and the emerging day-ahead market that could finally make community microgrids economically self-sustaining. And he makes the case for FERC Order 2222 as the regulatory lever that could unlock real revenue for community-owned energy assets.

Subscribe to the free Energy Changemakers Newsletter and join the community at EnergyChangemakers.com

In Episode 40, host Elisa Wood sits down with Ben Brown, CEO of Renew Home, to explore how millions of ordinary homes are being quietly transformed into virtual power plants (VPPs) — aggregated, AI-coordinated, and capable of delivering what a gas-fired peaker plant once did, at a fraction of the cost and with zero emissions.

From Jimmy Carter's thermostat appeals to today's invisible, personalized energy shifting, Ben and Elisa talk about why the future of grid stability runs directly through your living room.

What you'll learn:

• What a virtual power plant actually is, and why it's different from old-school demand response

• How Renew Home manages nearly 6 gigawatts of flexible load across 7.5 million households

• Why being distributed makes a VPP more valuable than a centralized power plant

• The policy gap holding back the next wave of VPP growth (and which markets are leading)

• How Ben's team achieves an 80% opt-in rate — without customers feeling a thing

• What role EVs, heat pumps, and home batteries will play in the grid of 2035

Ben Brown built the Nest Learning Thermostat and Google Home devices before spinning out Renew Home — now North America's largest residential VPP platform — from Google in 2023. In November 2024, Renew Home announced a partnership with NRG Energy to build a 1-gigawatt AI-powered VPP in Texas.

This episode is for anyone who pays an electric bill, cares about the clean energy transition, or wants to understand how the grid is actually going to keep up with exploding demand from data centers, EVs, and electrification.

Subscribe to the Energy Changemakers newsletter and join the community at energychangemakers.com.

Jigar Shah is one of clean energy's most influential — and outspoken — figures. In this episode, he takes a surprising stand on a utility battery program that has the distributed energy world divided, makes the case that the solar industry is now the battery industry, and lays out a policy blueprint for new governors that starts with one bold number: cut electricity bills 20% by 2030.

In this episode:

• Why Shah is defending Xcel Energy's controversial utility-owned battery program in Minnesota — and why he thinks the critics are fighting the wrong battle

• The $50 billion math: how strategically placed batteries could meet all U.S. load growth through 2030 at a fraction of the cost of new utility infrastructure

• His blunt advice for half the clean energy industry: adapt your cost structure or shut your doors

• The "controlled experiment" between Xcel Minnesota and Xcel Colorado that could settle the utility ownership debate

• A three-point energy platform for governors, anchored in grid-enhancing technologies and massive battery deployment

• Shah's personal journey from a village in India with barely any electricity to overseeing the largest clean energy lending program in U.S. history

Key quote: "This solution is 90% cheaper than upgrading all the wires in Minnesota. Now we're arguing about whether this could have been 10% cheaper than the private sector solution."

People and organizations discussed: Sparkfund, Xcel Energy, Generate Capital, SunEdison, Common Charge, Institute for Local Self-Reliance, Tesla, Atmos Financial, DOE Loan Programs Office

Resources: DOE VPP Liftoff Report (January 2025) · DOE Grid-Enhancing Technologies Liftoff Report · IEA World Energy Outlook · commoncharge.org · energychangemakers.com

Eliot Assimakopoulos, CEO of Realizse and former GE microgrid pioneer, discusses a critical barrier to clean energy deployment: "stranded abundance." Despite available capital and valuable incentives, friction in finance prevents these resources from connecting, limiting microgrid and DER project development.

Eliot Assimakopoulos

• CEO, Realizse

• Former Marine Corps Captain

• 20 years at General Electric leading microgrid solution development

• Early pioneer in the microgrid space

The Stranded Abundance Problem

• Valuable incentive programs (ITC, 179D, state incentives) exist but remain underutilized

• Capital exists but doesn't trust complex value streams

• Example: Heat pump programs can access 50% ITC but developers avoid it due to complexity and risk

Historical Parallels

• Printing press and the democratization of knowledge

• Gold rush: connecting stranded gold with stranded capital through infrastructure (Wells Fargo)

The Solution: Web3 and Decentralized Finance

• Using blockchain, smart contracts, and automation to create trusted data frameworks

• Integrating compliance data with insurance (similar to telematics in fleet vehicles)

• Removing ITC recapture risk through data-driven insurance products

• Creating investible assets from energy data

Two Sides of Abundance

• Removing friction to build (permits, interconnection, supply chain)

• Removing friction to finance (trust, complexity, risk management)

• Energy abundance requires both reducing building barriers AND financing barriers

• Trusted data infrastructure can unlock stranded capital pools

• Tokenization and alternative investments are creating new opportunities

• The shift toward private markets and granular asset transparency enables liquidity

• Democratization of both energy AND finance is the ultimate goal

• Ezra Klein's work on abundance agenda

• Larry Fink's 2025 investor letter on tokenization

• Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) incentives

• 179D building energy efficiency tax incentive

For more information, visit energychangemakers.com

The explosive growth of AI training centers is creating unprecedented challenges for the electric grid. In this eye-opening conversation, Kay Aikin reveals why gigawatt-scale data centers like Stargate aren't just about needing more power—they're creating stability threats that could collapse entire grid systems. Learn why virtual power plants can't solve this problem, what new technologies are needed, and how the regulatory landscape must adapt to handle loads that can spike by several gigawatts in seconds.

Key Topics

• Introduction
• Three Types of Data Centers
• AI Training Centers: The Game Changer
• The Ramp Rate Problem
• Why Virtual Power Plants Can't Help
• What Solutions Could Work
• The Battery Challenge
• Interconnection Roadblocks
• Microgrid Alternatives
• The Regulatory Challenge
• Broader Infrastructure Crisis
• The Incentive Problem
• Systems Thinking Approach

Resources mentioned

• NERC Study: National Electricity Reliability Corporation report on large load impacts

• Energy Hub VPP White Paper: Recent publication on virtual power plant capabilities

• Previous Podcast: "Are We Expecting Too Much From Virtual Power Plants?" with Kay Aikin, Mark Patterson, and Lorenzo Kristov

• GridWise Architecture Council: Organization focused on power systems architecture

• Kay's Website: www.innovate8futures.com (Regenerative Futures - systems thinking resources)

Kay Aikin is CEO of Dynamic Grid and a systems engineer specializing in electrical grid architecture. She serves on the GridWise Architecture Council and is known for her forward-thinking approach to grid transformation challenges. Kay focuses on distribution network challenges, DER integration, and holistic systems design.

Elisa Wood is the host of the Energy Changemakers Podcast, which features conversations with industry leaders about building the decentralized grid. She can be reached at elisawood@energychangemakers.com.

Have thoughts on this episode? Reach out to Elisa at elisawood@energychangemakers.com or use the thumbs up/down buttons to provide feedback.

Listen to the Energy Changemakers Podcast on your favorite platform to stay informed about the latest developments in grid transformation and distributed energy.

