Aired Sep 15, 2026 · 23 min

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In this episode of Power Perspectives, Ahmed Moussa, founder of Electric Bridge Consulting, uses football to break down the path toward 100% clean energy. He explains why utilities can’t rely on a “Hail Mary” approach and instead need to move strategically down the field, balancing reliability, resilience and affordability along the way. We also explore where utilities are today, how AI and data centers are changing the game, and what utility leaders should prioritize next.

Matt Chester: If the clean energy transition were a football game, how far down the field would we be right now? Is it time for a Hail Mary, or can we keep marching slowly and steadily down the field? Today we go beyond just the clean energy playbook and instead position the entire energy ecosystem as a football game. And Ahmed Moussa, founder of Electric Bridge Consulting, is here to coach us towards the end zone. And if you're watching on YouTube, be sure to subscribe and like this video. And let's get into it.

So Ahmed, you came to us a few weeks back excited about an interesting metaphor that spoke very personally to me, comparing the energy sector today to the sport of football. And apologies to our World Cup fanatics, but I am talking about American football. Can you give us a high-level overview of this analogy?

Ahmed Moussa: Yeah, thanks, Matt, for the opportunity. It's always a pleasure talking to you on Energy Central. A lot of states are very active in their, I would say, race towards 100% clean or renewable energy. So I always thought that, you know, the 100% clean energy, let's say in New Jersey, is the goal or is the price or in this case is the Super Bowl. So there's a lot of steps that the teams, the managers, the players, the fans, like a lot of people have to work together pretty much towards that common goal. You know, it's football season, as you mentioned, you know, the 60 Hertz football. So it's easy for the others. And we just had the other football, the 50 Hertz football, I mean, soccer. So I think it's best to get to understand.

And then I could just spend like a second. Pretty much is very simple. If you never played the game or watch the game. You want to go from point A to point B. You could go, ideally, as you mentioned, you could take a Hail Mary and go all the way in one shot. But usually that's not really the case. So imagine you have 100 yards and then you break it down like 10 yards at a time.

So the discussion today is, that's really what we're trying to do. At the end of the day, you have to go through so many games. And after you qualify in many games, you get to the Super Bowl or in this case, a very reliable game. resilient and a cost-effective manner to the 100% clean energy. So that's really what we're trying to do. I've been very blessed to have worked a lot of places, focused on the planning, and in my last role, utility of the future. And if there's one thing the utility of the future group should focus on, is how would we, as utilities, survive in the 100% clean or renewable energy?

Matt Chester: Excellent. That's helpful background. And I want you to walk us through this and starting at the end, you kind of tease it out there. But what is the ultimate end goal, which would be a touchdown here for energy stakeholders in your review? You mentioned 100% clean energy. Is that that alone the goal? Or is there a bigger picture? You know, what what that touchdown looks like?

Ahmed Moussa: That's definitely the goal, but I think what we have seen recently, number one, it's a very hard goal to attain. I would say, and Energy Central did a great job on this one, the biggest, I'm not going to say the issue, but we have to be very focused on customer affordability. It's one thing to get to that 100% clean energy, but you can do it in a way, number one, it's not sustainable, it's not technical, and it's not financially, I guess, feasible, which we'll talk about.

So that's why I thought when we break it down to a simple game that people are used to seeing, and you really like the idea is just in case you've never watched the game, you could keep going again from, let's say, 10 yards at a time. But a lot of time you would lose some yards. So you do something wrong or there's a penalty or there's a safety event or something happens. You take multiple steps back. So how do we continue marching again for today? Think of it reliable, resilient and an affordable manner. That would be kind of the triangle that we try to get to the end line within this triangle, please.

Matt Chester: Yeah. And for people who, again, are maybe newer to the game of football, the instinct might be, well, why don't you just go for that touchdown right away? And we call that a Hail Mary going for it all in one high risk, but high reward heave. But what you're telling us is that's not necessarily the prudent approach. And what you should be doing is going one first down at a time. So can you talk to us about how that parallels what you see as the right and wrong approach to move towards that that end goal?

Ahmed Moussa: And yes, you could pretty much try your best to go from, let's say, yard zero to yard 100. But usually this is a very, very high risk. And if you have ever watched the sport, this is done for like the last game, like the last second of the last game, because there are no other pretty much plays you have. Now, the point of today's discussion is if you plan appropriately, you don't really have to do that. Yes, there'll be stuff that's happened that's going to take you back. So we're trying.

