Families and businesses across the West are feeling the burden of high energy costs. At the same time, we’re dealing with the effects of increasingly extreme weather events, meaning more stress on our energy grid from hotter and colder temperatures, wildfires, hurricanes, and more.
But even as we face similar challenges, the West still operates like a series of energy islands. This type of fragmented grid makes it harder to keep the lights on and prevent blackouts — and it’s also more expensive.
So what can policymakers do to make our energy more reliable and more affordable? How can states work together to meet the energy needs of millions of electricity customers all across the western United States?
Experts and advocates weigh in about a potential three-letter solution to the West’s power woes.
There is a lot of data related to establishing a regional electricity grid in the West, and digging through this information can be a challenge. In this episode, Advanced Energy United’s Leah Rubin Shen talks with Fred Heutte, Senior Policy Associate at NW Energy Coalition, who provides keen insight into the methods and strategies stakeholders should look for when analyzing regional grid data.
8 Nov 2023
What Montana stands to gain by joining a regional electricity grid
In this episode, Advanced Energy United's Leah Ruben Shen talks with Anne Hedges, Director of Policy & Legislative Affairs at the Montana Environmental Information Center. As an energy and environmental policy expert for decades, Anne provides some keen insight into the benefits and challenges on Montana's path towards regional electric grid collaboration.
18 Sept 2023
How a regional electric grid could avert a public health catastrophe
Welcome to Season 2 of Getting to Know RTO! In this episode, Advanced Energy United’s Leah Rubin Shen talks with Dr. Bob England, a public health physician and the former director of the Maricopa County Department of Public Health, about the public health benefits of regionalizing our electric grid.
15 Aug 2023
'It's really not rocket science.' Former FERC commissioner reflects on benefits, opportunities of a Western RTO
In this episode, former FERC commissioner Suedeen Kelly talks with with Advanced Energy United’s Leah Rubin Shen, where she provides some keen insight into FERC’s role in regionalization and speaks to the benefits of establishing a west-wide electricity grid.About Suedeen:Suedeen is currently a partner at Jenner & Block where she works on a broad variety of energy issues, and she’s also a former commissioner for the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC).Suedeen was nominated for thr...
6 Jul 2023
How a Regional Electric Grid Would Help Deliver More Affordable Electricity for Customers in the West
In this episode, Advanced Energy United's Leah Ruben Shen talks with Bob Jenks, Executive Director of the Oregon Citizens' Utility Board. They talk about how an RTO would help deliver more affordable electricity to ratepayers across the West. They also touch on the increased efficiency of a regional grid and what opportunities decision makers have to build an RTO that meets the needs of our communities now and into the future.
30 May 2023
FERC, States' Rights, and RTO Mechanics + Growing Momentum in CA
In this episode, Advanced Energy United’s Leah Rubin Shen talks with Ethan Elkind, Director of the Climate Program at the Berkeley Center for Law, Energy & the Environment, about the mechanics of establishing an RTO, the powers states retain, and FERC’s role in the process. PLUS: A timely update on some recent California momentum.
24 Apr 2023
How a regional electric grid can accelerate California's trajectory towards net zero by 2045
In this episode, host Amisha Rai interviews Mona Tierney-Lloyd, Head of US Public Policy for Enel North America. Mona shares her perspective on how a regional energy grid could improve reliability, efficiency, and affordability in California and across the West — and underscores just how much more clean energy we need to build to meet the growing demand in California. In order to reach the state’s 2045 clean energy targets, experts estimate California will have to build 5x more clean energy e...
6 Apr 2023
How an RTO can help bring cleaner, more reliable, lower-cost energy for California
As our energy demands continue to grow, state leaders need to focus on what a grid of the future will look like for California. This will likely involve working with our neighbors in the West to build a cleaner, more reliable, and more affordable energy transmission system. In this episode, Amisha Rai, Vice President for Policy and Advocacy at Advanced Energy United, and Michael Wara, Director of the Climate and Energy Policy Program and a senior research scholar at the Stanford Woods Institu...
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