This episode explores "speed to power" - the urgent need for data centers to access electricity quickly to support AI infrastructure growth. Anna Demeo explains why the fast-moving world of hyperscalers (Google, Meta, Microsoft) is colliding with the cautious, regulated utility industry, and what innovative solutions might bridge this gap.

Guest Bio: Anna Demeo

Anna Demeo, PhD is an industry executive at the intersection of energy and decarbonization with 30 years of experience integrating hardware and software to develop, commercialize, and scale sustainable energy solutions. She is the Managing Partner at Clean Tech Strategy Advisors, where she advises corporations, startups, and investors navigating the clean tech landscape.

Right now, the term "energy abundance" seems to be everywhere. It springs from Ezra Klein and Derek Thompson's book Abundance, which argues that we have too many rules and procedures bogging down the construction of clean energy, housing, and other needed infrastructure. While the book has created debate in both the power industry and political arenas, this episode moves away from the politics of abundance to focus on the economics of abundance.

Host Elisa Wood sits down with energy economist Mariko Geronimo Aydin to explore how the abundance agenda fits into an industry where markets traditionally make money via scarcity, not abundance. Mariko offers unique insights into thinking about energy abundance from an economist's perspective and shares the innovative work happening at the Earthshot Foundation through their Gridiron Dialogues.

Guest Bio

Mariko Geronimo Aydin is an energy economist with 20 years of experience working as a consultant to regulators, utilities, and developers across the country. She specializes in resource planning (including generation and transmission portfolios), cost-benefit analysis, market design, and incorporating resilience measures into grid planning. Currently serving as Chief Economist and Senior Fellow at the Earthshot Foundation, Mariko focuses on advancing economic frameworks that support sustainable and abundant energy systems, with recent work concentrated on California's resource planning challenges.

Rooftop solar is far more affordable in other countries than it is in the United States, and the gap has little to do with technology. In this conversation, Elisa talks with Nick Josefowitz, Chief Executive of Permit Power, about why American families pay so much more for rooftop solar and how outdated permitting, utility requirements and fragmented local rules create unnecessary barriers.

Nick explains what “soft costs” are, why they account for nearly 80 percent of the cost of residential solar in the US, and how automated permitting could dramatically lower costs, reduce delays, and help millions of households save on their utility bills. They discuss state-level solutions, the potential for nationwide standardization, and the real economic benefits of making solar installation easier, faster and more predictable.

If your company works in distributed energy or home electrification, this episode offers a practical look at policy tools that can expand the solar market, reduce customer churn, and support installers who are struggling under inconsistent local rules.

Nick Josefowitz is the Chief Executive of Permit Power, a nonprofit advocacy organization dedicated to making home solar and batteries more affordable and accessible. Permit Power works to cut through the red tape that keeps installation costs high in the United States by advancing automated permitting, streamlined interconnection, and state-level policy reform. The organization conducts research, provides policy guidance, and partners with lawmakers, installers, and local governments to modernize outdated systems.

Relevant Links

• Permit Power: https://permitpower.org

• Automated permitting resources via the SolarAPP+ initiative (DOE)

• Brown University Climate Solutions Lab research on local government efficiency

• Energy Changemakers community: https://energychangemakers.com

Call to Action

If you are an installer, developer, or policymaker working in distributed energy, Permit Power wants to hear from you. Your stories and real-world experience help shape policy solutions that make rooftop solar more accessible for every American family.

Connect with Elisa and the Energy Changemakers community at energychangemakers.com and subscribe for updates, insights, and upcoming episodes.

In this episode, host Elisa Wood sits down with Adam Scarsella, Vice President of Digital Infrastructure Sales at Voltus, to explore a new approach to accelerating data center interconnection: Bring Your Own Capacity (BYOC).

This innovative model allows hyperscalers to meet their peak energy needs not by waiting years for new power plants, but by funding a virtual power plant (VPP) built from distributed energy resources (DERs) already in the community.

Elisa and Adam unpack what’s driving today’s unprecedented grid strain, why VPPs are becoming indispensable, and how BYOC flips the script—turning data centers from grid liabilities into direct contributors to local resilience. They also discuss Voltus’s evolution over the past seven years, the rapid rise of emergency dispatches across markets, and how partnerships like their work with Cloverleaf Infrastructure are shaping the next era of grid planning.

If you want a front-row seat to where virtual power plants, hyperscaler load growth, and grid modernization are heading, this conversation is essential listening.

• Why traditional power plant development no longer keeps pace with increasing load.

• The explosion of data centers, AI infrastructure, and large industrial loads across the U.S.

• Record-high capacity prices in wholesale markets such as PJM and MISO.

• Voltus has seen daily dispatch events for more than a year across multiple markets.

• How VPPs provide system flexibility during a period of accelerating retirements (coal, gas) and growing intermittent generation.

Adam explains how the company has evolved:

• Early focus: traditional industrial demand response.

• Today: Batteries, Solar, EVs, Commercial + residential loads, Carbon response programs

• Voltus has become a comprehensive DER platform supporting grid operators every day.

• Data centers face multi-year interconnection delays due to capacity constraints.

• BYOC allows hyperscalers to fund a VPP that offsets their peak load.

• Voltus builds the VPP from local DERs; the hyperscaler pays for it.

• This provides:

• Faster interconnection

• A new revenue stream for local businesses/residents

• Less pressure on utilities to develop new power plants

• Instead of extracting resources, the hyperscaler directly invests in the local grid.

• Paid participation for commercial/industrial loads and DER owners.

• A constructive alternative to community concerns around noise, water use, and energy consumption.

• Recent proposals from the U.S. Department of Energy recommending expedited interconnection for loads willing to be curtailed.

• BYOC offers a more practical version of that concept by enabling curtailment via the VPP, not the data center itself.

• Cloverleaf builds the physical data center campus.

• Voltus determines the required VPP capacity and constructs the DER aggregation.

• Together they provide a new model for rapid, collaborative grid integration.

• Adam hints at upcoming project announcements.

• Voltus expects BYOC to gain momentum as grid constraints grow and DER capabilities expand.

Adam Scarsella is the Vice President of Digital Infrastructure Sales at Voltus, a leading provider of distributed energy resource software and solutions. Over his seven years with the company, Adam has helped lead the transition from classic demand response to sophisticated virtual power plant programs serving utilities, grid operators, commercial and industrial users, and now hyperscalers seeking rapid interconnection. His work centers on using distributed energy to solve large-scale grid challenges through flexible, market-driven programs.

• Voltus: https://www.voltus.co

• Energy Changemakers Newsletter: https://energychangemakers.com

• Learn more about distributed energy and virtual power plants across U.S. markets.

If you enjoyed this episode, you can also subscribe to our newsletter at energychangemakers.com and join a community working to accelerate a more local, reliable, and equitable energy future.

