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THE FRONTIER LINE
Hosts Wayne Aston and David Murray explore the critical global pillars of infrastructure development and energy production, from traditional methods to future-forward advancements. The Frontier Line covers the latest industry news, energy innovations, and sustainability trends that are shaping the future. Through expert interviews with industry leaders in renewable energy, utility-scale battery storage, and waste-to-energy technologies, the podcast provides insights into the evolving landscape of energy efficiency and sustainable infrastructure. By focusing on the intersection of innovation and the politics of energy, The Frontier Line highlights transformative ideas and technologies poised to deliver cost-efficient, resilient, and sustainable solutions for global industries.
THE FRONTIER LINE
Company Spotlight- Schneider Electric
Can the future of energy be both sustainable and efficient? Join us as we explore this compelling question with Schneider Electric, a global leader in energy management and automation. Established way back in 1836, Schneider has undergone a fascinating transformation from a steel and armaments manufacturer to a frontrunner in electricity and automation. We delve into Schneider's legacy of strategic acquisitions, like Telemechanique and Square D, which have solidified their influence in the electrical equipment industry. Listen in as we share personal anecdotes from our interactions with Schneider's innovative team in Boston, emphasizing their visionary approach to data center solutions.
This episode takes a deep dive into modern energy challenges, including the critical role of Distributed Energy Resources (DERs) in revolutionizing power grids. We explore the inefficiencies of traditional power systems and advocate for localized energy solutions that bolster grid resilience and flexibility. Discover how cutting-edge technologies, including AI-driven power management and satellite integration, are set to redefine our energy future. With the pressing need to address these challenges within the next five years, we underscore the importance of Schneider's groundbreaking work in this vital sector.
Finally, we spotlight Schneider Electric's impressive advancements in smart grid technology and sustainability projects. From creating mobile microgrids for disaster relief to developing the world's first offshore charging station for cruise ships, Schneider is truly at the forefront of innovation. We discuss their collaborative efforts with the Footprint Project and their ambitious solar initiative at JFK Airport, highlighting how these projects foster independence and economic growth in small communities. Tune in to learn how Schneider Electric is empowering local stakeholders and driving a sustainable energy transition that aligns with our shared values.
Welcome back guys. Dave, good to see you today. Oh sure, I'm looking at the time.
Speaker 2:Good to see you, wayne. Hello everyone. Welcome to Frontier Line.
Speaker 1:Here we are again. We've been sitting here in the studio thinking almost an hour talking about what should we do? You know some of the updates headlines. We're thinking we better hit another big company spotlight yes, we had fun spotlighting gensler last week and um, we've got this whole list of these great, these great companies we love. We're thinking maybe this week we should bow to schneider electric.
Speaker 2:Yes, schneider logic, phenomenal, phenomenal organization, the more and more I get to know about them. Yeah, this is, this is fantastic.
Speaker 1:Do you want to kick us off for our listeners here? Just indulge us with some of the you know some of the specifics, and then we'll dive into some projects and some other neat applications that are applying to what we're doing.
Speaker 2:Well, that sounds good, and I actually. You know we have a bunch of stuff we want to talk about. This is one of them, and so put some stuff together on the background of the company just to give everyone, all of our listeners, kind of an idea of where they started. And this is a company that's been around a long, long, long time. So, Schneider so I've heard indulge me. I'll read a little bit of a narrative here.
Speaker 2:Schneider Electric, founded in 1836, has evolved from a steel and armaments manufacturer into a global leader in energy management and automation. With operations in over 100 countries, the company offers integrated solutions across various sectors, including homes, buildings, data centers, industries and infrastructure. Obviously, data centers and infrastructure kind of like why we're interested, why we became very aware of them very quickly. The company's journey began in the 19th century when brothers Adolf and Eugene Schneider acquired an iron foundry in La Crouse of France. Initially focusing on steel production and armaments, schneider Electric diversified over the decades. In the 20th century, the company expanded into electricity and automation, acquiring firms like Telemechanique in 1988 and Square D in 1991. These strategic moves solidified its position in the electrical equipment industry. Today, schneider Electric operates in more than 100 countries, employing a staggering 153,000 people as of 2023. I think it's more probably now.
