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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
Ryan Starks -EDC Utah, Executive Director
Welcome back to the studio, guys. We're so excited about today's episode. We've got a really juicy interview teed up for the listener friends and we're so excited to have Mr Ryan Starks join us in the studio today. Welcome, Ryan.
Speaker 2:Thanks, wayne. It's great to be here. Hello Ryan, hey, dave, hey, thanks Wayne.
Speaker 1:It's great to be here. Hello Ryan, hey, dave, hey, for those of you that are not familiar with Ryan and maybe that's no one in Utah but any of the listeners in other countries Ryan Starks has been serving the state of Utah for decades and he currently is the executive director of EDC Utah that's the Economic Development Corporation of Utah and he's had the opportunity to serve with many governors several governors, I think, at least two, probably three actually, and we're going to get into that. Let's, without further ado, ryan, let's just dive into, kind of, the first thing that Dave and I are really interested to understand about you and, if you don't mind, just walking us through your 15-year journey in Utah economic development, because you started as an intern in the governor's office under John Huntsman Jr and then that led to developing rural programs with him directing the governor's office of economic opportunity, and now you're heading EDC Utah.
Speaker 2:What key lessons from each of those roles have shaped your approach? 15 years and some of the experiences that I've gained? And I think it's just that it's the compilation of many little experiences that's really helped shape my professional career. So I remember being a student at Weber State University and showing up to something called the Governor's Economic Summit in Salt Lake and I met the executive director of the Governor's Office of Economic Development, a guy named Jason Perry. Jason now is the vice president up at the University of Utah and leads the Hinckley Institute of Politics and is a good friend. And I said, hey, I'm a student, I had just served as student body president at Weber, so I kind of had this like passion for public service. And so I went to this summit, met Jason and said, hey, I'm in college, I'm studying business, I'm studying law, studying Spanish actually, but I really have a passion for Utah and building, and so do you have any type of internships? And he said you know, give me your name and number and let's see what we can do. So about three weeks later I got a call from a guy named Gary Harder. Gary was one of the leaders of GoEO or GoEd at the time and oversaw the business development team. So he called and said, hey, let's meet, and he offered me an internship right there on the spot. I had the chance to work with Gary and with Jason for the better part of two and a half years. I think I was an intern for about eight months. They hired me on and so from the early stages of GoEd I was able to see how the organization was formed, why it was formed. I think the 2002 Olympics were really a catalyst to put Utah on the map, and so Governor Leavitt certainly did his part. And then Governor Huntsman came in and said we need to be the crossroads of the world, and he had had experiences as an ambassador in different places around the world and saw kind of recognized Utah's potential. And so I was part of that Go-Ed team in its early days. We were able to help provide incentives and work closely with a lot of companies expanding. I remember as an intern going up to a ribbon-cutting ceremony for Procter Gamble up in Brigham City and they employed hundreds of people when they invested millions of dollars into the community and I thought this is something that I want to do. And so Governor Huntsman was a statesman, certainly a visionary, and learned a lot from him.
Speaker 2:Later I had the chance to work in Wasatch County. Let me back up. So I went to graduate school, but I was still just so passionate about economic development so all of my research papers and projects focus on economic development. And so my final semester I actually got a job offer from the governor's office of planning and budget. And so my program, my master's program at BYU. They were really supportive and they said, hey, we'll let you take these classes during the evening. Go take that job. And so they assigned me of all places, back to the governor's office of economic development, but to be a fiscal agent or a budget liaison. And so I understood the ins and outs of kind of how that operated from a fiscal perspective, and during that time I was working with Governor Hrbrew.
Speaker 2:Shortly after I had the opportunity to go up to Wasatch County where I ran the Heber Valley Chamber of Commerce, the Tourism Office and the Wasatch County Economic Development Office. So we called it the three-headed monster. And at the time Wasatch County was really just coming into its own, starting this growth cycle of attracting new capital, attracting new businesses, and so it's really about timing. I just feel blessed that I got up there during a really exciting time, lived there for 10 years, worked there for eight years, and then a friend and mentor of mine, val Hale he was the executive director of GoEd he called and he said hey, we need you to come to GoEd. Why don't you come kind of be like a vice president and lead our rural initiatives and our international strategies and some of our business development initiatives? So I worked closely with Val, saw his passion firsthand, benefited from his leadership and again working for Governor Herbert and Governor Herbert.