And as I mentioned, you know, the beauty of if you ever worked on planning, you know, for example, a lot of utilities in the East Coast where I am, they are summer peaking. technically ends September 15th. So we're very close to it when technically the summer ends. And then the planning group gets very, very busy analyzing the entire summer. And then they provide the five year or 10 year plan. And then next year it's a repeat. And every time you do that, you're supposed to gain more wisdom. It's supposed to be better.

And now with the use of AI, That's pretty much a great tool we didn't really have before. So again, but I just want you to imagine a lot of time you focus on the players, but as we're going to see today, the players are pretty much listening to the coach who has his or her other coaches. So it's a very, in order for this to survive, and to have an efficient way of getting the 100% clean energy, we have to do it together.

Matt Chester: And when you look at that 100% clean energy goal, I think you often hear a lot of detractors or people who are against, maybe not against it, but doubt that that's possible. They say, 100% clean energy, you can't do that. There's all these myriad of reasons of costs, intermittency, and whatnot. And so they say, you just can't really do that. And I think that the parallel there would be they're thinking just about going for the Hail Mary and going 100% clean energy tomorrow. Do you think in practice, energy, decision makers, utilities, have they been focused too much on that Hail Mary?

Ahmed Moussa: That's a good question. I think the answer to your question is yes, and that is the problem. So, I mean, as a resident, so I live in Queens. I live in high-rise, so I oversee pretty much Queens, the Fjord Met Stadium. I see the Citi Field, the U.S. Open, all this stuff. So one thing I track a lot is every time it snows. So there's a lot of solar panels where I live, and I've noticed that sometimes... especially February is always a tricky month. Like the entire month of February, the panels are pretty much covered with snow.

So in my head, okay, so let's say we fast forward 10, five years from now. So New Jersey had 100% clean energy. Used to be by 2050. Now it's 2035. This is literally like next week, if you will. So what's going to happen in those couple of weeks, a year when all the panels are covered with snow? What's going to happen when it's pretty much the it rains a lot? What's going to happen when it's not windy? So I think that's that I believe that is the issue when you go for the Hail Mary and you don't really have a plan.

Yes, there's a lot of a lot of good news about people in London and Germany and and. California who went a day or two or three, 100%, pretty much renewable, this is all great. But I guess as a planner, we never plan for the blue sky day. We plan for those days. So how we attain.

And then what's really interesting, and I was gonna talk about this in a minute, when I first developed this logic of the football, that was the pre-data center era. So yes, you're trying your best to get there. But now, as I mentioned, think of like, the other team is like this massive load. So you're hearing the news about, you know, all the coal plants are coming back to life. And so I'm not here to debate like politics, but we need to go to answer your question. We need to pretty much address all the sides of the equation.

And for my, I guess my experience, I've seen a lot of people pretty much skip to the end. And that, in my opinion, always backfires because we all have been to places. We have seen the impact again, just like Mother Nature. or just the days of it's not sunny, not cloudy, or brutal heat wave, you may jump into demand response a couple of days, then you can't really pretty much go on demand response the entire month. So it's, like I always say, it's the best time to be in the business, but that requires a very rigorous planning and definitely a very well robust enterprise risk management as well.

Matt Chester: Yeah, that's helpful. And I guess if we're we're shooing the Hail Mary, then we're going to be instead running short plays, advancing the ball a small amount of a time. Football fans might be familiar with the West Coast offense, but for those outside of the sports world, all you really need to know is that's a common strategy that relies less on the dynamic, exciting plays and more on reliably moving, you know, one step at a time, as you've been talking about. How does that translate to the types of energy moves you propose being more fruitful? You know, how many years into the future is it wise for utility planners to look, if not all the way to 100% at 2050?

Ahmed Moussa: I mean, I would say one important point that I always say, like, you know, for example, I'm a big fan of Energy Central. Not every utility needs to develop the same pilot. I think that's kind of a myth. Okay, there's like 3,500 utilities. All of us must do the exact virtual power plant. We must have our own kind of homework to understand. I think that's kind of, I personally believe, I always say it's never the technology. It's the way we think. We have to think differently.

Now, what's really interesting is going back to the game. A lot of time you see coaches who have been ex-football players. They're very experienced and they managed to get the team very far. And then there's like a many, many years just flat. And I think part of it is like you have to kind of add like that. What's really changing? That's sometimes when people fail to understand. Or a quarterback who is doing great and then, you know, a lot of Super Bowls, a lot of victories and then, you know, like folds over the club. So...

