The grid is being asked to do the impossible: power AI and data centers, electrify homes and industry, integrate carbon-free energy, and still stay affordable and reliable. In this episode of Just Power, Carolyn Parrs sits down with Hanna Grene—Microsoft’s Global Go-to-Market & Operations Leader for Energy and a recognized thought leader on the digital grid transition—to cut through the hype and get specific about where AI is already changing day-to-day energy operations.

⭐ Highlights

• Five places AI is already delivering value in the energy industry: workforce productivity, health & safety, customer experience, business process modernization, and asset/grid optimization.
• Grid optimization is the new energy efficiency: using better visibility and analytics to operate a complex, real-time, multi-stakeholder system more effectively.
• Permitting as the “valley of delay”: how AI can streamline permitting workflows to reduce time and cost—helping get more (and cleaner) electrons onto the grid faster.
• Climate-informed planning gets real: moving beyond historical weather assumptions toward predictive modeling that accounts for future wildfire, flood, and heat risks over 20–30 year asset lifecycles.
• Cybersecurity and governance are non-negotiable: why zero trust, the right data access, and hybrid architectures matter as more data moves to the cloud for advanced AI use cases.

Referenced in this podcast

• SCE and ThinkLabs AI: ThinkLabs AI achieves results in AI-powered grid analytics | AP News
• MISO's cloud leadership: MISO to Drive Grid Innovation with Microsoft Azure & Microsoft Foundry
• Microsoft's Permitting AI Accelerator
• Microsoft's 5-point Plan to partner with local communities across the United States

About my guest, Hanna Grene
Hanna is Microsoft’s Global Go-to-Market & Operations Leader for Energy.
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/hannagrene/

About Just Power host, Carolyn Parrs
Carolyn is a Senior Strategic Communications Leader and the CEO of Mind Over Markets.
Website: https://mindovermarkets.com/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/carolynparrs/

About Just Power Podcast
Just Power is a clean energy transition podcast focused on grid modernization, affordability, community engagement, and energy justice — featuring leaders from utilities, policy, technology, and frontline communities.

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Data centers aren’t just energy-hungry—they’re reshaping the power system faster than almost anything we’ve seen before. Some now consume as much electricity as entire cities, and the rush to meet that demand is often driving new fossil fuel generation, costly grid upgrades, and rising risks for communities.

In this episode of Just Power, host Carolyn Parrs is joined with Uday Varadarajan, co-founder and CEO of Colectric, to explore a radically different approach. Uday introduces the idea of “Power Couples”—pairing clean energy and data centers at existing power plant sites—to meet AI-driven demand quickly without shifting costs to ratepayers or compromising climate goals. It’s a conversation about speed, scale, equity, and how rural communities could lead—not follow—the next phase of the energy transition.

⭐ Highlights

• Why data centers are a tipping point for the grid—some rival small cities in energy use and demand 24/7 reliability.
• The “Power Couple” model explained: co-locating data centers with clean energy at existing power plants to avoid costly grid upgrades.
• How locational flexibility changes the game, allowing AI firms to site facilities where clean energy can be built fastest.
• Protecting affordability: meeting new load with purpose-built resources so costs aren’t shifted onto communities or ratepayers.
• Utilities as long-term partners and owners, reducing risk while creating new, responsible growth opportunities.
• A bigger vision for rural America: clean energy hubs that support farming, manufacturing, and local economic development—without leaving anyone behind.

About my guest, Uday Varadarajan
Uday is the Co-founder and CEO of Colectric, an early-stage company that helps utilities and AI firms rapidly supply clean energy to data centers without risking grid reliability or increasing energy costs for communities. Website: https://colectric.com/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/uday-varadarajan-10aa701/

About Just Power host, Carolyn Parrs
Carolyn is a Senior Strategic Communications Leader and the CEO of Mind Over Markets.
Website: https://mindovermarkets.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/justpower
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/carolynparrs/

About Just Power Podcast
The Just Power Podcast is about making clean, affordable and reliable energy accessible to everyone. Created and hosted by Carolyn Parrs, it features energy experts, policymakers, tribal voices, and community champions who are working hard to make energy equity a reality in our energy transition.

