Ep 42: Microgrids, Utility Business Models and Empowering Companies to Speak Up - Our Talk with Reimagine Power's Allie Detrio

How do we navigate the complexities of evolving energy policies while pushing for a sustainable future? In this episode, Allie Detrio, Chief Strategist for Reimagine Power, joins the show to explore this very question. With over 15 years of experience in clean energy and sustainability, Allie shares her insights on the critical role of policy, operations, and business development in advancing the energy sector. We discuss her background, the innovative work of her team, and the ongoing efforts to overcome regulatory and policy barriers. 

Discover the concept of community energy resilience and the urgent need to evolve utility business models to better serve our modern energy needs. You'll learn about the biases within utilities, the barriers to progressive policy development, and the opportunities available for businesses today. Allie also shares what excites her about the energy space, why the pace of progress can be slow, and how we can develop win-win outcomes that meet 21st-century energy goals. 

What You'll Learn In Today's Episode:

• Where Allie’s love of sustainability came from.
• What sustainability means to Allie.
• What Reimagine Power does.
• How Allie’s team is helping to drive us into our 21st-century energy goals.
• The value in being able to share power across communities.
• How we can create community energy resilience.
• How we might be able to overcome regulatory barriers.
• How do we incentivize different outcomes and develop a win-win outcome?

Ideas Worth Sharing:

• “Having the customer voice in policy and regulatory matters—it's an opportunity for consumers to engage and make their voice heard, whether it be joining a meeting on the topic, calling your assembly member, or signing on to some sort of letter that's looking at advocating for changes to outdated rules and regulations. Engaging on that front is really important and very valuable.” - Allie Detrio
• “If we remove that bias in the marketplace, let's say utilities didn't make a profit based on how many transmission lines were built. Instead, they made money based on how many transactions they facilitated in the marketplace or how quickly they interconnected a different customer and community clean energy resource. If they made a profit based on that, the energy sector would look a lot different today.” - Allie Detrio
• “There's a great responsibility in being a utility and they need to be delivering the benefits we expect. And if they're not, we need to be looking for other solutions and empowering those that provide those benefits. And a question to think about as we do that is: how do we provide a win-win value proposition while meeting all of our 21st-century energy goals and not leaving anyone behind?" - Allie Detrio

Resources In Today's Episode:

• Allie Detrio: LinkedIn | Reimagine Power
• Gareth Evans: LinkedIn
• Dan Roberts: LinkedIn
• VECKTA: News

You can view a video of the conversation on VECKTA's website here: https://tinyurl.com/5cdtapn4