People in Power – A NewsData Podcast

The effort to create a regional wholesale energy market in the West moved forward in 2023 when a group of state regulators from Arizona, California, New Mexico, Oregon and Washington advanced a proposal “for ensuring that the benefits of wholesale electricity markets are maximized for customers across the entire Western U.S.” This led to the creation of the West-Wide Governance Pathways Initiative...

Virtual power plants are an old idea being revolutionized by new technology. VPPs bundle distributed energy resources, such as rooftop solar, demand response, energy storage and electric-vehicle chargers, into a single grid-scale resource. Proponents say they are essential to decarbonizing and meeting growing demand. The U.S. Department of Energy says VPPs could provide as much as 20 percent of de...

In the latest episode of NewsData’s Energy West podcast, California Energy Markets Editor Jason Fordney interviews Kyri Baker, an assistant professor at the University of Colorado, Boulder, about her research into the locational marginal pricing methods currently used by most independent system operators. During her research, Baker noticed that LMPs mimic the behavior of direct-current circuits, l...

Demand for artificial intelligence and machine learning is booming—and so is AI’s energy demand. AI requires massive amounts of computing power, which means huge data centers need to be built to enable AI’s widespread adoption. AI’s energy demand is expected to grow faster than new generation comes on line. Solving that will be hard enough, but differences between the tech industry and the electri...

NewsData’s Clearing Up reporter K. C. Mehaffey stops by Energy West with updates on Columbia River Treaty negotiations between the United States and Canada, the low snowpack in the Northwest and efforts to save salmon in the Columbia River Basin.

In Part 2 of a wide-ranging interview with California Energy Markets Editor Jason Fordney, California Independent System Operator President and CEO Elliot Mainzer dives into his current priorities, including increased connectivity across the West, transmission planning that looks out 20 years, CAISO's pause of new interconnections to reduce queue clogging and the upcoming extended day-ahead market...

In the latest episode of the Energy West podcast, California Energy Markets Editor Jason Fordney speaks with Elliot Mainzer, president and CEO of the California Independent System Operator, in Part 1 of a wide-ranging interview about the California electricity grid, a wider Western day-ahead market, managing the huge influx of energy storage coming on to the CAISO grid, and CAISO's competition wit...

Join us in Part 2 of the latest episode of Energy West, where NewsData's Dan Catchpole and Grid Strategies' Rob Gramlich continue to discuss the design and development of transmission projects throughout the West. Gramlich also discusses new technologies that may benefit the electric grid in the future.

If the West is going to electrify cars and buildings, decarbonize the grid and keep the lights on, it needs more high-voltage transmission, a lot more. One of the nation’s top transmission experts, Rob Gramlich, talks with NewsData reporter Dan Catchpole about how the West can build more and bigger transmission projects. Rob is founder of GridStrategies and coined the mnemonic device, the 3 P's of...

In the latest episode of the Energy West podcast, Clearing Up's Dan Catchpole and California Energy Markets' Jason Fordney talk about efforts to jumpstart transmission construction in the West, how the upcoming solar eclipse likely could effect the Western grid and how battery inverter faults could cause big problems for the grid. Read more about what’s happening in the power industry in the West...

In the latest episode of the Energy West podcast, Clearing Up's Dan Catchpole and California Energy Markets' Jason Fordney talk about the California Independent System Operator’s decision to delay the launch of its extended day-ahead market from 2025 to 2026, Xcel’s plans to invest $15 billion in its energy transition in Colorado and the need for more transmission in the West . Read more about wha...

In the latest episode of the Energy West podcast, Clearing Up's Dan Catchpole and California Energy Markets' Jason Fordney talk about an 11th hour push to form a day-ahead market in the West that includes California AND  is independently governed . The initiative drew widespread support from potential participants–and lots of questions about legal feasibility . They also discuss an interview with...