Speaker 2:I think the lesson for him was we need jobs. If we don't have the jobs, then we're not going to grow, our families can't stay in Utah, and so he was very focused on jobs, jobs, jobs, and so we, you know, did our part to help attract the right companies to create a lot of jobs that are high paying. I'm really impressed by Governor Herbert's focus and commitment to economic development. That was kind of the staple of his administration. And then, as he finished his term, governor Cox came in and allowed me to serve as the executive director of what he rebranded it from GoEd to the Governor's Office of Economic Opportunity, goeo, and had the chance to work really closely with him, and his focus has always been infrastructure, and if you don't have great infrastructure, it's going to be hard to grow. Infrastructure includes water, power, utilities, et cetera, and so it was fun to kind of see the three different leadership styles and to be part of each of the administrations. So I've learned a lot during the past 15 years and still continue to learn every day.
Speaker 3:That is quite the journey and and and quite a journey of service to the, to the state Right, did you have a moment like, were you always like this? Where you're like, you know what I'm going to. I mean, public service is something that I don't know, that anybody starts I go, you know what, I'm going to stay in public service for my entire life. But I think there, you know from the people I've met, there's a like internal fire to make things better to you know, to contribute to do that. Is that what I mean for you? Was it just like, hey, I just kind of this, is this just felt right? How did you know? How did how did that whole journey, what was kind of underlying all of that?
Speaker 2:well. I always wanted to be a firefighter when I was in high school so I served a two-year mission for my church in ecuador and I came home I'm a rural kid from huntsville, utah went to weaver state, had the chance to serve as student body president and in that role suddenly I became really familiar with public service and what it means. I served on the university's board of trustees, ann Miller, who now serves in our state Senate. She was the university president and was a great mentor to me. Senator Jerry Stevenson was on the board of trustees with me. I got to know President Adams from our state Senate really well and to see these amazing people building Utah it really kindled a fire in me and so it was a conscious choice. I said public service is something that I'm passionate about. I want to build Utah and it's not just public service anywhere. You know I spent a little time in Washington DC, but I said Utah's the place that I want to build and serve, and so it's been a rewarding journey.
Speaker 3:That's fantastic, ryan. Thank you for sharing that. You know you mentioned something you know and you're talking about your time as director in Wasatch County's tourism economic development. You know you oversaw Heber Valley becoming one of the top five fastest growing areas in the US. That's quite an accomplishment. Uh, you know, I would imagine that that one, maybe, maybe it's all of it together, but that that one experience has influenced, you know, probably everything you've done since. I mean, is that, is that fair to say?
Speaker 2:Oh, it totally has. Every day I draw on experiences from my time in Heber Valley the positive growth, the growth challenges, the negotiating, working with the city and the county, working with developers but so many positive experiences that certainly shaped who I am today, brian, you, I, I'm going to go on a limb and say that you're a natural born leader.
Speaker 1:That's my sense of you, and it's not uncommon in the Starks family. You've got deep ties in Utah's economy. Your brother, aaron, leads the Aerospace and Defense Association 47G and Steve heads the Larry H Miller Company. How has your familial background impacted your own career? You know the vision and how you lead.
Speaker 2:I'm blessed with a great family. I have great parents. They always taught us to work hard and to be humble and to be grateful, and I think that's just something that's carried on with all of my brothers, and so we've had to be scrappy and we've had to be hardworking and very grateful for everything that we get. Steve is the older brother, has just been a tremendous friend and role model to me and somebody that I look up to a lot. And then Aaron, my younger brother, he is just full of passion and drive and he's such a good leader and he's does so many good things for the state, and so to have to kind of be sandwiched between those two it's, um, sometimes it's daunting, because I look up to both of them and I would say I'm kind of the peacekeeper between the two hard-headed brothers and, uh, that's okay. I guess I'm the stereotypical middle child I love that.
Speaker 1:Um, you know I happen to live in highland utah and there's a. There's a certain project in highland utah I want to, I want to inquire about here and you've actually been credited with stewarding major projects like this one in Highland. This one I'm referring to is the $11 billion Texas Instruments microchip plant expansion. It's actually in Lehigh but it's right there. I actually I'm in Highland but I'm, like you know, less than seven blocks away from that project. So I you know, every time I'm leaving the area I get to see that in construction that's creating 800 new jobs, establishing a revolutionary rural grant program across 24 counties. From a dollar's perspective that's a really big accomplishment. But I'd be interested to know what do you see as your proudest achievements in attracting investment to support rural communities during your GOLEO tenure? Because that's not a rural project, that's very much on the Wasatch Front. But you come from the rural background and you have a. In, dave, and my experience in working with you, you are very committed to rural Utah.
