A Summit on Modernizing the Power Grid took place in the White House this week, with Heimdall Power CEO Jørgen Festervoll, part of the very selective group of stakeholders that was invited to discuss the topic in Washington D.C.
The move came about a month after the Biden-Harris administration launched a fact sheet on grid modernization, highlighting how the power grid is quickly becoming a key focus for governments.
Following this week’s summit, another fact sheet on the topic was released from the White House, including a Federal-State Modern Grid Deployment Initiative. The initiative has gathered commitment from the following 21 states: Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawai‘i, Illinois, Kentucky, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Washington, and Wisconsin. Through the commitment to the new initiative, these states have agreed to facilitate for the adoption of modern grid solutions, such as the Dynamic Line Rating solutions provided by Heimdall Power.
For Heimdall Power, the most noteworthy part of the session came during the regulatory panel discussion at the Summit, where Delegate Phil Hernandez from Virginia made the following remarks about the Heimdall Neuron:
Keeping it focused on technology, making it exciting, talking about saving rate-payers money.
Can you lift up your sensor that you brought into the White House? (asking our CEO, Jørgen Festervoll to put up the Neuron)
That’s what we need to keep it about.
Like cutting-edge technologies, that’s really cool, right? Not politics.
And by the way, he’s the only person ever to get a sensor into the White House.
You can watch the whole session here: with the above-mentioned part starting at 2:34:25.
Further, Joe Sullivan from the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission also mentioned how Heimdall Power and Great River Energy have been achieving very promising results from our pilot project, that increased the available transmission capacity by 43% on a key line in Great River Energy’s grid.
CEO at Heimdall Power, Jørgen Festervoll, shared his thoughts and reflections upon his participation at the historic summit.
“It was an honor to be a part of this grand event and being able to showcase our Neuron sensor to key stakeholders in the industry. I really appreciated the comments Delegate Phil Hernandez made on keeping the deployment of GETs about cutting-edge technology and saving ratepayers money. Also, seeing the new Federal-State Modern Grid Deployment Initiative coming alive, with solid commitment from 21 forward-leaning states was very encouraging. Another key take-away for me was the comments from the Secretary of Energy on how Dynamic Line Rating is a solution that is already proven and available to utilities, to which I couldn’t agree more. As I pointed out in the discussions at the summit, at Heimdall Power we are not only ready for Lift-off, but for full scale Take-Off. During the 161 days mentioned by Secretary Granholm Heimdall Power could actually modernize a significant portion of the total goal of 100,000 miles.”
Festervoll rounded off his reflections with the following closing remarks: “To sum things up, summits like this, paired with the forward-leaning statements from the government is adding further momentum to the great growth journey we’re already on.”
