Public Power Underground: Recent Episodes
the Power Department
Public Power Underground is Northwest Public Power's premiere info-tainment weekly news series written, edited, and published by the Power Department. On our weekly shows, we cover northwest public-power and public-power-adjacent news.
The series originated as a pandemic diversion when physical distancing policies caused the Power Department to transition to remote work and zoom department meetings. It evolved to a platform to talk to peers across the region on topics affecting consumer-owned electric utilities in the Northwest.
Ben Serrurier, Jason Fordney, Arin Guillory, and Paul Dockery talk about the latest in public power, public-power-adjacent news and exciting acronyms, including BPA in the EIM, CREPC-WIRAB, all-things Tx, NuScale IPO, and another WSJ article!
04:07 - a new merch idea coming from the FDR speech Ben quotes in the cold open
08:19 - Arin Reports
14:21 - BPA joined the EIM on May 3rd
- BPA press release
- CAISO press release
20:28 - Committee on Regional Electric Power Cooperation // Western Interconnection Regional Advisory Body (CREPC-WIRAB)
- Ben’s live tweet of the event
- CREPC WIRAB agenda
- Jason Fordney’s article
34:53 - Ari Peskoe’s Utility Dive guest article
- Jim DiPeso’s coverage of FERC’s Notice of Proposed Rulemaking
- Keegan Moyer’s (Energy Strategies, Partner) presentation on Transmission Planning from CREPC-WIRAB
43:13 - NuScale starts trading on the NYSE
- Coverage from The Oregonian (link from Joel Myer’s Energy News Digest, thanks Joel)
- Stock tracking
49:19 - WSJ’s Katherine Blunt covers Electricity Shortage Warnings
- the February article by Katerine Blunt on the “increasingly unreliable” power grid
- Bloomberg’s coverage of California state officials warning
- Dan Catchpole’s coverage of PNUCC’s Northwest Regional Forecast (NRF)
- The EI/GridLab/Telos report on CA 2030
1:02:31 - TL;DR the rest of the news in “Energy West, lite”
- Rick Adair
- K.C. Mehaffey
- K.C. Mehaffey
- Linda Dailey Paulson
- Jim DiPeso
- “News Roundup”
You can find our merch on shopify. You can find the podcast on Apple Podcast, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. Remember to share this with any friends you have that are electric utility enthusiasts like us!
Public Power Underground, for electric utility enthusiasts! Public Power Underground, where you’re valued and appreciated.
Bill Drummond, Dan Catchpole, Karen Heim, and Paul Dockery talk about the latest in public power and public-power-adjacent news, including Lineworker Appreciation Day, solar developers betting on RTO development, what’s going on with the battery supply chain, and jumpstarting interregional transmission!
08:45 - Arin Reports with Karen Reporting
14:10 - Lineworker Appreciation Day
21:11 - solar developers betting on RTO development
31:08 - a bunch of battery stories
- CAISO is developing a new participation model for energy storage resources
- a Southern California Edison’s energy storage project is facing delays
- Rivian Chief Executive Officer, RJ Scaringe has a warning
- Supply chain issues facing batteries
41:21 - DOE’s $2.5 billion Transmission Jump Start Program
50:01 - TL;DR the rest of the news in “Energy West, lite”
- K.C. Mehaffey
- Rick Adair
- Linda Daily Paulson
- Rick Adair
- Abigail Sawyer
- “News Roundup”
- Albuquerque Journal
You can find our merch on shopify. Remember to share this with any friends you have that are electric utility enthusiasts like us!
Public Power Underground, for electric utility enthusiasts! Public Power Underground, where you’re valued and appreciated.
Debra Smith, the General Manager and Chief Executive Officer for Seattle City Light, joined the Karen, Matt, and Paul for a special bonus discussion about the electric utility enthusiast trifecta: Electrification, Markets, and People. We also get some jokes, elephant noises, an intermission game, and some new merch ideas.
05:49 - what’s going well, a numbered list
12:14 - Attracting, retaining, and recruiting public power people
36:56 - an Intermission Game called “Fantasy Utility Draft” where we do a mock electric utility draft from the characters of Schitts Creek, Succession, Ted Lasso, and Parks & Rec
51:27 - Debra’s thoughts on market development in the Northwest
57:03 - Seattle City Lights approach to electrification and highlights of their recent projects
- Curbside EV charging
- New electric bus charging base
- Electrification study developed in collaboration w/ EPRI
1:01:46 - Scaling up our workforce as the biggest challenge facing electric utilities
- background from interview w/ Jesse Jenkins
- Saul Griffith’s book Electrify and link to Rewiring America
- the hk tweet
1:10:03 - new merch ideas
You can find our merch on shopify. Remember to share this with any friends you have that are electric utility enthusiasts like us!
Public Power Underground, for electric utility enthusiasts! Public Power Underground, where you’re valued and appreciated.
Robert Trinnear, Abigail Sawyer, Brian Fawcett, and Paul Dockery talk about the latest in public power and public-power-adjacent news, including IPCC’s working group 3 report, the nationalization of National Grid, a $4.7 million fine by FERC, electrifying heavy duty trucks, and public power whitepapers!
08:02 - Arin Reports with Brian Reporting
16:28 - IPCC’s Working Group 3 Report
- The Guardian article on Working Group 3 conclusions
- The Guardian article on IPCC reports and what they address
29:29 - UK government buys ESO from National Grid
37:32 - Constellation NewEnergy pays fine for violating CAISO market rules
42:25 - Nevada joins EV MOU
47:57 - Preference customers publish papers on Provider of Choice
- PPC’s “PUBLIC POWER POST-2028 CONCEPT PAPER”
- PNGC’s “Post-2028 BPA Contract Framework and Concept Paper”
52:37 - TL;DR the rest of the news in “Energy West, lite”
- Wholesale electric prices in CAISO
- Colstrip operator Talen Energy reportedly preparing for bankruptcy
- Biden Invokes Defense Act to Boost Critical Minerals
You can find our merch on shopify. You can find the podcast on Apple Podcast, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. Remember to share this with any friends you have that are electric utility enthusiasts like us!
Public Power Underground, for electric utility enthusiasts! Public Power Underground, where you’re valued and appreciated.
Matt and Paul have a meandering conversation with Chris Kroeker from NW Natural about H2’s role in the energy transition.
04:01 - all the colors of hydrogen
17:32 - difference between hydrogen (H2) and renewable natural gas (CH4)
21:23 - How much H2 can go in CH4 transmission and distribution lines?
26:58 - How much H2 can be used in natural gas power plants?
29:35 - H2’s role in industrial decarbonization (include paper mills)
31:50 - Infrastructure necessary to get H2 to industrial loads (and money from the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act that may go toward it)
36:50 - How much hydrogen infrastructure does a billion dollars get ya!?
39:15 - Is there an inverse heat rate for the electricity to H2 conversion?