In this special crossover episode, Energy Changemakers host Elisa Wood joins Jennifer Zajac on Clean Energy Shorts to talk about the most exciting innovations reshaping the electric grid. From mega-microgrids to driveway solar, Elisa reveals what’s really happening behind the headlines—and why the clean-energy story is about more than politics.

They unpack the myths driving public perception, explore new business models making microgrids affordable, and discuss why flexibility—not nuclear—defines the future of energy. The conversation also highlights inspiring examples of resilience, from Ukraine’s grid recovery efforts to local U.S. communities taking ownership of energy.

This is an optimistic, insight-packed conversation that celebrates innovation, collaboration, and a more distributed, consumer-controlled grid.

Episode Breakdown

Introduction

Elisa introduces the crossover episode and sets the stage for her discussion with Clean Energy Shorts host, Jennifer Zajac.

Misconceptions About Clean Energy

Why the public conversation about energy often misses the real story—and what’s actually driving today’s grid transformation.

Politics and Power

Elisa and Jennifer discuss the political polarization around renewables and why the market ultimately dictates the future of energy.

The Coolest Innovations on the Grid

From Eaton and Siemens’ large-scale modular microgrids to a family-run company developing driveway solar, Elisa shares her favorite new technologies.

The Rise of the Microgrid

How Hurricane Sandy, resilience needs, and entrepreneurial innovation made “microgrid” a household word—and how businesses are adopting them faster than ever.

Making Microgrids Affordable

The evolution of business models—like “microgrid as a service”—that make distributed energy accessible to communities and companies alike.

Supply Chain Realities

Elisa explains how microgrids are sidestepping the bottlenecks that plague large power plants and the transmission grid.

Investment Trends

Why investors remain confident in microgrids and solar despite shifting tax policies and tariffs.

Why Nuclear Won’t Lead the Future

A candid discussion on small modular reactors (SMRs) and why nuclear energy doesn’t fit a software-driven, flexible grid.

Data Centers’ Growing Pains

Inside the data-center boom: power shortages, desperate solutions, and NIMBY resistance from communities nationwide.

Lessons from Ukraine

What the ongoing war teaches about grid vulnerability, cascading failures, and the need for distributed, resilient systems.

Footprint Project & Disaster Recovery

Profiles of organizations deploying mobile solar microgrids to restore power after disasters—and what utilities can learn from them.

The Next Energy Frontier: Local Control

Elisa shares her excitement for community-owned solar and microgrids, and how local energy control can lower costs and increase reliability.

Real Stories of Community Solar

Why even the most innovative models sometimes require old-school door-knocking to make community energy projects work.

Wrapping Up: Hope for the Future

Elisa reflects on her new venture, Energy Changemakers, and the inspiring innovations shaping a decentralized, equitable energy landscape.

 Relevant Links

• Energy Changemakers: https://energychangemakers.com

• Clean Energy Shorts Podcast: (Search wherever you get your podcasts)

Why do many energy companies struggle to connect with stakeholders despite strong technical credentials? Why is it so hard for them to tell their story, and what could make it easier?

Elisa Wood brings together two communications experts who have helped a range of organizations find their stories: energy writer-editor Jay Hodgkins and podcast strategist Scott Smith. 

• Why stories are remembered and spec sheets are not

• How to frame renewables amid misinformation and political headwinds

• When to avoid acronyms and insider terms

• Ways to adapt your message across formats like podcasts, blogs, and webinars

• The simple, human description of “spinning reserves” and why it matters

• Three quick rules any subject matter expert can use to communicate better

• How consistent narratives build credibility through government policy cycles 

• Why imperfection reads as human, especially in an AI-polished world.

Listeners come away with concise rules for subject matter experts, guidance on differentiation in crowded B2B markets, and examples of translating technical precision into benefits that matter to customers, regulators, and community leaders. 

The throughline is simple communication that is truthful, human and focused on outcomes.

• “People do not remember facts. They remember stories.”

• “Fight fire with water. Lead with facts and aim them at the people who can act.”

• “Your customer is the hero. You are the guide.”

• “Acronyms are the enemy of attention.”

• “There is always a way to tell the same truth in a way that fits the moment.”

• “Keep it short. Your audience does not care as much as you do.”

• “Pick the channel after you define the message.”

• “Imperfections read as human. That is an advantage now.”

• “If we add renewables without stability tools, the grid can wobble. Batteries fix the wobble.”

• “Differentiate by benefit, not by feature.”
  

Elisa Wood

Journalist and host of Energy Changemakers. She covers distributed energy, microgrids, and the decentralized grid and leads Energy Changemakers Content Services.

Jay Hodgkins

Freelance energy writer and editor who helps companies translate complex energy topics into messages that customers and regulators understand. Jay and Elisa are long-time collaborators, previously at Real Energy Writers and now at Energy Changemakers.

Scott Smith

President and Chief Podcasting Officer at Penbury Consulting. Formerly with Gartner, where he led podcasts and moderated prospect-facing webinars. Specializes in spoken-word strategy and helping experts tell memorable stories.

What You’ll Learn
Notable QuotesWho’s On The Mic

Are data center forecasts overblown? Will energy efficiency trim megawatts and even gigawatts off predictions? And if so, what must data centers do to significantly curb their energy use? 

In this episode, host Elisa Wood talks with Mike Slevin of Fluke about what it really takes to make data centers more efficient. They discuss how small, everyday improvements in equipment performance add up to big savings, the growing role of solar and microgrids, and how the shift to DC power could change the game for the industry.

• Why “micro gains” in maintenance can lead to major energy savings

• The difference between short-term fixes and long-term technology shifts

• How solar, microgrids, and DC systems are reshaping power strategies

• Regional differences in sustainability and innovation

• What grid operators can do right now to prepare for rising data center demand
  

Mike Slevin is a Business Unit Manager at Fluke, a company known worldwide for its electronic test and measurement tools. Mike works with data centers and industrial clients to improve energy efficiency, safety, and reliability through better monitoring and maintenance practices.

• Fluke Corporation

• EnergyChangemakers.com

Call to Action

If you found this episode helpful, follow The Energy Changemakers Podcast and leave a review. Join the conversation about grid edge innovation at EnergyChangemakers.com.

Key TopicsGuest BioResources

Utility monopolies were meant to keep the lights on, but have they also opened the door to corruption that slows energy innovation?

Elisa talks with Dick Munson, veteran clean-energy advocate and author of Power Corrupts, about the scandals that rocked utilities like Commonwealth Edison and FirstEnergy, why the century-old monopoly structure invites abuse, and how bribery and dark money can stall the transition to cleaner, distributed power.

