Overhead power lines transmit the vital electricity that our homes and businesses, schools and hospitals need. They’re exposed to all the elements - storms, winds, hail and snow - so someone needs to make sure they can withstand whatever is thrown at them. Thankfully there’s a team of people who do this 24/7 – lineworkers.

The UK’s transmission network has 7000km of overhead lines - lay the cables end-to-end and you’d get halfway to Australia. Laura Young, a.k.a Less-Waste Laura, chats to training instructor Thomas Norris, about how he leads his teams through extreme weather to keep the power on. Tom talks a day in the life of a lineworker, the training process and what it takes to climb the pylons and keep the network resilient.

In the US, Carolyn Kissane talks with Amy Broz, one of only two women lineworkers at National Grid in New York State. Her work involves emergency response, keeping electricity systems live in storms, after disasters and accidents. Amy talks role models, how the work has changed since the 1990s, and explains how mentorship is crucial for encouraging women in trades, community service and utilities.

If you think you have what it takes to serve the community by keeping power on through emergencies, you’ll find everything you need to know here: https://www.nationalgrid.com/about-us

There’s an ongoing struggle for balance between the usefulness of AI and its energy demands. Generative AI and large language models are highly energy-intensive, with ChatGPT consuming up to 10 times more electricity than a standard Google search, and the energy consumption of data centres projected to double by 2026.

But at the same time, AI has the potential to significantly improve energy efficiency. Co-host Laura Young Laura speaks with Ben Sigrin, Senior Product Manager at GridBeyond, about how the company uses AI to manage energy behind-the-meter (on the consumer side), optimising energy use in buildings and reducing carbon emissions.

AI is also transforming sectors like transportation and agriculture by enhancing overall energy efficiency. Digital twins - virtual models that replicate real-world conditions—could eliminate 5-10% of global greenhouse gas emissions by 2030. NVIDIA, which you my know as the maker of the graphic processors that are used to train AI, has built its own version of these digital twin models. Director of Product Marketing Shar Narasimhan talks to Carolyn about Earth2, a mammoth digital replica of Earth used to model the extreme weather and climate change that affect our energy networks, and about how AI energy demands are being addressed in the industry.

In this special edition of The Clean Energy Revolution, we bring you highlights from a panel discussion, ‘Women Leading the Energy Transition’, hosted at New York University during Climate Week.

The discussion is moderated by Sandy Grace, Vice President of US Policy and Regulatory Strategy for National Grid, who sits down to talk with women working in various roles addressing the clean energy transition.

You’ll hear from panellists including Naomi Boness (Stanford University), Hadia Sheerazi (Rocky Mountain Institute), Amy Myers Jaffe (NYU), and one of this podcast’s co-hosts Dr. Carolyn Kissane (NYU), as they share their career journeys, current challenges, and opportunities needed to ensure a robust, equitable and sustainable energy transition.

Be sure to tune in to hear about the impactful work happening in policy, academia, NGOs, and startups, as well as the incredible and inspirational stories of some of the women at the forefront of the energy transition. This special episode is not to be missed.

It’s an exciting time for geothermal energy. The US Department of Energy predicts geothermal power generation capacity to grow by 26 times by 2050, potentially providing almost 10% of the US’ total power needs. To talk about the policy and technology that’s needed to achieve this goal is Kevin Jones, enhanced geothermal program manager at the DOE. He speaks to Carolyn Kissane about pilot projects in the US and the pioneering work they are doing.

What makes geothermal so exciting is its reliability as it’s available 24/7, whatever the weather. Enhanced geothermal systems are also revolutionising the field, allowing for the extraction of heat from deeper, previously unreachable rock formations. This cutting-edge technology opens up vast new areas for geothermal development, even in regions without traditional geothermal activity. Michael Webber is a professor of mechanical engineering at the University of Texas in Austin, and he also joins the show to talk Carolyn through the technology that could unlock enough power to meet 3-5% of the world’s demands by 2050.

It's not only electricity generation that geothermal energy can provide. It has use as a heat source too, and co-host Laura Young finds out how the UK’s only geothermal plant works as she talks to Eden Geothermal CEO Gus Grand.

The views expressed in this podcast are those of the participants and do not reflect the activities of National Grid

The role of technology in the energy transition has been talked about for years. In a speech at the Leaders Summit on Climate in 2021, International Energy Agency Director Fatih Birol said:

“IEA analysis shows that about half the reductions to get to net zero emissions in 2050 will need to come from technologies that are not yet ready for market. This calls for massive leaps in innovation. Innovation across batteries, hydrogen, synthetic fuels, carbon capture and many other technologies.”

So what major advances in technology have we seen in the industry since that speech? And what role does current technology have in driving innovation in the industry?

From Google’s AI-driven efficiency programs to cutting-edge technologies improving grid performance, this month we’re looking at the tech that’s needed to accelerate the path to net zero.

Carolyn and Laura are joined by Neil Osborne, Google’s Chief Energy Evangelist (yes that’s the real title), as he shares how the company is using AI to optimise energy usage. As Carolyn explains, data centres are energy-hungry. So at the same time they’re saving energy with AI optimisations, they’re using it. How are companies like Google addressing this dilemma?

Other key technologies discussed in this episode are:

Dynamic Line Ratings (DLR):

This technology is already helping National Grid to unlock up to 40% extra capacity for electricity to flow safely through their power lines. We speak to Alex Houghtaling from DLR operator LineVision to find out more.

Smart Conductors: Jason Huang from TS Conductor joins Laura and discusses revolutionary smart conductor technology that measures temperature and sag in real time. This can help utilities push more power through the grid safely and optimise capacity, aiding the global transition to renewables.