- 55kWh/kg-H2, 1kg-H2 = 135,000 btu
- 55kWh/135,000btu or 2,454 btu/kWh
- Inverse heat rate (a.k.a. the Cold Hart Rate) = 1 / 2.454 MMBTU/MWh = 0.4075 MWh/MMBTU
- Break even price for electrolysis at $30/MWh = 0.4075 MWh/MMBTU * $30/MWh = $12.22/MMBTU
I decided to check my concepts against known efficiencies of Proton exchange membrane electrolysis cells
- 3.4121 MMBTU = 1 MWh
- Efficiency of electrolysis conversion from MWh to H2, η = ~70%
- η*3.4121MMBTU/MWh = 2.38847 MMBTU/MWh
- Inverse heat rate (a.k.a. the Cold Hart Rate) = 1/2.38847 MMBTU/MWh = 0.4187 MWh/MMBTU
- Break even price for electrolysis at $30/MWh = 0.4187 MWh/MMBTU * $30/MWh = $12.56/MMBTU
Special thanks to Chris Kroeker and Jonathan Hart for finding mistakes in my initial math. In exchange for Jon’s help resolving my error, I will forever refer to this conversion as the “Cold Hart Rate”.
I don’t know if that was useful, if you have thoughts about the usefulness of an inverse heat rate or better math, let me know.
Remember to share this with any friends you have that are electric utility enthusiasts like us!
Public Power Underground, for electric utility enthusiasts! Public Power Underground, where you’re valued and appreciated.
Therese Hampton, Jason Fordney, Crystal Ball, and Paul Dockery talk about the latest in public power and public-power-adjacent news, including Blue Wolf Capital, minimum pool elevation for power generation at Glen Canyon Dam, FERC’s take on ROE, innovation at Douglas County PUD, a new President and CEO at WPP, and two new members of WMEG!
06:45 - Arin Reports with Crystal Reporting
13:29 - Blue Wolf Capital is pursuing the restart of the Intalco aluminum smelter
- Larry Brown opinion piece in The Seattle Times
- Scott Simms rebuttal in The Seattle Times
18:47 - Glen Canyon Dam approaching minimum pool elevation
- Coverage by Jake Bittle at Grist
- AP coverage in October of 2021
- US Bureau of Reclamation Reservoir Storage Dashboard
- US Drought Monitor map
24:20 - FERC Lowers PG&E Transmission ROE, related coverage in Utility Dive
34:16 - Douglas County PUD is innovating with renewable hydrogen (and maybe, possibly, someday expanding)
40:21 - The Western Power Pool announces the selection of Sarah Edmonds as President and CEO
44:22 - TL;DR the rest of the news in “Energy West, lite”
52:30 - the Western Markets Exploratory Group (“W”- “meg”) added two new members since announced in October of 2021
56:56 - BREAKING NEWS from the Chair of the Western Energy Imbalance Market Governance Review Committee
Remember to share this with any friends you have that are electric utility enthusiasts like us!
Public Power Underground, for electric utility enthusiasts! Public Power Underground, where you’re valued and appreciated.
In a wide ranging, engaging, and entertaining conversation, Humaira, Matt and Paul interview Jesse Jenkins. Jesse is an assistant professor at Princeton University with a joint appointment in the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering and the Andlinger Center for Energy and Environment. He is also an affiliated faculty with the Center for Policy Research in Energy and Environment at the Princeton School of Public and International Affairs and an associated faculty at the High Meadows Environment Institute. He leads the Princeton ZERO Lab - the Zero carbon Energy systems Research and Optimization Laboratory -- which conducts research to improve decision-making to accelerate rapid, affordable, and effective transitions to net-zero carbon energy systems.
05:26 - Public Power's role in the energy transition
17:13 - Intermission Game: “Parametric Uncertainty or Structural Error”
28:46 - How much are we gonna electrify? and is a Northwest RTO necessary for our region to do it?
40:59 - Nuanced approached to the energy transition
52:52 - Hope for the kids
58:40 - The Demand Balance Constraint, on merch
One area of conversation we didn’t get to because we ran out of time isthe Power Genome project and GenX model which Jesse has been involved in developing. Hopefully he’ll come back again to dive into open source models, and how electric utilities can utilize them in public processes.
You can find the podcast on Apple Podcast, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. Remember to share this with any friends you have that are electric utility enthusiasts like us!
Public Power Underground, for electric utility enthusiasts! Public Power Underground, where you’re valued and appreciated.
Ahlmahz Negash, Dan Catchpole, Karen Heim, and Paul Dockery talk about the latest in public power and public-power-adjacent news, plus a preview of an upcoming interview with Northwest Natural’s Chris Kroeker about the future of hydrogen!
06:48 - Arin Reports with Karen Reporting
12:13 - Ukraine and the European Union to urgently link electric grids (which successfully occurred after recording)
19:13 - Columbia REA let’s employees bring dogs to work
22:44 - Spring 2022 Energy Justice Speaker Series
26:50 - Jason Fordney’s article debriefing Arne Olson’s presentation at the February 25th NewsData and CJB Energy Economics video conference on Western Electric System Transformation
29:53 - Ahlmahz talks about her paper on Allocating the Cost of Demand Response Compensation in Wholesale Energy Markets
37:29 - Matt and Paul talk to Northwest Natural’s Chris Kroeker
42:03 - TL;DR the rest of the news in “Short to Ground”
other sources of energy news related to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine mentioned in the episode
- Germany may speed up renewables (Reuters)
- No taboos for Germany’s energy future (Reuters)
- Another energy podcast tackles macro energy impacts (The Carbon Copy)
You can find the podcast on Apple Podcast, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. Remember to share this with any friends you have that are electric utility enthusiasts like us!
Public Power Underground, for electric utility enthusiasts! Public Power Underground, where you’re valued and appreciated.
We assembled an ad-hoc crew to record an emergency podcast. You can find the podcast on Apple Podcast, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.
Thanks to @DrEricDing for breaking the news into @aPowerManager’s feed.
Remember to share this with any friends you have that are electric utility enthusiasts like us!
Public Power Underground, for electric utility enthusiasts! Public Power Underground, where you’re valued and appreciated.
In this bonus episode Matt and Paul have a conversation with the Executive Director of PGP and former Vice President of Transmission Regulation and Market Policy for PacifiCorp: Mary Wiencke!
Reference Materials:
PGP’s Market Retrospective
Western States’ Market Study prepared by Energy Strategies
Handbook on Electricity Markets
FERC Landmark Orders
Remember to share this with any friends you have that are electric utility enthusiasts like us!
Public Power Underground, for electric utility enthusiasts! Public Power Underground, where you’re valued and appreciated.
Russ Mantifel, Jason Fordney, Paul Dockery, and Ludgie Gelin talk about the latest in public power and public-power-adjacent news, plus a preview of an upcoming interview with PGP’s Mary Wiencke!
08:08 - Arin Reports with Paul Reporting
14:20 - Roundtable on rural broadband at Mason PUD #3 plus other broadband news
21:38 - CAISO adopts Phase 1 of Resource Sufficiency test rule changes
30:24 - The Wall Street Journal’s long-form article on the grid’s reliability
44:30 - the cost of going underground
51:05 - 2021 Power Plan in pre-publication, final form
58:50 - Matt and Paul talk to PGP’s Mary Wiencke
1:09:49 - TL;DR the rest of the news in “Sound Bites”
Remember to share this with any friends you have that are electric utility enthusiasts like us!