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Feeling like progress toward a clean, affordable energy future has stalled — or even slipped backwards? You’re not alone. In this episode, I explore the real-world setbacks many of us are experiencing right now — from renewable energy slowdowns to shrinking affordability programs — and reframe them as part of the deeper breakthrough process. Without getting political, I talk about resilience, mindset, and what seasons of delay are really asking of us. If you work in clean energy, climate, utilities, community advocacy, or you just care about making energy affordable for everyone, this episode is a grounded reset — with reflection questions you can use right away.

⭐ Highlights

• Why setbacks in clean energy and climate progress don’t always mean failure.
• How breakthroughs in the energy transition often follow long periods of frustration or delay.
• Reframing stalled programs like renewables, LIHEAP, SNAP, bill-assistance, and affordability efforts without politics or polarization.
• Practical reflections to help leaders, utilities, advocates, and communities keep going when momentum slows.
• How “just power” means not only technology change — but inner strength, patience, and showing up again.

Referenced in my podcast: Ryan Levesque's "Digital Contrarian" newsletter: https://ryanlevesque.net/join-the-digital-contrarian/

About Just Power host, Carolyn Parrs
Carolyn is a Senior Strategic Communications Leader and the CEO of Mind Over Markets.
Website: https://mindovermarkets.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mindovermarkets
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/carolynparrs/

About Just Power Podcast
The Just Power Podcast is about making clean, affordable and reliable energy accessible to everyone. Created and hosted by Carolyn Parrs, it features energy experts, policymakers, tribal voices, and community champions who are working hard to make energy equity a reality in our energy transition

🔔 Never Miss an Update! Subscribe Now
YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@TheJustPowerPodcast?sub_confirmation=1
Apple Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/just-power/id1787062424
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/6xkvhOZiw2hBg0kyxzVAs5

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Behind every public hearing and polished plan is a simple question: who actually had a voice? My guest, Mary Palmer, founder of New Bayou and Director of Energy Equity & Inclusion at SEPA, and I explore how real community engagement looks: what utilities miss, what advocates need, and how relationships, not checklists, reshape the energy transition for the better. If you work inside a utility, city, regulatory space or community organization, this conversation may change how you engage — and who your process truly serves.

⭐ Highlights

Grasstops vs. grassroots engagement — what the difference really looks like on the ground and why so many “participation efforts” stay stuck at the top.

Why traditional utility engagement fails — even when intentions are good.

Restorative justice in the energy sector: repairing broken relationships between institutions and communities.

The speed of trust: why meaningful engagement takes time — and why skipping that work costs more in lawsuits, delays, and public pushback later.

The education gap nobody talks about: how residents are asked for input in forums they don’t understand, and what must change to make engagement real and effective.

About my guest, Mary Palmer
Mary is the Founder of New Bayou and Director of Energy Equity & Inclusion at the Smart Electric Power Alliance (SEPA).
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/marycpalmer/

About Just Power host, Carolyn Parrs
Carolyn is a Senior Strategic Communications Leader and the CEO of Mind Over Markets.
Website: https://mindovermarkets.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mindovermarkets
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/carolynparrs/

About Just Power Podcast
The Just Power Podcast is about making clean, affordable and reliable energy accessible to everyone. Created and hosted by Carolyn Parrs, it features energy experts, policymakers, tribal voices, and community champions who are working hard to make energy equity a reality in our energy transition.

🔔 Never Miss an Update! Subscribe Now
YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@TheJustPowerPodcast?sub_confirmation=1

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A once-every-20-years utility franchise renewal is unfolding in real time in Denver — and it’s turning into something much bigger than a routine contract extension.

Denver’s franchise agreement with Xcel Energy is due to renew January 1, 2027. But the process has hit a wall over one core question:

What should a community expect in return from a utility that gets guaranteed returns and protected access to public space—our streets, sidewalks, and rights-of-way—for the next 20 years?

