DescriptiZena

00:00:14.160 - 00:00:16.000

And Mark is coming to us from......

Mark

00:00:17.760 - 00:01:36.120

San Diego airport. I was just at Distributech and.

Which is like a crazy grid power conference and exhibition and you know, trade show and meeting of the minds and yeah, it's, it's. It was actually very humbling to be honest.

You know, I just, when I thought like, you know, I know a lot about energy and I'm just, this is my jam and you know, I'm going through the world as a unique energy nerd. You go to a conference like this that has 20,000 people really like deeply technically nerding out on grid technology.

And it's a crazy time for the grid, right, because of the, all the talk around data centers and you know, like the, the breaking of the grid and everybody's been, you know, privy to a blackout or a brownout or curtailment. Right.

Where you get a text message saying like hey, you know, so you can hear that the airport, it's like, it's like hey, turn your air conditioning down or hey, turn your, turn your EV charging off because you're going to get charged. So. Yeah, yeah.

Zena

00:01:36.120 - 00:02:13.690

Anyway, yeah, it's this thing that for a lot of just you know, normal people who you know, are, have work in other industries or whatever, we don't really see or interact with. We, we just plug. You know, it's very passive. Right.

But when you the curtain back and you really step into it, like you have, it's really eye openening. I find that stuff fascinating even though I personally don't know it. You know, I a ton about it. I know like just a slice.

But being immersed in situations like that where you've got all of these experts all around, doesn't that just like make your brain tingle?

Speaker A

00:02:14.490 - 00:02:58.420

Yeah, well, it actually made me like a little bit scared too because I was like, oh, you know, I'm, I'm exploring my next business opportunities and ventures and you know, and I, one of them was like, oh, maybe, you know, maybe go get into some grid technology manufacturing or something like that. And I was like, like, oh, like, like this is a big game. And you know, like it's even the small companies, you know, they're building big things.

Yeah, so. So yeah, it's just, I mean it's just there's so much huge technology because you can't software your way out of the power grid.

Zena

00:02:58.740 - 00:02:59.060

Right.

Speaker A

00:02:59.060 - 00:03:18.080

You know what I mean? Like, it's like we, we, we get all wrapped up in ChatGPT and AI and software and our computers and we sit all day and.

But all of this is there's a backbone of just like copper cables, you know, substations, huge transformers, and the infrastructure.

Zena

00:03:18.640 - 00:03:24.800

That we drive by on highways and we don't even notice. Right. It's stuff like that. Yeah.

Speaker A

00:03:25.040 - 00:03:32.880

Yeah. Well, we only notice when, when it's out, when the car's out. And then we complain that it's out for like a few hours or a day.

Zena

00:03:33.120 - 00:03:34.720

I know. Yeah.

Speaker A

00:03:34.720 - 00:03:35.040

Right?

Zena

00:03:35.440 - 00:03:39.200

Yeah. 100. Okay. So I'm gonna pick up on one thing you said.

Speaker A

00:03:39.780 - 00:03:40.100

Yeah.

Zena

00:03:41.380 - 00:03:50.580

You're considering, you know, like starting, you know, another business or something, and I'm just want to like, double click on that. Look. You've started a business before.

Speaker A

00:03:51.460 - 00:03:52.020

Yep.

Zena

00:03:53.380 - 00:04:04.340

Multiple. Okay, so you're pro. I, you know, I also started a company and some or, you know, organizations in the last, you know, a few, you know, couple.

Speaker A

00:04:04.740 - 00:04:05.460

I don't know. Yeah.

Zena

00:04:05.460 - 00:04:06.740

You've 12 years. Whatever.

Speaker A

00:04:06.740 - 00:04:10.780

A bunch, A bunch of societies and organizations as well. Yeah.

Zena

00:04:11.020 - 00:04:36.220

So I'm curious, just as you're thinking through this again, in this time of your life, like, what's different for you? Like, what. How are you thinking of this differently? I. I'm.

I'm so curious because it's part of like, you know, the evolution of like, you learn, you iterate, you fail, you, you know, iterate. You know what I mean? Like, but what's. How are you thinking of it this time around?

Speaker A

00:04:37.220 - 00:04:37.860

Oh, wow.

Zena

00:04:39.540 - 00:04:40.980

Not to put you on the spot.

Speaker A

00:04:41.140 - 00:05:54.970

Early morning question as I am at the airport here now. Wow, there's so many angles. Actually. Yeah, good question. I guess the first one is just like, you know, I feel like I'm just getting better.

I mean, so I did an MBA in 2013 and like two businesses later, I feel like I actually have like multiple MBAs now. Or, you know, like, I, I have like the, the deep, deep learnings.

Because you only learn by doing and by sitting at the table and by, you know, getting punched in the face a bunch of times. Yeah. You know, the other thing too is just a greater self awareness. We've talked about it on the podcast, of course, and. Right. It's.

It's, you know, a lot of times we walk through life or we don't react. React in a way that we were not aware because it's just an automatic reaction and then that causes a chain reaction with the other folks in the room.

And I think that that's been a big one for me.

You know, I've done a tremendous amount of like, personal development and therapy and coaching and like, really looking at my patterns and understanding that. So I'd say that's, that's a big one, you know, but also like this, the network, right?

Zena

00:05:55.250 - 00:05:55.530

Yeah.

Speaker A

00:05:55.530 - 00:06:21.690

They getting out there and proving by, by doing again, right? It's, it's all of these, you know, it's not fake stuff, right? You, you can't do that. You know that you can't. Again, there's no.

There, there are, there are charlatans out there that, that do go through these exercises of creating businesses or ideas and then, you know, everybody's had those stories, right, of, you know, where they take the money and they leave or they, they, it's not a real business or.

Zena

00:06:21.690 - 00:06:31.870

Whatever, or like wild, you know, investment. And you're like, wow. And then you. Yeah, we work and then it fails, you know, so.

Speaker A

00:06:32.590 - 00:07:20.310

Right. So I think that that's been a big part of it. It's just like learning the skills to get out there and to do it again.

Now the question is, is do I have the emotional and physical and financial bandwidth right. To do it again or like, does that.

So it's more about, I think it's more about the path of like, okay, is the opportunity good enough that I'm going to put the next five to ten years of my life on, right? And that's, and that's kind of the issue.

Or do I join a really amazing team, right, that's already in flow and jump on and then lead that, lead to that instead of being the one who's like, this is my idea. This is what we're going to do, right?

Zena

00:07:20.870 - 00:08:09.010

Yeah, yeah, totally.

I think there is, you know, the awareness of what is, you know, an entrepreneurial mindset and skill set versus, you know, then acting on those and starting, literally starting a business, starting a legal entity and taking your idea forward because you can have those mindsets and skill sets within another organization and really, you know, leverage those to make that organization even better as well. Your team better, all of that.

