Welcome to EPRI Current – your go-to source for the latest in energy innovation, research, and insights.
Your host, Samantha Gilman, meets with EPRI experts and industry leaders to unpack the energy sector’s most pressing challenges and promising opportunities. Through timely and thought-provoking conversations, the podcast explores critical themes including advanced energy technologies, grid reliability and flexibility, climate adaptation and resilience, the transformative role of artificial intelligence, the evolving economics and policies shaping energy systems, and more.
Whether you're an energy professional, policymaker, or curious listener, the EPRI Current brings you expert perspectives that highlight how innovation and collaboration are powering a more resilient and reliable energy future.
Tune in and be part of the journey as we shape the future of energy—together.
Latest Episodes
Grid Talk Series on the EPRI Current: Grid Growth in the Age of Data Centers and Electrification
Host: Samantha Gilman
Guests: Maria Pope, PGE; David Porter, EPRI
In the final episode of the Grid Talk Series on the EPRI Current, Maria Pope, President and CEO of Portland General Electric, joins Marty Rosenberg for a wide ranging conversation on how utilities are responding to historic demand growth without compromising reliability or affordability. Maria shares how PGE is using advanced analytics, grid-enhancing technologies, and large-scale battery storage to unlock new capacity from existing infrastructure and accommodate rapidly growing loads. The discussion dives into PGE’s “growth pays for growth” approach, innovative rate structures, and the role customers play in funding grid expansion, while also exploring regional market coordination, renewable integration in the Pacific Northwest, and what today’s surge in data centers signals for long term grid planning.
In EPRI’s Take, host Samantha Gilman meets with David Porter, VP for Electrification & Sustainable Energy Strategy and executive lead for EPRI’s DCFlex initiative, about how data centers and other large loads can support grid reliability. David highlights three key flexibility opportunities at data centers – shifting compute workloads, optimizing auxiliary systems, and using backup generation and energy storage to manage peaks. The conversation also looks ahead, emphasizing the flexibility of demand across all electrified loads and the growing role of transportation electrification as a shared grid resource.
Learn more about DCFlex: https://dcflex.epri.com/
In It for the Long Haul: Nuclear LTO in a High-Demand Era
Host: Samantha Gilman
Guests: Rounette Nader, Duke Energy; Rob Austin, EPRI.
The long-term operation (LTO) of existing nuclear plants is emerging as a critical strategy for delivering reliable, carbon-free power as electricity demand accelerates across the economy. In this episode of EPRI Current, host Samantha Gilman is joined by Rounette Nader, VP of New Nuclear Generation and License Renewal at Duke Energy, and EPRI’s Rob Austin, Senior Program Manager for Nuclear, to explore how LTO supports a resilient energy future.
The discussion unpacks what it really takes to extend plant lifetimes to 60 years, 80 years, and possibly beyond – and why continued investment, modernization, and rigorous regulatory oversight keep plants safe and increasingly reliable. The experts tackle common misconceptions about aging plants, explain how modernization and digital upgrades support round-the-clock power, and highlight LTO’s role in meeting rapidly growing load while maintaining a skilled workforce. Together, they spotlight why long-term nuclear operation remains one of the fastest, most cost-effective ways to deliver dependable, carbon-free energy at scale
To learn more about Nuclear Power Plant Long-Term Operations, visit: https://lto.epri.com/LTO.
To learn more about Duke Energy's nuclear fleet, visit: https://news.duke-energy.com/releases/duke-energy-nuclear-fleet-sets-new-all-time-reliability-record-delivers-value-for-customers.
Grid Talk Series – How fast can the grid adapt to rising demand—and at what cost?
Host: Samantha Gilman
Guests: Ann Rendahl, NARUC, WUTC, and Morgan Scott, EPRI
Surging electricity demand is pushing the grid to its limits, prompting regulators and innovators to expand the system without sacrificing reliability or affordability. In this episode of the Grid Talk Series on The EPRI Current, Marty Rosenberg meets with Ann Rendahl, President of the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners (NARUC), a commissioner with the Washington Utilities and Transportation Commission, and a member of EPRI's Advisory Council, to explore how state regulators are navigating rapid changes to the electric grid. Rendahl discusses the sharp rise in electricity demand and its implications for rates, infrastructure investment, and long-term reliability. They also discuss how regulators are working to protect customers from stranded costs, balance an evolving generation mix, and manage growing risks from wildfires, cybersecurity threats, and climate impacts on hydropower.
To get EPRI’s Take, host Samantha Gilman speaks with Morgan Scott, EPRI’s VP of Global Outreach Partnerships, about where innovation is most urgently needed as electricity demand accelerates. Scott highlights the increasing load data centers could account for by 2030 and explains why meeting that challenge will require advances in generation, grid-enhancing technologies, and flexibility at both the customer and data center levels. She also reframes the conversation around affordability – distinguishing the rising cost of electricity from its growing value within the broader “energy wallet” for consumers.