So what I would like to do, if you don't mind, I'm going to walk you through like my own version of the 10 yards at a time. So I like to call it the energy journey. So again, remember, you have 100 yards. You're trying to go 10 at a time. So we're going to assume that we're going to do it very smoothly, but 10 at a time. You're not going to skip 20 or 30.

So I would say like for my day one at the job, it's all about safety. Safety is the bread and butter. We all know what's going to happen when there's like an OSHA event or like somebody gets hurt or a public gets hurt. So utilities, the cornerstone. Now, I want to bring something to your attention is, as I mentioned, all this stuff. strategies, you need every step. Like when I say safety in the beginning, it doesn't mean safety. No, safety is in every step.

So in the beginning, it was all about safety. Then again, I'm not really like a history buff, but you read about in New York City and in New York, I think there was like two major blackouts in the 60s and 70s. And then the focus became reliability. So reliability, pretty much in a very simple manner, we need to use power, it's available. Whether you charge your iPad to watch the game, that's what reliability is. But what's really interesting is it's always available when you need it. Like the hottest day, you could turn on the AC. The coldest day, you could turn on the electric heating.

So we went from safety, we added reliability. Then as we move on to the next 30 yards, I mean, I always like to talk about Superstorm Sandy. However, there've been a lot of events like Nepal and others. There's always that one event that hits home that really hits you bad. And I always say Mother Nature attacks. The utility recovers. We understand a bit. And we build more resilient. And we wait for the next event. Superstorm Sandy was known as the first time event. But New York, we had the first earthquake. We had the first, I guess, wildfire a year or two ago. We had a tornado in New York City 20 days ago. So now we're getting tornadoes in New York City. So now when you build a new substation, a new design, you must take an effect on all the stuff.

So now as we go in and then the climate change kind of became an interesting point. So now the focus has been on what? On distributed energy resources. Let there be solar, let there be wind. And that's probably a good example of the question you asked earlier. So I've been very fortunate to develop the solar fuel cell storage limits. And that's a very important point because what I always tell people, when I ask people, you know, what do you think is the biggest impact? impact for solar or what do we worry about solar? That's I always get it's intermittent, but that's not really true. The biggest issue with solar is once you put a solar panel in service, it has between 20 to 25 year life. So if you didn't do your job right, great impact, you're talking about it 25 years every time the sun rises, the sun sets, the cloud comes in. So that's what you don't understand. You put a lot of offshore wind, you better do your job because those assets are going to be generating for the next, you know, pretty much 20 years and then maybe you're going to get another extension.

So I think it's very important now we're like, I guess, I mean, between 40 to 50 yards. Utilities are very big on hardware. You know, we know transformers, we know, but now with the exception of the energy management system, which is the energy control center application. Now we start seeing a lot of management system. You know, you hear about DMS, distribution management system, DERMS, distributed energy or resources management system. A lot of things, management system, generation. So basically what this is telling you is, now we are providing tools to analysts, to engineers, to operator, to have a better view of the system. So you asked me a question earlier, Matt, about the future. Those are the tools that enables you to look at your strategies, pretty much do like scenario planning, and understand the impact.

So now we're kind of halfway right in the game. Now we have software, we have resiliency, we've got reliability. Okay. But then things happen. So I used to say to people, you know, my job is to engineer the politics. So a governor or commissioner or the president or for somebody comes up with a rule. So I try my best to take this rule into action. I always say there are four sides of the square. If you're able to please like .gov, commissioner, then the utility gets benefit and then the developer or the vendor and then the customer. If you're able to kind of hit the four side of the square, everybody wins. There is something very fruitful.

So then the big focus was on energy efficiency, demand response. I remember when I first joined the utility, I was always reminded about the 1973 oil embargo. I wasn't alive then. And I've been telling people right now, the escalation in the Middle East, you know, putting politics aside, people like the good utilities are re-evaluating their entire system. Where do we get transformers from? So you should look at all these major milestones to understand.

So now it's energy efficiency. It's non-wire solution, non-pipe solution, which basically means one thing. The utilities now have a stronger bond or connection with your house, with your building, with behind the meter. So the meter used to be kind of the separation of church and state. That is gone. So that 10-yard, in my opinion, is one of the hardest ones because now you're dealing with... with challenges with cybersecurity, dealing with communication, you're dealing with people's home.