And I think that's a, that's a good distinction because just because you have those kinds of, you know, skills and tendencies and you know, the initiative and drive, you know, does it mean you have to start a company yourself?

Speaker A

00:08:09.810 - 00:08:30.650

Exactly. And if I think it's the startup fallacy that I, that I refer to quite a bit, right. It's every.

There's this cultural thing, especially here in North America. It's like, well, everybody's an entrepreneur. Everybody can go and do it. It's easy to do it, right?

It's easy to raise your first 50,000 bucks or get you some friends and family or Everybody's like, yeah, you go do it.

Zena

00:08:30.809 - 00:08:31.249

Yeah.

Speaker A

00:08:31.249 - 00:09:09.490

But. But what you don't see is the trail of. Of broken dreams. Finances, families, bank accounts that are. That are done. Like, you just.

There's so many entrepreneurs and people that have, like, literally put it all on the line and then lost it all because, you know, they were told they could do one thing, and then by the time they got through it or to midpoint, right, it's hard. It's freaking hard. And there's no money, and people are like, well, sorry. Sorry, bud. Yeah, like. Like, good try.

And you're like, but it's still happening. It's still going. We. This is like, I just need some support. I need some coaching. I need some mentorship. I need money and, you know, whatever it is.

Zena

00:09:09.570 - 00:10:20.790

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. 100%.

I mean, honestly, like, I think in my experience, like, you know, entrepreneurship, actually, you know, I'd worked at big companies before starting a business of my own, and it is one of the, like, it is the hardest thing I've done. Like, you know, it is, like you said, it strains people in ways beyond just the business component.

You know, the family dynamic, the, you know, you know, caring for your people and employees and, you know, these sorts of things.

Like, this is an additional, like, thing to think about in a different way than you would have at an organization where you are a part of a larger, you know, team and infrastructure and all of this, you know, financially, right.

Thinking about, you know, how you're approaching the business, how you want to, you know, keep costs down but do quality work and how do you invest in overhead functions that, you know, are taking away from, you know, other things, like, you know what I mean? Like, this is.

Speaker A

00:10:20.790 - 00:10:27.550

This is. Then they still have your physical, Physical, emotional and mental health on top of that.

Zena

00:10:27.710 - 00:11:03.270

On top of that. Exactly. And I know you and I have talked about things like that over the years where it's like, how are you dealing with this?

How are you, you know, thinking about this?

And this is what I've learned so much from you and your most recent, you know, last couple years, like, your journey of self, you know, looking inward, self improvement, you know, all of these things that you're. You're really taking care of yourself. I.

It's really caused me to, you know, like, pick up and think about what I'm doing, you know, So I. I do appreciate that. Thank you for modeling.

Speaker A

00:11:03.990 - 00:11:40.430

Thank you. But. But, you know, it's interesting is to come to these kind of conferences and as well as I was at the Clean Tech Forum last week.

So I'm kind of on the, the February, you know, conference run.

But it's that there's, but there are so many amazing entrepreneurs with stories and they've done it multiple times and you know, like it doesn't get easier necessarily, but it definitely, you learn the tricks of the trade and I think that's, that's the part that, that's super important. Right. Your first one may not succeed, but you know, your second one might. And if your second one might not, then your third one might.

Zena

00:11:40.990 - 00:11:41.470

Yeah.

Speaker A

00:11:41.470 - 00:11:56.190

Question is, is back to your point about getting just a job? I mean maybe sometimes it's just like, I mean I know my close friends and family are like, just get a job.

Stock with stock options that just like go up in price.

Zena

00:11:57.720 - 00:12:03.280

I mean this is the stuff that sounds good just when you say it. But it's, you know, there's more to.

Speaker A

00:12:03.280 - 00:12:06.520

It than just a good job. Just get a real job. Yeah. What?

Zena

00:12:06.920 - 00:12:08.160

Yeah, I don't know.

Speaker A

00:12:08.160 - 00:12:09.720

I've only had a real job once.

Zena

00:12:10.840 - 00:12:21.640

I, I had a, like, I don't. Okay, real job. I'm gonna take issue with that one. But just like I've had the kind of traditional like corporate job. I've, I've had that. Right?

Speaker A

00:12:21.640 - 00:12:22.920

Yeah, so I've had that once.

Zena

00:12:24.290 - 00:12:26.850

So. I mean I did too.

Speaker A

00:12:27.010 - 00:12:28.450

I did once or five years.

Zena

00:12:28.530 - 00:13:19.510

I think about it a lot though. I do. I'm like wonder what it would be like. I wonder how I would, you know, you know, be excited in a. And you know, in a situation like that.

Sometimes it's a tree. Intriguing. I'm not gonna lie. And then you know, like.

But it's, it's interesting because sometimes I think in that scenario would I be able to do the things that I can do kind of, you know, having my own company autonomy, ability to, you know, speak when I want to speak and you know, do, do these kind do things that you know, might be constrained in other corporate scenarios? I, I don't know the answer, but I'm curious about it.

Speaker A

00:13:20.070 - 00:13:42.550

I, I think a lot about it too and I think that there's a lot more open mindedness now in organizations especially the Intrapreneur, you know, that, that mindset or there's a lot of corporate innovation arms. Right. As well now that, that, that either take new tech and bring it in or take tech and spin it out.

Zena

00:13:43.340 - 00:13:43.540

Yeah.

Speaker A

00:13:43.540 - 00:14:02.380

Right. So I, I do think there are examples of, of that, you know, in entertainment. We're seeing it now too. Right. Like companies like Netflix for example.

Right. They're, they're being pushed to be super creative and supporting all types of initiatives. Right.

Like there was that Rocky Mountain Institute initiative.

Zena

00:14:02.860 - 00:14:05.740

Oh, the Clean Power initiative.

Speaker A

00:14:05.980 - 00:14:07.580

Yeah, something like that. Where.

Zena

00:14:09.670 - 00:14:10.830

Collaboration. Which.

Speaker A

00:14:10.830 - 00:14:12.630

Yeah, and Rocky Mountain Institute.

Zena

00:14:12.950 - 00:14:13.430

Yeah.

Speaker A

00:14:13.510 - 00:15:02.130

You know, like there's like, like those are big corporations that are trying to, you know, figure out how to be more nimble. And so I don't know, I, I think, I think we're seeing a lot of that, you know, even here at this, this like huge show Distributech.

The industry, the, the utility industry has been around for over 100 years and it's been very, very, very, very conservative. It's a very conservative industry. But they're now being forced to change and evolve and, and break things and grow.

And you know, the data center thing and the power needs are just all pushing the limits. And I'm actually, I got, I did about four interviews here on the floor. So this will be fun to hear from them.

A little bit different, but it'll be fun to hear from them. So.

Zena

00:15:02.130 - 00:15:03.490

Good little teaser for.

Speaker A

00:15:03.650 - 00:15:04.210

Yeah.