Public Power Underground, for electric utility enthusiasts! Public Power Underground, where you’re valued and appreciated.
Rebecca Sexton, Crystal Ball, Dan Catchpole, and Paul Dockery run through the latest in public power and public-power-adjacent news. There are a few instances where we go off the rails - - - as it often does when discussing public-power-adjacent news.
1:12 - Rebecca breaks news in her opening, Celebrity Guest, monologue
11:46 - Arin Reports with Rebecca Reporting
15:20 - follow up on Arin Reports with discussion on Northeast natural gas prices
21:10 - CAISO issued a 20-year draft transmission outlook plan (coverage by NewsData and Utility Dive)
29:40 - Hydropower’s Contributions to Grid Reliability and Resilience (coverage by Utility Dive)
36:36 - we go off the rails (calling on BPA people who have access to THE teletype, we need a sound sample!)
40:02 - Maersk is launching an offshore vessel-charging venture
44:45 - 2022 Pan-Pacific Winter High Seas Expedition
48:00 - Silicon Valley Clean Energy’s Controlled EV-Charging Pilot
53:36 - TL;DR the rest of the news
You can find the podcast on Apple Podcast, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. Remember to share this with any friends you have that are electric utility enthusiasts like us!
Public Power Underground, for electric utility enthusiasts! Public Power Underground, where you’re valued and appreciated.
In this bonus episode Matt and Paul have a conversation with the Administrator and Chief Executive Officer of Bonneville Power Administration: John Hairston!
4:50 - One-Year Anniversary Celebration and presentation of an honorary fry-weight Anadromous Championship
15:25 - Boardman to Hemingway (B2H) news
20:34 - New content begins here!
21:43 - A new, public power underground game: seen // heard // nothing
25:45 - Fish risk (on hydro operations)
37:03 - Organizational re-alignment
45:52 - what electrification might mean for BPA’s transmission business unit
50:25 - a promo for BPA’s Science Bowl
51:05 - Administrator’s choice of topics
59:52 - parenting advice (maybe the first “Parent Corner” segment on the underground?)
Public Power Underground, for electric utility enthusiasts! Public Power Underground, where you’re valued and appreciated.
4:39 - Arin Reports
8:16 - B2H news
13:58 - Advanced nuclear fission projects in the news and fun twitter follows
23:10 - Dispatches from #energytwitter on ev charger siting
32:35 - California Public Utilities Commission takes up NEM 3.0 and Jason has some thoughts
41:20 - Seattle City Light’s newly released electrification study
48:57 - Matt and Paul interview BPA CEO and Administrator, John Hairston and celebrate his one year anniversary as Administrator
1:07:30 - TL;DR the rest of the news
You can find the podcast on Apple Podcast, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. Remember to share this with any friends you have that are electric utility enthusiasts like us!
Karen Heim, Dan Catchpole, Ian Bledsoe, and Paul Dockery get up to speed on public power and public-power-adjacent news!
04:05 - Arin Reports with Ian Reporting! 08:20 - Northwest winter storm 14:36 - BPA's land acquisition program 20:23 - Another electric truck 25:21 - EDAM stakeholder process update 30:13 - PG&E Building ‘Remote Grids’ in Fire-prone Areas, and containerized microgrid systems 38:20 - Where Does Santa Go When the Arctic's Summer Ice Is Gone?
You can find the podcast on Apple Podcast, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. Remember to share this with any friends you have that are electric utility enthusiasts like us!
Public Power Underground, for electric utility enthusiasts! Public Power Underground, where you’re valued and appreciated.
It’s the finale for Season 3 and our Holiday Special! We welcomed special celebrity guests Crystal Ball, Emeka Anyanwu, Russ Mantifel, and NewsData’s Mark Ohrenschall to do a 2021 Energy News Countdown and 2022 prognostication. The episode is interspersed with Energy Carols!
08:06 Careful ‘cause it’s time change 46:04 Silver Generators 1:08:54 Simply forming a wonderful western market 1:18:52 O Power Plan 1:24:52 Ridiculous Things [a Daryl Wayne Dasher original and fitting tribute to public power underground]
The 2021 Energy News Countdown includes a discussion of each of the celebrity guests’ top 5 energy news stories. Each of us had our own list with our own reasons, it’s a great conversation. My top 10 is included here for your enjoyment! Spoiler alert, my list wasn’t the best list!
10 WRAP Phase 3A
9 BPA Rate Decrease
8 Ted Lasso/Dolly Parton/Energy Twitter cross-over
7 The Power Grid makes John Oliver’s “Last Week Tonight”
6 Infrastructure Investment & Jobs Act
5 Heat Dome event
4 Texas blackout
3 European energy crisis driven by Natural gas ^$
2 Iron Air, Long Duration Batteries
1 F150 EV
Public Power Underground, for electric utility enthusiasts! Public Power Underground, it’s work to watch!
Michelle Manary, Bonneville Power Administration’s Chief Financial Officer who is on assignment to the Department of Energy as the Acting Deputy Assistant Secretary of Electric Delivery, joins Matthew Scroettnig (EWEB’s Power Planning Supervisor & Staff Counsel) and Paul Dockery (Clatskanie PUD’s Director of Energy Resources) to go deep into the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, electrification’s impact on long-term planning, how to prepare for grant funding, SEASONAL TIME CHANGE, and how much she misses all our wonderful workshops in the Pacific Northwest.
If you watched s3e10, Infrastructure Week!, you have already heard the first part of the interview. The conversation picks back up in this video at 13:54.
You can find the podcast on Apple Podcast, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. We hope you enjoy the conversation. Happy Thanksgiving everybody!
It’s season 3, episode 10 - Infrastructure Week! for Public Power Underground. Michelle Manary joins us to chat about the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act! Also joining is Juergen Pilot from the National Offshore Wind Research & Development Consortium and returning champion Kurt Miller.
07:28 - Arin Reports with (the newest Honorary Member of the Power Department) Crystal Ball Reporting! 13:39 - FERC, States Kick Off New Task Force Focused on Transmission Buildout 16:15 - Juergen Pilot, the National Offshore Wind Research & Development Consortium's Program Manager, answers a series of questions about offshore wind as quickly and entertainingly as possible 27:41 - Agrivoltaic Farming! 31:05 - Microgrid powering buses in LADWP's service territory 32:23 - Kurt Miller is championing hydropower’s inclusion in the Build Back Better Act 38:16 - Combined Geothermal power production and Lithium extraction 41:59 - Dispatches from #EnergyTwitter: @JesseJenkins did an outstanding, google sheets, summary of all the energy-related provisions of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act 47:24 - Michelle Manary joins to chat about DOE, BPA, and the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act 1:04:37 - TL;DR news stories we ran out of time to discuss
You can find the podcast on Apple Podcast, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. Remember to share this with any friends you have that are electric utility enthusiasts like us!
Public Power Underground, for electric utility enthusiasts! Public Power Underground, it’s work to watch!
Scott Coe, a public power leader who started under the Greatest Generation, rose to leadership amongst boomers, and has led organizations with Boomers, Millenials, and, maybe even, zoomers, joins Matthew Scroettnig (EWEB’s Power Planning & Staff Counsel) and Paul Dockery (Clatskanie PUD’s Power Manager) to talk about all things public power and public-power-leadership.