Speaker 2:I love rural Utah. I grew up in rural Utah and I think for too many years we saw a lot of focus just on the Wasatch Front. But as the state's grown and diversified, I think it became very apparent that we needed to focus on all 29 counties and having been at the county economic development level, I saw what was working and what wasn't working at the state development level. I saw what was working and what wasn't working at the state. So when I came to the state I said let's review all of these rural grant programs and there were like 12. And honestly they were pretty lousy.
Speaker 2:And you know, in some cases you could qualify if you had less than a certain population in your community or if the median wage exceeded a certain amount, and it was just kind of a moving target. And so I said, well, let's kind of strip this down to the basics. What are we trying to do? Well, we're trying to grow rural Utah. Well, how do we do that? Well, we need to simplify the process. And what we saw is a lot of times in rural Utah, a lot of times in rural Utah the county manager is also the planner and the chief garbage collector and the complaint officer and the dog catcher all in one. And so to have a strategic economic development plan at the rural level can be really daunting. And so we said let's take these 12, 13 different rural programs and let's just get rid of them, and let's take the value of all of these programs and let's roll that into a grant that we called the Rural County Grant and make it simple for these counties and the other.
Speaker 2:I think paradigm shift was all of these existing 12 programs made it so that the counties or the cities in rural Utah had to fit their economic development needs to the criteria of these programs.
Speaker 2:And it's like well, we can't assume that every rural community is the same.
Speaker 2:So I had the chance to do a 25 rural county tour, to do a 25 rural county tour and with that understood the challenges of San Juan County, in Daggett County, Rich County and anywhere in between. And I think the big aha was these communities are all very different. What may work in one may work differently in a different community. And so we introduced this rural county grant and we said, rather than have you fit your community needs into our bucket, we're actually going to meet you in the middle. So, rec plan, tell us what are your challenges, and then we will take all these 12 programs, We'll turn it into a grant, just one single grant, and we'll give that to you each year as you submit a plan, and then we'll work with you to help implement the plan. So I think that's probably the thing that I'm most proud of. It certainly has had the biggest difference across the state. Communities just continue to really rave about how this has blessed their communities and helped shape their economic development.
Speaker 3:Well, you know, you're saying it took somebody, almost like it took the middle child. In many ways Is that fair to say, that you're kind of an ambassador-ish, kind of a person who can go out, and I mean you've, you know, what I know about you is that you know you've also strengthened international partnerships Mexico, south Korea, japan, uae, israel, canada, south Korea, japan, uae, israel, canada. You just mentioned that you became you just mentioned talking about you know Utah counties. You're the first economic development executive to visit all 29 counties. You actually put yourself out there and said, okay, well, I want to hear from you, I want to on the ground, as you know, as opposed to we're going to stay up here on the Wasatch Front and I want to hear. I want to hear what you have to say and I mean you're a person who realizes that everybody you know, or different areas have different needs and you meet them where they are.
Speaker 2:Uh, right Is that.
Speaker 3:So do you? Do you see? Um, you know you did with, with, with the grant program and things you've done. What are you seeing in Utah right now? What are you? What have you heard over and over and over again that you feel like, what are we? What do we still need to do? I mean, we talk about rural Utah. I mean I was thinking about this. You know Spanish Fork and some areas of Utah County. They were more rural when I was a kid. Frankly, they're not anymore, but they are. They were, but you know. So if the you know our rural areas are, you know more I don't know out there, you know it's the areas that haven't been developed. What are you? You know, what do you think we need to do? What do I mean? What? How does the next 10 years look to you as far as what you know, what we need to do as a state, what businesses need to do?
Speaker 2:what these local communities need to do. What are they asking for? What are your thoughts on that? It's a great question. I think there are so many factors, but the key is to have a unified approach. If we start to splinter, where the governor's office does one thing or the legislature does a different thing or private industry does its own thing, then I don't think we're going to get as far. So the chamber has introduced the Salt Lake Chamber has introduced this new strategic plan. It's called Utah Rising and it pulls together the public and the private sectors to help address some of those big issues.