Zena

00:15:05.090 - 00:15:08.130

For the next, next episode, I guess.

Speaker A

00:15:08.610 - 00:15:09.090

Yeah.

Zena

00:15:09.810 - 00:16:13.910

No, that's interesting. That's interesting. That is.

Okay, so you're, you're making me think like, you know, we have said, and I think we, you know, can agree, like the film and TV industry has also been conservative in a lot of ways with, you know, how they've approached filmmaking and you know, speaking out, gatekeeping, you know, in certain ways controlling the narrative. You know, like there's a lot of, of, you know, conservative elements in that.

And, and if we look to other industries for examples, maybe, you know, utilities is, is a while an odd, you know, maybe model to look to just in the sense of how they're shifting their approach in being more innovative and creative from a more conservative approach to a more what, what would you call it? More innovative, nimble approach.

Speaker A

00:16:14.870 - 00:17:59.830

Yeah, I mean, I think. Yeah. I mean it's so funny though for such a liberal type of industry, right. The film industry, for how conservative it actually is or kg.

But for example, I mean you've got folks like director Brent Hodge, right. Which we've got to get him on here again. I don't know. Have we ever had him on here? No, not on, no, it was, it was, it was on Real Green.

All right, yeah, let's. Yeah, we gotta get him. But like, for example, he, you know, he, he had an Adam Pauley documentary which is really funny in hbo and he, they did it.

It was like a one day like production and it was really, really Creative. And he captured Adam Pauley doing his stand up routine. And then they did the whole thing, packaged it up, and HBO was like, yeah, we'll take it.

And that's very unique because usually, usually they want to have their say in it and then you pitch the idea and then you go and you do it. Right. So even that there's a shift is innovative. And they're like, yep. Because they're like, talent, young talent, let's go.

Right, So I think we're seeing it at the end of the day though, good shit still floats to the top and. Right.

And so I think that that's the other thing too is we've just created so much garbage out there that, that people are still yearning for a good, real connection to, you know, a human connection. And that will speak louder than some corporate nonsense. At least that's my take on it.

Zena

00:17:59.990 - 00:18:25.450

Yeah, good point, good point.

Well, I mean, I guess interesting to, you know, keep tabs on, you know, what's going on in other industries and also, like, find those innovators within, you know, entertainment as well as we've been trying to do. I think, you know, in the course of this little podcast project. But, you know, I'm going to reach.

Speaker A

00:18:25.450 - 00:18:27.250

Out to Haji right after this.

Zena

00:18:27.410 - 00:19:11.830

Yeah, do that, do that. That would be cool.

But I think, you know, also the point is that at least some takeaways for me just in this little conversation is, you know, it's, it's a lot about awareness, self awareness, emotional awareness, you know, in how people, how, how you're working, whether it's, you know, an entrepreneurial setting or within a larger company, there's a lot of that. It's probably the core piece of all of this.

And interestingly for you, as you're kind of thinking through your next moves, you know, and how that looks in terms of, you know, your entrepreneurial journey.

Speaker A

00:19:14.630 - 00:19:46.700

Yeah, it's, it's humbling.

Like, I'll say, like, I feel, you know, I don't know, you probably feel the same way, but it's like, I just feel really, really lucky to be able to have the resources and the health and the time to do this. Right? To do this. Because it's not everybody to, to, to do the entrepreneurial journey and to do this stuff, it's not everybody that can do this.

Like, you know, if you had to like, just barely, barely scrape by and try to like, you know, just keep things from falling all apart, like, you're not gonna go out and start Green Spark Group.

Zena

00:19:47.020 - 00:19:47.900

Yeah, right.

Speaker A

00:19:47.980 - 00:20:44.660

I mean, you've got incredible family supporting this and supporting you and. Right. What? For better, for worse. And then it's like. Right. But you know, that's, it's not possible.

Like, I was talking to a longtime entrepreneur last night at, at a networking event and we were talking about this actually, and he said, you know, it was, it was his, his partner, his wife who had to always remind him to come back to the family, you know, because again, he gets so wrapped up in your work and he's like, like, she saved like their, their, their, their family basically, because she always was like, you need to get back here now and drop all that shit. And, you know, there's a family right now. These kids are always grown up and so on. They're still, still together.

But I thought that was a really interesting thing. Right. It's like, it's a good reminder, like, there was a. Yeah. I mean, can doing entrepreneurship can be toxic for your life?

Zena

00:20:45.300 - 00:20:52.260

It is such. Yes. You know what? Like, I mean, hits home a lot. I mean, you met my husband.

Speaker A

00:20:52.420 - 00:20:52.900

Yeah.

Zena

00:20:52.900 - 00:21:00.180

And you know, he is solid. Solid and has.

Speaker A

00:21:00.180 - 00:21:01.780

Yeah. Rich. Yeah.

Zena

00:21:01.780 - 00:21:13.980

Super supportive and, and these sorts of things.

But I'm not gonna lie, it has been stressful at times and he's been, you know, he's reminded me of like, you know, let's, you know, what are you doing?

Speaker A

00:21:14.380 - 00:21:16.380

Let's think about this. Stop working.

Zena

00:21:16.620 - 00:21:58.750

Yeah, I know, I know. And like traveling and stuff.

Like, you know, this is where like, you know, for, you know, leaders of companies, founders, you know, you gotta be, you know, put yourself out there. Right. You, you have to network a lot too. You have to, you know, be available and things like this.

And, and it does take a toll and we have to be mindful. And so anyway, I get a reminder of that and I appreciate it too, because you're right. We can get wrapped up in, in work and whatnot. So anyway.

Speaker A

00:21:58.910 - 00:22:15.870

Yeah, well. And here we are. Yeah, good chat. I mean, this is, this is just something.

This is something that's just something we, you know, I'm glad we got to do this and yeah, we'll do a little bit more. Just chatting about different topics and different things. Right. Just.

Zena

00:22:17.870 - 00:22:21.390

Interesting, though, to hear a bit about your conferencing as well. So.

Speaker A

00:22:21.750 - 00:22:29.350

Yeah, well, I'm out there. I am out there. I believe in rock and roll and it's going to happen. The universe is working in my favor.

Zena

00:22:29.590 - 00:22:36.390

Yeah. Yeah. Well, good for you. Good for you. Thanks for the chat and we'll catch up.

on text goes here

Brad Johnson

00:00:00.160 - 00:00:05.360

We have to take the entire grid as it exists today, modify it and add additional capacity.

Zena Harris

00:00:05.760 - 00:00:18.640

Hi, this is Zena Harris and I'm Mark Raben. Welcome to the tie in. In this week's episode of the Tie in, Mark, you took us to the conference Distributech and interviewed a handful of people.

Troy Daniels

00:00:18.720 - 00:00:42.040

I'm excited to present this, this episode this week, continuing to find new ways to tell a story of what's going on. And of course, you know, my background being in energy and energy technology.

