Today on the show, Tim Echols, Commissioner of the Georgia Public Service Commission, offers insights into the future of power supply and regulatory responsibilities. How does Georgia plan to meet its explosive power demand? What are the implications of new energy companies on power distribution? Tim discusses these topics and shares his perspective on Georgia's power growth projections and the potential for on-site energy utilization.

Listen in as we explore Tim's reflections on the Vogtle plant-building process and the evolving role of Congress in energy management. Learn about the importance of net metering rules, the promise of hydrogen and battery technologies in energy storage, and the future landscape of manufacturing and data centers in Georgia.

What You'll Learn In Today's Episode:

• How Tim got involved in politics.
• How Tim measures success in his work.
• What Tim’s job entails in the day-to-day.
• Georgia's power supply challenges and strategies for meeting growing demand.
• The challenges of building the Vogtle Plant.
• If Tim would do it again knowing what he knows now.
• The evolving role of state regulators in shaping utility policies and energy innovations.
• Future trends in energy management.

Ideas Worth Sharing:

• “If you put everything close together, you can get some economies of scale and really make something like hydrogen work. I do think hydrogen is a shiny object. Not as shiny as batteries right now, but it's shiny and it will have its day, and I think it's going to be a great resource around the world.” - Tim Echols
• “When you add batteries to a large solar field, you've turned that energy-only asset into something you can count on. So batteries do have kind of a magical quality like that.” - Tim Echols
• “There are so many great things happening in California and we need to learn from those.” - Tim Echols

Resources In Today's Episode:

• Tim Echols: LinkedIn | X
• Gareth Evans: LinkedIn
• Dan Roberts: LinkedIn
• VECKTA: News

You can view a video of the conversation on VECKTA's website here: https://tinyurl.com/2p9msaen

How can you maximize your energy transition opportunities across your entire portfolio? In this episode, we will explore strategies for implementing energy transition tactics effectively. We will discuss how to identify the best locations within your portfolio for energy initiatives, prioritize high-return projects, and how we approach these challenges at VECKTA.

You'll learn the importance of considering historical outages, grid strain, and natural disasters to project future scenarios and make informed decisions. We'll address common misconceptions about deploying solar or batteries at the largest energy-consuming sites. Listen in as we explain the importance of reevaluating your portfolio to uncover hidden value and ensure beneficial projects are not overlooked.

What You'll Learn In Today's Episode:

• Strategies for effective energy transition implementation across your portfolio.
• How to prioritize high-return energy projects.
• The importance of considering historical outages and grid strain.
• Misconceptions about deploying solar and battery solutions at large energy sites.
• Techniques for uncovering hidden value in your energy transition efforts.

Ideas Worth Sharing:

• "While your facility may or may not have been impacted by an outage, it's important to look at the historical outages in that region and then start to project ahead to map what it might look like based on grid transmission and distribution age and the strains on the grid, not to mention the obvious ones around natural disasters, wildfires, hurricanes and flooding." - Dan Roberts
• "When you're talking about hundreds or thousands of sites, trying to account for each individual local concern using a spreadsheet, you're just not going to be able to pull it off." - Dan Roberts
• "Companies often think they should start by deploying solar or batteries at their biggest energy consuming sites - but that doesn't always make the most sense, depending on where the site is located and the business priorities. So, we help customers take another look at their portfolio to find trapped value and ensure they're not leaving viable, beneficial projects unbuilt." - Gareth Evans

Resources In Today's Episode:

• Gareth Evans: LinkedIn
• Dan Roberts: LinkedIn
• VECKTA: News

You can view a video of the conversation on VECKTA's website here: https://tinyurl.com/uncyjpjs

How do we navigate the complexities of evolving energy policies while pushing for a sustainable future? In this episode, Allie Detrio, Chief Strategist for Reimagine Power, joins the show to explore this very question. With over 15 years of experience in clean energy and sustainability, Allie shares her insights on the critical role of policy, operations, and business development in advancing the energy sector. We discuss her background, the innovative work of her team, and the ongoing efforts to overcome regulatory and policy barriers.

Discover the concept of community energy resilience and the urgent need to evolve utility business models to better serve our modern energy needs. You'll learn about the biases within utilities, the barriers to progressive policy development, and the opportunities available for businesses today. Allie also shares what excites her about the energy space, why the pace of progress can be slow, and how we can develop win-win outcomes that meet 21st-century energy goals.

What You'll Learn In Today's Episode:

• Where Allie’s love of sustainability came from.
• What sustainability means to Allie.
• What Reimagine Power does.
• How Allie’s team is helping to drive us into our 21st-century energy goals.
• The value in being able to share power across communities.
• How we can create community energy resilience.
• How we might be able to overcome regulatory barriers.
• How do we incentivize different outcomes and develop a win-win outcome?

Ideas Worth Sharing:

• “Having the customer voice in policy and regulatory matters—it's an opportunity for consumers to engage and make their voice heard, whether it be joining a meeting on the topic, calling your assembly member, or signing on to some sort of letter that's looking at advocating for changes to outdated rules and regulations. Engaging on that front is really important and very valuable.” - Allie Detrio
• “If we remove that bias in the marketplace, let's say utilities didn't make a profit based on how many transmission lines were built. Instead, they made money based on how many transactions they facilitated in the marketplace or how quickly they interconnected a different customer and community clean energy resource. If they made a profit based on that, the energy sector would look a lot different today.” - Allie Detrio
• “There's a great responsibility in being a utility and they need to be delivering the benefits we expect. And if they're not, we need to be looking for other solutions and empowering those that provide those benefits. And a question to think about as we do that is: how do we provide a win-win value proposition while meeting all of our 21st-century energy goals and not leaving anyone behind?" - Allie Detrio

Resources In Today's Episode:

• Allie Detrio: LinkedIn | Reimagine Power
• Gareth Evans: LinkedIn
• Dan Roberts: LinkedIn
• VECKTA: News

You can view a video of the conversation on VECKTA's website here: https://tinyurl.com/5cdtapn4