Speaker 2:Now you may ask what are those big issues for the next 10 years? I think housing and water and infrastructure power. Those are kind of the hot buttons right now. So we sometimes think that's just a Wasatch Front or a Salt Lake County issue, but it goes all the way down to San Juan County. As we are. In San Juan County they said there currently are two houses on the market. Wow, we would love to attract new people but there's just not a place to put them. I was in Daggett County and they said we just got a new post office master and he cannot find a place to live in the whole county. So he goes home on the weekends in Ogden and Monday through Friday he stays in a little camper just on somebody's property because he couldn't find a place to live. And so the housing crisis is real. I know there's a lot of groups public sector, private sector, groups that are, you know, strategizing and figuring out solutions, working with the communities, but it's something that's going to take a long time.
Speaker 2:The other thing that really stands out is just water and power, and they kind of go hand in hand. Um, you look at different parts of the state. I mean, I just saw a report last week that showed that half of the state's reservoirs are around 30 something percent full, and we're in july, and so is something that you know the state needs to double down on. And, of course, power Without power we don't grow, and so we need to diversify our opportunities within the power space.
Speaker 2:And so, even in rural Utah, if you want to connect, you know, a new housing community, any manufacturing facility, you have to have power to do it. Manufacturing facility, you have to have power to do it. So those three things like if we had water, if we had housing, if we had power, I think we'd see a big spike in residential growth throughout rural Utah. And then, you know, following residential growth we'll see commercial growth. Following the commercial growth, we see reinvestments back into, you know, cities and counties, parks, schools. That's really what makes a community. So I mean exciting that rural's on the map. Challenging in that there are some obstacles, but I'm confident we can get there.
Speaker 3:Well, I think you know, Wayne and I have both heard multiple times, whenever we've spoken with leaders in, whether it's rural utah or another rural jurisdiction in some other state, they've all said the same thing um, you know, we, we watch our kids grow up and move away and never come back.
Speaker 3:And they say you know that the quote is you know they, you know our greatest export are our children. Right, you know, we raise them, raise them in a way that we want to raise them, and then they don't have necessarily the opportunity where they live for what they want to do and they leave to never return, or leave, go do their career, raise a family and maybe come back, you know, maybe towards retirement or that sort of thing. I mean, and we've heard that a lot, and I think that's one of one of the struggles. And on the flip side of that is we also like the rural way of life and so do you think. I mean, I think, I think Wayne believes we think there's a balance there. Like you can, you can manage both the keep, you know, to not lose identity, but also grow smartly to support the future.
Speaker 2:Absolutely, and I think that's one of the challenges but opportunities that we saw in Heber Valley. So I put together a 10-point economic development strategy and the very first point talked about open space and quality of life. If you can maintain that piece, then everything else falls into place. So I realized New York City is not rural Utah certainly, but think about Central Park and how it's this open, preserved space that enhances the quality of life. Imagine New York without that. Now look at rural Utah, much different than New York. But if you can carve out that open space, we can increase the number of parks and trails, even state parks. Then that adds that rural component to the residential and the commercial pieces.
Speaker 3:No, I know Wayne's chomping at the bit. I already know this because I know Wayne so well. But you mentioned energy, oh yeah.
Speaker 1:Energy. You should ask the question. I didn't know him, I know it, studying site nomenclature as developers and what. What are the ingredients that go into? You know citing something for a new power generation source? And you know water's a big deal, like you talked about.
Speaker 1:And we, you know, fortunately in utah our coal, uh, our coal plants are kind of transitioning. You know the ipp, uh, we can kind of pick on for a second. They've been great because it's the largest plant in the state. But at 1.8 gigawatts of power generation there's 26,000 gallons a year of water consumption that comes with that. That's an inordinate amount of water. Now, with the IPP renewed, they've got that water consumption all the way down to under 2,000 acre feet. So that's huge for the Pavan Valley and I think that water is one major consideration. But air quality and whether or not your site is in an attainment zone or a non-attainment zone, we know that it'd be difficult or impossible to cite a gas plant, certainly not a coal plant, but anything with modern technology that's available today. You couldn't cite that on the Wasatch Front because of emissions implications. So there's a lot that goes into site selection that have got us excited about rural Utah.
Speaker 2:You know, I think now's the West's time to shine, and so I think the site selection people of the world are saying it's time to go out West. There's land, there's a willingness to work together, there's energy resources, there's clean air, all in these rural parts of the state. And so I'm totally with you, and it's nice to see that a lot of these companies are innovating so that they can reduce water usage and that they can, you know, fit kind of the profile of this desert state. So certainly the opportunities are there desert state.