Yeah, it's exciting to be able to share some of the insights into the world of grid power and batteries.

Zena Harris

00:00:42.760 - 00:01:00.330

Yeah, I mean, honestly, it's like peeling an onion. You know, you think you know what, you know what there is to know.

And then you go to like these conferences that are very focused on grid systems and various technologies and you're like, oh, wow, okay. And I bet it was fun for you though.

Troy Daniels

00:01:01.210 - 00:03:05.690

Totally. It's just like with my fellow fellow energy nerds, everybody's just so open and willing to talk about what they're doing.

You know, compared to other industries, that can be a little more kg. But there's no, there's no, there's no secrets in this business. It's pure industrial might.

And the other thing too is, you know, people take energy and electricity for granted, but behind the scenes, I mean, you see sometimes, you know, poles and wire lines, maybe you see some high voltage ones, maybe there's a substation near you. But other than that, most of this infrastructure's out of sight, out of mind. And the other thing too, I always say, is you can't fake it, right?

It's like it's either on or it's off. And when it's on, people notice very little. Right? Until it's off. And then people lose their shit.

Even when the electricity is not on for like an hour. I mean, there were 20,000 people at the show, like huge mega exhibitors. But I did end up getting a pretty great cross section of folks.

One Bentley doing software for the grid and software for engineers Span IO, they're making like a really innovative smart panel and they've got a new product as well, like really, really cool. On sort of like our management stuff. There was box power. I've been following those guys for a long time. They're doing like micro grid stuff.

And then of course Burritti doing the, doing the batteries and they're doing like, they're like, they've, they've really pulled ahead and are like the leader in mobile, mobile storage. They're the Ones who bought the mo. You know, Moxion company out of foreclosure. And so. Yeah. And bought their plant. So you'll hear come that.

That conversation. And everybody's just so smart and tuned in. And so, you know, I was just trying to keep up with. With what they're talking about.

Zena Harris

00:03:06.330 - 00:03:17.740

Love that. I love that. It kind of makes, you know, it's like, you know, this like, intellectual, like, like your best. It's so great. It's like.

Because that's what takes forward. Right?

Troy Daniels

00:03:17.740 - 00:03:34.140

Yeah, yeah.

And it also, like, again, people don't think about it, but, you know, a lot of these movie studios and film entertainment are still all based on access to power and cheap power.

Zena Harris

00:03:34.380 - 00:03:34.900

Yeah.

Troy Daniels

00:03:34.900 - 00:03:50.210

You know, part of the conversations we had many years ago was like, oh, well, how are these studios going to get power? Because they're put up in like a ramshackle warehouse that wasn't in. Wasn't intended to have big studio power requirements.

Zena Harris

00:03:51.650 - 00:04:21.530

Yeah, exactly. I mean, this is like the dilemma between, you know, purpose built and, you know, filming wherever you can get space. Right.

And that's the big question is power. And everybody needs it. And then it goes from, you know, can we plug it in to like, how can it be mobile? Because we're all over the place.

We're all over the city and all of that and we need it now. So that's, you know, mobile power was, you know, top of mind back in the day when we were thinking about how to do this differently.

Hal Corin

00:04:21.530 - 00:04:21.810

Right.

Troy Daniels

00:04:21.810 - 00:04:42.680

So.

Yeah. And also, I mean, a lot of studios were just running big diesel generators behind the studio. In the studio. Yeah, right. I mean, that. That was a thing.

And then all of a sudden everybody was like, oh, how are we going to get EVs, how are we going to charge EVs so we can't use EVs and like, okay, let's figure out how to get charging into the studios. And like, well, we don't own the building.

Zena Harris

00:04:42.680 - 00:04:44.440

And I mean, layers.

Troy Daniels

00:04:44.440 - 00:04:45.400

Turns it on and on.

Zena Harris

00:04:45.720 - 00:05:02.680

Yeah, yeah. Well, I'm telling you, Mark, like, that whole running diesel generators on the studio lot is not like years ago kind of thing.

That was like last year because we just got off a show where that happened and we were like, trying to figure that out. But anyway. Yeah, yeah.

Troy Daniels

00:05:04.850 - 00:05:14.770

So it's a lot of fun. So. Yes, I hope people enjoy that. And. Yeah. And then you're gonna be. I guess not south by Southwest. That's coming up.

Zena Harris

00:05:14.770 - 00:05:27.650

Yeah, yeah.

A little teaser coming up in March. I'll be at south by Southwest. I'm a mentor again this year, so that's pretty fun. Anyway, good episode. Good, good, fun interviews from the field.

Troy Daniels

00:05:27.730 - 00:05:32.060

Short and sweet. Thanks. Short and sweet. Hopefully people listen to it.

Zena Harris

00:05:32.300 - 00:05:36.780

Yeah. All right, well, don't forget to like and subscribe and we will see you guys soon.

Brad Johnson

00:05:39.340 - 00:06:04.820

Hi, I'm Brad Johnson, Director of Electric Utilities with Bentley Systems.

We provide infrastructure software around the world, helping solve the challenges that infrastructure owners, operators, engineering firms are facing. Especially as more and more pressure is put on infrastructure.

Whether it's digital twins, design software, assessing the built environment, natural environment, we provide those technologies to professionals everywhere.

Mark Rabin

00:06:05.300 - 00:06:11.500

Right, so you guys are providing end to end solutions at anywhere that the grid is happening. Is that true?

Brad Johnson

00:06:11.500 - 00:06:39.660

Yeah, it sounds pretty lofty, but we really do. I mean, electricity works largely the same way. Each country that we work in is at a different stage in their evolution of their grids.

You know, whether it's in India where they have a truly world class transmission system, or we look at some of the really exciting distribution system advancements happening here in the US we offer solutions that help primarily in that physical engineering side or assessing what's out there today. So, yeah, right.

Mark Rabin

00:06:39.660 - 00:06:48.860

And there's a lot of talk right now about data centers and AI and almost like the grid breaking right now. This is a good opportunity to get in there.

Brad Johnson

00:06:48.940 - 00:07:25.510

Yeah, you know, I've been having conversations about that and I kind of mentioned that there's more stress on the grid than there has been before. We're at a point where we have about 140 years worth of work to do in the next summer.

It's not that we have to expand the grid x percent or X times over. We have to take the entire grid as it exists today, modify it and add additional capacity.

So that's why I think like 140 years of work to do in seven years is a bit more meaningful, I think does a better job of capturing what's actually before us and why it's so urgent that professionals in our industry adopt new technologies to get these problems solved.

Mark Rabin

00:07:25.750 - 00:07:36.870

Totally. And I heard a friend say, oh yeah, there's a bunch of private equity guys walking around here right now.

And I was like, well, that's the first time in 100 years that's really happened. But it's funny, it's a funny time for the grid.

Hal Corin

00:07:36.870 - 00:07:37.070

Right.