• How billion-dollar bailouts in Illinois and Ohio exposed deep utility corruption

• Why state-sanctioned monopolies create perverse incentives and resist prosumer tech

• Practical reforms—from transparency to shareholder-funded lobbying—that could break the cycle

• Why “clean government” is essential for a clean-energy future

• Dick Munson’s book: Power Corrupts

• More on Elisa Wood and Energy Changemakers: energychangemakers.com

• Follow Elisa on LinkedIn: Elisa Wood

• Related reading: Citizens United decision overview | Environmental Defense Fund
  

Listen & Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Google Podcasts | Your favorite podcast app

Two energy giants come together with a new strategy

The global data center boom is colliding head-on with one of the most pressing bottlenecks in the energy sector: access to reliable, timely power. In this episode, host Elisa Wood sits down with Jim Mozell, senior director of strategic partnerships at Siemens Energy, and Juan Colina, data center and IT segment leader at Eaton, to discuss how together they are trying to overcome interconnection delays and provide “speed to power” for microgrids.

While many data center developers scramble for quick fixes—from reviving retired plants to chasing speculative nuclear projects—these two energy giants came together to propose a “power to chip” approach. The result, they say, is faster deployment timelines, optimized efficiency, and a more financially sustainable way to meet AI-driven compute demand.

This conversation explores:

●  Why interconnection delays (often 7–9 years) are driving data centers to rethink power strategies

●  How Siemens and Eaton’s microgrid design enables modular, onsite generation—scalable from 250 MW to a gigawatt

●  The critical role of redundancy, efficiency, and combined-cycle technology in meeting massive compute demand

●  How data centers can shift from being heavy consumers to becoming good grid citizens

●  Global regulatory challenges and opportunities across the U.S. and Europe

●  Why slowing down the “frenzy buying” of energy deals could save operators money and optimize long-term sustainability

About the Guests

Jim Mozell

Senior Director of Strategic Partnerships, Siemens Energy

Jim leads collaborations that address global energy challenges through scalable, efficient technology. At Siemens Energy, he works on integrating advanced power generation systems into industrial applications, including the fast-growing data center sector.

Juan Colina

Data Center & IT Segment Leader, Eaton

Juan is responsible for shaping Eaton’s global strategy for powering next-generation data centers. With expertise in modularization, resilience, and electrical distribution, he focuses on helping operators scale sustainably while ensuring reliability from “onsite generation to chip.”

• The market panic around securing power for data centers
  

• Why Eaton and Siemens chose a modular microgrid approach
  

• Technical components: Siemens’ SGT-800 turbines, batteries, and Eaton’s switchgear/UPS solutions
  

• How modular scaling helps manage CapEx and growth timelines
  

• The opportunity cost of waiting for grid connections vs. generating onsite
  

• Financial viability and efficiency as essential long-term considerations
  

• Regulatory hurdles in Europe and North America
  

• Future vision: campuses and hub-and-spoke models supported by optimized onsite power
  

Relevant Links

• Energy Changemakers Podcast
  

• Siemens Energy
  

• Eaton Data Centers
  

📩 Have questions or insights? Email Elisa at ElisaWood@energychangemakers.com to keep the conversation going.

Call to Action

Key Topics CoveredIf you’re interested in how local energy innovations are reshaping the grid—and the future of data centers—subscribe to Energy Changemakers wherever you listen to podcasts. Leave us a review to help others discover the show, and join our newsletter community at energychangemakers.com to stay ahead of the curve.

Guest: Bruce Nordman, Retired Research Scientist, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory

After nearly 40 years at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Bruce Nordman has stepped into retirement — leaving with some big ideas about the future of our electricity system. In this episode, host Elisa Wood speaks with Bruce about the insights he’s gathered over his career and why he believes the grid has strayed from its original purpose: serving customers.

Bruce argues that today’s electricity system is structured around the needs of the grid, rather than those of the consumer. He makes the case for a reimagined model—one where electricity behaves more like the internet: plug-and-play, universal, and simple for the end user. From networking electricity inside buildings to creating globally harmonized standards, Bruce shares a vision for how to make energy systems both more efficient and more customer-friendly.

This conversation covers:

• Bruce’s pioneering work on the energy use of electronics and IT networks at LBNL

• How a “lightbulb moment” in 2010 changed the trajectory of his career

• Why electricity should be networked like the internet—universal, seamless, and behind-the-scenes

• The hidden complexity of today’s demand response and why it burdens customers unnecessarily

• Why virtual power plants miscast customers as power plants rather than treating them as customers

• The three essential ingredients for a truly customer-centric electricity system:
  

1. Dynamic pricing

2. Communications infrastructure

3. Automation at the device level
   

• Lessons from Scandinavia, California, and Australia—and why no place has yet put all the pieces together
  

• What global harmonization would mean for future innovation and affordability
  

Bruce also shares his optimism about what lies ahead and why he believes the greatest barrier isn’t technology—it’s changing the way we think about the grid.

Bruce Nordman recently retired after nearly four decades as a research scientist at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. His work has focused on energy efficiency in electronics and IT networks, the intersection of digital technology with electricity use, and advancing standards to support smarter, more sustainable systems. His innovative thinking has shaped policy, regulation, and the way we view the customer’s role in the grid. Today, Bruce continues to consult and advocate for globally harmonized, customer-centered approaches to the electricity sector.

• Learn more about Bruce Nordman on LinkedIn or at brucenordman.com 

• Join the Energy Changemakers community: energychangemakers.com

• Follow host Elisa Wood on LinkedIn

If you enjoyed this conversation, don’t forget to subscribe to the Energy Changemakers Podcast on your favorite platform and leave us a review. Want to shape the dialogue on the decentralized grid? Sign up for our newsletter at energychangemakers.com.

Together, we can build a grid that’s local, equitable, and clean.

About the GuestResources & LinksCall to Action

In this episode of Energy Changemakers, host Elisa Wood sits down with renowned energy economist Skip Laitner to explore the surprising ways our “stuff” — from food waste to excess parking lots — is shaping our energy use, economy, and environment. Drawing from his decades of work at the EPA, ACEEE, and beyond, Skip reframes the energy conversation from simply producing more to using resources more productively.

Using vivid, household-level examples, Skip reveals how the sheer mass of human-made materials now likely outweighs all living biomass on Earth — and why that matters for energy demand. He discusses:

• How household habits, from car ownership to shoe purchases, add hidden costs to our energy system

• The difference between energy efficiency and energy productivity — and why the latter could cut total energy use in half

• The role of distributed energy systems in making people more aware of their consumption and waste

• How smarter policies and greater investment could boost economic resilience while reducing environmental pressures

• Why repurposing and reuse — not “degrowth” — are key to a healthier economy and planet

From the economics of waste to the scaling lessons we can learn from biology, Skip offers a big-picture view that connects our personal consumption patterns to global policy choices. If you care about making the grid cleaner, more local, and more equitable, this conversation will leave you thinking differently about where real change begins.

🔗 Download Skip’s paper Living More by Waste Than Ingenuity https://www.researchgate.net/publication/330383360_Let's_Talk_Trash_Do_We_Live_More_by_Waste_than_Ingenuity

Connect + Resources

• Learn more about the Energy Changemakers community: energychangemakers.com

• Follow host Elisa Wood on LinkedIn
  

As rising sea levels, floods, and wildfires continue to impact large swaths of the U.S., many people will be displaced from the coasts to the middle states. Hillary Brown, former director of the Urban Sustainability Program at City College of New York, sees this as an opportunity for faltering, inland communities to capture new economic opportunities — if they prepare for population growth now. Cultivating clean distributed energy resources is a key step.