Speaker 3:So certainly the opportunities are there. Well, you mentioned that. So talk about, I mean, what your role is as far as right now with EDC Utah and say Operation Gigawatt.
Speaker 2:Yeah. So kudos to Governor Cox. He has been very clear from the beginning of his administration that power is something that we need to really focus on, so he announced this initiative With that. You know, a good reminder maybe on this podcast is that Utah's strategy for energy is an all of the above approach, meaning we're not just tied to coal, not just tied to geothermal or anything else hydrogen but we're focused on all of the above. And so I think this is kind of lit a flame to get people excited, like, yes, we have state support, we have federal support. Now let's go look for new power sources.
Speaker 2:By the way, last week I had the chance to visit with the Rocky Mountain Power Team. Sometimes they get a dirty rap because, oh, they're not providing enough power here or there. But you know, if we look back on their history and their investment in the state, it's really impressive. But they can do it all. And so the good partners like Rocky Mountain who are doing their best, they need help from other groups and other types of power. And so we see, you know, innovators like you, wayne and Dave, who are out there making things happen in an exciting way.
Speaker 1:So thank you for saying things you know. We as developers, we're always also kind of studying population growth and trends and we're trying to forecast where we should put certain things based on you know the path of growth, where we should put certain things based on you know the path of growth. And if you do study the charts then you recognize that you know population growth has kind of steadily come along at one and a half to two and a half percent annually and that's a national trend. And utility companies like Rocky Mountain Power have done a wonderful job kind of expanding their generation capacity and transmission capacity to meet that population growth at that rate.
Speaker 1:The powers that are beyond their control really only became relevant here in like 2022, 23. And now it's a frenetic situation driven by AI. All of a sudden in the last, particularly in the last 24 months, we've got all these data centers popping up. We've had hundreds of billions of dollars pouring into the market to meet it, and that spike in the demand for power is something that none of our utility companies could have imagined. It really has kind of taken everyone by storm companies could have imagined.
Speaker 2:It really has kind of taken everyone by storm. It really has, and the demand suddenly exceeded far greater than anything that we had in terms of our supply. I heard one person say that this advent of AI is actually going to be a bigger deal in the history of our world than the internet. And so to suddenly just flip the switch and say we need to triple, quadruple the number or the you know the amount of energy that we're consuming as a state, it's pretty remarkable. I think Utah has kind of a choice, though they can go back on their heels and say, whoa like, we just want to stay the way we are. Or the state can say, hey, we want to be in front of this growth, we want to help shape the growth, and we're going to do that by leaning into energy, clean energy. We're going to be smart in the way that we develop it and attract it. We're going to get the right types of companies that are additive to the community, and so I don't think you know.
Speaker 2:One may argue well, what if we just give all of our power to data centers? Well, I think we have to be level-headed here, in that we can. There's a balance of attracting data centers, but then with that power to kind of fuel the data center, that power can also go to fuel a community, our kids, our grandchildren, and so really it's all about balance. But I think we have a strategy in place and you had asked earlier what's EDC Utah's role? Our role is to support the state, to support communities. So we'll work with these power companies, we'll work with companies seeking to expand into Utah. We really like to just connect the dots.
Speaker 1:We really love that collaboration because we've seen so much legislation over the last five years since Governor Cox came into the seat as governor Lots of legislation, lots of executive orders, lots of programs, like you've touched on, to bring growth, economic growth to Utah. Um, to bring growth, economic growth to Utah, and really the way Dave and I and the Invictus team see this, as you know, if, if we could generate power in Utah, it should be for Utah, for as prioritized for consumption in Utah, because we recognize that you know, building all of this new capacity and transmission and distribution lines to support Utahns and bringing businesses to Utah, that's good for the state of Utah, rather than building all the new generation and sending it over to California or anywhere else. That we might. And I think if we all could come together and meet that Utah first mentality, we could really start to realize Governor Cox's vision and your vision, frankly, of you know, economic growth potential in the state of Utah.
Speaker 1:It's not just the data centers, there's a lot of manufacturing. There's a lot of aerospace companies that are legacy companies you know the types of companies like Boeing and Northrop Grumman and big big aerospace companies are also startups that have a lot of momentum right now in the aerospace innovation. You know designing and deploying new satellites, and then you know collaborating with SpaceX and things like that. So you're right, ryan, there's so much more beyond just accommodating data centers.