Mark Rabin

00:07:37.070 - 00:07:41.190

After 100 years of like just keeping the lights on and giving things moving steady.

Brad Johnson

00:07:42.390 - 00:08:47.240

I think it's, I think it underscores just how central, reliable, affordable and resilient energy delivery is to every facet of our lives these days, you know, people who previously hadn't been interested in utilities before are becoming interested is a sign that they understand that, you know, this part of the supply chain relies on affordable energy for it to remain sustainable. And even as a going concern, data centers are obviously putting a big finger on the scale as it relates to investment.

But even if the data center development were to ever slow down, I think we would see that we're really still just catching up on a backlog of work that had to take place anyway.

And as we electrified more and more of our lives, whether it's heating or cooking or manufacturing or what have you, getting away from natural gas or other fossil fuels, the importance for how reliable the grid is, the amount that there's sufficient capacity and margin above that for elasticity and demand, I think we're just going to see more and more interest in helping get these problems solved.

Mark Rabin

00:08:47.320 - 00:09:05.960

Absolutely. And this is kind of where AI and software come in.

We heard of a keynote this morning with Dex is like for every engineer now at a software company, they're doing the job of 10 engineers. Everybody's using AI. And is that same similar in the grid software world?

Brad Johnson

00:09:06.880 - 00:10:19.410

I was just having a conversation with somebody about that topic and we were talking about how in the industry it's important that it's not just AI for AI sake. There are plenty of examples of AI for AI sake, not just in the utility space, but I think in just about every industry.

The things that get me excited about what we're doing at Bentley are we're doing AI for engineering reasons.

We're helping to accelerate the pace that work gets done by engineers so that they don't feel overburdened by the stack of plans that are sitting at their desk waiting to be completed. I mean think about it, that's actually a quality of life improvement.

And we're not talking about replacing engineers, we're talking about dealing with the fact that we just don't have enough engineers to get that 140 years of work done.

So unless we're going to grind them all down because they're so overloaded, we have to use technology, we have to use practical applications of AI, for example, helping facilitate work that follows the sun tearing down the language barrier on these cross functional teams where the substation design might have hands on it in four different countries speaking four different languages.

These are those use cases that we're addressing and I think are the kind of ones that start to build industry confidence that it's not just all AI for AI Sake.

Mark Rabin

00:10:19.570 - 00:10:25.650

Yeah. That's amazing. Such an exciting world. Where can folks find out a little bit more about Bentley?

Brad Johnson

00:10:26.050 - 00:10:47.190

Find us at Bentley. On socials, you can find me out there, you can find US Online or LinkedIn and you can find us in your community.

Likely a utility near you, but super exciting for our participation around the world. I'll be in Sydney in a couple months sharing stories with our users there and yeah, find us anywhere.

Rithy Chhean

00:10:47.190 - 00:11:21.770

Hi, I'm Rithy Chhean with Box Power. I'm vice president of technology. My teams do product and product services, but we're also a full EPC company.

On the product and product services side, we have array of products from really complex microgrid control systems and grid interface systems that can productize and make microgrid simple to services such as field commissioning, field integration. O and M services will maintain microgrid systems for our customers for the duration of the life of the microgrid operation.

Mark Rabin

00:11:22.180 - 00:11:30.980

Right.

And I can see photos behind you guys look like you're focused on truly off grid microgrid solutions. Is that still a fact today or is that. That was how you guys started?

Rithy Chhean

00:11:31.220 - 00:11:53.170

That's more of how we started. I think that's where we really learned how to do really complex microgrid controls, make sure we have really reliable systems.

And so we take that and now we can, you know, do grid connected systems. That's seamlessly island and reconnect seamlessly as well. So basically, even though we're connecting and disconnecting, nobody knows the difference.

Mark Rabin

00:11:53.330 - 00:12:05.090

Right, Right. So right now we're at a big grid conference. How do you guys interface with the grid at large and where do you guys see microgrids playing a role in the current power grid?

Rithy Chhean

00:12:05.250 - 00:12:23.190

Yeah, I think we're very different than most microgrid companies. So our focus is utility grade microgrid products and systems. Most of our customers are utilities.

Ourselves, we're building utility assets that are microgrid systems to serve their customer because it's the most cost effective, the most reliable and the fastest to deploy.

Mark Rabin

00:12:23.590 - 00:12:23.910

Right.

Hal Corin

00:12:23.910 - 00:12:25.470

So you're predominantly then behind the meter

Mark Rabin

00:12:25.470 - 00:12:29.670

or in front of the meter, like you're working with the utility or with the customer sort of in this power

Rithy Chhean

00:12:29.670 - 00:12:40.390

predominantly on the utility side. We're in front of the meter. If we're working CNI for the customer, we're behind the meter. But we can do both, which is sort of weird.

So we can do both behind the meter and in front of the meter.

Mark Rabin

00:12:40.390 - 00:12:45.510

Right. And are you selling your hardware or do you, do you work with them as A micro utility.

Rithy Chhean

00:12:46.340 - 00:13:40.120

We do both. So we have an EPC business that will do full turnkey microgrid systems for you.

We'll design it, we'll procure it, we'll build it, we'll commission it and turn it over. We have a full product suite that we could either use on our EPC side or we can sell it direct to customers that want to use our products.

One of the key differences is we started off with a containerized microgrid system. And so that's a microgrid in the box, right? Yeah, generator, battery, solar, all in one box.

We now took that and made metaphysical boxes for our microgrids. So we have small or mini, medium and large microgrid systems. Even the large, many like 8 megawatt hour microgrid system, 5 megawatts of PV.

Those are still standardized products that we've used because we've integrated, we've tested it, we've pre engineered it. And so it's not first of its kind. It's things we do all the time. It's just how many do you need?

Mark Rabin

00:13:40.230 - 00:13:49.710

So it's modular, sort of main. You sort of standardize on the product and the product itself and it's just modular. Yeah.

Rithy Chhean

00:13:49.710 - 00:14:18.800

And we de risk everything because we've already pre integrated, pre tested, pre engineered it.

Which a lot of times is you work with someone that may not know all these nuances or even if they don't, they do, they find out these issues in the field. We've worked through all of that so that we know everything about it.

So when we go to deploy them, it's not oh, all of these issues end up at the end. That increases cost or increases time to power. We figure it out. So it's more, less variation and more reliable in terms of when we can deploy power.

Right.

Mark Rabin

00:14:18.880 - 00:14:22.720

What's the most exciting project that you guys have installed a microgrid on?

Rithy Chhean

00:14:23.520 - 00:15:06.850

That's good question. For me specifically, I started off working at Chevron where we did grid systems around the world.

And so we have like 200 megawatt sites in the jungles of Indonesia. Right. Things like that. And so what keeps me, I guess motivated is what is the microgrid being used for?

Yeah, and so I think we're working with a project with NV that is going to power like take over 200, 200 homes in the mountains.