In this episode, Hillary dives into the policy frameworks, energy planning, community-led models, and financial opportunities that can help small towns thrive while providing a lifeline for those displaced by climate change.

What You’ll Learn in This Episode:

• What climate migration looks like in the U.S.—and why it’s already underway

• Why many people are still moving to climate-vulnerable areas like Florida and the Southwest

• How small towns can prepare to welcome newcomers and strengthen their local economies

• The role of distributed energy systems—solar, wind, microgrids, and storage—in climate-ready planning

• Real-world examples of small towns transforming through grassroots efforts, tax incentives, and energy innovation

• How philanthropic investment and private sector engagement can support local resilience

• The importance of Main Street revitalization in creating economically viable, socially connected communities
  

About the Guest:

Hillary Brown is a leading voice in urban sustainability and infrastructure planning. She served as director of the Urban Sustainability Program at City College of New York and is the author of several books on next-generation infrastructure. Her most recent book, Revitalize Resettle: How Main Street USA Can Offer New Beginnings for America’s Climate Displaced, offers a practical, visionary blueprint for how small towns can prepare for climate migration and create stronger, more resilient communities in the process.

Resources and Links:

• Revitalize Resettle: How Main Street USA Can Offer New Beginnings for America’s Climate Displaced — available via Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and other major booksellers

• Making Rural America into a Climate Migration Mecca with the Help of Distributed Energy, Energy Changemakers, 8/8/2024

• Explore more conversations on the decentralized grid at energychangemakers.com
  

• Subscribe to the Energy Changemakers newsletter for industry updates and insights

Call to Action:

Subscribe, leave a review, and share this episode with colleagues in planning, energy, or local government.

Elisa Wood interviews Mark Feasel — a former leader at Schneider Electric and FuelCell Energy, and now an independent energy consultant — about the growing tension between energy demand and access in the age of AI. As data centers proliferate and energy demand rises, utilities and innovators face a new challenge: Where will the power come from?

Mark shares his perspective on how distributed energy resources (DERs), grid constraints, and new power generation models may reshape our energy infrastructure. They discuss the  blank-slate reality of many AI-driven projects, the rise of fully onsite generation, regulatory hurdles, and what the future may hold if some of the most powerful companies in the world begin generating their own electricity.

What You’ll Learn in This Episode:

• Why access to grid capacity is becoming the new barrier for data centers

• How AI’s energy needs are reshaping assumptions about utility-scale power

• The evolving relationship between DERs and utilities—from competition to collaboration

• Why “oceanfront property” is the new metaphor for grid interconnection

• The surprising role coal and methane may play in next-gen energy systems

• How modular, scalable solutions are driving innovation in onsite power

• What Mark is seeing in the classroom as he teaches the next generation of energy leaders
  

Guest Bio:

Mark Feasel, a long-time leader and innovator in the distributed energy space, is the founder and principal of VisRete, a consultancy that services related to energy management, digitalization, microgrids, power grids and distributed generation. He previously served in senior roles at Schneider Electric and FuelCell Energy. Mark also teaches at Northwestern University’s graduate program in Energy and Sustainability, where he mentors the next generation of changemakers. His experience bridges policy, business strategy, and engineering, offering a rare depth of insight into the evolving energy landscape.

• Energy Changemakers Newsletter

• Subscribe on Apple Podcasts

• Subscribe on Spotify

• Learn more about Northwestern’s Energy & Sustainability Program
  

Connect with Elisa Wood:

• LinkedIn: Elisa Wood
  

Call to Action:

Want to help shape the future of the grid? Join the Energy Changemakers community by subscribing to our newsletter and following us on your favorite podcast platform. Share this episode with someone curious about how AI, regulation, and private capital are influencing the power grid of tomorrow.

What exactly is a “digital grid”—and why is it the cornerstone of our energy future?

In this episode, Elisa Wood sits down with Ruben Llanes, CEO of the Digital Grid business at Schneider Electric, to explore the digital transformation of energy infrastructure. With over 15 years at Schneider and a lifetime surrounded by energy systems (his father owned an electrical contracting business), Ruben shares his insider perspective on why grid modernization is the key to managing the explosive growth of data centers, aging infrastructure, and prosumer energy participation.

From rethinking load growth and AI-driven energy demands to unveiling Schneider’s One Digital Grid platform, Ruben offers a hopeful but urgent message: the technology exists—but will we move fast enough?

• Ruben’s journey from Deutsche Bank to leading digital grid innovation at Schneider Electric

• What a digital grid actually means—and how it changes everything from asset management to customer engagement

• How distributed energy, electrification, and AI are reshaping grid demands

• Why aging infrastructure and long interconnection queues are major challenges

• The role of grid management software and “non-wire alternatives” in solving energy supply gaps

• Incentive structures and regulatory shifts needed to accelerate modernization

• Schneider’s One Digital Grid platform and how it unifies IT, OT, and third-party applications

• Use cases powered by AI and integrated data ecosystems

• A vision of the future: resilient, intelligent, consumer-empowering grids
  

Ruben Llanes is the CEO of Schneider Electric’s Digital Grid business, where he oversees the integration of software, analytics, and system intelligence into the global energy infrastructure. With over 15 years at Schneider Electric—and prior experience at Deutsche Bank—Ruben brings a rare combination of financial expertise, operational leadership, and visionary thinking to the role. He previously led AutoGrid and has deep insight into the technological and regulatory forces shaping the future of energy.

• Schneider Electric Digital Grid

• AutoGrid (acquired by Uplight)

• Esri GIS Solutions

• AI Dash – Vegetation Management

• Distributech International
  If this conversation sparked new ideas about grid transformation, help keep it going:

  Subscribe to the Energy Changemakers Podcast

Scaling microgrids has long been a sticking point in the clean energy conversation—custom-built and complex, they’ve traditionally defied mass deployment. But what if microgrids could be treated as products rather than projects?

In this episode of the Energy Changemakers Podcast, host Elisa Wood sits down with Alok Singhania, Senior Partner at Gridscape, to explore how standardizing microgrids can reshape the energy landscape. Alok unpacks Gridscape’s innovative approach to making microgrids modular, scalable, and manufacturable, like any other piece of equipment. Together, they examine regulatory roadblocks, federal policy uncertainty, and the educational gaps holding back market adoption.

From tribal installations to community colleges, Alok shares real-world examples of Gridscape’s work, outlining a clear path to making microgrids central to a decentralized, resilient, and equitable grid of the future.