Speaker 2:You're right, ryan, there's so much more beyond just accommodating data centers, and we're doing our best to see the big picture and try and accommodate as much of that economic growth market share as we can grab. If we're here in Utah, absolutely, and I think it's important too to remember that as we grow economically and as we attract these companies, they give back to the community. They provide property taxes, sales tax, they provide jobs, they really enhance the quality of life, and so it's important to kind of stay fixed on that end goal and that's high quality jobs within those industries that you talked about and others. And energy is kind of that sticky glue that brings everything together.
Speaker 3:Well, and speaking of defense, I'm not to have you speak for your brother, but I think you have a unique position in seeing the lay of the land as far as you know aerospace and defense goes. How do you see the future partnerships shaping kind of the next generation, maybe high-tech corridors in the state? I mean, I know, up at Falcon Hill next to Hill Air Force Base, that's been a huge development with MITA and they've done a great thing. They're bringing the who's who really of the aerospace and defense industry. But Utah is a big place and there's a lot of places that we would say are strategic for our military. And do you see that as part of the future puzzle going forward where you're going to see an alignment of defense, you know, in other parts of the more more pronounced in other parts of the state?
Speaker 2:I do.
Speaker 2:I mean, sometimes we think defense is just Hill Air Force Base, but I'm shocked every time I visit a community from Southern Utah to the North, how many of these companies and maybe they're manufacturing components that go on a rocket or a missile and so it's certainly like one of those sticky industries that invests deeply. They provide high quality jobs. They're pretty recession proof, generally speaking, and you know, right now they represent Aerospace, and Defense represents approximately 20% of GDP in Utah, so they're about 20% of the state's economy. But then you factor in other elements like AI, like deep tech, we start talking about air mobility, unmanned taxis, deliveries Really exciting and so earlier we talked about this Operation Gigawatt initiative. But the other initiative that's kind of out there that's, I think, keeping people really excited is the 2034 Olympics. So knowing that that's kind of a benchmark, we can start to expand our capabilities in aerospace defense. We're looking at different opportunities for unmanned taxis delivery systems. Honestly, don't be surprised if, by the time the Olympics come, we have unmanned taxis flying people from point A to point B.
Speaker 3:That'd be really fantastic, wouldn't surprise me actually. Now, that will be fantastic when that happens and I we're I forget the company's name. I mean they announced, right, they're, they're testing right, something, yeah, okay, and that's. That's that okay and seeing, and that's all in anticipation of the, I mean just from my, I mean all over these next beta that's right, okay, thank you.
Speaker 3:uh, you know my experience the olympics and kind of getting to see it from my vantage point back in the day when I was in news and just I don't know, it is frenetic and it is. You don't really understand how much of a spotlight happens or is shown. You know shines on our, you know, on all of the state, you know on on all of the state. I mean you, you know we all take it from TV and everything else, but I, you know, just from my vantage point, it was impressive, I mean, and it really you, really you really see the effects of what it means to be on the world stage for for a couple of weeks and and and prior to that, and so you know, I'm excited about it as well.
Speaker 3:I think that it's going to bode well for us well for us.
Speaker 2:I'm excited as well because in November of 2001, I left Utah to go live abroad for a couple of years and just was two months shy of the Olympics. I'm excited to experience it.
Speaker 3:Well, I was behind the scenes doing news and so maybe this time I'll actually get to go to an event as opposed to having to cover all the things, and it was neat. But yeah, I never got to really experience and enjoy the olympics like, uh, like so many did.
Speaker 1:So I'm looking forward to it based on what we know behind the scenes, between now being 2025 and 20 to 34, nine years from now, utah is going to be a dramatically different place, a dramatically improved place as a result of all of your hard work and, you know, governor Cox's and our legislative body, you know all the framework that's been established legally is definitely making the moves and you know we're paying attention to other states, like then, you know, or Colorado, where you have a high concentration of aerospace, in fact, the highest concentration of aerospace tech in the nation, and they're facing some serious challenges from the lack of political support, like we have in Utah, the lack of political legislative planning and the lack of land, power and water. And so we've got, you know, a lot of movement and I would predict, for nine years from now, aerospace plays into, you know, plays a role in manufacturing all of that stuff, and we'd sure like to be able to attract much of that into Utah, and I think we've got the ingredients to do it.