And then right away, the next 10 yards is the cybersecurity and communication. I'm a huge fan of all the labs, the Department of Energy labs. They're doing a lot of great work. There are a lot of models. So it's now time for the utilities to kind of partner with them because cybersecurity, you know, it's not me versus Matt. It's me versus like a whole country or multiple countries. At the same time, everything we have is getting pretty much going online. So, you know, you cannot say, you know what, let's go offline. That's not going to work.

I've been involved with transformation and digitalization. For years, you've been hearing about all the obstacles, why you cannot do this or that. And then if COVID taught us a lesson, many, I mean, a lot of companies globally, they went pretty much remote overnight. So magically, we found a way when we had a disaster to pretty much. So that's what I'm saying. It's never really a technology. There's always a way. So maybe we don't have to wait to the next COVID. We could be upwards.

Now we're getting very close towards the end. And then a big change. I know we focus on electric, but the gas system. So a lot of focus now become, you know what? Let's meet the climate change goals. Let's reduce methane. So what do we do? Let's focus on gas. And this is a very important thing. 10 yards because you know if you look at data centers and and kind of the battle between do they get supplied by the utility or do they build their own generation the idea is there's more gas now so that's like a very in the game as you come close to the end now you get a more defense if you

And then, like I said, so now we're right there with like the last one. And then the challenge now became like we're in the last 10 yards. You have AI and data centers. Now, I'm a big fan of both. But the idea is how do you do it in such a manner? So as we spoke about before, yes, there's more load. I think everybody, I mean, my five-year-old knows that. I mean, yes, there's more load coming. But how do you do it? Other nations are doing it. So I think, and then, so finally we're able to look at AI as a tool, not as an enemy, data center as a tool. You could work with them. I mean, this is like the most innovative, pretty much people on earth. So there's a lot, but partner, instead of just spending time talking about the load.

So now we've reached 100%. You do this many times. So like I said, there's, I don't know, 16 or 17 games or more you have to do every year. to get to the final game. And in the final game, you could imagine that you have one goal, which is now we have accomplished all this. There's a lot of stuff I didn't mention, but we have limited amount of plans along the way. But I would say if you do this all in a reliable manner, then you're really able to get to the 100%.

Just to wrap up, you start from yard one to yard 100%. I remember we'll talk about that in the future in a couple of minutes, but every 10 yards, you have like a lot of people, a lot of entities are trying to push you back. So I hope this kind of gives you a little bit of a flavor of, for me, the future, how we think. You know, think of the customers or the fans. And trust me, the fans will let you know right away if you're doing a bad job.

Matt Chester: That's right. No, that's helpful. I appreciate you laying that all out. And I guess, you know, this is an oversimplified question. But as you look at the US utility landscape, on average, where would you say they are right now? If we have, you know, the whole bad, the whole, you know, journey is 100 yards? Are they, are they at midfield? Are they still deep in their own territory? You know, how would you rate them?

Ahmed Moussa: No, it's a good question. So, I mean, we all know, without mentioning names, who are like the most innovative. I mean, I could tell you like offline in my own vision, like the top 10. So I think many that I know, maybe like a decent number, they are probably saving the 60% or so. Many others are waiting like, I mean, of course, the reliability, I would say the safety reliability, this is like a done deal for many. And many of them, like, you know, the first time events, now they kind of start in the first 30 yards because they are experiencing stuff they've never seen before.

I personally believe we could do a way better job in benchmarking. We don't really talk to one another. And like I said, again, you have a lot of information available online. We go to conferences. And there is no competition between utilities, at least in the distribution system. So I think we need to do benchmark. I always say we need to benchmark so we could benchmark. We don't wanna do benchmarks, we don't do benchmark. So to answer your question, I would say the bulk are probably in the 30, 40 yards. There's a good number of them are in the 60, 70 yard. But I think if we're able to finally find a solution for the last 10 yards, which is the whole AI, I think we're going to be going good.

Matt Chester: Yeah, yeah. It makes sense that they're going to be at different points. And if you were a betting man gambling on the football game slash energy systems, what's your forecast for when we might see those first companies really crossing into the end zone?

Ahmed Moussa: That's a good point. So the first thing I always do is, so between states, the one big difference between them, when you say the 100%, many of them, I mean, some of them do not include nuclear. So without getting into, so I would say the more base load generation, if you're lucky enough, you have like nuclear and hydro, then I would say to your point, Matt, they're much closer, maybe the 70, 80 yards. If you have neither, so like now you have, so basically what do you have? You can have solar. storage, wind, maybe geothermal, because you don't have any base load generation. So those are the utilities that will really have to work much harder than the others.