Public Power Underground, for electric utility enthusiasts. Public Power Underground, it’s work to watch!
It’s season 3, episode 9 - Leading Innovation Week! for Public Power Underground. Underground regulars (Karen Heim, Brian Fawcett, Ludgie Gelin, and Ian Bledsoe) are joined by our returning Podcast Ambassador from Clearing Up, Dan Catchpole. The episode includes conversations about blockchain technologies with NRU’s Resource Analyst, Ellyn Groves, and a preview of a longer interview by Special Correspondent Matt Schroettnig of Emerald PUD’s General Manager, Scott Coe. The full interview of Scott Coe will be in a follow-up BONUS episode, next week.
02:54 - Arin Reports with Ian Reporting 06:29 - Cooking, Hot Water Grew Residential Demand During Pandemic 11:27 - Ellyn Groves joins as a Special Research Specialist to talk about Blockchain and Paul unpacks some NFTs 20:22 - BPA Study May Be 'Early Warning' of Trouble for Clean Energy Goals 22:43 - NMPRC Hearing Examiner Recommends Against $8-Billion PNM-Avangrid Merger 24:43 - Nuclear Power is having a moment 30:21 - Preview of blockbuster Scott Coe interview w/ Special Correspondent, Matt Schroettnig 40:37 - TL;DR news stories we ran out of time to discuss
You can find the podcast on Apple Podcast, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. Remember to share this with any friends you have that are electric utility enthusiasts like us!
Public Power Underground, for electric utility enthusiasts! Public Power Underground, it’s work to watch!
It’s season 3, episode 8 - Distributed Demand Resource Response Week! for Public Power Underground. Underground regulars (Karen Heim, Arin Guillory, Ludgie Gelin, and Paul Dockery) are joined by our Podcast Ambassador from California Energy Markets, Jason Fordney this week. The episode includes conversations with Tacoma Power’s Ahlmahz Negash grant funding for microgrids and distributed resources, and PNUCC’s Shauna McReynolds and Tomás Morrisey about Demand Response and Distributed Generation in the Northwest Power and Conservation Council’s draft 2021 Power Plan.
05:18 - Arin Reports 08:46 - The Arizona Corporation Commission is clashing with Arizona Public Service 13:13 - Ahlmahz Negash, PhD, talks Clean Energy Fund awards for grid modernization projects 21:45 - Southern California Edison transitioning residential customers to Time-of-Use rate plans 22:49 - The Diesel-Fired California Dream 30:15 - Shauna McReynolds and Tomás Morrissey talk about Distributed Generation and Demand Response in NWPCC’s draft 2021 Power Plan 48:30 - Avista and Puget Sound Energy file final clean energy implementation plans 51:07 - A Bipartisan Infrastructure Package makes it through Congress 53:19 - Dispatches from #EnergyTwitter: Maine Voters reject transmission and John Oliver talks Power Grid 58:17 - TL;DR news stories we ran out of time to discuss
Remember to share this with any friends you have that are electric utility enthusiasts like us!
Public Power Underground, for electric utility enthusiasts! Public Power Underground, it’s work to watch!
It’s season 3, episode 7 - Markets Week! for Public Power Underground. Underground regulars (Brian Fawcett, Arin Guillory, Ian Bledsoe, and Paul Dockery) are joined by our Podcast Ambassador from Clearing Up, Dan Catchpole, to get our listeners up to speed on public-power and public-power-adjacent news. The episode includes special, feature conversations with The Energy Authority’s (TEA) Chris Lewis and John Raiford to talk about the state of Natural Gas Markets, and Public Generation Pool’s Therese Hampton and Steve Kerns about PGP’s Market Retrospective.
03:49 - Arin Reports 06:16 - TEA’s Chris Lewis and John Raiford explain what’s going on with Natural Gas Markets 23:08 - Global supply chain issues are hitting California’s energy industry 24:07 - Some more Colstrip action in Federal Court 25:13 - Chinook salmon in the Salish Sea leads to surprising findings about southern resident orcas 26:42 - Therese Hampton (Executive Director) and Steve Kerns (Senior Technical Advisor) talk about PGP’s Organized Market Retrospective 39:53 - Our friends from Cowlitz PUD made the news 42:18 - Market expansion is in the news and on people’s minds 43:56 - PJM released study on transmission build out to handle offshore wind 50:20 - TL;DR news stories we ran out of time to discuss
You can find the podcast on Apple Podcast, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. Thanks to all the newest Friends of the Underground who have joined us since last week. Remember to share this with any friends you have that are electric utility enthusiasts like us!
Public Power Underground, for electric utility enthusiasts! Public Power Underground, it’s work to watch!
Your friends at the Power Department are excited to announce that we’re teaming up with NewsData to make Public Power Underground better, bigger, and more sustainable.
In a special, bonus episode the friends you’ve come to know as the voices of the Underground (Karen Heim, Brian Fawcett, Arin Guillory, Ian Bledsoe, Ludgie Gelin, and Paul Dockery) reminisce a little about what we’ve enjoyed so far, we talk with NewsData’s Editor-in-Chief, Mark Ohrenschall, about the collaboration, and get insights from Mike Shepard, the CEO of NewsData’s parent company, Pioneer Utility Resources, and Marc Farmer, the General Manager of Clatskanie PUD, about listeners should look forward to from the Underground going forward.
03:37 - Mark Ohrenschall talks about the collaboration
10:31 - lightning round questions with the Voices of the Underground
15:22 - Mike Shepard and Marc Farmer join Paul to talk about what listeners should expect
26:44 - more lightning round questions and we discuss the future of the Anadromous Championship Belt
You can find the podcast on Apple Podcast, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. Thanks to all the newest Friends of the Underground who have joined us since last week. Remember to share this with any friends you have that are electric utility enthusiasts like us!
Public Power Underground, for electric utility enthusiasts! Public Power Underground, it’s work to watch!
It’s season 3, episode 5 - Live from the Benson! week for Public Power Underground. In an upbeat, LIVE, recording we get communication celebrities from across the region to come read some news for us on this week’s episode.
The episode also includes a couple of wonderful interviews with industry experts. We talk with BPA’s Industry Economist, Daniel Fisher, about product development philosophies, and with Electric Vehicle enthusiast, Loren McDonald, about Level 1 charging infrastructure.
- 04:05 - Arin Reports with the City of Roseville’s Erin Frye Reporting
- 11:16 - WMEG (Western Markets Exploratory Group) was announced!
