Volts

Why can't utilities innovate?

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.volts.wtf/subscribe When it comes to innovative new grid technologies, every utility wants to be the third in line to try them. None of them want to be the first to take risks and iron out new processes. That's one reason grid-enhancing technologies, better software, and smarter internal procedures stay stuck in pilot purgatory, even as the industry faces the biggest buildout since rural electrification. PG&E's Quinn Nakayama and Microsoft's Hanna Grene discuss what's actually blocking utility innovation — and Quinn offers a novel proposal for paying someone to go first. Chapters: 00:00 – Introduction 03:44 – Why grid-enhancing technologies stall in the US 07:54 – Selling grid software into utilities: what goes wrong 11:08 – From a pipes-and-wires company to a technology company 12:38 – Pilot program hell and the last 30 percent 15:04 – Innovation as a bolt-on, and the three muscles 17:47 – The digital spine, data quality, and smart meters 23:56 – Org chart versus work chart 25:09 – Strategy, structure, people, process, technology 29:24 – Build, buy, and the ecosystem skill set 36:15 – Data leakage, shadow AI, and paying twice 41:12 – Why utility product cycles run five to seven years 46:27 – Human in the loop, and EPRI's SAFERai.power 49:06 – Advanced market commitments and the kingmaker problem 53:22 – EPIC, and whether software counts as infrastructure 01:00:05 – The CapEx incentive problem and final advice 1:04:34 – Digital Infrastructure as Capital Spend 1:06:53 – Final Advice

He helped Uruguay decarbonize. Can he help other countries do the same?

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.volts.wtf/subscribe Ramón Méndez Galain helped Uruguay decarbonize its grid (today it’s 98% fossil-free) while keeping the utility public and letting private capital foot the bill. Now he’s trying to export the same playbook across the global South. We talk through how Uruguay pulled it off — the hydro “battery” for wind & solar “baseload,” the cross-party political deal, the market redesign — and what actually transfers to countries without the same advantages. We also discuss why, seven years on, no other country has followed Uruguay’s path. Chapters: 00:00 – Introduction 03:09 – From particle physics to a nuclear proposal 05:46 – Taking the job as energy secretary 07:00 – The 2008 crisis: drought, expensive oil, blackouts 09:26 – Getting every party to sign the same plan 12:51 – Why climate was not the lead argument 15:42 – Attracting private capital without privatizing 20:22 – What a public utility made possible 23:06 – Planning a grid where wind and solar are the base load 29:26 – Thermal plants as insurance, and the last 2 percent 32:36 – EVs, smart meters, and building an electrostate 37:33 – Why bills fell less than generation costs 39:46 – What transfers to other countries 44:15 – Optimum curtailment, Colombia, and Haiti 50:51 – The political work, and the argument against the dominant narrative 56:36 – The Global South and the NDC as development catalyst

Can public EV chargers be as reliable as gas stations?

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.volts.wtf/subscribe As the U.S. EV market slows and federal charging support recedes, IONNA, a fast-charging network backed by eight major automakers, is still expanding. On Volts, CEO Seth Cutler makes the case that public charging is entering a new phase focused on reliability and customer experience, but the economics remain difficult, with low utilization and demand charges squeezing margins. With roughly 1,300 bays live and a target of 30,000, IONNA is testing whether a multi-brand network can offer a Tesla-like charging experience while building a sustainable business. Chapters: 00:00 – Introduction: can public EV charging be as reliable as a gas station? 02:30 – Public charging’s four phases, and IONNA’s phase-four bet 08:17 – IONNA’s origin story 09:55 – Scale, footprint & site strategy 11:52 – Rechargery @ vs. freestanding: the two site formats 18:45 – Can DC fast charging make money? Unit economics 21:29 – Demand charges & why fast charging is expensive 23:57 – Getting power: permitting, interconnection & utilities 29:18 – Site design, amenities & the monetization question 34:14 – Regional site customization: the gas station turned bakery 36:35 – The charging experience: apps & Plug&Charge 39:03 – Reliability strategy & metrics 42:47 – Headwinds: the EV market downturn & policy risk 46:54 – Business model, profitability & the IONITY comparison 50:09 – Geographic rollout: the chicken-and-egg problem 54:07 – Competitive position vs. Tesla 56:37 – Closing: vision, fears & timeline