Now, I always say you can't just put a hydro plant like downtown Brooklyn, like the geography have to help you. Others, I would say, those are, especially those are picking up on building more fossil fuel generation. I would really start, there's a lot of European companies doing a great job with carbon capture and others. Like my point is, if they're going to come anyway, well, let's focus on making them clean instead of fighting over stuff like that. We waste too much time like talking. But I think like 2035 is literally around the corner. Yeah.

And, but I would say I'm optimistic that some of them will go. Now, of course, sometimes, you know, we're comparing apples to oranges. Like, for example, you have to look at the load. You can just, you know, okay, how many megawatt or gigawatt compared to other, you know, it's an overhead system for the underground. So there's a lot of variables, I would say, but I would just make them in the bucket. If you're a, if you're a nuclear, and it's not just you like nuclear and you have no nuclear, you have nuclear, you have nuclear fleet and you support it. I think that some states, I believe, including the Jersey, the ban has been lifted to own generation. So we're going to see a big change for utilities now to build new power plants. If they do the right job of partnering with the carbon capture technology and others from day one, then you build a cleaner.

Said, but that, I mean, for my, the work that I do, I don't really see it very clearly yet who's gonna be like at the finish line because there's a lot of also various road discussing, you know, migration of people, you know, people are moving to different states. So now it's not just data centers. You have like load pocket that are increasing overnight. So that's why I mentioned this game. I mean, this plan gets repeated every game.

Matt Chester: But just to kind of wrap up the metaphor, you know, you've highlighted that we can't expect the march down the field to be necessarily a smooth one. There will be steps backwards. There will be hurdles in the way. There is going to be starts and stops, all that stuff. So for utility leaders perhaps listening in and this metaphor is connecting with them, what's the advice you have for them about the actions that they should be taking today?

Ahmed Moussa: This is a great question. So, I mean, I would tell you, I mean, I'm always a big fan of what I call a shadow program. So we have sometimes, for some utilities, there's a disconnect between the regulatory body, for example, and the utility. And everybody knows that. But nobody tries to bridge the gap between the two. So I would say, invite the commissioner staff over and vice versa. You go and attend.

You know, once you understand the whole complexity of the rate case, once it goes to the commissioner, as an example, I've been fortunate to have worked with a lot of people, especially in New York, you know, a lot of, you know, people worked in the Public Service Commission, others you know, great people you could pretty much talk to. So I think, like, we really need to get rid of all this, literally, firewalls between them. Because the 100% clean energy, even though it was created in the political field by governors and politicians, we still have to build the system. And the system now has to be affordable. So if there's one advice I would give is, like, you know, pretty much connect the two.

Look at what, you know, for example, look at what you intern. You get an intern, maybe even a different major. They know nothing about electric grid. But in 30, 40 days, they go to substations, they meet with planners, they go in the field. So they get like, you know, like a life changing, they're born again, if you will, at the end of just once in summer. So why can't we do this a lot more often?

So if you go back to the square example I give, I always try to find a solution that's good for everybody. If you only favor developer, That's like one side. Your only favorite, for example, the .gov is great, but you're missing the technically. So if you do it, everybody wins. So every tool you add, every technology, every solar installation, everything you add helps everybody, then it's a win-win.

Then go back to the point I mentioned. Let's benchmark really for the sake of benchmarking. Let's really... I mean, the customer have an issue with affordability. So let's not have 7,000 pilots. Let's talk to California. Let's talk to, you know, New York. Let's talk to all the... I mean, go overseas.

I always said before, like, you know, a lot of countries in the overseas, yes, they're relatively new, but they want to break records. They want to be the first. So let's see what worked. I mean, if you're complaining about the heat, it doesn't get hot in the Middle East. So go there, find out. If you're complaining about the cold, come here, find out. So I think... The partnership is very, very important. The message is the more you include, the further really we go. So that would be like the message I would give.

Matt Chester: That's a great kind of cap on the metaphor walkthrough. And again, a timely one with football getting ready to kick off soon. So thank you so much for joining us today and walking us through that, Ahmed.

Ahmed Moussa: Thanks for the opportunity. Appreciate it.

Matt Chester: Of course. And thanks as well to our audience for joining us today. We'll catch you here again on the next episode of Power Perspectives.