Programs and Markets w/ Lea Fisher

special celebrity guest star Lea Fisher brings a market expert perspective to our discussion of WRAP, market evolution, and reliability assessments; plus i close it out with news of my own

Show Notes

Lea Fisher, Ahlmahz Negash, PhD, Dan Catchpole, and Paul Dockery cover electric utility and electric-utility-adjacent news in Season 5, Episode 3.

06:32 - introduce Ahlmahz Negash, PhD as new co-host for Public Power Underground

Ahlmahz has been a recurring guest on Public Power Underground and even accepted the designation of a Special Correspondent during earlier seasons. She has a PhD in Electrical Engineering from the University of Washington, was recently the Chair of the Pacific Northwest Utility Conference Committee’s System Planning Committee, is a recipient of PNUCC’s “Albert Einstein Award”, and is currently on sabbatical from Tacoma Public Utilities where she is a Senior Power Analyst. [I forgot to do an adequate introduction during the recording because I figured y’all knew Ahlmahz, but then I realized I shouldn’t take knowledge for granted and am hopeful y’all will look here.]

09:18 - a lot going on with WRAP

• BPA’s draft close out letter and workshop materials
• coverage of draft closeout letter by Steve Ernst in Clearing Up
• Dan Catchpole’s coverage in Clearing Up on deficiency letter from FERC
• Comments filed by the Power Pool acknowledging BPA’s unique statutory obligations (WRAP22 0011 - Edmonds/Western Power Pool)

27:05 - tensions/tradeoffs of the incremental approach to markets

• coverage of Markets+ two-day, in-person development session by Tom Kleckner in RTO Insider
• presentation from workshop on implementation cost of Markets+ (slide 14)
• an earlier presentation on RTO West implementation costs

43:22 - reliability assessment: Not Great

• coverage of NERC’s 2022-2023 Winter Reliability Assessment by Rory Sweeney in Clearing Up
• North American electric grid faces ‘unprecedented’ widespread risk this winter: NERC by Robert Walton in Utility Dive
• NERC’s announcement with links to full assessment and infographic

53:55 - Short to Ground; where we TL;DR our way through the rest of the news

• Decade-Long Effort to Remove Klamath Dams Gets Final OK by KC Mehaffey in Clearing Up
• FERC, States Hash Out Independent Transmission Monitor Concept by Jason Fordney in California Energy Markets
• Boardman to Hemingway Power Line Approved by Oregon EFSC by Greg Mason in Clearing Up
• Study: Coal Facility Closures Could Increase Available Western Water by Linda Dailey Paulson in California Energy Markets
• BPA Rate Cases Kick Off; Settlement Calls for Keeping Rates Flat by Steve Ernst in Clearing Up
• Diablo Canyon Selected for $1.1-Billion Federal Boost by Jim DiPeso in California Energy Markets
• Heat-Wave Power Sellers Argue Their High Prices Were Justified by Jason Fordney in Clearing Up
• Spot Market Power
• La Nina
• NOAA Climate Forecasts
• WY2023 Water Supply Forecast

1:04:07 - Paul shares some personal news

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What is Public Power Underground?

Public Power Underground is more than a discussion about public ownership of electric infrastructure, the infotaining episodes cover the energy enthusiast trifecta of electrification, markets, and people. The hosts interview industry experts on a broad range of energy industry and energy-industry-adjacent topics at the nexus of electric utilities and the energy transition. The podcast doesn’t take itself too seriously and frequently plays energy inspired games like “energy enthusiasm distilled,” “draw an analogy,” and “say something nice about electric utilities."