- 13:00 - Clearwater Power Company’s Jeff Marshall talks SCL’s Renewable Hydrogen Research Project
- 18:48 - The WRAP (Western Resource Adequacy Program) moves to its implementation phase
- 20:07 - Daniel Fisher talks about post-2028 (Provider of Choice) product development philosophies
- 40:50 - Clallam County PUD’s Nicole Hartman joins to talk about a proposal for carbon sequestration, energy plant in Port Angeles
- 45:10 - Loren McDonald of EVAdoption.com and @EVAdoptionTweet joins to talk about Level 1 charging
- 1:00:50 - Best-Friend-of-the-Underground Kurt Miller joins to talk about the joy of pregnant Southern Resident orcas, and CLAIM THE ANADROMOUS CHAMPIONSHIP BELT
It’s season 3, episode 4 - Fish Risk! week for Public Power Underground. We cover everything from permafrost to Dolly Parton on this week’s episode hosted a combination of new stars (Ludgie Gelin and Betsy Bridge), returning star (Arin Guillory), and regular co-host (Paul Dockery). The highlight is a wonderful interview with the Director of BPA’s Fish & Wildlife Program, Crystal Ball, where we try to better understand fish risk for preference customer considering a post-2028 contract with BPA. We also get a visit from Special Correspondent, and star of the Underground, Matt Schroettnig. The whole thing is wonderful.
- 04:05 - Arin Reports
- 07:38 - Three news releases from BPA
- 10:42 - safe, small, TRANSPORTABLE nuclear reactor
- 12:24 - Oregon Solar Program update
- 17:52 - Matt Schroettnig appears as Special Guest Correspondent to talk about submarine supergrids
- 27:34 - Portland General Electric topic that is very-accountant-nerdy
- 29:18 - The Cold Climate Housing Research Center is designing Alaskan housing for a future of changing climate
- 33:40 - Crystal Ball, the Director of BPA's Fish & Wildlife Program, helps clarify fish risk for preference customers considering a post-2028 contract with BPA
- 56:42 - Dispatches from #energytwitter starring Dolly Parton, Ted Lasso, and #HotFERCSummer
- Public Power Underground, for electric utility enthusiasts! Public Power Underground, it’s work to watch!
It’s season 3, episode 3 - Into the Metaverse! week for Public Power Underground. We covered a BROAD range of news this week, and caught up with some celebrities including THE Vice President of Origination for Avangrid, Holly Carias, a BLUE CHECK mark, Dan Catchpole, and the curator of #energytwitter, Simon Mahan.
- 04:20 - Arin Reports
- 09:13 - Summary of wildfire impacts on BPA transmission lines
- 11:29 - PPC’s Mike Linn joins to chat about CAISO’s recently announced Extended Day-Ahead Market forum
- 18:21 - Northwest Coming Up Short of Regional Energy Savings Goal
- 19:29 - Dispatches from #EnergyTwitter w/ @dcatchpole & @SimonMahan
- 35:03 - A perfect storm hits UK's natural gas market
- 37:26 - Holly Carias, Avangrid’s VP of Origination, joins to chat about all things renewables including the U.S.'s first offshore wind project securing funding
- 51:06 - Fusion and some powerful magnets
- 52:46 - Oregon didn't meet it's target of 50,000 Zero Emission Vehicles by 2020
- 53:59 - Direct carbon air capture - a vacuum got installed
Public Power Underground, for electric utility enthusiasts! Public Power Underground, it’s work to watch!
It’s season 3, episode 2 - Into the Metaverse! - week for Public Power Underground. We caught up with a couple special guests, and got back into the regular format covering public-power and public-power-adjacent news.
- 02:17 - Arin Reports
- 07:16 - Temporary Gas Plants in California
- 10:02 - Tu Phan talks Power Markets and Metaverse
- 20:04 - PNNL’s Research on Heat Pump Water Heaters
- 22:16 - Roger Gray talks about BPA post-2028 product design concepts
- 37:37 - Broadband expansion to rural areas
- 39:02 - Northwest Power and Conservation Council releases draft 2021 Power Plan
- 40:09 - High Columbia Temperatures Worry Steelhead Watchers
- Public Power Underground, for electric utility enthusiasts! Public Power Underground, it’s work to watch!
Public Power Underground successfully pulled off its first-ever-livestream as our Season 3 Premiere! We broadcasted LIVE from across the region, simultaneously. Karen Heim and Humaira Falkenberg joined from remote locations to provide color commentary, insights, and questions.
Joining the Underground on-location at the NWPPA Annual Conference were a series of very special guests who became the newest Friends of the Underground and summarize 3 days of conference content in one hour! We also covered some news stories we missed during our summer break in between guests. It was action-packed!
- 08:01 - Arin Reports with Karen Reporting
- 11:18 - Plug-Pass Promo
- 12:37 - Scott Corwin, Executive Director of NWPPA
- 19:49 - BPA rate case
- 22:09 - Scott Peters, CEO of Columbia Rural Electric Association
- 27:42 - Heat Dome
- 30:10 - Michelle Bertolino - Electric Utility Director for the City of Roseville & NWPPA Board President
- 36:50 - Mutual Aid help for Hurricane Ida
- 38:05 - Brad Janorschke, General Manager of Homer Electric Association
- 46:13 - The WRAP
- 47:27 - Bear Prairie, General Manager of Idaho Falls Power
- 54:28 - The Legislative Path to Increasing BPA Borrowing Authority
Season 3 is the season to ROLL ON ENTHUSTIASTS, ROLL ON! Public Power Underground took the summer off, but with kids headed back to school it's time for the fall season to kick off. We've got some plans. The plans are bound to change.
The Underground's own Arin Guillory, CPA and Ian Bledsoe combined their talents to make this special Season 3 theme song inspired by Woody Guthrie's Roll On Columbia, but re-imagined for electric utility enthusiasts. We hope you enjoy, and are ready for the next adventure.
Public Power Underground, for electric utility enthusiasts. Public Power Underground, it’s work to watch.
It’s the SEASON FINALE, and to celebrate the conclusion of another wonderful season of Public Power Underground we invited a special guest of honor, Susan Ackerman, to join us for an after dark, mailbag episode.
Susan recently announced her retirement from her role as Eugene Water and Electric Board’s (EWEB) Chief Energy Officer. To celebrate her career and ask her deeply personal and occasionally inappropriate questions the Underground invited a cast of extraordinary characters from around the region to join the underground for the happy-hour-ish episode.
Joining us for the episode were:
Karen Heim, PPC’s Office Administrator and Public Power Underground’s Editor-at-Large
Therese Hampton, PGP’s Executive Director who is making a debut appearance on Public Power Underground
Megan Capper, EWEB’s Energy Resources Manager and Hero of the Underground
Matt Schroettnig, EWEB’s Power Resources Counsel and member of the Anadromous Championship circle
Humaira Falkenberg, Pacific Count PUD’s Power Resource Manager and enthusiastic public power advocate
Betsy Bridge, NRU’s General Counsel emeritus and newly recruited Executive Producer for Public Power Underground
Crystal Ball, BPA’s Fish & Wildlife Program Director and newly recruited Brand Manager for Public Power Underground
Megan Stratman, NRU’s Rates & Policy Director and Special -all-the-topics-she’s-willing-to-talk-about-Correspondent
We’re not sure when we’ll be back for Season 3, so hit the subscribe button so you’re notified of the Season Premiere!
Public Power Underground, for electric utility enthusiasts. Public Power Underground, it’s work to watch.
to sign up for the newsletter visit our substack at publicpowerunderground.substack.com.
