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Podcast

Xi Jinping.
Podcast

How China’s Power Grid Really Works

Rob and Jesse break down China’s electricity generation with UC San Diego’s Michael Davidson.

Podcast

Live From New York Climate Week: The AI and Electricity Moment

In a special episode of Shift Key, Rob interviews Representative Sean Casten about his new energy price bill, plus Emerald AI’s Arushi Sharma Frank.

Blue
Podcast

Nobody in the West Knows How to Respond to the ‘Electrotech Revolution’

Rob and Jesse talk to Ember’s Kingsmill Bond about how electricity is reshaping global geopolitics.

Green
An electricity bill.

Utility Regulation Really Sucks

Rob and Jesse riff on the state of utility regulation in America — and how to fix it.

Yellow
A wind turbine and air pollution.

What Carbon Dioxide Has to Do With the Meaning of Life

Rob talks to Peter Brannen, author of the new book The Story of CO2 Is the Story of Everything.

Yellow
Podcast

Shift Key Classic: How to Hook Up More Power Plants

Rob and Jesse revisit the basics of the ultra-clogged electricity interconnection queue.

Power lines.
<p>Heatmap Illustration/Getty Images</p>

Shift Key is off for Labor Day, so we’re running this classic episode.

The power grid is straining as new data centers, factories, and electric vehicles come online. For the first time in 15 years, American electricity demand is rising again.

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Podcast

Shift Key Summer School: What’s It Like to Run a Power Grid?

Rob and Jesse quiz Mark Rothleder, chief operations officer at the California Independent System Operator.

Los Angeles.
<p>Heatmap Illustration/Getty Images</p>

So far on Shift Key Summer School we’ve covered how electricity gets made and how it gets sold. But none of that matters without the grid, which is how that electricity gets to you, the consumer. Who actually keeps the grid running? And what decisions did they make an hour ago, a day ago, a week ago, five years ago to make sure that it would still be running right this second?

This week on Shift Key, Rob and Jesse chat with Mark Rothleder, senior vice president and chief operating officer of the California Independent System Operator, which manages about 80% of the state’s electricity flow. As the longest-serving employee at CAISO , he’s full of institutional knowledge. How does he manage the resource mix throughout the day? What happens in a blackout? And how do you pronounce CAISO in the first place?

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