Speaker 2:The company's extensive portfolio includes products and services in building automation, home automation, industrial control systems and electric power distribution. Its commitment to innovation is evident in its development of connected technologies and solutions to manage energy and process efficiently. Just in fiscal year 2023, they reported revenues of 35.9 billion euros, reflecting its robust market presence and the growing demand for its solutions. The company's strategic acquisitions and focus on digital transformation have contributed to its financial success. And then you know, if we go into their ethos, it's a big deal. Ethos, it's a big deal and it's again. It's one of the things that attracted us to them and how they're going about this world space that they, that we're in right now. They, schneider Electric's ethos centers on sustainability and efficiency. The company's mission is to be the trusted partner in sustainability and efficiency, driving digital transformation to create a more resilient and sustainable world. This commitment is reflected in its efforts to make homes, buildings, data centers, industries and infrastructure more electric and digital, and in innovation, another core tenant of Schneider. The company invests in research and development to create solutions that enhance energy efficiency and sustainability. It's eco structure platform exemplifies his commitment to offering to commitment offering open, interoperable, iot enabled systems that deliver enhanced value around safety, reliability, efficiency, sustainability and connectivity.
Speaker 2:So why that's that? That is in a nutshell, and it's a it's. It's a small nutshell. It should be a much larger nutshell. We'll continue, we'll talk more about that. Uh, uh, throughout, uh, the next, uh, you know 30 or 40 minutes, yeah, what they're doing, what, what specifically they're involved in, um, some of our conversations with them. So that's I too. That's who they are, they are, they are you know, and I will say this personally, you know, I've, I've, I've been on a few meetings with some of the representatives and I'm blown away by the professionalism, the interest, um, the, the expertise that has come to bear and the seriousness of these people and, as you would expect, but they're very, very committed to exploring new possibilities, new ideas and being able to help stand up different kinds of solution sets, and so it's been nothing but a great experience so far. They're just one that it's been wonderful.
Speaker 1:I agree it's been really exciting to engage with them and actually get into a negotiation over the scope that they're going to provide for our projects. It looks like we'll be in Boston with a couple of their specialized teams, specifically the IT team, talking about data center solutions. Very excited for that. Solutions, very excited for that. Um, one of the things that's been maybe the most awe-inspiring to me, as I've, as I've done the research with you on schneider is that the number of acquisitions and the magnitude of acquisitions, yeah, over the years and you know, going all the way back into the 1800s. What's interesting? You go to wikipedia about these big companies like this that have been around for over 100 years. It chunks it up into the eras of 18th century, 19th century, 20th century.
Speaker 2:You're like holy shit, yeah, this is really a legitimate global and there's a legacy, there's a storied legacy that they are protecting and they're growing. I mean, it's not just a company. They are saying we have been something very important for a very long time and really provided lots of solutions and done a lot of good acquisitions, including the Telemechanique, the French company Right.
Speaker 1:That was a 1988 acquisition but they've gotten even more active in the last decade. One of the most exciting things here is just seeing the companies that they acquire are so heavily focused. For example, the American Power Conversion APC acquired for $ 6.1 billion um, bolstering the presence in data center equipment market and also their focus with switch gear, circuit breakers, uh, electrical transformers okay, with the square d, you mentioned the security acquisition, 1991. That is, that's all those things that are really relevant if you want to build a substation or do any slow to medium voltage transmission equipment. Schneider's the group. They are the global authority on this.
Speaker 1:We mentioned a big one and I'll just jump to this acquisition, because we mentioned this in a headline with Schneider maybe a month ago, about a month ago, I think. Yeah, 2024, so this year, yeah, we covered this one on one of our headlines in the news this acquisition of the Motive Air Corporation. Yeah, motive Air being a global provider of advanced liquid cooling solutions for data centers. Okay, and, guys, it's hard to underscore how valuable and important that is because, as you and I have covered and studied the, you know the multiple tiers, tier one to tier four of data centers, water consumption's a big deal, it's like one of those main issues that data centers will face going forward, have faced and will continue to face 100 percent and water is it?
Speaker 2:I mean? And some of the water, electricity yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1:Water and power and some of these vintage buildouts, older vintage build outs of these data centers are extremely high water consumer. Now we're starting to see, with all this compute, power expanding. We're starting to see the power needs, but and we've been talking a lot about that but the water, this consumption, is something that we don't just produce. More water, right, it's a's a. How do we get more efficient? Or maybe waterless?