• Why most microgrids are stuck in a “custom project” loop

• Gridscape’s approach to productizing microgrids for scale

• How permitting delays and lack of public understanding slow adoption

• Why a decentralized grid is critical for resilience and cost savings

• The impact of utility policy and the “over-the-fence rule”

• How community microgrids could become the future of energy infrastructure

• Real-world examples from fire stations, tribal lands, and college campuses

• Insights on federal tax incentives, tariffs, and future-proofing the industry

Alok Singhania is a senior partner at Gridscape, a microgrid technology and project development company based in the San Francisco Bay Area. With a background in both technology and entrepreneurship, Alok has been instrumental in transforming microgrid systems from custom installations into scalable, modular energy solutions. His work supports communities, critical infrastructure, and institutions in their journey toward energy independence and grid resilience.

• Gridscape Solutions

• U.S. Investment Tax Credit (ITC) overview: energy.gov

• San Pasqual Band of Mission Indians Microgrid Case Study

• Shabo College Microgrid Project

• Fremont Fire Station CEC Microgrid Project

🔗 Website: https://energychangemakers.com/

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📣 Spread the word: Rate & review the podcast to help grow the clean energy conversation!

The Energy Changemakers Podcast is your source for expert insights into building a decentralized, local, and equitable energy future. Subscribe and join the movement.

In this episode, Elisa Wood sits down with Tim Hade to discuss why now—despite, or perhaps because of—federal policy turbulence, the distributed energy industry is poised for massive transformation. Tim unpacks his move to Santa Barbara (which, by the way, he calls “home to the worst grid in the continental U.S.”) and how that community could become a national model for DER-powered resilience.

They explore why community organizing is becoming just as crucial as engineering, how local governments are key players in energy infrastructure, and what role utilities can play in funding distributed solutions. From virtual power plants to the Distributed Capacity Procurement model, this conversation is a masterclass in building pragmatic, bottom-up energy systems in a time of urgent change.

If you’re worried about the future of distributed energy, this episode will give you a reason to hope—and a blueprint for action.

Key Topics:

• Why load growth is reshaping utility priorities
  

• Santa Barbara’s unique grid vulnerability—and opportunity
  

• The role of local government in infrastructure resilience
  

• Virtual power plants vs. legacy grid systems
  

• Funding DERs without federal tax credits
  

• Building community support and political will
  

• Why DERs may thrive in a less supportive federal environment
  

Relevant Links:

• Learn more about Tim Hade’s work: Scale Microgrid
  

• Learn more about Leah Stokes’ research: https://www.leahstokes.com
  

• SparkFund’s Distributed Capacity Procurement model: https://kleinmanenergy.upenn.edu/events/distributed-capacity-procurement-a-new-tool-for-utilities/
  

• More from Elisa Wood: EnergyChangemakers.com
  

Call to Action:

Are you ready to be part of the shift toward decentralized, community-driven energy? Subscribe to the Energy Changemakers Podcast wherever you get your shows, and leave us a review to help this message reach more listeners. Join our newsletter at EnergyChangemakers.com for exclusive content and updates.

In this insightful episode of the Energy Changemakers Podcast, Elisa Wood is joined by industry experts Lisa Cohn and Peter Asmus to explore the dynamic world of microgrids. They trace the evolution of microgrids from niche solutions for remote areas to vital tools for resilience in a world facing rising energy demands, data center expansion, and climate uncertainty.

Lisa and Peter share their extensive experience in the field, discussing how microgrids have evolved from basic solar-plus-storage setups to complex, multi-resource systems that integrate fuel cells, hydro, data centers, and even artificial intelligence. They dive into how microgrids are transforming industries, from agriculture in Oregon to energy resilience in Alaska.

Host: Elisa Wood, founder of Energy ChangemakersGuests:

Key topics include:

• The origins of microgrids and how Superstorm Sandy propelled them into the spotlight.

• The critical role of microgrids in data center resilience.

• Innovative microgrid projects, including Blue Lake Rancheria, Cordova, and Kodiak Island.

• Why data centers are now leading microgrid adoption.

• The impact of tariffs and regulatory uncertainty on microgrid growth.

• The future of microgrids as a solution for energy resilience and decentralized power.

Whether you’re a seasoned energy professional or simply curious about how microgrids work, this episode offers a comprehensive look at the past, present, and future of this transformative technology.

If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe to the Energy Changemakers Podcast on your favorite platform and leave us a review. Want to stay informed on the latest in energy innovation? Subscribe to our newsletter at https://newsletter.energychangemakers.com/

Call to Action:

Is it time to rethink who controls the grid?

Elisa Wood sits down with legal expert and author Sandeep Vaheesan to discuss the rarely told—but critically important—history of public power in the United States. From the rise and fall of rural electric cooperatives to today’s mounting frustration with investor-owned utilities, Sandeep offers a sweeping, insider’s look at why our energy systems are failing the public—and what we can do about it.

Together, they explore the roots of energy democracy, the tension between shareholder-driven utilities and the public good, and the resurgence of interest in publicly owned power. Sandeep shares examples of governance breakdowns (like Virginia’s Rappahannock Electric Cooperative) and inspiring success stories (such as Oregon’s Eugene Water and Electric Board). He also unpacks a surprisingly radical proposal from FDR and lays out his vision for a modern, democratic, and climate-resilient power system.

Whether you’re a grid operator, policymaker, energy advocate, or just tired of high electric bills, this episode offers vital insights—and a hopeful call to action.

Key Topics Covered:

• The two primary models of energy democracy

• Why public utilities don’t always serve the public

• Proxy voting abuses in electric cooperatives

• Lessons from Tri-County’s grassroots revolt in South Carolina

• The tension between scale and democracy in grid planning

• Sandeep’s proposal for democratic governance of large-scale energy infrastructure

• The future of public power in a post-IRA world

• Public involvement in regulatory commissions

• Promising models like BPA and Eugene’s EWEB

• A live policy fight in New York: Should NYPA lead the clean energy buildout?
  

About the Guest:

Sandeep Vaheesan is the legal director at the Open Markets Institute, where he focuses on competition policy and monopoly power. He has written extensively on the intersection of law, utilities, and the public interest. His book, Democracy in Power: A History of Electrification in the United States, offers a deeply researched and accessible account of how energy systems in the U.S. came to be dominated by private utilities—and how public alternatives can help us address the climate crisis and economic inequality.

Links & Resources:

• Get Democracy in Power from University of Chicago Press: Use code DMCRCYPWR24 for $15 off

• Listen to the August 28, 2024 episode: Are We Expecting Too Much from Virtual Power Plants?

• Learn more and join the conversation at energychangemakers.com
  

Call to Action:

Help shape the future of our energy system:

Subscribe to the Energy Changemakers Podcast

 Leave a review on your podcast platform of choice

Join our newsletter at energychangemakers.com

Share this episode with your network

Let’s build a grid that works for everyone.

Most Americans have never heard of their state’s public utility commission—yet these low-profile regulatory bodies control over $200 billion in annual utility spending and directly influence the price you pay for electricity and gas. In this episode of Energy Changemakers, host Elisa Wood sits down with Charles Hua, founder and executive director of PowerLines, a national nonprofit pushing for smarter, more consumer-centered utility regulation.