Speaker 2:I do too, and having a 47G like organization in Utah it just plays to our strengths, it validates our efforts, and so it makes my job easy, whether I was at the governor's office or here at EDC Utah is. We court one of these companies and they say, well, tell us about the ecosystem, it's an easy handoff, and 47G is just a phenomenal group, and so you're right. I think the other thing that's worth noting is if you look at the 2002 Olympics, when they announced that Utah and Salt Lake City would be the host site, that was just a few years before the Olympics. This time they gave us a 10-year runway. So you think of all the preparation and all the planning and everything good that can happen during that time. I think we're just going to really grow and explode in a big way and, you know, kind of create that ripple effect for the next 20 years.
Speaker 3:I love it.
Speaker 1:We agree. And, ryan, I know we're coming up on the top of the hour and we want to be respectful of your time here, so maybe one final question. Dave and I will armor us a little for the final questionave and I will arm wrestle over the final question.
Speaker 2:oh, go ahead, go ahead but you know we're strong, wayne, but I I think you would beat most of us here.
Speaker 1:So well, you and I'll arm wrestle next time we see you, and we'll see about that I wayne and I are still talking about it.
Speaker 1:We'll let you know how it comes out ryan, you've expressed enthusiasm about valley forge and we've been working.
Speaker 1:Dave and I and our team have been working on it for a number of years, but we've only recently kind of brought you up to speed with what's happening there and there's a whole lot of possibilities at Valley Forge.
Speaker 1:But one of the things we've shared with you is this long duration energy storage system that we're working with Westinghouse on and and you know if, if we're able to pull this off, it would be a a two gigawatt long duration energy storage system That'd be one of the largest in the nation and that that is designed to bolt on to a new power generation source.
Speaker 1:And and the Invictus Sovereign team is really determined to bring that to Utah, because the implications of having a redundancy factor on a major utility scale power generation source changes the game dramatically. A 65% capacity factor, for example, like what we see, you know, in most states, and add something like this to it to where it could actually give, you know, a, a near 100% dispatch ability or capacity factor. It really makes things more efficient and I think if we're successful bringing that to Utah, it could, it could help Utah stand as a new standard in power generation nationally because of because of our willingness to bring that type of technology and and maybe so to find our final question here how are you feeling about the project and and is that one of the more exciting things about what you know about the project or what stands out for you about Valley Forge?
Speaker 2:Yeah, it is one of the more exciting things I get to deal with. I mean, we're dealing with manufacturers, we're dealing with industry leaders from around the world who are circling Utah, and so the fact that I can tell a story, that we have a team, we have a vision, we have capabilities to, we have capabilities that really power Utah for years and years, it's just an exciting narrative. And then, specifically, just as I understand the work that you're doing, invictus the vision, the investment, just the capability, and it's not just creating power for power's sake, but it's creating power, like you said, for Utah first. That will benefit our communities. It'll allow for, you know, growth within rural Utah, new jobs, and so love what the Invictus team's doing. And you've been so synced up with the legislature too, and with the county and the cities that it seems like a no brainer, so really excited to see how this shapes out.
Speaker 3:Thank you, Ryan.
Speaker 1:Thank you for that, ryan. We're so appreciative of your support from your position at EDC Utah. It's an organization in Utah that has kind of had its ups and downs and you've recently taken the helm at EDC Utah and we've made the commitments to stand behind you in that and support EDC Utah as a business. But I'm very excited about you in that position and what that means for Utah and what that means for the organization. So congratulations on the new role. This is only a few recent months ago that you became the executive director and we're very excited to see what you'll do with the company.
Speaker 2:Well, we have a lot of momentum right now, a lot of community support. Honestly, wayne, we're just getting started Like we're going to grow in a big way. We're really going to be that partner that the community needs, and so thank you for your support, really appreciate it Absolutely.
Speaker 3:We're excited to watch you and your team do amazing things in Utah and continue on. You've done so much for so many already and we look forward to seeing how this all plays out. I know it's going to. I know it's going to be some version of Fantastic, so looking forward to it. I appreciate your time today, ryan. Thank you very much.
Speaker 2:Well, let's aim for the best version of Fantastic. I'm going to write that on my whiteboard and make that the goal.
Speaker 1:I like that a lot. Well, thank you for joining us on the Frontier Line, ryan. I'm sure our listeners have enjoyed every bit of this and we hope you'll all join us on the next episode. Thank you, ryan, thanks Wayne, thanks Dave.
Speaker 3:Thank you.
