Schweitzer Drive

What does it take to ensure there's enough electricity available when people need it most?
In this episode, host Dave Whitehead sits down with Scott Corwin, President and CEO of the American Public Power Association (APPA), to discuss one of the electric power industry's most pressing challenges: resource adequacy.

For 65 years, the Washington State University TRIGA nuclear reactor has been an invaluable resource for research, education and innovation. In this episode, Dave Whitehead visits the university to talk with President Betsy Cantwell and the Director of the WSU Nuclear Science Center, Corey Hines, about the origins and impact of the research reactor and how WSU is building on its legacy with new investments, expanded facilities and programs designed to train the next generation of nuclear professionals.

U.S. utilities are navigating a rapidly evolving threat environment shaped by unprecedented load growth, increasingly sophisticated cyberattacks, and the growing overlap between cyber and physical risks. In this episode of Schweitzer Drive, guest host Frank Harrill, vice president of security at SEL, speaks with Sharla Artz, security and resilience policy area vice president at Xcel Energy. The discussion explores how AI, data centers, and the electrification of everything are changing the risk profile for utilities—and how technology and policy are evolving to keep pace with emerging threats.

In this episode, Robert Bryce returns to Schweitzer Drive for an in-person conversation recorded during a break at the University of Idaho Energy Symposium, where he delivered the keynote address. Host Dave Whitehead speaks with the veteran journalist and filmmaker about some of the hottest topics in energy and power.
The conversation also explores Bryce's latest short-form documentary, Yacht Zee$, which examines the disconnect between public climate advocacy and the private, carbon intensive lifestyles of some of its most vocal supporters.

Power systems quietly and reliably move enormous amounts of energy every day. But when things go wrong—when there is too much current or a fault on the line, something has to act fast. That job belongs to the circuit breaker. In this episode, host Dave Whitehead and guest Kylan Robinson, engineering director at SEL, discuss how circuit breakers sense trouble, interrupt currents as powerful as a lightning bolt, work with protective relays to keep the grid safe, and are evolving to meet new demands.