Millions of people are driving electric vehicles (EV) which, with bidirectional charging, can provide value to the electrical grid and back up homes and businesses during outages.

What's standing in the way of unlocking these benefits? Steve Letendre, an  energy economist, senior advisor to the Vehicle-Grid Integration Council and the founder and editor of V2G News, says bidirectional charging technology is trapped behind one-way rules. He offers policy ideas that could advance bidirectional charging.

About the Guest:

Steve Letendre's work centers on unlocking the value of distributed energy resources, especially bidirectional EVs to accelerate the clean energy transition. He has led regulatory affairs at two leading V2G companies (Fermata Energy and Nuvve), where he developed and executed cross-functional strategies to shape state and federal policy, influence regulatory proceedings and align market rules with emerging technologies.

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Learn about host Lisa Cohn at CleanEnergyWriters.com

Since 2021, Public Service Electric & Gas (PSE&G), New Jersey's largest utility, has added 30,000 electric vehicles (EV) to its system, in part by offering rebates and other incentives. Before January 2026, the growth rate was double-digit, but is now flat, because of the loss of the federal EV tax credit and changes in the market.

Dawn Neville, senior manager of electric transportation at PSE&G, describes the program's successes and challenges. How to get more chargers installed at multi-family housing complexes? How much do demand response programs for EV drivers help out in the summer? And how might a new time-of-use rate that varies from 9 cents/kWh (off peak) to 60 cents/kWh (on peak) help save money for people who charge at home?

About the guest:

Dawn Neville, an environmental engineer who transitioned from working on hazardous waste sites to transportation electrification at PSE&G's EV charging program

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Email Lisa@CleanEnergyWriters.com with news tips and episode ideas.

Elliott Steele, a researcher at the UC Davis Wild Energy Center, is now studying how a floating solar array at the Nelson Family Vineyards in Mendocino County, Calif. affects birds. He's also studying how a 6-MW floating solar array–Califronia's largest– in Sonoma County is influencing wildlife. In Florida, he says, alligators and other animals hang out on the solar systems.

Wildlife can also affect the floating solar panels, by defecating on them, for example, and lowering the solar output.

This is a follow up to my last podcast episode about Nelson Family Vineyards' floating solar array.

Guest:

Elliott Steele, Ph.D, solar postdoctoral scholar, Wild Energy Center

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Learn about host Lisa Cohn's writing at CleanEnergyWriters.com