Speaker 2:And I'd love to see that trend because if we can say yeah, with advanced liquid cooling, using, you know the, the dielectric, mechanical fluids, engineered fluids and eliminating water in the whole cooling equation, that's good news for whatever municipalities we're talking to, whatever wherever we're going into, and I underscore, I think if I remember I'll you know I might get some of the details wrong, but what on that headline we were talking about is I think they ran, they were looking at the different like if you, if you uh crafted an email with generative ai at the using the various data centers all the way from, like, washington state, all the way down to texas, the amount of water consumed just to create that, you know to, to create that email, I think up, and I want to say up in washington state, it was somewhere around a liter.
Speaker 2:So, yes, you know, just just to do one email one. So, yeah, this you, I mean you on a granular level you start to understand how big of a deal water is and how much water we're talking about. We're talking about billions of gallons of water and so solving it has been a mission for a lot of companies. And so, just, you know, coming back around to see them saying, you know, hey, well, you know we need to solve this and maybe we go and acquire the company doing it best, or we think it's doing it best, and we we can help them move this down the road and help it with all of our clients. It seems to be an amazing acquisition and it shows, it underscores, how important they believe solving that problem is 100% and that's no small acquisition.
Speaker 1:That's an $850 million partial acquisition with the balance yet to be completed, yet to be completed. Schneider's financial capabilities to just make these acquisitions regularly, to advance these initiatives, is really respectable, is really inspiring, and it's fun to see how committed they are to acquiring technologies and companies that advance the sustainability commitment commitment. There's an initiative internally, like you mentioned early on here commitment to sustainability, commitment to improved efficiencies across a spectrum of things um, the data center solutions and the liquid cooling maybe is one of my favorite because we've talked about this pioneering the tier five.
Speaker 2:Yes, and I know what that means and what it's going to look like and what are the implications, and I was listening to a live stream yesterday on data centers and some of the advances in the 2025-20.
Speaker 1:And it really feels like full liquid immersion cooling is. It's not fully mainstreamed yet, but in order to be at the tip of that spear, that is. That is where this is to go, it's where it has to go. You know, we, we we've got all these older water cooling, air cooling, you know, backup panel, cool, cool. I mean there's all different types and it has been evolving steadily. But this new, you know, full immersion liquid cooling is it's the stuff I mean. So so, after I listened to this live stream yesterday, it took me down the rabbit hole of the xai facility that elon's built in memphis. Yes, talking about this colossus supercomputer colossus we've mentioned that a few times on the show.
Speaker 1:How hot 100,000 ships online or 100,000 all at once, right, I think the first time that's ever been accomplished that magnitude yes, Well, what that underscored for me is that that much compute power and compute density produces so much heat you can't even address it with air anymore. You can't address it with the tradition or the more traditional means of cooling. So it's not even a luxury. This would be great. It's a little more expensive. That's not the conversation. If you're going to do it, this is the way it's going to be done or you're not going to be able to get that compute power, or density, right I mean, and it's even gone to the extreme ends.
Speaker 2:We've mentioned it on the podcast before.
Speaker 2:But there is a project Again, I can't remember exactly where it is, but they're putting it. They want to. It's a hypothetical. Put the data center at the bottom of an ocean bay yeah, underscoring the need under, like we have to cool this, that's. That's how significant the heat coming off of these centers can be and you have to mitigate it and deal with it. And it has been kind of. I don't know if it's the Holy grail. It's one of the big things, I think.
Speaker 2:When we talk about power scarcity and what it is to have, be able to have, you know, can I charge this? Can I do that? I think most people, including myself, don't really have a. You don't really feel it, you don't understand it. But when we start talking about water and water availability and something that we all need to, like live, for example, that is so absolutely essential to everything we do, and we start talking about billions and billions of gallons going into cooling and things, I think it catches everybody's attention. Going well, is that really a good use or is there a better way? And all of those conversations come into play.
Speaker 2:And you know, a group like Schneider has been at the forefront of either partnering, buying companies and saying we have to.