In this episode, I’m joined by Jeff Ackerman (former Chair of the Colorado Public Utilities Commission) and Thomas Weller (lead organizer at Together Colorado) to unpack what’s at stake—and why cities and utilities across the country should be paying attention.

Everybody’s watching Denver right now. And the outcome could reshape what “good partnership” looks like between cities, communities, and investor-owned utilities.

🔎 What’s happening in Denver right now:

• A proposed franchise agreement was moving forward with little to no meaningful community engagement.
• Community leaders and residents pushed their way into the process and helped defeat the agreement in August.
• Denver and Xcel are heading back to the table—with negotiations expanding into a community benefits / companion agreement.
• The next 4–5 months of 2026 are critical for shaping what comes next.

⭐ Highlights

• A franchise agreement is leverage. If community benefits are “talked about later,” they often disappear.
• Engagement after the deal is drafted is not engagement—it’s notification.
• Why communities are demanding something more: dignity, accountability, and a real seat at the table.
• This is about democracy—why regular people should have agency in the agreement that governs their monopoly utility.
• The 21st-century relationship is the real story. The “standard” franchise terms are the easy part—what matters is what comes alongside it.

If you live in Denver:

• Talk to your neighbors: How is your relationship with Xcel? What needs to change?
• Email your City Council member and the Mayor’s office: What should be in the next franchise + companion agreement?
• If you’re connected to a faith community or neighborhood group, connect with Together Colorado and get involved.

If you live elsewhere:

• Ask your city: When is our next franchise renewal? Who’s planning for it now?
• Start building your priorities 2–3 years early, not two months before a vote.

My guests:

Jeff Ackermann
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeff-ackermann-346571a/

Thomas Weller
Website: https://www.togethercolorado.org/

About Just Power Podcast
Just Power Podcast is about making clean, affordable and reliable energy accessible to everyone. It features energy experts, policymakers, tribal voices, and community champions who are working hard to make energy equity a reality in our energy transition.

Just Power Host and Creator, Carolyn Parrs
Website: https://mindovermarkets.com/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/carolynparrs/

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If you’ve opened your bill lately and taken a deep breath before you dared look at the total, you’re not alone. Today, I break down—in simple, human language—why energy costs are rising, who’s paying the highest price, and what we can actually do about it. No PhD required. Just clarity, honesty, and a path forward in a clean energy transition that must work for everyone.

Highlights:

• Why energy bills are rising—and what’s really behind the cost increases most people never hear about
• How the energy transition is unfolding—and why affordability is now a make-or-break factor
• Who is most impacted by rising bills (you might be surprised).
• Six practical, proven solutions that lower costs now.
• Why every rate decision is a value decision—and the message it sends to customers and communities.
• What a “just transition” truly means and why affordability is the cornerstone of public trust, safety, and long-term climate success.

About Carolyn Parrs
Carolyn is the CEO of Mind Over Markets, a branding and messaging company that helps mission-driven businesses and energy organizations communicate with clarity and power.
Website: https://mindovermarkets.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mindovermarkets
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/carolynparrs/

About Just Power Podcast
The Just Power Podcast is about making clean, affordable and reliable energy accessible to everyone. Created and hosted by Carolyn Parrs, it features energy experts, policymakers, tribal voices, and community champions who are working hard to make energy equity a reality in our energy transition.

🔔 Never Miss an Update! Subscribe Now
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This is the story of a Belgian graduate student who asked a simple question—can a neighborhood truly own its own energy?—and uncovered a web of hidden barriers buried deep inside the system. In this episode of Just Power, Carolyn speaks with Hannah Liebrand, a climate and energy governance researcher from Belgium and recent magna cum laude graduate of Ghent University. Through her master’s thesis, Hannah investigated a proposed citizen-led energy cooperative in the historic Muide-Meulestede neighborhood of Ghent—before the project even launched—and revealed how network tariffs, fragmented homeownership, landlord–renter dynamics, and policy design can quietly block community energy before it ever gets off the ground. This conversation explores what energy democracy really looks like in practice—and what leaders, utilities, and communities across Europe and the U.S. can learn from this student-led research.