Together, they unpack the eye-opening findings of PowerLines’ latest national survey with Ipsos, revealing a rare bipartisan consensus: Americans across political lines feel powerless about their utility costs—and most don’t know where to turn for solutions. Charles explains why this regulatory opacity persists, what it means for energy affordability and the economy, and how PowerLines is working to modernize an outdated system for a more inclusive, transparent, and effective energy future.

If you’ve ever looked at your utility bill and wondered, Why is this so high—and who decides this anyway?, this episode will give you the clarity (and motivation) to learn more.

What You’ll Learn:

• Why state utility commissions wield more power over your wallet than you think

• The real drivers behind rising electricity and gas bills (hint: it’s not what you expect)

• How regulatory systems can evolve to center consumer voices

• The uphill battle of participating in public utility commission meetings—and what needs to change

• Why both policy insiders and everyday Americans need to care about this issue now

• Opportunities to engage with Power Lines and push for a more equitable grid

Charles Hua is the founder and executive director of PowerLines, a nonprofit organization working to make the utility regulatory system more accountable, equitable, and responsive to American consumers. With experience at the U.S. Department of Energy and Berkeley National Lab, Charles brings deep policy expertise and a practical mission: ensuring that the energy system works for everyone – not just insiders.

🌐 Visit PowerLines.org

📧 Contact Charles: charles@powerlines.org

Resources & Links:

• Learn more about state Public Utility Commissions: NARUC (National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners)
  
  Join the Energy Changemakers community: EnergyChangemakers.com

As uncertainty looms over the future of the federal Investment Tax Credit (ITC), many in the distributed energy sector are concerned about how to keep solar and storage projects economically viable. In this episode, host Elisa Wood sits down with Gareth Evans, CEO of VECKTA, to unpack his recent analysis that offers surprising—and hopeful—insights.

Gareth’s findings challenge conventional wisdom: solar and storage projects can still achieve a viable return without the ITC—but only if we radically rethink how these systems are structured. Elisa and Gareth discuss real-world project comparisons, the importance of optimization, and how resilience and cost savings are quickly becoming more compelling motivators than sustainability branding alone.

If you’re navigating the complex landscape of decentralized energy, this conversation is a must-listen.

Guest Bio:

Gareth Evans is the CEO of VECKTA, a leading SaaS platform and marketplace that empowers businesses to design, evaluate, and deploy profitable and resilient onsite energy systems. With a focus on removing soft costs and increasing project viability, VECKTA’s technology enables companies to analyze their full portfolio of assets, optimize energy strategies, and connect with qualified suppliers—all while saving time, money, and emissions. Gareth brings decades of experience in clean energy innovation and is a vocal advocate for practical, scalable solutions in the transition to decentralized power.

Learn more: www.veckta.com

Key Topics & Highlights:

• [00:00–03:00] Introduction to the Investment Tax Credit (ITC) and why it’s on shaky ground

• [03:00–06:00] What VECKTA does: a SaaS platform and marketplace to de-risk and scale onsite energy

• [06:00–10:00] The IRA’s impact on distributed energy—how it shifted the global energy conversation

• [10:00–14:00] Real-world analysis: how project viability changes with and without the ITC

• [14:00–17:00] Why optimization—not just solar saturation—is the key to post-ITC success

• [17:00–20:00] What types of businesses are leading the charge (hint: it’s not who you’d expect)

• [20:00–25:00] Resilience vs. sustainability: changing motivations in a high-risk energy landscape

• [25:00–27:00] Quantifying resilience: how to prevent costly outages

• [27:00–29:00] The future of decentralized energy—why Gareth remains optimistic, ITC or not

 Resources & Mentions:

• Veckta: Official Site

• Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) summary: White House Overview

• American Society of Civil Engineers Grid Report: ASCE Infrastructure Report Card

• Energy Changemakers Community & Newsletter: energychangemakers.com

Call to Action:

If this conversation inspires you, be sure to:

• Subscribe to The Energy Changemakers Podcast on your favorite app

• Leave a review to help more listeners find us

• Join our newsletter at energychangemakers.com

• Follow VECKTA for more insights into optimizing your energy future

Together, we can shape a cleaner, more resilient grid—one project at a time.

Across America, sunny driveways are abundant yet surprisingly overlooked as potential power generators. Now, a Florida-based startup, Gismo Power, is pioneering a remarkable innovation: a portable, plug-in solar EV charger called the MEGA –  or Mobile Electricity Generating Appliance.

In this episode of the Energy Changemakers Podcast, host Elisa Wood talks with Antonia Ginsberg-Klemmt, CEO and mechanical engineer, and her parents and business partners, electrical engineer Achim Ginsberg-Klemmt and operations specialist Erika Ginsberg-Klemmt. Together, this activist entrepreneurial family is challenging both conventional wisdom and outdated regulations to create a new category of solar technology designed specifically for renters, small businesses, and anyone seeking greater energy independence.

The MEGA is more than a typical solar installation—it’s an appliance that plugs directly into your home’s electrical system. Because it’s mounted on wheels, the MEGA avoids the high costs and red tape associated with permanent rooftop or ground-mounted systems. This unique approach has already attracted early adopters across the U.S., from tech enthusiasts to Native American communities looking for energy sovereignty.

But innovation is only half the battle. Gismo Power faces complex regulatory hurdles, as most jurisdictions lack a legal framework for “plug-in” solar devices. Elisa’s conversation with the Ginsberg-Klemmt family reveals the challenges—and potential solutions—in navigating local permitting processes, utility approvals, and shifting attitudes toward decentralized renewable energy.

Ultimately, the Ginsberg-Klemmt family sees the MEGA as not just a technological breakthrough but as a path toward energy democracy—making clean power accessible and affordable for the millions of Americans who have been historically left out of the solar revolution.

Join Elisa and the Gismo Power founders as they discuss the science, the struggles, and the exciting future of distributed solar energy, one driveway at a time.

Guests:

Antonia Ginsberg-Klemmt, CEO of Gismo Power, Mechanical engineer and recipient of the Ozy Genius Award and winner of SXSW Innovation Award in the student innovation category

Achim Ginsberg-Klemmt, vice president of engineering at Gismo Power, Electrical engineer specializing in renewable technologies.

Erika Ginsberg-Klemmt, vice president of operations, leading communications, regulatory strategies, and community outreach.

Explore Further:

• Learn more about Gismo Power: gismopower.com

• Read about Utah’s groundbreaking plug-in solar legislation (HB 340)

• Discover the work of Red Cloud Renewables: redcloudrenewable.org

Join the conversation:

Subscribe to our newsletter and become part of the community working toward an equitable, decentralized, and clean energy future at energychangemakers.com.