Another bipartisan housing miracle, this time in Idaho

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.volts.wtf/subscribe Last year I did a pod on Montana’s surprising burst of bipartisan housing legislation. Turns out Idaho was watching. This year its legislature passed six housing bills of its own (two others failed). Republican state Sen. Ben Toews and Democratic state Rep. Megan Egbert join me to walk through what passed, what didn’t, and what they gave away to get it done — plus the property tax cap that quietly works against all of it, and why duplexes turned out to be the red line. Chapters: 00:00 – Introduction and the Idaho housing package 02:43 – How each guest came to the housing issue 06:39 – Inside the interim housing study committee 09:05 – SB 1354, ADUs by right, and Dillon’s Rule 12:52 – The 5,000 to 10,000 compromise, and HOAs 15:03 – SB 1352 starter homes, manufactured homes, lot splits 16:28 – HB 706 and single-stair buildings 18:11 – The permitting shot clock and the 6-day rule 19:48 – Living with the compromises, and why counties were left out 22:54 – The two bills that died: duplexes and YIGBY 28:41 – HB 389, the property tax cap, and the growth undertow 34:41 – What the public understands about growth 37:23 – Regulatory reform on supply side vs. incentives for housing 43:59 – The February deadline and city resistance 48:52 – Horizontal vs. vertical density 56:03 – What comes next for the committee & Idaho housing

Grid cybersecurity: how big is the threat & what should we do about it?

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.volts.wtf/subscribe Could the US grid be brought down by Chinese hackers? To find out, I talked with Patrick Miller, who helped write the cybersecurity rules for the bulk power system and became the first person with federal authority to enforce them. We get into what's actually been hacked, why those "rogue devices" in Chinese inverters are less sinister than they sound, and why squirrels still do more damage than hackers. Chapters: 00:00 – Introduction 02:47 – What state utility commissioners get wrong about cyber risk 04:50 – Real attacks on the grid so far: Ukraine, Poland, and the US 06:57 – IT versus OT, and why grid devices are hard to protect 10:30 – The NERC CIP standards: scope, requirements, enforcement 17:40 – Distributed resources outside the CIP perimeter 20:54 – Dropping the threshold to 20 MVA, and federal jurisdiction 29:12 – Chinese inverters and the commodity board 36:09 – Volt Typhoon, Salt Typhoon, and China's intent 39:26 – Data centers as a new attack surface 43:19 – The trade-off between security and speed 47:44 – Cyber-informed engineering and analog safeguards 54:05 – AI on offense and defense 1:02:21 – Squirrels, balloons, and physical threats 1:04:24 – CISA cuts, CIRCIA, and harmonizing the rules

What should state policymakers do about data centers?

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.volts.wtf/subscribe State legislatures are writing data center rules faster than they can verify the demand forecasts underneath them. Fifteen states accounted for 80 percent of data center electricity demand in 2023, a single hyperscale campus can arrive as 15 to 20 percent of a utility's demand, and the transmission to serve it takes five to 15 years to build. On this episode of Volts, David Roberts works through Climate Cabinet's Taming Data Center Turmoil series with Saleem Chapman, who leads the group's electricity affordability policy work, on why Georgia's regulated utility, PJM's capacity market, and ERCOT's competitive market each left ratepayers holding the risk, and what a state can require before it approves a project, while the facility operates, and after the deal is done. Chapters: 00:00 – Introduction 02:49 – How Climate Cabinet came to the data center fight 03:58 – Three things that make hyperscalers unlike past industrial loads 07:51 – Warning signals: forecast opacity, gas dependency, unconditional subsidies 13:44 – Siting near overburdened communities and the Memphis case 15:34 – State preemption versus local control 18:31 – The same failure pattern in Georgia, PJM, and ERCOT 23:52 – Why not just ban data centers outright 28:07 – The framework, and what to require before approval 34:54 – While operating: real cost pricing and on-call load flexibility 37:39 – Scenario-based planning and the utility incentive problem 39:37 – After the deal: new and matched clean energy 43:48 – Siting standards and performance-tied incentives 50:27 – Existing facilities and the threat to build elsewhere 55:41 – Which states are ahead, and step one for lawmakers

Aug 2

Silicon anodes for batteries unlock greater energy density and faster charging times

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.volts.wtf/subscribe Materials in lithium-ion battery cathodes have continuously evolved since the 1990s, but anodes have stubbornly remained graphite. Now, finally, there’s some innovation on that side: silicon anodes, which engineers have struggled to master for a decade, are finally coming into wide commercialization. They enable up to five times the energy density of graphite anodes, charge many times faster, and are poised to revolutionize the battery market. In this episode, I talk with Rick Costantino, co-founder and CTO of Group14, which is selling a silicon-carbon composite material for anodes. They’re already selling to dozens of large battery manufacturers and expect silicon anodes to completely take over the market by 2030. Chapters: 00:00 – Introduction and the graphite anode problem 01:54 – Why silicon, and why it kept failing 06:26 – From pharma to batteries: Rick's path 09:24 – How SCC55 works: silicon in a carbon scaffold 14:38 – The payoff: energy density and charge speed 18:59 – A drop-in material, and scaling in South Korea 21:11 – Where the batteries go: phones, EVs, drones 24:29 – Cost versus graphite 26:20 – Cycle life, calendar life, and safety 31:26 – Supply chain and the silane bottleneck 36:26 – Pairing with LFP, DOE support, and phones 40:30 – Bringing the cost down, and competitors 43:27 – The five-year outlook