Speaker 2:We have to solve this in a different way. This, this is not sustainable the way it's going, and in order to build these things out, we're running into communities that say, no, we don't have any water to give you, we're done. We need to save that for people and for these other things. This is where this all comes back to why cooling in a different way has to be solved and why it's great that they've invested how they've invested and they're leading that charge, and you and I have spent probably far too much time looking at different cooling methods and how this is going, and there's a lot of different ways to solve this, but at the end of the day, it has to be solved Absolutely. I mean, if we're not going to be building in the Arctic, it has to be. Yeah, beyond that, it has to be. You know, absent that I mean, you know, if we're building anywhere in the United States, in Canada, you have to solve these things on a 100%, meaningful scale.
Speaker 1:I had an interesting email back and forth yesterday. I just want to share this because it's a fun segue into the kind of the next segment of focus for Schneider. But I had this lender who I had submitted a financing request with, and it was just. You know, it was just a kind of a small component on one of the Utah situations and was trying to explain the necessity of decentralized power, like why we're putting a power plant on site and Lender makes the comment why don't you just find a better site where you've got available power? And I just laughed.
Speaker 1:I was like okay, the conversation's over now because you have no understanding of anything. You're under a rock, not even reading the news. Come on, find a better site with power. Tell that to Amazon, meta, google, everyone else. It's hilarious, hilarious. That's the problem. That's the problem. That is the problem. Let's just find a better site. You can't build this data center over here where you have access to power, not a possibility. So it tells it Now. This is a midsize lender, so I'm not going to beat up on him too much and I certainly won't name them for being completely unconnected to what's happening in the market here. But it was funny for me to see, at the end of 2024, someone still in the capital markets. That doesn't fully get it, and I think that unless you really are studying this, maybe it's not axiomatic, maybe this just isn't being covered well enough to really get this.
Speaker 2:This site selection importance Arguably that's part of the reason why we're doing this podcast. Why we started this podcast is because we're seeing all of these things that are like, wait a minute, what? This doesn't make any sense and people don't know about this and we need to start talking about this. We need to start talking about these infrastructure challenges and you know what's happening in this front, like as we, as we evolve um in the world and as a nation and in into a very connected space and whether, you know, embracing AI and all these things, there are significant solutions that have to come into play, or solves that have to come into play. So, you know, you know, maybe for them, hey, they may need to just listen to our show.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, okay, I agree, listen to our show, I agree, yeah, and, and you realize of what your, maybe, people that are coming to you, people in your, in your areas, what they're facing, yeah, that it, it. There's a reason that to your, as you, there's a reason meta, and everyone is going okay, I think we'll buy three mile island now. Yeah, because that's that's really the only option. Yeah, to do anything meaningful to solve this in a time that is actually going to get. Actually they need. This is not something we can solve oh, a decade or 15 years from now. This, these are things that need to be solved in order to meet demand in the next five years. That's right.
Speaker 1:That's right, and so that's the segue into talking about DERs, and DERs is nothing new on the show. We're talking about distributed energy resources Okay, taurus is talking about. Everyone in the industry understands the value and the inevitability of DERs. Decentralized power plants, guys. It's a departure from the traditional completely is a suite of digital grid solutions to enhance sustainability and efficiency, specifically with regard to smart microgrids. This is the way of the future. Just a couple of the top ones here is their net zero dashboard Okay, this dashboard offers key metrics for monitoring grid decarbonization, helping utilities quantify emissions and guide sustainability strategies.
Speaker 1:We've all been talking about AI-driven power management and dynamic management that can kind of bring multiple power modalities together and then distribute according based on the troughs and peaks of energy consumption, particularly with data centers. But I haven't heard anyone talking about an AI solution that also monitors the grid decarbonization effort. No, that's next gen guys. That's really exciting. Very Okay, particularly if we're talking about having a unique energy mix, like we're doing on Valley Forge Impact Parks, where you could have three to five different power production modalities all thrown into the pot there to make this all work.
Speaker 1:Pieces of this is grid flexibility and grid resiliency. Schneider's eco-structured drms system that's for the. You know the, the drs helps system helps utilities manage the increasing complexity of grid constraints resulting from the rapid growth of distributed renewable assets, as I was just saying, for Heard that Okay. And also the grid resiliency focus here implements strategies powered by the AI-DASH platform, using satellite and AI technology to provide real-time insights and analytics. So why is this important? It helps utilities prepare for extreme weather conditions and reinforce grid resiliency in advance. So, tying satellite technology to an AI dynamic dashboard, guys, the whole game is being revolutionized. This is legacy movement right now. This is something that was not being taught, certainly not 10 years ago, not even five years ago. This is right now. This is right now what we're dealing with, not 10 years ago not even five years ago.
