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This month the editorial team of Utility Automation & Engineering T&D and Electric Light & Power made its first foray into a new medium: podcasting. Currents: The Energy News Podcast is a new way to stay current on energy news with to-the-point news stories, exclusive interviews with the most influential people in electric power, and opinionated analysis.
For the first episode, Currents interviewed Rick Sergel, president and CEO of the North American Electric Reliability Council, an interview so penetrating it had to present it in two parts.
In part one Sergel discussed NERC's new authority as the nations ERO, expounded on NERC's recent reliability assessment, and reveals what utilities can expect for non-compliance to NERC standards. As Sergel put it, "We would expect penalties to be in the thousands and tens of thousands. But the authority is there to fine up to a million dollars." Sergel also explained what NERC thinks the nation needs to do to avoid infrastructure decline and how the industry should cope with an aging work force.
In part two of the interview Sergel gave Currents his thoughts on the critical congestion areas identified by the DOE, discussed NERC's cyber security standards, the threat cyber attacks pose to utilities, and how NERC has adopted the goal of having "zero" events like the 2003 blackout. When asked which of NERC's reliability standards is most crucial to that goal Sergel responded, "That's one of those questions [like], 'Which one of your children do you like best?'" Sergel also gave us his perspective on having been a utility CEO and now being the man in charge of policing utilities.
You don't have to have an iPod or iTunes to listen to Currents. Go to www.elp.com, click the podcast button on the homepage, and then choose the "Play Now" option. Your default media player will pop up and you'll be listening. You can also download the podcast to your computer and listen at your leisure. Or, burn it to a CD and listen to it on your commute home.
To listen to Currents, please click here.
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