It’s Harquahala Hypothesis! week on Public Power Underground! Northwest power markets are a topic of interest for the Underground, and we dive into a forward market theory on to start the news. After the market hypothesis, we talk to EWEB’s Jon Hart about his philosophy of market fundaments, check-in on transportation electrification with Clark Public Utilities’ Matt Babbitts, learn about public power recruiting from Energy Northwest’s Sarah Giomi, and revisit one of our recurring topics (Resource Adequacy) with PGP’s Lea Fisher.
01:48 - Arin Reports
04:10 - [an unplanned fishing update from celebrity angler, Brian Fawcett]
05:49 - Harquahala Hypothesis
06:47 - a Philosophy of Market Fundamentals w/ EWEB’s Jon Hart
14:49 - Debrief from BPA’s 2nd Quarter QBR Technical Workshop
15:38 - Clark Public Utilities’ Matt Babbitts on Transportation Electrification & APPA’s EV Toolkit
26:46 - CoBank Launched a Power Podcast
28:20 - Talk to Sarah Giomi about Energy Northwest’s public power utility internship program that was highlighted in February’s NWPPA Bulletin (page 16)
34:57 - Lamborghini announces an all-electric-car (and the F-150 Lightning was revealed)
44:28 - PGP’s Lea Fisher talks NWPP’s RA program
PUBLIC (POWER) SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT: We’re recording a special after-dark, mailbag episode with Best Friend of the Underground Susan Ackerman on May 26th. It will serve as Public Power Underground’s Season 2 finale. Don’t miss the sappy conclusion to the season, subscribe on YouTube, apple podcast, spotify, and here on substack to make sure you don’t miss the Season 2 finale or the Season 3 premier!
Public Power Underground, for electric utility enthusiasts. Public Power Underground, it’s work to watch.
to sign up for the newsletter visit our substack at publicpowerunderground.substack.com.
We’re Catching up on all-the-news! this week on Public Power Underground! After a restful week hiatus we’re back catching up on all we missed. Joining to get us up to speed were Clearing Up’s Steve Ernst, Forth’s Erin Galiger, and NRU’s Megan Stratman!
01:22 - Arin Reports
06:49 - Colonial Pipeline begins restart of operations after a cyberattack
09:15 - Clearing Up's Steve Ernst joins to catch me up litigation and arbitration surrounding Colstrip
15:12 - Fitch Ratings issues Rating Action Commentary on Energy Northwest and BPA
16:29 - Debrief from BPA’s Q2 Quarterly Business Review
18:51 - Forth’s Erin Galiger joins the Underground to talk about electric tractors!
26:25 - Ford F-150 Lightning is getting unveiled on a livestream May 19th at 6:30pm
28:59 - NRU’s Megan Stratman joins to talk about the proposed BP-22 Rate Settlement and BPA’s Provider of Choice process
44:28 - Public Power Underground original reporting of our very own news story about Emerald PUD’s pandemic pet policy: An Ian Bledsoe Special Report
PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT: We’re recording a special after-dark, mailbag episode with retiring Best Friend of the Underground Susan Ackerman on May 26th. Send us your mailbag questions by May 20th for us to talk about after-hours in a happy-hour-ish version of Public Power Underground!
Public Power Underground, it’s work to watch. Public Power Underground, for electric utility enthusiasts.
to sign up for the newsletter visit our substack at publicpowerunderground.substack.com.
It’s Return Counts are Up! week on Public Power Underground! Some great guest news and insight from returning Friends of the Underground this week. There’s a lot going on in the region and we’re just trying to keep up. We also talk a lot about EVs, because we really find electric vehicle public charging interesting.
01:52 - Arin Reports
05:45 - Guest News: PNUCC’s Tomás Morrisey talks about the NRF
14:31 - Guest News: PNGC’s Greg Mendonca records a promo for an open position
19:47 - PPC’s Executive Director, Scott Simms, gives an update on their Blue Sky initiative
31:36 - Pole-Mounted Electric Vehicle Public Chargers
35:21 - PGE and Daimler Trucks North America build the first vehicle charging site specifically for heavy-duty trucks
38:50 - Steller sea lion removal news is back as the number of Chinook climbing Bonneville Dam fish ladders is on the rise
40:16 - Debrief from BPA’s April 27th Energy Imbalance Market Implementation Workshop
PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT: We’re recording a special after-dark, mailbag episode on May 26th. Send us your mailbag questions for us to talk about after-hours in a happy-hour-ish version of Public Power Underground! We’ll be joined by MANY SPECIAL GUESTS AND ONE SUPER-SPECIAL CELEBRITY GUEST!!!!
Public Power Underground, it’s work to watch. Public Power Underground, for electric utility enthusiasts.
to sign up for the newsletter visit our substack at publicpowerunderground.substack.com.
It’s Resource Adequacy double-feature! week on Public Power Underground! We talk about the Northwest Power Pool’s Resource Adequacy program in back-to-back interviews. First with NWPP’s Chief Operating Officer, Gregg Carrington, and the second interview with Chair of WSPP’s Operating Committee, Matthew Schroettnig. And to get caught up on the BP-22/TC-22 rate cases we talk to PPC’s Mike Deen about what’s going on!
01:31 - Arin Reports
05:11 - Celebration of ClearingUp’s 2000th edition
07:22 - PPC’s Mike Deen joins to talk BP-22/TC-22 rate process
15:06 - PG&E’s Community Microgrid Enablement Program
18:01 - “Agro-voltaic” solar projects
21:11 - PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT; Ted Lasso, Season 2 is coming
22:17 - NWPP’s Gregg Carrington gives advice on approach to the RA program for those that aren’t power pool members
34:42 - Chair of WSPP’s Operating Committee, Matt Schroettnig, talks about how a RA product might go through the process to develop a standard product exhibit/rider
43:30 - Anadromous Championship Belt return counts w/ Karen Heim and Lauren Tenney Denison
Public Power Underground, it’s work to watch. Public Power Underground, for electric utility enthusiasts.
to sign up for the newsletter visit our substack at publicpowerunderground.substack.com.
It’s Cluster of Symbiotic Markets! week on Public Power Underground! Naming for this week’s episode came from a wonderful interview of The Energy Authority’s (TEA) Director of Power Trading - West, Tu Phan. We also got a double-feature interview with Kurt and Austin from Northwest River Partners, and continued our series of interviews by Public Power Underground’s Special Salmon War Correspondent, Matthew Schroettnig, this time touching base with Northern Wasco County PUD’s Roger Kline about the future of the federal system and Public Power Council’s Blue Sky initiative.
01:43 - Arin Reports;
04:40 - TEA’s Tu Phan joins to talk markets (and also talk NFTs and NBA Top Shots);
17:05 - More about NFTs (definitely too much about NFTs);
18:41 - Seattle City Light’s microgrid test bed;
19:22 - Northwest River Partners double-feature where we talk to Kurt Miller and Austin Rohr;
30:02 - Distribution Systems increasingly at risk for cyber attacks;
32:16 - Updated Genesis Forecast for Federal Hydro-generation;
33:56 - A shareable article about snow’s impact on the region that is accessible and fun even for people outside our industry;
34:58 - Matt Schroettnig interviews Roger Kline about the future of the federal system and PPC’s Blue Sky initiative;
52:13 - Correcting the record from last week, w/ some Charging Speed Fee promo
Public Power Underground, it’s work to watch. Public Power Underground, for electric utility enthusiasts.
to sign up for the newsletter visit our substack at publicpowerunderground.substack.com.
