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