And so that's really interesting to me because without that, you know, they have potential like reliability issues during the fire season because the power lines potentially could cause a fire.

Mark Rabin

00:15:07.650 - 00:15:16.690

And lots of Talk about data centers, speed to power. You know, everybody wants gigawatts of power. Where do you guys fit in all that?

Rithy Chhean

00:15:17.250 - 00:15:25.840

So that's interesting. I think a lot of people are chasing that. We're not a gigawatt scaler today. Maybe, maybe next, maybe tomorrow, but not today.

Mark Rabin

00:15:25.840 - 00:15:26.200

Right.

Rithy Chhean

00:15:27.160 - 00:16:01.560

But if you're in the, let's say 20 megawatts and down, we can definitely help. I think one of the key things is because of our close connections with the utility, our understanding of what they require.

If we can do flexible interconnections, we could do a phased approach where we can get you power sooner. Maybe it's not full power, but we can scale up as your data center scaling. So I think there is a place where we can help data centers.

But I think it's true for basically everybody. Everybody needs power as soon as possible and it's hard. There's a scarcity in terms of available power today.

Mark Rabin

00:16:02.280 - 00:16:05.320

Amazing. Thank you. So where can people find out About Box Power?

Rithy Chhean

00:16:05.960 - 00:16:08.840

BoxPower IO is our website. Please go there.

Troy Daniels

00:16:09.000 - 00:16:20.840

Hey, Troy Daniels here with Span technical account manager here. We're at dtech for talking about our smart panel technology. Specifically looking here at the Span edge.

Mark Rabin

00:16:22.680 - 00:16:26.600

Very cool. All right. What does Span Edge do?

Troy Daniels

00:16:27.320 - 00:17:24.390

Yeah, so Span Edge is probably our newest, most exciting product. Span Edge is actually a, you can look at it as a two bar product.

It is a meter intercept device where we can actually capture the service rate from the meter and where we can actually hang the span panel. So just like our traditional residential panels, we have all the intelligence built in where we can monitor, we can control individual circuits.

Well, what this product is so unique is now we can allow for a much easier installation, very utility focused here where we're actually able to intercept from the meter and still add in the span panel. Think of it as a parallel service.

So you know, from there there's just a ton of opportunity to run different programs from the utility side, maybe demand response programs and really give the utility a fleet level view of everything that is in these panels. And right now they don't have that, that view.

Hal Corin

00:17:25.110 - 00:17:25.390

No.

Mark Rabin

00:17:25.390 - 00:17:27.790

I mean, unless it's a smart. I mean what's a smart meter?

Troy Daniels

00:17:27.790 - 00:17:52.340

Does something similar Smart meter. I mean if we're talking about, you know, the AMI system and looking at where smart meters are right now, tons of growth obviously.

But when we're talking about circuit level data, we're really unparalleled there and, and think about it like this.

When we're talking about the fleet view, we're often talking about Minute interval data on each individual circuit with each individual circuit identified.

Mark Rabin

00:17:52.980 - 00:18:03.700

So I think that would be like your car, your stove, everything else, your hot water tank, I mean, everything would just be all on that. And then the utility can, can kind of control that.

Troy Daniels

00:18:04.170 - 00:18:54.720

Yeah, I think about most likely large loads in here. Right. You might still have a panel downstream, you might still have your normal home service downstream. Yeah, that'd be great. I love that.

I would hope you'd have a span downstream as well. But when you're talking about, you know, the larger loads in here, like an EVSC electric heat pump. Right.

These are loads that are, you know, can cause service upgrades. So we can avoid that service upgrade.

We can also help the utility avoid costly upgrades on their infrastructure side by enabling them to use the power control system that is span. It's an energy management system. It's listed to both those things, so it can control those loads.

And basically we can look at it as we can control service across a larger fleet now and keep that service size where we want it to be. Right.

Mark Rabin

00:18:54.720 - 00:18:58.240

So like air conditioning, for example, on a really hot day, would that be tied into something like this?

Troy Daniels

00:18:58.540 - 00:19:17.180

Yeah, it could be. I think, you know, the, the cool thing here is I like, I love the idea of air conditioning.

So we think about, you know, thermostat programs have been something for so long and that tends to be the only thing the utility company can say, hey, we're going to, we want control of this for our own purposes when, when spikes are high.

Mark Rabin

00:19:17.260 - 00:19:17.740

Yeah.

Troy Daniels

00:19:18.140 - 00:19:57.830

And, and that tends to affect a customer's comfort. They notice that oftentimes. Sure, we can do that here. But what we can also do is something like an EVSE or maybe a resistive water heater.

That's something customers most likely not going to notice.

So by identifying the loads and even letting the homeowner have some flexibility of their priorities, we're just worried about that bottom line number. We say, hey, we need to reduce that. Each panel in the fleet by 10amps.

Let the customer decide which load is actually being controlled instead of just saying it's always your. So is your air conditioning. Yeah, yeah, tons of flexibility there.

Mark Rabin

00:19:57.830 - 00:19:58.510

That's amazing.

Hal Corin

00:19:58.510 - 00:19:58.950

Yeah.

Mark Rabin

00:19:59.030 - 00:20:11.830

And so is your strategy that you're going into specific regions and then trying to get all the homes in that region on board, or are you putting these anywhere in the US and just starting like that?

Troy Daniels

00:20:12.230 - 00:20:52.560

Yeah, it's a good question. I think adoption on this product is definitely going to, I would argue is still going to be kind of coming down to the utility Right, right.

They're the biggest partner here that we can think about, is really going to be able to implement these at scale to make an impact. Yeah. Now of course we've got our residential side, you know, something that a customer would purchase and there's still the same benefits.

You still have the service upgrade avoidance, but that's really more the customer. The customer knowing that they need that.

Whereas this is so focused in on how do we make bigger change on a bigger infrastructure and avoid large scale infrastructure upgrades.

Mark Rabin

00:20:52.560 - 00:21:05.040

Exactly, yeah. And how do electricians like these things? Because, I mean, they're not quite your standard panel. Do they need training on it?

Are they resistant to like this kind of new tech?

Troy Daniels

00:21:06.080 - 00:22:35.010

I'm biased, but I'll say this, I think truly well, first and foremost, the Gen 3 platform, which is every, every panel you see here today is our newest Gen3 platform. Much more user friendly to the electricians themselves, which for me is, you know, close to my heart. Like I've been in the field myself.

Gen 2, I would argue is a little bit more technology heavy where now we've taken the same technology, upgraded it, but made this more of a user friendly. There's more space, there's better knockouts. The commissioning aspect of it might be scary to some folks.

It's really intuitive, it's really easy, it's really guiding when we're talking about things like firm service rating, which is our, hey, we're going to virtually set a service rating and it's not going to go above that panel. That's just the figure that they put into the panel. It guides them right through that.