Highlights

• How a master’s student in Belgium surfaced the real barriers to a citizen-led energy cooperative in Ghent—before the project ever began.
• How citizen-led energy cooperatives are meant to work, and why market rules like network tariffs and grid fees can make or break them.
• What Hannah’s case study reveals about energy democracy in practice, using distributive, procedural, and recognition justice framework.
• How landlord–renter dynamics and energy poverty complicate local clean energy projects, especially in older, fragmented housing.
• Why participation often defaults to the “usual suspects,” and what that means for representation, trust, and legitimacy in community energy projects.
• What policymakers, utilities, and community leaders can learn from this Belgian case study to better support citizen-led energy co-ops, energy affordability, and equitable local clean energy solutions.

About Hannah Liebrand
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/hannah-liebrand-0b4397271/
Belgian Science for Climate Action Conference: https://www.scienceforclimateaction.be/

Referenced in podcast: Muide-Meulestede is a residential area surrounded by docks and port industry, located on a peninsula in the north of the city of Ghent. Approximate population is 4716.

About Carolyn Parrs
Carolyn is the CEO of Mind Over Markets, a branding and messaging company that helps mission-driven businesses and energy organizations communicate with clarity and power.
Website: https://mindovermarkets.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mindovermarkets
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/carolynparrs/

About Just Power Podcast
The Just Power Podcast is about making clean, affordable and reliable energy accessible to everyone. Created and hosted by Carolyn Parrs, it features energy experts, policymakers, tribal voices, and community champions who are working hard to make energy equity a reality in our energy transition.

🔔 Never Miss an Update! Subscribe Now
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What happens when a state doesn’t just talk about an energy equity and justice plan —but actually builds one? In this episode of Just Power, host Carolyn Parrs sits down with Will Toor, Executive Director of the Colorado Energy Office, to unpack how Colorado has become a national model for climate action that puts equity, affordability, and real people at the center. From wildfire risk to coal community transitions to EV access, home electrification, and the surge in data centers and AI-driven load, Will shares what it looks like to design climate policy that is both science-based and justice-focused—and what other states can learn from Colorado’s bold, sometimes uncomfortable choices.

Highlights

• How a childhood encounter with toxic water set Will on a path toward environmental, climate, and energy justice leadership.
• What Colorado’s first-in-the-nation Office of Just Transition is doing for coal-reliant communities—from property tax protection to repowering sites with clean energy and new industry.
• How Colorado’s three climate pillars—mitigation, adaptation, and equitable transition—translate into concrete policies on power plants, buildings, transportation, and industrial emissions.
• Why wildfires, housing, and insurance are now core climate equity issues—and how smarter land use and grid investments can reduce risk for the most vulnerable communities.
• How Colorado is tackling energy affordability with income-qualified EV programs, low- and moderate-income electrification rebates, and careful planning so data centers and AI don’t drive up bills for everyone else.

About my guest, Will Toor
Will is the Executive Director at Colorado Energy Office. Website: https://climate.colorado.gov/cc-goals-equitable-transition LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/will-toor-a8b33120/

Referenced in this podcast: Volts podcast with David Roberts: "Clean electrification is inevitable"-https://www.volts.wtf/p/clean-electrification-is-inevitable.

About Carolyn Parrs
Carolyn is the CEO of Mind Over Markets, a branding and messaging firm that helps mission-driven businesses and energy organizations communicate with clarity and power.
Website: https://mindovermarkets.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mindovermarkets
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/carolynparrs/

About Just Power Podcast
The Just Power Podcast is about making clean, affordable and reliable energy accessible to everyone. Created and hosted by Carolyn Parrs, it features energy experts, policymakers, tribal voices, and community champions who are working hard to make energy equity a reality in our energy transition.

🔔 Never Miss an Update! Subscribe Now
YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@TheJustPowerPodcast?sub_confirmation=1

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