It’s Bring Your Ideas! week on Public Power Underground! A lot of guests and guest news this week. Arin Reports (01:16), Tacoma Power’s Ahlmahz Negash, PhD, talks about demand response (04:21), Puget Sound Energy’s Integrated Resource Plan identifies biodiesel peakers (19:30), Guest News from Oregon Department of Energy’s Blake Shelide (20:46), Brian Johnson introduces Holly Dohrman’s interview on the post-2028 Provider of Choice process (26:24), Financial Times article on the next step in battery development (41:30), Debrief from April 7th Technical Management Team discussion (47:18), Guest News from NewsData’s Mark Ohrenschall on the upcoming Grid Resilience webinar (50:00), NewsData’s News Bulletin on Power & Transmission Customers call for BP-22 Comprehensive Settlement (54:46).
Public Power Underground, it’s work to watch. Public Power Underground, for electric utility enthusiasts.
to sign up for the newsletter visit our substack at publicpowerunderground.substack.com.
It’s Be Curious! not judgmental week! on Public Power Underground! We had a great conversation with Energy Northwest’s Greg Cullen about all their non-CGS, got a special guest interview by EWEB’s Matt Schroettnig of BPA’s Crystal Ball, and covered a bunch of other fun public-power and public-power adjacent topics.
Arin Reports (01:55), Energy Northwest news with their Vice President for Energy Services and Development, Greg Cullen (05:15), Checking on the California Duck Curve (23:20), EWEB sponsored content in Eugene Weekly about Electric Vehicles (25:50), Clark’s Lena Wittler and Seattle’s Debra Smith profiles in Public Power Current (26:37), Special, crossover podcast w/ APPA’s Public Power Now promo trailer (27:31), Biden administration’s infrastructure plan to bring broadband to all Americans (29:09), Special Salmon War Correspondent, Matt Schroettnig, interviews BPA’s Director of Fish & Wildlife, Crystal Ball (30:08), Debrief of Northwest River Forecast Center’s water supply briefing (45:13), BREAKING NEWS: The Power Department is hiring!!! (46:47)
Public Power Underground, it’s work to watch. Public Power Underground, for electric utility enthusiasts.
to sign up for the newsletter visit our substack at publicpowerunderground.substack.com.
In a special, crossover podcast the host of APPA's Public Power Now, Paul Ciampoli, and Public Power Underground's Paul Dockery interview APPA's Vice President of Strategic Member Engagement & Education, Ursula Schryver, about APPA's upcoming National Conference.
https://www.publicpower.org/public-power-now
https://www.publicpower.org/event/national-conference
Public Power Underground, it's work to watch. Public Power Underground, for electric utility enthusiasts. https://publicpowerunderground.substack.com/
It’s Best and Brightest Week! on Public Power Underground! We have two guest co-hosts (NRU’s Megan Stratman and Clatskanie PUD’s own Sarah Johnson) and a special celebrity guest star (Libby Calnon) participate in the show where we debut a brand new public-power-adjacent show on Slummin’ w/ the Underground. I force the guest co-hosts to read ad copy I’ve written to recruit to public power. Don’t miss the great ad copy, great content, and great conversation about hiring, jobs, and recruiting for jobs in public power.
Arin Reports (03:49), Electric rate design news from Tacoma Power (06:35), Guest News from NWPCC’s John Ollis on the 2021 Power Plan (08:42), Status update on BPA’s BP-22 Rate Case (13:51), Hydro-generation update (16:56), 30 second summary of our SPP Market+ episode (18:34), Slummin’ w/ the Underground: Best and Brightest Edition with Hood River Electric Cooperative’s Libby Calnon where we talk about recruiting new people to public power jobs (20:44)
Public Power Underground, it’s work to watch. Public Power Underground, for electric utility enthusiasts.
to sign up for the newsletter visit our substack at publicpowerunderground.substack.com.
SPP agreed to sit down for an interview to talk about the Market+ concept they unveiled at the March 4th Members Forum. It’s the centerpiece of this, bonus, episode of Public Power Underground – Premium!. Bookending the discussion with SPP’s Steve Johnson are conversations with public power professionals from the region to provide context. PPC’s Mike Linn sets the stage for why markets matter to Northwest public power (01:32), SPP’s Steve Johnson joins Public Power Underground as a refresher on the Market+ concept (21:47), Humaira Falkenberg (Pacific County PUD), Lauren Tenney Denison (PPC), and Robert Cromwell (Seattle City Light) join to debrief and digest the concept from a Northwest public power perspective (50:31), UPSET ALERT: The Public Power Underground Anadromous Championship Belt for the Best Friend of the Underground, Because they Keep Coming Back HAS BEEN CLAIMED (01:31:24).
Public Power Underground, it’s work to watch. Public Power Underground, for electric utility enthusiasts.
to sign up for the newsletter visit our substack at publicpowerunderground.substack.com.
It’s One Year! on Public Power Underground! We don’t do any run downs of what happened a year ago, instead we have a Ted Lasso inspired pep talk to start the episode (01:14). There is a visual bit at the end of the pep talk, so you might check out that portion on youtube. Then we got to work! We have an interview with Tacoma’s Clay Norris about CAISO’s EDAM process (16:55), talk electrification with EWEB’s Megan Capper (34:56), and cover lots of other public power and public-power-adjacent news.
Public Power Underground, it’s work to watch. Public Power Underground, for electric utility enthusiasts.
to sign up for the newsletter visit our substack at publicpowerunderground.substack.com.
It’s Friends and Neighbors Week on Public Power Underground! The crew was VERY LOOSE this week with a lot of spring sunshine vibes going on. I think you’ll really enjoy the banter, and the content. We got a guest lede from Clearing Up’s KC Mehaffey about an article she wrote (23:03), got to talk to PPC’s Executive Director, Scott Simms, about virtual events and remote work (26:17), and PPC’s Lauren Tenney Denison returned to talk about PPC's Special Meeting Series with BPA on Potential Resource Adequacy Program Participation (38:53).
Public Power Underground, it’s work to watch. Public Power Underground, for electric utility enthusiasts.
to sign up for the newsletter visit our substack at publicpowerunderground.substack.com.
In a special, bonus, episode the Underground tackles The Scourge of Seasonal Time Change. Joining the Underground to tackle the issue is the Executive Director of the Pacific Northwest Utilities Conference Committee (PNUCC), Shauna McReynolds, the Power Resource Manager for PUD No 2 of Pacific County, Humaira Falkenberg, and the Executive Director of the Northwest Public Power Association (NWPPA), Scott Corwin.
We manage to have great banter while doing a deep-dive into the practice of transitioning between Standard Time and Daylight Saving Time twice a year in an even less serious, more-happy-hour-ish version of Public Power Underground we’re calling Public Power Underground - after dark.
Public Service Announcement: It is with no pleasure I remind everyone that Daylight Saving Time begins at 2am this Sunday, March 14th, 2021 when clock time will jump from 1:59am to 3:00am skipping an entire hour, costing us an hour of sleep, and screwing up circadian rhythms.
