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MOPRs, ROFRs and NOPRs, oy vey! In which we welcome back Jason Stanek, who chairs Maryland’s Public Service Commission, to discuss the tensions and challenges presented by Maryland’s Climate Solutions Now Act of 2022. Becoming effective on June 1 this year, the legislation is considered arguably the most ambitious climate-change law adopted by any state in the country, and Stanek’s commission will be tasked with getting the state on the right path to accomplish it — all without hiring any additional staff. It’s probably fair to think of Maryland over the next nine years as a bellwether for how feasible, given local objections to the necessary infrastructure development, rapid decarbonization in the power industry is. They’re the “canary in the coal mine,” as Chair Stanek notes, so “keep an eye on Maryland…” Other topics include PJM’s recently released Grid of the Future study, the FERC/NARUC Joint Federal-State Task Force on Transmission, FERC’s NOPR on transmission, New Jersey’s evaluation agreement with PJM on offshore wind, food recommendations at the diner by the Buffalo airport, hot takes on college mascots, criticizing the U.S. Postal Service’s decision to not purchase EVs for its fleet, New Jersey officials for subsidizing nuclear plants and every overly-confident clean-energy activist on the Internet, thoughts about Maryland politics, its capital city and that big horse race it holds each year.

In which we… well, honestly, we talk a lot more about basketball than most episodes — but a comparative analysis fits well given that our guest is Jesse Jenkins, a Princeton University professor, energy-system analyst and modeler and all-around deep-thinker on the best and most-frugal paths to power-industry decarbonization. We dig into a study recently published by his ZERO Lab on pathways to a 100% carbon-free electricity in New Jersey (spoiler alert: you’ll still need natural gas, imports from other states will be key and offshore wind is perhaps too expensive), but also discuss life in the Ivy League in the time of COVID, technology tribalism in the energy-transition community, the media’s value in energy research, the good professor’s confession that he might be “a bad Duck” and much more!

ardball 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!

In which we ask Ken Seiler, PJM’s vice president of system planning, to unbox transmission-planning issues and how PJM is preparing for a grid of the future that’s dominated by intermittent-renewable resources. Generator interconnection is front and center, but we also get into the New Jersey BPU’s SAA and offshore wind, FERC’s transmission-focused ANOPR, cost allocation, system reliability, fly-tying, various books: A River Runs Through It by Norman MacLean, Power Hungry by Robert Bryce and Shorting the Grid: The Hidden Fragility of Our Electric Grid by Meredith Angwin, Penn State, THON and Glen’s recent visit to NARUC.

In which we receive several history lessons from FERC Commissioner Mark Christie on what has caused capacity markets to (so far) fail to live up to their full promise and threatens to tear regional markets apart, as well as what choices states have. From there, we consider the impact to the industry of the shale-gas revolution, get to the bottom of the tension regarding the minimum offer-price rule (MOPR), make a plea for Robert Caro to finish his LBJ biography series and the Steelers to draft Heisman-finalist Pitt quarterback Kenny Pickett to replace Roethlisberger, reminisce about the heroes of the golden age of Pittsburgh Pirates baseball and the antiheroes of the current Golden Age of Television, pay tribute to former Virginia SCC Judge Preston Shannon, discuss new year’s resolutions and Glen’s apparent love of coffee, plus much more.

In which we reminisce with current PA Public Utility Commission Chairman Gladys Brown Dutrieuille and two former chairs -- John Quain and Jim Cawley -- about Pennsylvania's Electric Generation Customer Choice and Competition Act of 1996, which celebrates its 25th anniversary next month. Aside from the benefits of the act, which ushered in customer choice and competition amongst generation suppliers while deconstructing vertically-integrated utility monopolies, we also dig into downsides of its legacy, including default service and utility-consolidated billing that continue to provide an ongoing advantage to incumbent suppliers, and the debates on both sides. Relive from those who were there all the trepidation and intrigue of the those heady days and one very long night in Harrisburg in the late-fall of 1996!

In which we reminisce with current PA Public Utility Commission Chairman Gladys Brown Dutrieuille and two former chairs -- John Quain and Jim Cawley -- about Pennsylvania's Electric Generation Customer Choice and Competition Act of 1996, which celebrates its 25th anniversary next month. Aside from the benefits of the act, which ushered in customer choice and competition amongst generation suppliers while deconstructing vertically-integrated utility monopolies, we also dig into downsides of its legacy, including default service and utility-consolidated billing that continue to provide an ongoing advantage to incumbent suppliers, and the debates on both sides. Relive from those who were there all the trepidation and intrigue of the those heady days and one very long night in Harrisburg in the late-fall of 1996!

In which we discuss state and federal energy regulation with Paul Kjellander, president of both the Idaho PUC and the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners. Beyond cooperative federalism and the interface between FERC and state commissions, we dive into the problems with joining CAISO, what the future of the power grid will look like, generator-interconnection advice, the national political pastime of bashing the federal government, NARUC’s upcoming annual meeting in Louisville, Rory’s resemblance to folk-grass musician Tyler Childers, arcana of ancient Roman calendars, predictions for the winner NARUC-president Jeopardy, how energy professionals can best engage with utility commissioners and why Idaho is called the Gem State and the marketing ploy behind Boise State University’s blue football field.

In which we submit New Jersey Board of Public Utilities President Joe Fiordaliso to our line of questioning on resource adequacy, capacity markets, offshore wind, PJM, NIMBYism, state relations with PJM and FERC, New Jersey’s Energy Master Plan and its aggressive goals and the state of thermal generation in the Garden State. Later, we force the president to engage in a little political Catch-22 and force him to pick favorites among beloved New Jersey icons, after which he doles out some advice to another president whose tenure his own has far exceeded and finally urges everyone to follow his state’s bold lead in addressing climate change.

In which we sit down with Curt Morgan, the president and CEO of Vistra Corp., to discuss his investment philosophy in the power-generation business, the current investment status of generation technologies, how financial markets are disciplining the industry and leading the ESG revolution, the “terminal value” issue with gas-fired generation and why you never want to be the first owner of such a facility, gas pipelines’ dirty little secret, the reality of climate change, putting the power-industry transition into historical perspective, how PJM’s markets have performed, why power markets need to ditch some terminology as they add emissions to their list of must-haves, why carbon pricing and PJM’s MOPR are DOA and ERCOT turning gun-shy.