Enel North America's Blue Jay Agrivoltaics project in Grimes County, Texas spans 2,700 acres, produces 270 megawatts (MW) of solar and includes a 59-MW battery storage system. It uses sheep for vegetation management and includes pollinator habitat, veteran-managed apiaries and drone maintenance. Jesse Puckett, director of sustainability projects and community affairs at Enel North America describes how the project helps improve the company's business, bottom line, the environemnt and the local community.

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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Visit host Lisa Cohn at CleanEnergyWriters.com

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