Speaker 2:This is right now. This is right now what we're dealing with. Well, one of the things I will say on that, and one of these one of the advantages and it doesn't really get talked about of when you get into these distributed solutions is part of the problem is, when you transfer power over long distance, like we do here in the US, you'll lose it. It's inefficient, yes, you lose a lot of that original generation, and so it's, I mean, and it's substantial, I mean so, and they actually have formulas for how many miles and and basically, by the time the power gets to you, how much you've, how much it's degraded, how much you've lost. And so building power near where it's consumed is one of those solutions and it actually it might not sound intuitively better, but it is Meaning like you might think okay, well, I have a plant in my own city, but actually, if you have a plant that is, let's just say, let's just go out, I'll go to the extreme. Let's just say it's geothermal, right, and it's producing a lot, Well, it's not you.
Speaker 2:You know you have a geothermal and you're not going to have the maybe a arguably, the impact to the surrounding area that you might have with other kinds of power things, um, it comes with its own cost. But having it there, being able to distribute where it is in that given area, makes it far more efficient than if the geothermal was located, say, 200 miles away or somewhere else. Because then, by the time it gets to you, well then you've just lost some of the advantage of having that energy, because you've lost a lot of efficiency and so it wastes. It's incredibly wasteful and so, just from a waste point of view, you know, you start talking to some of these experts and they'll say, yeah, if we can locate power close to where it's being consumed the bulk of it's being consumed that's incredibly efficient, just on its face, without even talking about anything else, because you don't have to transfer it, you don't have to move it across long expanses, and that's not. We're not going to talk about security. Yeah, because that one We'll get to that one. Well, we've talked about that, you know.
Speaker 2:But when you have something that is so interconnected and we're transferring power across the country, and you have those that might say you take down or you have disruptions to some, you know a couple of dozen nodes and you could literally incapacitate an entire section of the country. Yeah, incapacitate an entire section of the country. Yeah, that's where you see, you know, some of these issues kind of bear out too is that it's not necessarily the more secure thing. You say, oh we're, we're incredibly secure, you know, we've got the best security to well, okay, or if you have distributed power, you, you like, you know, logically, you will worry less about that, because if you take down a station or one station goes offline, it's not going to affect the entire region. Yes, if that makes sense.
Speaker 2:So, yes, this is a really interesting conversation on. I mean, that schneider is like right in the middle of all of us trying to say, okay, there are better solutions, there are better ways to manage this, there are better ways to do this. There are. We can then start leveraging technology actually, and actually not only that, but also prevent preventative stuff. Yeah and yeah, okay, hurricanes coming, wind storms coming, predicted. How do we? How do we? How do we see these problems? How do we move power around and and and prepare based upon actual predictions that ai can probably a little bit more accurately, uh us than, say, our lovely weather forecasters.
Speaker 1:Yes, yes, that's right, and so that's a nice kind of nutshell topical conversation that Schneider is doing to advance our power management and power security. Let's talk about these smart microgrids for a second. Let's do it. There is so much advancement in this and the smart microgrid is a critical component if we're going to effectively have decentralized power production and if that's going to effectively roll out nationally globally, then the smart microgrid attached to it is a critical component. I wanted to bring up a handful of really prominent projects that Schneider has fingerprints all over, both as EPC contractor or just design or just providing solutions. Well, see if we can come up with the same one.
Speaker 1:Shout to the Marine Corps oh boy, okay. First one I don't know if you saw this, but Marine Corps Air Station Miramar microgrid. They did the Miramar, yes, okay. Schneider Electric, in collaboration with Black Veatch, designed and constructed a microgrid system for Marine Corps Air Station Miramar in San Diego, california Miramar in San Diego, california. This microgrid provides 100% capability for over 100 mission-critical buildings Wow, including the entire flight line. Even during power outages, it can support the station with energy for up to 14 days.
Speaker 2:Wow, that's awesome. Okay, so hats off. So just a little shout-out if you're listening there in Wyoming, just hear what just got said. That's right. Yes, that's right. Won't say anymore, mike, these guys know how to do that, that's right, that's right.
