Welcome to EPRI Current – bringing you the latest on new and evolving research and findings on the generation, delivery and use of electricity, and how this work benefits society as we shape the future of energy.
Your host, Samantha Gilman, talks to EPRI experts and industry guests who provide insight, context and science-based observations on what’s new – and what is yet to come – in the energy transition.
Latest Episodes
Just Keep Swimming: New Tech Enables Fish Migration at Hydro Dams
Host: Samantha Gilman
Guests: Mika Sohlberg, Co-Founder, Fishheart; Michael Melchers, FERC Administrator, Santee Cooper; Paul Jacobson, Technical Executive, generation sector, EPRI
Teach a person to fish, and they just might teach the rest of us how to innovate to preserve the species.
Hydropower is one of the world’s oldest low-carbon sources of electricity generation. And as long as there have been dams, there have been migrating fish needing to swim upstream past them to spawn. Join EPRI Current host Samantha Gilman and her three guests as they discuss testing the new Fishheart fish passage technology in North America. Developed by fishermen in Finland, the technology was tested in North America at the Santee Cooper utility as part of a Department of Energy research project supervised by EPRI.
The Quantum Challenge: Pioneering Fusion Technology
Host: Samantha Gilman
Guests: Diana Grandas, Dr. Charlyne Smith, Emma Wong
In this episode of EPRI Current, we explore how quantum computing could help solve key fusion hurdles—from plasma control to materials engineering—bringing us closer to a commercially viable fusion reactor.
Join host Samantha Gilman and EPRI experts Diana Grandas, Emma Wong, and Dr. Charlyne Smith as they discuss EPRI’s work in fusion innovation, the intersection of quantum mechanics and energy research, and what’s needed to push fusion from the lab to the power grid.
Also discussed: the @EPRINews 2025 Quantum Challenge Fusion Edition, an international contest aimed at finding groundbreaking quantum computing solutions for fusion technology. Learn more at: https://aqora.io/epri-fusion-quantum-challenge-2025#about-event
Harvesting Energy and Crops: Exploring Agrivoltaics
Host: Samantha Gilman
Guests: Terry Jennings and Bailie Neary
In this episode, EPRI experts examine a new corner of the energy industry: agrivoltaics. Agrivoltaics is when solar PV panels are installed above crops so that the same land can be simultaneously used for energy and food production.
Learn from EPRI experts, Terry Jennings and Bailie Neary, on how EPRI is helping utilities explore this emerging practice. Plus, you’ll hear an overview of agrivoltaics today, and where it may go in the future thanks to AI.