The edge is extremely unique for installers because we think about, again, you might have a meter tech that actually comes out and installs this part of the device here. So meter tech might pull off here, put the whip on, connect it and really they could even hang this box here.

No loads inside of it, no electrician needed at that point. The electrician would be somebody that would come afterwards and actually start putting in loads.

Think about it the same way as if you got a heat pump installed any other time. They're just, they know where they're going to put it now because they've got all this space and all this service available here.

Mark Rabin

00:22:35.410 - 00:22:38.290

Can you put a battery under that too? Like, is this where the battery would come in?

Troy Daniels

00:22:38.760 - 00:23:03.240

You can put a battery here. So you would arguably land on. I almost went to the top, definitely to the bottom, opposite end of the bus bar.

This is where you probably land your battery, your solar. So you could have those assets landed here as well?

And, you know, we see that all the time where a solar system or a battery might trigger a service upgrade. This could help avoid that.

Mark Rabin

00:23:03.480 - 00:23:06.880

So what's next for span? You know, I've been following you guys

Hal Corin

00:23:06.880 - 00:23:07.480

for a long time.

Mark Rabin

00:23:07.480 - 00:23:22.820

You guys have had some great success so far as being the industry leader. Yeah, I'm sure you got lots of folks nipping at your tail, but what's, what's, what's next? You're looking at the utility space. You're at a big, huge.

Yeah, crazy conference here with big old

Troy Daniels

00:23:22.980 - 00:23:58.730

utility power guys and little old span. No, I mean, it's a good question.

I think markets are changing, so traditionally, you know, we've always kind of stood in the solar battery space, the small residential, electrical, and I don't think that's ever going to change. And I love that space. But I think we're also growing into new spaces, new construction, home building. Huge space for us right now.

Seeing a lot of growth there as far as, you know, avoiding larger services and these home builders really seeing the value in that. I think obviously we're going towards the utility side, too.

Mark Rabin

00:23:58.730 - 00:24:00.410

Hopefully the utilities see the value in that.

Troy Daniels

00:24:00.410 - 00:25:29.960

Utilities are, see, and, you know, it's an easy conversation. I find that utilities really see that value and, and it makes sense to them. So they're already seeing that.

When we can save them money, you know, we're, we're going to see a lot of growth with our great partners. You know, we're here at Landis and Boots Gear as one of our biggest partners. They are tenured in the industry.

They know a lot of people, and it's exciting to see the growth in the partnerships.

I think we're going to have a, a lot of exciting partnerships you're going to see throughout the year that will continue to grow the business and kind of bring Span to its full potential as a product. And it's still early days, too, so it's like, yeah, the technology's there. Yeah.

Now the adoption is coming and it's really exciting.

I think we're going to see just a ton of use cases, especially in the utility space, when they're pulling so much data and using it for such advanced situations where they can implement different programs and save a lot of money on infrastructure and, and hopefully really provide control to the customer as well. All right, love it. Where can people find out more about span?

You can check out our website, SPAN IO. Feel free to contact us there as well. Any questions, purchases, technical questions. We actually even have A SPAN tech portal.

If you're an installer, it's got a suite of videos. They're great training resources. Yeah, Tons of info up there. All right, thanks, Troy. Thank you.

Hal Corin

00:25:31.640 - 00:26:39.540

Hi, I'm Hal Koren, head of development at Veridi, where I focus on strategy, new markets, customer journey, and I run our IoT grid communications division.

Veridi is special because we figured out a way to make batteries with high density safe to go in and around buildings by solving for propagation of thermal runaway. Thermal runaway is a short circuit that occurs in battery chemistries that are energy dense, which makes them really dangerous.

It's a statistical inevitability even with the best cells in the world.

And so by coming up with this architecture that can stop that, you end up being able to make batteries go where they never have before, where they are most relevant to grid and can monetize and kind of solve all the problems and challenges within energy transition, lower costs for users, utilities defer infrastructure upgrades and have an opportunity to create equity in the system, even things like firming renewables and making solar more valuable. So it's an exciting time to be at Veridian, to be doing what we're doing as a domestic manufacturer of battery storage.

Mark Rabin

00:26:39.620 - 00:26:57.000

Yeah, you guys are making some pretty big waves here in the last number of years, as we can see here. Right here, we've got your mobile unit. Did you guys start off in mobile

power or was it the inverse? Because I know that you guys have some. You'll tell us about your batteries that are in for buildings.

Hal Corin

00:26:57.000 - 00:27:12.000

Yeah, interestingly, we started off by electrifying heavy equipment, like think, you know, small excavators and even big excavators. But, you know, got into mobile equipment early and saw a lot of advantages and market capability there.

Mark Rabin

00:27:12.080 - 00:27:18.800

Yeah, but also that requires a certain level of safety and certification that you otherwise wouldn't necessarily need.

Hal Corin

00:27:19.200 - 00:27:33.220

Yeah, absolutely. If you're going to be in and around crowds of people and equipment, safety is of the utmost.

In addition, of course, to what the use case is and how you're driving benefit for the buyer and the customer.

Mark Rabin

00:27:33.460 - 00:27:49.060

Right. And so you guys have been expanding. So we all know the moxion story, and if you don't know, folks, go check it out.

But yeah, so you guys picked up some of their assets, IP and also their manufacturing facility.

Hal Corin

00:27:49.380 - 00:28:14.720

Yeah, yeah. So we have a portion of their facility in Richmond, which is right off of the port. It's an awesome place.

And it's a parallel because that was the old Ford plant, which was actually where Rosie the Riveter worked. And our headquarters in Buffalo, New York, is an old GM facility.

So we're keeping it in the theme of reinvesting in American infrastructure and revitalizing neighborhoods, which is a privilege.

Mark Rabin

00:28:14.880 - 00:28:24.290

I love that. So before we jump onto something else here, you just showed me a photo of your sort of in, like, confined spaces in building system.

Hal Corin

00:28:24.370 - 00:28:24.930

Yep.

Mark Rabin

00:28:24.930 - 00:28:25.810

Tell us about that.

Brad Johnson

00:28:25.810 - 00:28:26.170

What's.

Mark Rabin

00:28:26.170 - 00:28:31.170

What's special about that? Because you can't just throw any old battery pack inside a building.

Hal Corin

00:28:31.330 - 00:29:11.820

Yeah, that's correct. In fact, it's rare to see one over 20 kilowatt hours inside a building. And so that system was 3.75 megawatt hours.

So 75 of these packs that you see next to me spread around the basement of a multifamily building.

And so the purpose of that facility was really to be grid interactive and to control dispatch, to meet grid need when it's there, and also to provide resiliency for. For the owner and occupants of that building. So, you know, they.

They can drive a lot of revenue and in addition, tell a really great sustainability story and lower cost to. To their residents, which is great.