Battery Storage Safety: Eric Stein from Viridi explains how advanced lithium-ion battery storage systems, initially developed for NASA, are making grid storage safer and more reliable.

AI for Grid Maintenance: National Grid uses AI to monitor and maintain the condition of its infrastructure, from predicting the impacts of climate change on vital assets to analysing the network via autonomous drones. Gary Stockdale, National Grid’s Net Zero Innovation Manager, discusses how innovation is helping them to work smarter in the mission to net zero.

The transition to clean energy is the biggest challenge of our generation, and its unprecedented nature means that totally new ways of thinking and innovative solutions are required for it to be delivered successfully.

This means the industry must continue to innovate, to drive this change at the speed and scale needed. Investment in new technology, the forging of new partnerships and the creation of new business models are all advancing the energy transition.

To help keep you in the know, Carolyn and Laura are joined by experts in energy, business and climate to explore the ways the industry is innovating to tackle the biggest challenges in reaching net zero.

Carolyn kicks things off by talking with Steve Smith, Chief Strategy & Regulation Officer at National Grid. He explains why the speed and scale of progress needed for a clean, fair and affordable energy transition won’t be achieved if the industry continues to take the same approaches that have been taken historically.

Carolyn and Steve also discuss National Grid’s collaborations with start-up companies to develop next-generation technologies and much more.Plus, innovation across the sector such as a new way of looking at grids; the applications for AI and modern computing power, and innovative approaches to modular networks to deal with changing demand from customers.

Meanwhile, Laura was at National Grid’s Innovation Day event, discussing everything from the changing relationship between small and big business, how to drive change in the industry and the collaboration between utilities and buyers. Jake Oster is Director of Energy and Environmental Policy at Amazon, and he spoke to Laura about Amazon’s sustainability and net zero plans. Amazon is the world’s largest corporate buyer of renewable energy, with 500 wind and solar projects across more than 25 countries around the world.

Denise Massey is Managing Director of the Energy Innovation Centre, and she discusses the evolving collaboration between big and small business in accelerating the deployment of clean energy. Laura also speaks with Nora Brownell, Co-Founder of ESPY Energy Solutions and partner in Clean Energy Ventures, about the role of innovation in the energy transition, and how to create a clean energy future where everyone benefits.

Collaboration - be it with government, utilities, investors or stakeholders – plays a vital role in the energy transition and only by working together can we achieve the kind of innovation needed for a clean energy future.

Connecting more clean energy projects to the electricity grid is one of the most critical issues in driving the clean energy transition. Legacy ‘first come first served’ approaches, along with a rapid growth in the number of projects looking to connect, have led to stalled, or "zombie" projects waiting in the queue to be connected - so what’s being done to resolve this?

Across the world, it's estimated we'll need 11,000 gigawatts by 2030 to triple renewable energy capacity. In the UK, electricity capacity may need to double by 2030 to achieve net zero goals, and in the US, renewable electricity deployment needs to significantly ramp up to achieve a zero-carbon energy supply.

To discuss the rise in connection applications and the plans to accommodate them, Laura speaks to Ruth Shaw, Customer and Stakeholder Experience Manager in Electricity Transmission at National Grid. Together they look at groundbreaking projects like Dogger Bank – the world’s largest offshore wind farm – and how these projects are providing the blueprint for a streamlined connections process.

On the other side of the Atlantic, Carolyn is joined by Sandy Grace, Vice President of US Policy and Regulatory Strategy for National Grid, to uncover how the US is tackling similar challenges. Innovative solutions like bi-directional flows and vehicle-to-grid technology are poised to revolutionize the grid. Sandy explains how they work, and analyses the need for regulatory reforms to speed up connections to the grid.

Find out more about the upgrades to the grid happening in the UK and US at https://www.nationalgrid.com/the-great-grid-upgrade and https://upstateupgrade.nationalgrid.com/

In 1990, in an episode of The Simpsons, the family are sitting down for Thanksgiving dinner. Homer gives thanks to nuclear power: ‘the cleanest, safest energy source there is’. He then adds, ‘except for solar - which is just a pipe dream.’

Despite the irony in the statement, over 30 years later it’s safe to say solar is very much not just a pipe dream. In the US alone, solar capacity has increased by 51% from 2022 to 2023. 32.4 GW of new capacity was installed in 2023. New materials such as perovskite cells are driving record efficiencies, and investment is flowing into the sector thanks to incentives from the Inflation Reduction Act.

Carolyn and Laura explore the role of solar in the Clean Energy Revolution, looking at the technology and policy that’s driving growth.

Becca Jones-Albertus, head of the Department of Energy's Solar Energy Technologies Office, speaks with Carolyn about the ongoing advancements in solar in the US. Costs are down and efficiency is up. The potential is there for solar to boost its contribution to US energy generation from 6% to over 40%.

Meanwhile, Laura looks beyond the limits of land-based solar power as she chats to Sam Adlen, CEO of UK-based firm Space Spolar. As the name suggests, they’re developing solutions to space-based solar power; a UK government grant is funding their research into the possibilities for harnessing solar energy in space and sending it back to earth. How realistic is it?

Plus, the latest technologies in solar are explored with Jonathan Gifford, Editor at Large at pv magazine. He tells Laura about ‘floatovoltaics’, solar panels installed on lakes and reservoirs. Where land is scare, they’re an innovative solution. The water helps regulate the temperature of the cells, which naturally lose efficiency the more they heat up. Combining floating solar with hydroelectric dams is another innovation: these hybrid systems produce more electricity and can even store the potential energy in the form of water.

The potential for solar power goes beyond panels on roofs, and certainly beyond just a pipe dream.