Inside the Grid

This month Sioux Valley Energy's Training and Development Coordinator Chinelle Christensen introduces two students from the EMPOWER Youth Leadership Class of 2022-2023. Lily Fods represents Chester Area School District and Ashirvad Sharma is from Brandon Valley High School.

This month Sioux Valley Energy's Member Services and Billing Supervisors Toni Kruger and Molly Burmeister discuss how the Smarthub App can help members access, view, and understand their electric usage. 

This month Sioux Valley Energy spotlights a key account member New Vision Cooperative.  We visit with New Vision Co-op's CEO Matt Ashton about agriculture and how New Vision serves their members in southwest Minnesota. 

This month Sioux Valley Energy celebrates October being National Cooperative Month. We sit down with SVE's CEO and General Manager Tim McCarthy to visit about the 7 cooperative principles. We talk about what everyday commitment to community looks like and why cooperatives are a great career choice.

Welcome to a Special Edition of Inside the Grid Podcast. This month we will host the 2nd annual EV Ride and Drive event Thursday September 29th from 4-7PM at the WH Lyon Fairgrounds eastside parking lot. Our Manager of Beneficial Electrification Ben Pierson and I recently sat down with Sioux Metro Growth Alliance's Sheldon Jenson with their podcast Growing Places to visit about the coop and the upcoming EV Ride and Drive event. (Thank you and credit to SMGA's Growing Places podcast)

Inside the Grid was on the road at the Governor's Office of Economic Development (GOED) Deep Dive Conference in Watertown, South Dakota. ISG's Economic Development Practitioner, Steve Watson, shares his perspective on economic development and Joe Fiala explains why GOED hosted the Deep Dive sessions for "landing-the-deal".

Inside the Grid welcomes Justin Moose, Sioux Valley Energy's Vice President of Technology. We discuss Cybersecurity terms, common scams, and best practices for avoiding potential data exposures. Justin shares ideas on possible scenarios if a cyber event occurs and training to help businesses and their employees limit online threats.

Inside the Grid welcomes Brandon Lane as Sioux Valley Energy's newest Community & Economic Development Representative. We talked about REVIVE 2030 and the chamber's impact on communities with Amy Meert Farr from Hartford Area Chamber and Rachael Neiman with the Brandon Valley Area Chamber of Commerce. 

Inside the Grid talks with USDA's Rural Development Business Loan Specialist, Cayla Holleman, about the variety of programs to assist Ag producers, new or expanding rural business owners, and other financial resource tools for electric cooperative members. 

Inside the Grid talks with Sioux Valley Energy's Safety Steering Committee members Terry Ebright, Deb Biever, Jake Dybedahl, and Mike Oines on why safety is paramount at the cooperative.

Inside the Grid talks with Sheila Gross and Reggie Gassman from Sioux Valley Energy's Beneficial Electrification Department regarding Commercial and Agriculture rebates and incentive programs.

Inside the Grid was on the road in February at Touchstone Energy's 2022 NEXT Conference in Palm Springs, California. Jay Buchholz participated in the "Serving Essential Loads" panel and presented how a podcast can add value to key accounts. We also talked with Ryan Nance from North Carolina's Electric Cooperatives and Tina Rushing from CHELCO about the value their organizations bring to key accounts.

In the latest podcast, we visit with Sioux Valley Energy's System Engineer Chris Graff to talk about the Workplan and Budget process.

In the latest podcast, we sit down with Chris Studer from East River Electric Power Cooperative and Trevor Jones from South Dakota Rural Electric Association to get their take on issues facing cooperatives in Washington as well as in Pierre and St. Paul.

Inside the Grid talks about the "Cooperative Difference" for National Co-op Month.  Sioux Valley Energy Vice Presidents of Public Relations, Carrie Vugteveen; Human Resources and Member Services Debra Biever; and Chief Financial Officer Betty VanDerWerff discuss how cooperatives benefit their members.

Inside the Grid talks Sustainability and Renewable Energy during a round table discussion with Jeff Rud from East River Electric and Reggie Gassman and Ben Pierson from Sioux Valley Energy. 

Inside the Grid talks with Rural Electric Economic Development (REED) Fund's new manager Eric Fosheim and Sioux Metro Growth Alliance's President and CEO Jesse Fonkert regarding economic development tools and strategies in the region.

Inside the Grid talks with Sioux Valley Energy's Billing Supervisor Molly Burmeister and System Engineer Chris Graff about how members can navigate Smarthub for energy information and other useful tools.

It's June Dairy month! We take a moment to thank the dairy producers and visit with Sioux Valley Energy member Boadwine Dairy. Jay Buchholz talks with Lynn Boadwine about their dairy operation and Sioux Valley Energy's Sheila Gross about ag-related rebate programs.

What does a culture of safety look like for utilities and manufacturing companies? Jay Buchholz talks with two experts on building and maintaining a safety culture: Terry Ebright, Sioux Valley Energy's Safety Coordinator, and DJ Mittan, Marmen Energy's EHS Manager.

How are overhead or underground power line outages identified, and what happens when an outage call comes into Sioux Valley Energy? Jay Buchholz talks with two experts on these issues: Ted Smith, Sioux Valley Energy Vice President of Operations and Engineering, and Sharla Haugen, Manager of Dispatch Operations.

Beneficial Electrification: This month, I talk with Sioux Valley Energy Manager of Beneficial Electrification Ben Pierson and Energy Services Specialist Sheila Gross about SVE's approach to Beneficial Electrification.  We'll discuss how cooperative initiatives can help you save money over time, benefit the environment, improve quality of life, and foster a more robust and resilient electric grid. 

Business PowerUp: Widespread extreme cold temperatures led to historic levels of energy demand on the U.S. power grid this week resulting in unplanned power outages for thousands throughout the central portion of the country, including approximately 7,000 Sioux Valley Energy members. As you can imagine, Sioux Valley Energy has gotten a lot of questions about the outages.  In an effort to answer some of those questions and explain in greater detail what happened, Sioux Valley Energy’s Jay Buchholz sat down with Sioux Valley Energy CEO/GM, Tim McCarthy and East River Electric CEO/GM, Tom Boyko to discuss the week’s events.  East River Electric is one of Sioux Valley Energy’s power suppliers.  The podcast does run about 16 minutes but it provides a thorough overview of this week’s unplanned power outages that occurred throughout the entire central section of the United States.  You can listen here: 

Widespread extreme cold temperatures led to historic levels of energy demand on the U.S. power grid this week resulting in unplanned power outages for thousands throughout the central portion of the country, including approximately 7,000 Sioux Valley Energy members. As you can imagine, Sioux Valley Energy has gotten a lot of questions about the outages.  In an effort to answer some of those questions and explain in greater detail what happened, Sioux Valley Energy’s Jay Buchholz sat down with Sioux Valley Energy CEO/GM, Tim McCarthy and East River Electric CEO/GM, Tom Boyko to discuss the week’s events.  East River Electric is one of Sioux Valley Energy’s power suppliers.  The podcast does run about 16 minutes but it provides a thorough overview of this week’s unplanned power outages that occurred throughout the entire central section of the United States.  You can listen here: 

Episode #1 covers Energy 101 in Part 1. Sioux Valley Energy's Vice President of Engineering and Operations Ted Smith explains how the electric grid works with some utility terminology. In Part 2, SVE's staking engineer Jason Sage talks through the process for installing a new or expanded service location.