Distributed Energy Resources (DERs) are often overlooked, misunderstood, or underrepresented in discussions about the future of the electric grid. In this episode, host Elisa Wood explores why DERs—like rooftop solar, batteries, small wind turbines, and community energy projects—are so critical to building a decentralized, resilient, and equitable energy system.

Elisa shares why she founded Energy Changemakers and how this platform fosters meaningful conversations with industry leaders about the transformation of the electricity system. She also discusses the major barriers to widespread DER adoption, from regulatory hurdles to misconceptions about their role in the energy mix.

This episode features insights from leading voices in the energy sector, including:

• Erika Ginsberg-Klemmt (vice president of operations, Gizmo Power) on the economic benefits of owning distributed energy systems.

• Bill Prindle (principal, Better Energy Advisors) on the challenges of valuing DERs.

• Lorenzo Kristov (grid architect) on the need for bottom-up energy planning.

• Cameron Brooks (E9 Insights) on the importance of distribution system planning to support DER growth.

Key Takeaways

• DERs offer unique advantages – They provide backup power, are faster to install than traditional power plants, and reduce electricity loss by generating power closer to where it’s used.

• Ownership matters – Local communities that invest in DERs can control their own energy sources and keep financial benefits within their community.

• Regulatory change is needed – Current policies favor large-scale energy projects, but a shift toward valuing DERs and integrating them into local planning can drive meaningful change.

• The grid must evolve – With the rise of EVs, batteries, and solar power, the distribution grid needs modernization and better integration strategies.

Join the Energy Changemakers Community

If you’re passionate about decentralized energy and want to be part of the conversation, consider joining the Energy Changemakers community. Visit energychangemakers.com to:

• Attend free events

• Subscribe to the newsletter

• Join the premium community for exclusive content and networking opportunities

Connect & Subscribe

• Subscribe to Energy Changemakers Podcast on your favorite platform

• Leave a review to help spread the word about DERs

• Follow us online at energychangemakers.com

Together, we can accelerate the transition to a cleaner, more decentralized grid.

How do you make an ambitious clean energy goal a reality that benefits an entire community? In this episode, we sit down with Cody Hooven, principal and co-founder of Evolution Affairs, to explore how she led the charge in creating San Diego Community Power—now the second-largest Community Choice Aggregation (CCA) in the U.S.

From navigating policy and financial hurdles to engaging local stakeholders and launching during the turbulence of COVID, Cody shares the behind-the-scenes story of what it takes to build a more decentralized, community-driven energy future. She also discusses the growing role of local governments in energy decision-making, the unique advantages CCAs offer over traditional utilities, and why community engagement is the key to lasting change.

Tune in to learn how CCAs are shaping the future of energy—and how communities across the country can take control of their power.

00:00 Introduction to Energy Changemakers

00:27 Meet Cody Hooven: The Force Behind San Diego's Community Choice Program

01:57 Understanding Community Choice Aggregation (CCA)

04:48 The Growth and Challenges of San Diego Community Power

11:40 Navigating Financial Hurdles During COVID-19

14:16 Lessons Learned and Advice for Future CCAs

23:24 The Role of CCAs in Distributed Energy

29:41 Future of CCAs and Energy Transition

33:30 Cody Hooven's New Venture: Evolution Affairs

35:25 Conclusion and Call to Action

🔗 Learn More & Join the Conversation: EnergyChangemakers.com

AI is driving up power demand, but how much and how fast remains under debate. Bulls warn we’ll need far more electric power than we’re poised to produce. Bears say utilities inflate the numbers and don’t account for the efficiencies technology tends to achieve over time.

The debate heightened recently when DeepSeek, a Chinese AI company, announced that it had developed a more efficient AI large language model. This model purports to perform as well as US models but uses far less computing power and, therefore, less electricity.

This is a big deal because the power industry has been planning and investing based on the idea that AI will increase electric demand significantly.

So, exactly how much influence will DeepSeek have on electricity demand? In an interview with Energy Changemakers’ Elisa Wood, Rich Miller, former editor and founder of Data Center Knowledge and Data Center Frontier, explains why neither the bulls nor the bears are correct. 

Miller also describes the growing innovation of data centers, their increasingly important role in energy, and why they could transform the utility industry.

Stay until the end, when Miller unveils the surprising results of a poll he conducted with his data center industry followers. 

***

Elisa Wood: “My world loves distributed energy, and I'm curious if you're seeing much of a push towards onsite energy for data centers?”

Rich Miller: “That is the million-dollar question. And in fact, that is the most important trend that I think we are seeing right now, largely because we have this sort of log jam where many data center operators want much more energy than they're going to be able to get from the utilities in the short term.”

Visit EnergyChangemakers.com for content and community on the grid edge.

Bill Prindle, principal of Better Energy Advisors, told us what distributed energy resource (DER) companies don’t get about utilities in episode 1 of this two-part series. Now he looks at the other angle — what utilities don’t get about distributed energy players. 

It’s a clash of business cultures: Utilities have historically operated as monopolistic, cautious, heavily regulated entities. DER companies are innovative, often disruptive, scrappy and highly competitive. And they have to work together.

Prindle is uniquely qualified to describe the nuances of how these two entities interact. He’s worked with both for many years in roles at ICF, the American Council on an Energy-Efficient Economy and the Alliance to Save Energy. 

Here we look at the sometimes uneasy relationship between utilities and distributed energy companies as new challenges emerge in the electric sector, including flattened demand growth, DER integration, regulatory shifts, and evolving business models. 

—“For decades, utilities operated in a happy economic environment—demand grew, rates decreased, and everyone benefitted. But the game has changed.” – Bill Prindle

—“The industry isn’t just about engineering and regulation; it’s also a fascinating study in culture and personality.” – Elisa Wood

With an expensive push underway to build large power plants and transmission to meet growing electric demand, energy efficiency is gaining new importance. Creating more negawatts (energy reduction) reduces the need to build new energy infrastructure, saving everyone a lot of money.

Despite its benefits, energy efficiency has always been a “little engine that could” technology trying to overcome market obstacles. Now it faces problems collecting fair compensation in wholesale markets because of a Federal Energy Regulatory Commission ruling.

Guest Paula Glover, president of the Alliance to Save Energy, dives into the specifics of the ruling, its implications for wholesale capacity payments in the PJM market and the broader ramifications.

Be sure to listen to the end to hear Glover’s analogy explaining how energy efficiency is like cooking a Thanksgiving dinner. It’s spot on. (We recorded this podcast just after the U.S. Thanksgiving holiday)

00:00 Introduction to Energy Changemakers

00:28 The Impact of FERC's Decision on Energy Efficiency

01:43 Interview with Paula Glover: Insights on Energy Efficiency

04:31 Defining Energy Efficiency in Today's World

06:07 The Role of Demand Response in Energy Efficiency

07:50 Understanding Capacity Markets

17:11 Alliance to Save Energy's Current Focus

22:30 The Importance of Energy Efficiency Messaging

25:24 Conclusion and Call to Action 

Join Energy Changemakers for content and community on the grid edge.