Zpryme On The Grid

We're back ladies and gentlemen! After collecting ourselves from the shocks of the current... well everything, we're back to talk about how cities are handling themselves. We have Joyce Deuley from Geekdom here to talk about San Antonio specifically and what they've done to have a fairly successful response to the COVID-19 crisis. If you're looking for ways to help go to https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2020/03/21/how-you-can-help-during-coronavirus/?arc404=true If you want to see tips for adjusting to work from home life check out this article: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/top-5-tips-help-you-adjust-working-from-home-ricky-murray/ Music by bensound.com

Employee retainment? Future clean tech for utilities? This is another very special edition of On the Grid with guest host Zpryme's Chris Moyer. Chris joined Calvin Butler Exelon Utilities President and Matt Tobias Deloitte Principal in Washington D.C. recently to talk about the importance of customer engagement, tech, and how utilities can do a more effective job overall for its employees and customers.

On the Grid is on the road again! Made possible by Itron, Zpryme's Erin Hardick ventured to National Grid in Boston to talk mentorship with energy's leading women. What relationships helped shaped their careers? What advice do they have for the next wave of mentors? Marcy Reed, President of National Grid Massachusetts and Executive Vice President of US Policy & Social Impact, Sharelynn Moore, SVP Networked Solutions Itron, Inc., and Angela O'Connor, Power and Utilities Strategy Consultant, and former Chairman at Massachusetts Department of Public Utilities talk personal experiences, lessons learned, and pass on invaluable wisdom. Follow our podcasts, interviews, and more at www.zpryme.com.

Like it or not, data runs our increasingly digital world and we're still trying to figure out the implications of what that means for people's everyday lives. The systems by which data is collected, stored, secured, applied, categorized, and sold are labyrinthine which makes discussion of not only the solutions but the problems themselves difficult to parse. So to help us navigate this minefield, Bianca Wylie, Senior Fellow at CIGI, and Emily Royall, Smart City Coordinator for the City of San Antonio engage in a deep dive on what data solutions look like and how we talk about them. If you want to hear more from Emily and Bianca, they will be speaking at City of the Future. Go to https://cityofthefuture.io/ for registration and full lineup Music by bensound.com

At Distributech 2020 the podcast crew was able to sit down with IBM Director of Strategy and Environemtn for Energy, Environment Utility Industries Elle Carberry, IBM Senior Consultant Lauren Kaley, SMUD elected member Nancy Bui-Thompson along with Zpryme's Director of Research Programs Erin Autin and Senior Research Analyst Erin Hardick. What followed was an in-depth discussion about their personal journeys to get to where they are now and how they can broadcast to other women what opportunities there are in the energy industry. Drawing from personal experience, these five professionals outline areas in energy where they are seeing women succeed and areas where perhaps greater efforts need to be made to bring women in. Policy, marketing, and culture all rolled into one dynamic podcast! Music by bensound.com

Distributech 2020 just wrapped up and we have our podcast crew's breakdown of the goings on at the convention. The Erins have graciously taken time out of their media whirlwind to describe what they see as the emerging trends for the year to come. We do a classic top 5 experience rundown and postulate on the meanings of buzzwords. Check out our redesigned website for more upcoming Dtech media! https://zpryme.com/ Music by bensound.com

It's time to take a peek behind the curtain here at Zpryme and talk to some of the people creating our new venture into Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality development for utilities. The head of the project, Jorge Ortiz, AR/VR Specialist Bekah Diaz, and Digital Media Manager Chris Holt sat down with Erin at our office in Austin to talk about why we believe in this technology and what its applications are to the industry. If you've ever been interested in how a VR program is constructed or what needs in the industry the technology can actually address, you don't want to miss this one! Music by bensound.com

Happy New Year! Now that a new decade is upon us, it's time to get introspective. How was 2019 for the energy industry? Interesting yet slow for a time of such apparent upheaval. CEO Jason Rodriguez talks with us about changes and lacks thereof in energy trends over the course of the year and see how our predictions stacked up (spoiler alert: eeehhhhhh) which of course does not stop us from making even more bold predictions for energy in 2020. Let us know yours! Music by bensound.com

Today's guest is Paula Gold-Williams the President and CEO of CPS Energy. That should really be all that needs to be said but just because we love you so much, we'll let you know that within this podcast is an in-depth discussion about the relationship between utilities, cities, and communities. We also go into Paula's own rise to prominence in the industry and what she plans and expectations are. We also talk about bizarre Texan delicacies! Music by bensound.com

Debbie Brodt-Giles from NREL joins the podcast to discuss the American Made Solar Prize as well as what solutions are out there that NREL is discovering through this process. We also play an appropriately festive game. Later, Dylan talks to two winners of the first round of the prize, Ethan Good, Principal of Phase 3 Photovoltaic, and Bill Nussey, cofounder of Solar Inventions. They go over what kinds of startups and technologies are needed to move the needle on solar in the United States. If you want to register for round 3, go to https://americanmadechallenges.org/solarprize Music by bensound.com