Also Public Service Announcement: Scott wants everybody to head over to NWPPA's website to sign up for the E&O conference. Do me a favor and help him out! https://www.nwppa.org/training-and-education/conferences/eo/
Public Power Underground, it’s work to watch. Public Power Underground, for electric utility enthusiasts.
to sign up for the newsletter visit our substack at publicpowerunderground.substack.com.
We’re Breaking News this week on Public Power Underground! Arin Reports (03:04), APPA's profile of women in high-voltage trades (06:06), RMG Financials’ Reid Grossman joins to talk about counterparty credit in the aftermath of the winter freeze event (07:19), Debrief from BPA’s IRP 2 Workshop (23:03), Idaho Power’s Customer Growth (25:52), Guest Lede by PPC’s Aaron Bush on the March 1stPublic Power / BPA Carbon Forum (32:18), Debrief from the NWRFC’s Water Supply Briefing (32:40), Snohomish County PUD’s Brian Booth joins to talk electric rates (34:20), BREAKING NEWS: SPP unveils Markets+ concept at PPC Members Forum w/ special guest lede by PPC’s Lauren Tenney Denison (46:44), BREAKING NEWS: Public Power Underground unveils the Anadromous Championship Belt (49:24).
Public Power Underground, it’s work to watch. Public Power Underground, for electric utility enthusiasts.
to sign up for the newsletter visit our substack at publicpowerunderground.substack.com.
It’s Use Your Illusions of Choice week on Public Power Underground! We’re excited to be joined by a slew of celebrities of the region this week to spice things up. Karen Heim joined as a guest co-host, (07:02) Matt Schroettnig interviews Bo Downen about the Simpson Concept, (32:52) Greg Mendonca talks about the NW Power Pool’s Resource Adequacy program, and (43:44) Kurt Miller does a special guest readout about NOAA FisheriesScience Center’s recent report.
Public Power Underground, it’s work to watch. Public Power Underground, for electric utility enthusiasts.
to sign up for the newsletter visit our substack at publicpowerunderground.substack.com.
Power markets are a hot topic this week, and we didn’t shy away from diving into the conversation. It’s Extreme Weather and Extreme Adventurer week on Public Power Underground! On the first half of the episode we’re serious (for us) as we talk about Northwest power markets (02:34), have Ansergy’s Mike Griswold on to talk about next week’s market outlook (05:14), debrief on the current state of the extreme weather events (13:03), and cover some other northwest public power news (16:00). The second half (18:10) we loosen up with NRU’s John Francisco on this month’s edition of “Slummin’ with the Underground”.
We'll be back next week on February 25th to talk more about northwest public-power and public-power-adjacent topics. Get on the email list at publicpowerunderground.substack.com
It’s EVs and Great Stories week on Public Power Underground! This week we were joined by D&R International’s Sr. Director Electric Transportation, John Morris to talk about what electric vehicle manufacturers have in store for us(10:24), and we got an Oral History of the Energy News Digest (25:41) from Joel Myer (it’s Publisher) and Sarah Johnson (Clatskanie PUD’s Customer Relations & Services Manager).
As always we started by covering northwest market indicators with Arin Reports (04:02) and cover other public power and public-power-adjacent news on Public Power Desktop (08:51).
04:02 - Arin Reports08:51 - Public Power Desktop10:24 – John Morris on EVs25:41 – An Oral History of the Energy News Digest w/ Joel Myer and Sarah Johnson48:56 - Plug-Pass promo
We’re on most podcast apps, including apple and spotify.We’re recording the next episode February 18th, 2021, and have a special guest appearance scheduled by, Friend-of-the-Underground, NRU’s John Francisco who has agreed to answer deeply personal and occasionally inappropriate questions knowing full well we’re going to be incredibly judgmental of his answers in a popular segment we like to call “Slummin’ w/ the Underground”.
Get on the email list at publicpowerunderground.substack.com
It’s It Takes a Process week on Public Power Underground! This week we were joined by Snohomish County PUD’s Manager of Power Supply, Garrison Marr to talk about IRPs, and returning champion, Friend of the Underground, and Rates and Policy Director for NRU, Megan Stratman to talk about revenue financing in BP-22. And in true Public Power Underground fashion, we’re debuting a brand new innovation in Northwest Public Power infotainment: Zoom Duels!02:40 - Arin Reports; 07:30 - Public Power Desktop; 10:24 – Garrison Marr on IRPs; 25:41 – Megan Stratman on Revenue Financing; 38:39 – Zoom Duel!: Ranting Power Manager vs. Banjulele Virtuoso; 42:40 - Plug-Pass promo
It’s Coalition of the Willing week on Public Power Underground! This week we were joined by BPA’s Rachel Dibble to talk about Resource Adequacy and PNGC’s Roger Gray to talk about a investigating a Northwest RTO/ISO. As always we started by covering northwest market indicators with Arin Reports and cover other public power and public-power-adjacent news on Public Power Desktop.
05:03 - Arin Reports; 09:35 - Public Power Desktop; 10:46 – Roger Gray on Northwest RTO/ISO; 28:16 – Rachel Dibble on Resource Adequacy; 47:04 - Plug-Pass promo
It’s Breach-Ladder-Repower week on Public Power Underground! This week we were joined by PPC’s Karen Heim on a re-vamped version of Slummin’ w/ the Underground where we had a lot of fun and toned down the overall seriousness we’ve gotten into with Public Power Underground.
As always we started by covering northwest market indicators with Arin Reports and cover other public power and public-power-adjacent news on Public Power Desktop.
02:21 - Arin Reports
05:48 - Public Power Desktop
09:23 – Slummin’ w/ the Underground
42:14 - Plug-Pass promo
Public Power Underground is as a northwest public power info-tainment series that began as awkward forced fun time for the Power Department 44 weeks ago when we altered our work arrangements at the start of an ongoing pandemic and has evolved into a coping mechanism to stay connected and informed about what’s happening in the industry.
It’s Resource Adequacy week on Public Power Underground! This week we were joined by Susan Ackerman to talk about the Northwest Power Pool’s Resource Adequacy program, Mark Ohrenschall to talk about NewsData’s upcoming webinar on Electric resource Adequacy in California and the West, and lastly by Mike Linn to talk about CAISO’s Summer 2021 readiness initiatives.
It was a fun week of banter while covering important topics, as always we started by covering northwest market indicators with Arin Reports and cover other public power and public-power-adjacent news on Public Power Desktop.
02:38 - Arin Reports
06:34 - Public Power Desktop
08:51 - Susan Ackerman joins to talk about NWPP’s RA program
21:52 - Mark Ohrenschall joins to talk about NewsData’s upcoming webinar
30:26 - Mike Linn joins to talk about CAISO’s readiness initiative
39:53 - Plug-Pass promo
Public Power Underground is a pandemic diversion written, edited, and published by the Power Department. We cover Northwest public power and public-power-adjacent news with occasional special guest correspondents to talk about regional topics.
In this week’s episodes we stuck to the basics: covering northwest market indicators with Arin Reports and running through public power and public-power-adjacent news on Public Power Desktop.
02:33 - Arin Reports
05:54 - Public Power Desktop
18:58 - Plug-Pass promo