Speaker 1:10 hours is cool of 100% capability, so no outages, despite what's happening with the grit. That's really cool. Wow, another big. How about you bring up one of the ones you found? We'll take turns on those prominent projects. It gives us a lot.
Speaker 2:I know and they did mobile microgrids for disaster relief. I don't know if you know oh, didn't know that, in collaboration with Footprint Project, schneider developed mobile cloud-connected microgrids to provide clean energy during disaster relief efforts. This innovation was recognized in time's list of best inventions of 2022. Wow, that's cool. So when we talk about microgrids, they have suit significant experience, so much so that they're being recognized on that level wow, that's fantastic.
Speaker 1:Um. Here's an interesting one the port of long beach microgrid.
Speaker 2:I love that we have entirely different lists and we didn't talk about this. We got to go and do our own research and we come up with these different things and we, you know, it's great, it's it's fantastic.
Speaker 1:Yeah, check this out, dave, that. So Schneider electric started construction on a $12 million microgrid project for the port of long beach, for their joint Command and Control Center. This project includes a 300 kW PV solar panel array and a 250 kW stationary battery energy storage system expected to produce 520 megawatt hours annually. Wow, wow, I mean the Port of Long Beach. As we all know, this is the port on the western seaboard. Yeah, it's the main port. This is it. So you know, it was funny when we were talking at Gensler and we were talking about these epic projects, because of the contributions that Schneider Electric's making in real time right now on these critical, critical grid hardening, grid modernization effort and sustainability efforts. Another one major, major industrial microgrid in Spain, in fact, the largest one in Spain. But I wanted to go down to the Well, I'll throw one in while you're looking.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, the Orkney Offshore Charging Station. Did you come up with that one? No, okay, partnering with Orcatis and I don't know if I'm pronouncing that right Marine Management Consultants, schneider Electric is developing the world's first offshore charging station for cruise ships near Orkney, utilizing renewable energy sources to reduce maritime emissions. Wow, so that's not your normal like Tesla, pull up to the charging station. That's kind of a. I'm just. You know, I have it in my mind. When I plug in my car, I'm, like you know, cruise ship backing in and like, hey, you're too close to me, go to the one next. No, you're too close, go over there. No, I close to me, go to go to the one next. No, you're too close, go over there. No, I mean seriously.
Speaker 1:so yeah, I mean that's that. They're they're doing that for ships. Wow, wow, that's really cool. Um, the the red oak integration facility in texas again not on my list is another one. Okay, so schneider electric opened. I I think this is something that they might. I think they own this, a 105-square-foot integration facility in Red Oak, texas. This facility is designed to build pre-engineered, pre-fabricated IT infrastructure for data centers across the US, accelerating production to meet growing demand, especially in the AI market. So that's back to their IT division. The smart microgrids and, of course, it's all connected to it. It's all got linkage to smart microgrids, because that's what's being used. What?
Speaker 2:impresses me. I'm just thinking about just how they've been able to manage their supply chain through Apple. Yes, and I think there's a little nugget there for people listening and depending upon how experienced you are or not experienced, you know some of these companies who understand that you know if you can control the, your supply chain ecosystem better, and so you you have. So you're not waiting on something holding up your entire operation and I, they, they so effectively have done that and they're continuing to. I mean their acquisitions, that, and they're, yeah, continue to. I mean they're acquisitions right now. They're acquiring very critical pieces to infrastructure so that they aren't beholden to bumps in, you know, world issues and supply chains. I mean they would be affected themselves, but they control more of that and they have a say in that and it allows for a lot of efficiency internally.
Speaker 1:So it's good to see. No, it's huge's huge. They're one of the few it's it is. It is opportunity for distinction. They're one of the very few who have so many vertically integrated assets in this space in the energy, data and transmission sectors, but maybe, maybe, more than anyone on Earth. That's really impressive. Compass Data Centers partnership is one of the ones that I was able to find to identify by name. It also goes on to say that, well, a little bit on that, schneider Electric entered into a $3 billion multi-year agreement with Compass Data Centers to manufacture and deliver prefabricated modular data center solutions. It goes on to say, through its partnership with Compass, they've been involved in designing and constructing data centers for some of the world's largest hyperscalers. Obviously, yeah, we happen to know at least four of those right. Just with conversations with the Schneider Electric team, I'll throw out another one.
