FERC Commissioners of the Past
In which we ask Illinois Commerce Commission Chair Carrie Zalewski to summarize Illinois’ new Climate and Equitable Jobs Act (CEJA), and it still takes more than an hour — though, in fairness, we do also shoot a lot of hardball Illinois-related Rapid Fire questions at her. Listen for discussions on grid reliability, performance-based rates, integration plans for the state’s electricity-distribution utilities, lessons learned from the reliability issues in Texas and much more!
We’ve had a lot of current and former electricity-industry regulators on the GT Power Hour, as well as several current and former company CEOs and other industry leaders. But few of the interviews were quite as revealing as the conversation we had this month with Pat Wood III.
Maybe it’s his Texas-raised demeanor or his experience as the top industry regulator in both his home state and FERC, which has authority over all but his home state. Whatever it is, Pat has a way with words (and images: he even provided the accompanying picture of his hearty azaleas, the storms’ impacts on which we discuss in depth during the episode as part of the explanation on what happened) - so much so that I felt it was worth the time and energy to transcribe a few of the highlights.
In which we dig into the causes of the Texas power outages in February 2021 and their potential consequences by sitting down with perhaps the one person in the world best equipped to discuss the situation: Pat Wood, who’s served as the top utility regulator both at FERC and the one state FERC doesn’t oversee, Texas. If you’re wondering what the likelihood is that Texas gets a capacity market, FERC oversight, a change in the pace of its power-generation transition or additional direct-current (DC) ties to neighboring grids, Pat’s got an answer.
But it’s also the one-year anniversary of the global pandemic, St. Patrick’s Day, Oscar’s nominees were announced - and don’t forget the return of March Madness! All receive their due attention, not to mention discussion of final requests, Cuban cigars, the famous Gruene Hall, BBQ, Mother Nature and the heartiness of azaleas.
There’s so much here, that (for the first time ever) we couldn’t keep it all to a single hour… Apparently everything is bigger in Texas - even podcasts!
In which we go toe to toe with the man himself, FERC Chairman Neil Chatterjee. Actually, it’s quite cordial because, as the Chairman makes clear from the jump, he likes his reputation as a “people person” and works very hard to maintain it. Also: What it was like behind the scenes during the tumultuous beginning of his tenure, if he takes any of the criticism and accusations of politicizing the office personally, why he doesn’t consider it work, when the University of Kentucky Wildcats men’s basketball team will win the NCAA National Championship again, who Bryce Harper is and where he goes to listen to the GT Power Hour.
