Best of August 2026
About this episode
This episode features highlights from eight conversations published in August 2026, covering various topics related to energy and legislation.
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.volts.wtf Volts published eight conversations in August — with two Idaho state legislators, a grid cybersecurity expert, the architect of Uruguay's energy transition, an EV charging exec, and more — which is a lot for anyone to listen to. We've rounded up the highlights into a single hour. Enjoy! Chapters: 00:00 – Introduction and how the best-of series works 01:59 – Saleem Chapman on why every market design fails ratepayers the same way 07:51 – Patrick Miller on Chinese inverters and commodity boards 12:22 – Ben Toews and Megan Egbert on how Idaho's housing bills happened 18:34 – Seth Cutler on why an IONNA site is technically a bakery 22:52 – Ramón Méndez Galain on getting every Uruguayan party to sign one plan 28:00 – Quinn Nakayama on why a utility would adopt something that saves money 34:16 – Varun Sivaram on workload tiers and who pays when flexing goes wrong 38:44 – Todd Tucker on the Defense Production Act precedent 44:20 – Closing note and what to send in
People in this episode
Host: David Roberts
Guests: Saleem Chapman, Patrick Miller, Ben Toews, Megan Egbert, Seth Cutler, Ramón Méndez Galain, Quinn Nakayama, Varun Sivaram, Todd Tucker
Topics covered
- energy transition
- cybersecurity
- legislation
- electric vehicles
- market design
- utilities
Keywords
- energy transition
- cybersecurity
- Idaho
- electric vehicles
- market design
- utilities
- legislation
- Uruguay
Mentioned in this episode
Organizations: Volts
Places: Idaho, Uruguay
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- Why can't utilities innovate?
- He helped Uruguay decarbonize. Can he help other countries do the same?
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