Speaker 2:Yes, JFK Airport Solar Project. They did a 6.6 megawatt solar panel installation at New York's JFK Airport, contributing to the airport sustainability initiative. So if you've ever flown, landed through JFK and probably seen things saying we are whatever is an airport, we're sustainable, that's Schneider Wow.
Speaker 1:Wow, that's cool. Yeah, manufacturing facilities goes on to talk about Schneider investing significantly in expanding its US manufacturing presence for critical infrastructure. The Mount Juliet, tennessee facility is a 500,000-square-foot manufacturing facility being established to produce custom electrical switchgear and medium-voltage power distribution products. Wow, this is all the smart grid advancement. This is all next-gen tech. That's great. So, talking about being vertically integrated Did you read anything about Walmart?
Speaker 2:No, okay, so it's called the Gigaton PPA program with Walmart. Oh boy, schneider Electric collaborated with Walmart on the Gigaton PPA program, facilitating renewable energy procurement for Walmart suppliers, aiming to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by one gigaton by 2030. Wow, so by 2030. By 2030. So working with Walmart, not a small company, last I checked, wow, yeah, to make some significant impact in that space.
Speaker 1:Fantastic, fantastic. Maybe a little more here to touch on for our listeners. Why these smart microgrids? What ways specifically do these smart microgrids contribute to a more resilient, reliable national grid? Because that was a question I really wanted to understand. You know, really what's the difference?
Speaker 1:Right and number one, providing localized power generation and distribution back to our DERs, allowing critical facilities to operate even during larger grid outages. So the decentralization of power production is at the core of all of these conversations. Just to insulate an operation, a critical facility, from the the weaknesses of the national grid. Right, that to me, that's a. That's a very interesting, just fundamentally an interesting thing. And and back to that lender, why don't you just get a better, a better site and, you know, tie into the grid? This is partially why. This is why, okay, this is why.
Speaker 1:Other benefits include enabling rapid fault detection and isolation, minimizing power interruptions and reducing recovery time, reducing the cascading effect of power outages, because we know when one big thing goes down, then you've got multiple things that go down behind it. But this advanced dynamic management can help eliminate that. That's fantastic, incorporating advanced sensors and monitoring systems to detect and respond to potential security breaches or equipment failures promptly. So talking about cybersecurity, guys talking about physical security, guys talking about physical physical security. These are always top of mind when we're talking about next gen substations, next gen power generation, right, like all the things, security's got to be on the top of this.
Speaker 2:It it is. Again, it's one of those other things that you know, uh, security. People say we don't talk enough about security, but in general, but it is, I mean you have, you have it's not just one thing or another you have to have, especially now as we see. You know, different kinds of attacks coming. When you have, when you have AI behind some of these attacks, yeah, also being used. You've got to be able to fend off. And again, you know, if you're looking at that kind of that chess game of you know impact, not to say that you know, like I've always seen the bay, you know the glass is half empty but in reality there are lots of attacks on our infrastructure every day, like going on all the time.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I think, didn't you say there was like 780 attacks in the last year?
Speaker 2:nationally. Yeah, like significant attacks, yeah, and I mean, and if you talk to some of the IT professionals, any of our, any federal agency, any big company, is constantly under barrage of attacks. You might not know it, but they are, and so there are a lot of people out there trying to do bad things, and when you start talking about water and energy and those kinds of infrastructure, well, they're big targets for them.
Speaker 1:You know, one of the things that I'm just going to go off of the research for a second. As we were talking before we started the episode today, we were talking about the benefits to local communities, to small communities. Okay, so let's talk about that for a minute, dave, let's do it. I really love, from our perspective and I think Schneider agrees with us, as evidenced in all of this effort is reducing dependence on centralized power grids and fossil fuels. What that means for bringing DERs into smaller communities means that they get to have a stake in their own kind of future. Bringing DERs into small communities like the ones we're developing empowers stakeholders in small communities to potentially have a piece of the revenue, to have a legitimate interest in the security of their own power assets. That's right To have independence, which to me all seems very American.