In the latest episode of the Energy West podcast, Clearing Up's Dan Catchpole and California Energy Markets' Jason Fordney talk about the western United States’ second comprehensive energy market , the future of offshore wind in the West , long-duration battery storage’s arrival , and more.  Read more about what’s happening in the power industry in the West at Newsdata’s Clearing Up and California...

The West is getting a second RTO (or regional transmission organization). The Southwest Power Pool is launching a western branch of its existing RTO , which covers much of the Midwest. Nine Rocky Mountain utilities and power marketers have committed to launching the western branch in 2026. An RTO manages the transmission grid and wholesale electricity market for its participants. Right now, the on...

In the latest Energy West podcast, California Energy Markets Editor Jason Fordney speaks with CEM Associate Editor Abigail Sawyer about the emerging Western wholesale energy market, a push by Western state regulators to move forward with a regional transmission organization, and a recent forum held in Las Vegas by the California Independent System Operator on its extended day-ahead market proposal...

In the latest episode of the Energy West podcast, Clearing Up's Dan Catchpole discusses this week's top stories from the energy industry in the West, including the California Independent System Operator asking federal regulators to approve a Westwide day-ahead energy market, PacifiCorp's plans to convert coal-fired power plants to burn natural gas, and more.   You can find the Energy West podcast...

In the latest episode of the Energy West podcast, Clearing Up's Dan Catchpole looks at the hot temperatures that recently scorched the West, including Arizona’s heat emergency , a new record high peak demand in the Northwest , new research that says climate-driven droughts will lead to more greenhouse gas emissions , offshore wind of Oregon , and more. Read more about what’s happening in the power...

After more than 30 years at NewsData, publisher Mark Ohrenschall is retiring. Before he leaves, he talks with Jason Fordney, Abigail Sawyer and Dan Catchpole about his time at the company, journalism and the energy industry.

In this week's episode of Energy West, California Energy Markets Editor Jason Fordney discusses a proposal by state regulators to increase storage levels at the controversial Aliso Canyon natural gas storage facility in southern California; an update on how the California grid is holding up this summer; and a plan by the California Department of Water Resources that would keep natural gas-fired on...

In this episode of Energy West, California Energy Markets Editor Jason Fordney gives a rundown of the latest energy news in the Golden State and beyond, including how wholesale cost to serve load in the California Independent System Operator doubled between 2020 and 2022; a request for rehearing from the California Community Choice Association of a state regulator decision to restrict CCA expansio...

In the latest episode of the Energy West podcast, Clearing Up's Dan Catchpole and California Energy Markets' Jason Fordney talk about concerns that CAISO’s extended day-ahead market could short-circuit the Western Resource Adequacy Program , Energy Northwest and X-Energy’s plans to build 12 small modular nuclear reactors , CAISO’s new subscriber-funded model for new transmission lines , Bonneville...

In the latest episode of the Energy West podcast, Clearing Up's Dan Catchpole and California Energy Markets' Jason Fordney talk about about the state of transmission planning in the West , California’s (good) battery boom , Bonneville Power Administration’s announcement of $2 billion in transmission system upgrades , fewer public safety power shut-offs in northern California , and more. Read more...

In the latest episode of the Energy West podcast, Clearing Up's Dan Catchpole and California Energy Markets' Jason Fordney talk about Western transmission’s problem of the commons , zero-emission trucking in California , limits to offshore wind’s economic benefits , and more. Read more about what’s happening in the power industry in the West at Newsdata’s Clearing Up and California Energy Markets...

In the latest Energy West podcast , California Energy Markets Editor Jason Fordney discusses how the workforce needed to implement California's clean-energy policies does not yet exist; new heavy-duty electric-truck charging infrastructure being built in the state; a California Public Advocates Office report drastically cutting estimates for electrification from previous numbers; and how PacifiCor...

In the latest episode of the Energy West podcast, Clearing Up's Dan Catchpole and California Energy Markets' Jason Fordney talk about state regulators talking utilities to task for vague decarbonization planning , worries about where California will get enough energy to meet its clean energy goals, high prices in Washington’s carbon emissions cap-and-invest program , and more. Register now for New...