Mark Rabin

00:29:12.140 - 00:29:31.430

Now, remember, many, many years ago, there's a company called, like, Advanced Microgrid Solutions or something like that. Anyways, they were. They had a model where they're going inside buildings and so on, but it

never really went anywhere there too early. Yeah, but it sounds like now's the time. I mean, you're able to do it safely. And there's the. Now the incentive models.

Hal Corin

00:29:31.590 - 00:30:07.580

Yes, right. Yeah.

I would say there's sort of this angle of customer and market readiness, which certainly includes, you know, authorities having jurisdiction and fire departments, you know, but all of those groups are right to be scared about what the dangers of batteries present. But, you know, our technology is in the right place.

And for all of the challenges that we're looking into with grid modernization, growth, electrification, AI data center booming, like, you know, people really understand now that batteries are the Rosetta stone of how you solve for all of these challenges. Yeah.

Mark Rabin

00:30:07.960 - 00:30:19.880

So, yeah, good segue. So we are at a grid power show. Lots of talk. I mean, 100 years of stable and, you know, keep the lights on. Don't mess with the system.

Hal Corin

00:30:20.120 - 00:30:20.680

Yeah.

Mark Rabin

00:30:20.680 - 00:30:22.280

Everything's up in the air right now.

Hal Corin

00:30:22.280 - 00:30:22.760

Yeah.

Mark Rabin

00:30:23.320 - 00:30:34.740

You're here at the show. There aren't that many battery folks here at the show. Yeah. How are you interacting with the grid? You know, and what does that take?

Because that's a different. That's a different game than just pulling a battery.

Hal Corin

00:30:34.740 - 00:32:28.160

Around. Yeah. What's really important for us, and I mean, I would say for anybody, is future proofing and kind of being ready.

And so for us, that means having a very modular build. You know, an owner is not going to want to overextend, especially on capital expenditure.

So buy batteries you need today and you can foresee a return on and get more later if you need more.

In terms of, you know, grid interactivity and sort of the value streams that we monetize, you know, what I can say confidently is that in five years, rates and tariffs are going to look a lot different. Streams to monetize are also going to look a lot different.

These things are really growing in ways that will be largely influenced by types of load in areas, types of generation in areas, and infrastructure challenges that are local. And so the shape of electrification of heat and electrification of transport will have huge impacts on this as they. As they differ.

And so in that sense, you know, our trick on interacting with grids is really boiling everything down to math. Right. It's just algorithms.

And for any customer, they're solving for a known amount of things, whether those are revenue streams, peak shaving, time of use, arbitrage, demand response, frequency regulation, all these different things and more.

But, you know, things like optimizing solar fit in there, sustainability, whatever that might mean to the owner, or resiliency, whatever that definition might mean for the owner, these are all things that are in a value stack of what you would do with a battery if you have it.

And so if you're scheduling that with the right intelligence and you know what to optimize and what's important to your customer, you know, that's where you need to come ready to play. And so for us, you know, we're not taking our foot off the gas pedal.

You really need to be ready to evolve with the customer and the rates and the challenges and opportunities that present themselves.

Mark Rabin

00:32:28.560 - 00:32:42.400

And I mean, but you guys made your name with. I could see the sun belt logo on the unit. Yeah, I see your units all over at Burning man, and also they're being paired with diesel generators.

So you're hybridizing a lot.

Hal Corin

00:32:42.400 - 00:32:43.480

Absolutely, yeah.

Mark Rabin

00:32:43.480 - 00:32:53.520

How important is that market right now to you? Because it's. We've all been in that market for a long time, but it seems like it's just kicking off now.

If you were like, oh, I compare this with a diesel generator.

Hal Corin

00:32:53.520 - 00:32:53.980

Yeah.

Mark Rabin

00:32:54.690 - 00:32:55.250

So, yeah.

Hal Corin

00:32:55.250 - 00:32:55.610

Where.

Mark Rabin

00:32:55.610 - 00:32:57.850

Tell us a little bit about where you guys are at with that market there.

Hal Corin

00:32:57.850 - 00:35:05.839

You know, it's. It's a phenomenal Market and Sunbelt is, is a great customer. They take us plenty of places.

And in terms of kind of earning our gray hairs and stripes for our product and really like testing them to the nth degree, we've been in the great north in Canada, and we've been, you know, in extended deployments in deserts in the southwest. And so very relevant because for all the things we just spoke of, you know, grid transition and evolution, the grid's becoming less reliable.

And so folks are becoming more dependent and interested in micro grids while also, you know, looking at the stacking up operational costs of operating in periods of significant grid grade increases. So folks are looking how to save money and become more resilient and independent from grids.

And so in that way, a facility that has diesel generator or, you know, you would be considering remote operations. Battery only makes sense, right? So just like any combustion engine, it likes to run at 100%. That's where it's most efficient.

And so the trick is by hybridizing the system, doing a generator plus a battery, or groups of generators plus groups of batteries, you always utilize them when they're most efficient. You get the best gas mileage, but what that translates to, you know, better savings, quieter run times, less runtime on the diesel.

It only runs when it's most happy. So you extend the life of that equipment, you decrease the cost to maintain it.

And you know, beyond that, what our systems bring to sort of dumb diesel systems or other systems use remotely are communications. Gives us the ability to control it remotely, visualize it.

And we've done this on some pretty like basic, old, old equipment and so sort of giving folks the ability to see what's happening and create a triage plan if they're solving for, you know, a disaster or some kind of, you know, uptime goals. It's important.

Mark Rabin

00:35:05.919 - 00:35:14.450

And I mean, construction seems to be a no brainer as well. I mean, literally diesel generators running with no load on them on construction sites all over North America.

Hal Corin

00:35:14.450 - 00:35:21.890

Yeah, yeah. And I mean, you know, charge up the battery, run it wildly, and don't piss off your neighbors. It's a good combination.

Mark Rabin

00:35:22.210 - 00:35:27.730

Yeah, I love it. Is there anything we should know about IAF going forward? What do you guys got planned for 2026?

Hal Corin

00:35:27.810 - 00:35:53.730

You know, we were, we ended 25 with a few big bangs. We've got a lot of products shipping out to some key sites, you know, Fortune 100.

We're looking to do a lot more indoors and you know, really double down on being an American based manufacturer still eligible for ITC. And at 40%. So excited about a lot of partnerships that we have going. And yeah, please stay tuned.

Mark Rabin

00:35:54.210 - 00:35:58.530

Love that. And where can folks find out about Veriti?

Hal Corin

00:35:58.770 - 00:36:16.630

So check out our website, veridiparente.com please feel free to get in touch with me or here at the conference. We're here with Mark Hagedorn. We're here with Mohamed Hoda. And, you know, find any of us on LinkedIn, please follow us on LinkedIn and get in touch.

Zena Harris

00:36:18.390 - 00:36:29.970

Our designer is Aaliyah Kane. Music is by Peter Chapman. Social media is by Sharon Yuen. Our editor and producer is Rachel Werbell.