Speaker 2:That's a very American thing and it is, but it is. It is People these communities want to be able to. I think they stand alone right now, a lot of them. They don't want to give that up, but they also, you know, they probably more than others, recognize what it's like to be, you know, tied to bigger things that they have no say over, have no say over.
Speaker 2:The more you know, I think a lot of us, you know we tend to be like I would like more say over my own destiny and over my own thing than than being subject to the whims of, you know, whether it's, whether it's a political infrastructure or corporations or whatever, and and these things are the come back to it, these are the essential things, that kind of keep, keep, it's the keeps the lights on, it is the lights on, it is the lights on.
Speaker 2:And so, if you can, if you can control that aspect of your community and or have a say in it, yeah, and then then that, I think, sets up wonderful opportunities for the future for those communities, I believe.
Speaker 2:And then, conversations that we've had with these communities and the leaders in these communities, they all, I think almost unanimously, are open to that idea, they gravitate towards that idea of saying, yeah, we would like to be able to have a say in our own future and be able to have some control over it, and if we can work with you or we can work with these groups to make that happen, that is fantastic, because right now we're kind of subject to the whims of other things that we don't control, yeah, and that allows those communities, I think, ultimately to stand on their own, to feel a bit better and probably thrive a little bit better.
Speaker 2:And not to mention the fact that the infrastructure implications because then you start building some significant infrastructure where you're going to be able to attract interested parties, businesses and groups that want to come there, and that's kind of how this gets going and then all of a sudden, you have a tax base that you never had before. You have businesses that are bringing in because they're like look, you provide the basic things that we need and we want our employees First of all. Maybe you have a community we would love to have. We would love to be able to provide jobs. In addition, we'd love to be able to attract people in and because this just makes us a better company, yeah, so I think, I think we're going to see a lot more of that going forward.
Speaker 1:A hundred percent, and, and we're coming in on on the hour here, so are we really come up to the final thought here? Okay, I have one more and I'll just.
Speaker 2:I'll know I'll make a. It actually puts an exclamation point on what you just said. So in 20, this year, uh Schneider was ranked first on the list of world's most sustainable companies published by time and statista Awesome, reflecting its commitment to sustainability. These guys are as serious as they get Awesome. It's in their DNA, it's who they are, it's what they do and they want to work with partners private, public who understand they want to help get public and private partnerships down that road. They understand that you just don't flip a switch and get these things today. It's a process, yeah, and get these things today. You've got it, it's a process. And they are, you know, they've got. If they don't have it, they've acquired it and they're bringing all of this expertise and this breadth of solution sense to bear.
Speaker 1:I appreciate you sharing that and I think it underscores when we talk about the ethos and the companies we like to do business with.
Speaker 1:When we talk about the ethos and the companies we like to do business with, I love that they're not only catering to just the juggernaut utility companies of the world.
Speaker 1:While they do provide specialized equipment for all of those players and all of the largest data center operators on earth, they're also providing these DER resources der resources, uh for smaller developers like us and smaller communities like we're going into very altruistic, very, very high level ethos of a company, generally speaking, also very pragmatic. Yes, you know that we I haven't heard their team say once anything critical to us when we talk about unique energy mix. Okay, so you were not dealing with a company that's hard pegged over to one side of the spectrum of energy production. Either way, they're looking at this and they're saying they understand, because they've got over the hundred years of depth in this, that yeah, this really does require all of the power production modalities. How can we bring our resources to bear to make that more efficient and make it more sustainable as we help? You know, everyone, all of our stakeholders, transition through this energy transition. They recognize the transition necessity, but they also recognize a pragmatic, long-term approach to this right.
Speaker 2:To me, that's inspiring absolutely and and we're happy to, to be engaged and talking with them and hopefully we, we, you know, we're able to, we're able to figure something out, and and they and, and work with them and you know, and, and all the stuff we do because they are, they're an amazing company absolutely, and I've got confirmation just this week that we are going to have one of their very high level reps on the show.
Speaker 1:Fantastic coming weeks. Very. I'm not going to say who, but but it's very, very impressive mark it on your calendar yes, yes, yes. So that's coming down the pipe, guys, so stay tuned.
Speaker 2:Well, this has been a great conversation, Wayne, as always. Yeah, We'll wrap it Well. Thanks for joining us. Until next time on the Frontier Line.