What are you thankful for this year? We're thankful for research! Content gurus Erin Hardick and Chris Moyer from the research team have come on to talk about what we did over the summer research-wise as well as the key findings and lessons learned therein. Business Model Transformation report: https://etsinsights.com/reports/transformation-of-the-utility-business-model/ DERMS Report: https://etsinsights.com/reports/managing-complexity-in-the-distributed-reality-a-utility-perspective-on-derms/ IIoT and Water Report: https://etsinsights.com/reports/iiot-and-analytics-maximizing-it-ot-data-for-water-utilities/ Music by bensound.com

SPECIAL EPISODE ALERT! "Startup." That word has a lot of baked-in connotation. One imagines an individual, or small group of individuals, having a "eureka!" moment where opportunity is found in a market and against all odds, a company and journey are started. But is the startup life as simple as that image? In this special episode, we talk to four founders of energy-based startups and ask them the same set of questions Inside The Actor's Studio-style: Kumar Parameswaran founder of Nirvanasoft https://nirvanasoft.net/ Natalie Goodman founder of Incentifind https://incentifind.com/ George Koutitas founder of Gridmates https://www.gridmates.com/ And a bonus fourth interview you'll have to listen to the episode to find out. Music by bensound.com

Start@ETS was a wonderful event! Startups from many different areas of the industry came and pitched their ideas to our judges. One of the Judges, Bridgewater Consulting SVP of Business Strategy Ernie Lewis, sat down with Dylan at the even to talk about projects that impressed him, and what solutions he believes are necessary for the future of the industry. With a few decades of experience under his belt, Ernie talks about the crossroads the industry is at and what will determine how we look on the other side of it. Music by bensound.com

We're talking about data standardization with Cengizhan Yenerim ,Director of Demand Risk Management at Engie North America. What starts off as an episode explaining the difficulties of data standardization region to region evolves into a discussion on creating the right ecosystem within organizations and communities to allow for a healthy and secure data ecosystem. Our industry is flush with data but putting it to work efficiently and securely seems to have us dragging behind other data-driven industries. For insight into customer-centric data application strategies, take a listen! Music by bensound.com

This week, Director of Research Programs Erin Autin returns to the podcast for a lively discussion on Scooters. Perhaps you've seen them around your town. We dive deep into new research to figure out what ordinary people are saying about them and also what the safety concerns are. There is still time to register for Start@ETS head over to https://start19.co/ for registration if you're interested in checking out these finalists: ANKA Labs Brilliency Incorporated Drones of Prey Inc H2Optimize Moye Consultants Re:3D Inc Simuwatt Inc Go Pawz Go Xage Security Amperon Athena Power Inc EVmatch Inc Evolve Energy GridX Inc MicroEra Power Inc Ping Things Inc Switched Source LLC GreenPocket GmbH Packetized Energy Technologies Inc

On this episode, we're going to the country to talk with Bill Hetherington, CEO of Bandera Electric Cooperative. You might not think industry innovation would come from a more rural, lower population service territory, but not only are extensive DER programs being implemented at this level, Bandera and other coops are demonstrating a community-centered model of operating a utility that needs to be seen, or explained extensively in an audio show, to be believed. The key word of the day is "listen." Listen to your customers individually, don't lump people together and assume wants and needs. Listen to people with new ideas to take advantage of innovative notions from often overlooked places. And of course, listen to this episode for insight into the quiet rural revolution of the energy space. Music by bensound.com

Josh Gould, Utility of the Future and Innovation Hub Manager at Con Edison in New York, joins us to discuss Commercialization Innovation. What's that? It's the modernization of the process by which innovation becomes commercial reality! When it comes to technology in the industry, flashy equipment isn't enough. Providing proficient and effective technology is where the fixes are needed. Listen in to hear Josh's ideas on strategies to better bring new ideas to the customers that want them. He touches on ways that safety is being improved through a cultural change in how companies interact with their employees, and there's a discussion on diversity of ideas in energy. Music by bensound.com

Erin and Erin are back from the road to once again discuss what they learned from travelling across the state of Texas in a Tesla Model 3. After another series of interviews and air guitar jam sessions, the stars of Electric Vehicle Twitter have busted out the microphone to record a podcast. They have lessons to expound upon about life as an EV owner in Texas, the state of infrastructure in Texas, and some more details about the car itself, since listeners wrote in wondering about it. Enjoy this laid-back episode as the summer winds down, and make sure to see the whole road trip saga by searching #EVErinsTX! Music by bensound.com

Solar Storage Fest in San Antonio was a marquis event! We were able to put on a great event thanks to great speakers, hard workers behind the scenes, and inquisitive attendees. Erin and Dylan go over what went down at the conference, standout presentations and lessons learned about solar and storage from different perspectives. Lorraine Akiba, former Hawaii PUC member stopped by to talk about how regulators work with these new companies and new ways of doing business to try and create a decarbonized grid. Music by bensound.com

Today we are talking with Dr. Carolyn Kissane from NYU to talk about where we can learn about solutions to the energy problems of today and tomorrow. Some can be learned in a classroom, others by the example of foreign actors, and some can be learned by listening to the bright experts of tomorrow. A discussion about decarbonization turns into one about education as we are wont to do here, and we learn a bit ourselves about who is leading the charge and who is lagging behind. The word of the day is "perspective" and we're bringing it in spades in this episode! Music by bensound.com