Host Chad Hughes welcomes Blandon Granger, Supervisor of Real Estate Services for the Sacramento Municipal Utility District (SMUD), to the show. Blandon has been in the energy industry at SMUD for the past seventeen years and supervises asset management and complex acquisitions. He talks with Chad about the impacts of EV charging and urban development on his role. 

Blandon explains that SMUD has a “very aggressive” zero carbon plan and by 2030 wants all their energy to be from clean sources. He talks about how SMUD approaches that goal by developing themselves as well as partnering with developers with similar goals. Renewable energy and green initiative projects come with their own challenges that Blandon describes for Chad.

Chad and Blandon discuss how the real estate development deals are made, how SMUD is a public agency with an elected board of directors, how the green energy shift comes with decarbonization and the impacts of urban and residential growth on how his department operates. EV charging especially has come with its own challenges and Blandon addresses this and more with Chad in this eye-opening interview. 

“So, you know, a big concern, I think, anywhere is wiping out [agriculture] lands for these solar projects. Agriculture is a big customer for us. I mean, you know, we've got agricultural customers, it's a part of our heritage in the valley here. I don't think SMUD really wants to be going out there and just decimating significant farmlands and so forth. So the thought is you would bring in compatible type of AG uses. So what we've seen so far is mainly grazing. Sheep are great. They don't bother or destroy the facilities.” - Blandon Granger

About Blandon Granger:

At SMUD, Blandon Granger manages all real estate activities of the nation’s sixth-largest publicly owned electric utility. With an annual budget of $1.6 billion, SMUD is a leader in renewable technologies and developing energy projects. Blandon’s group provides services for acquisition, management and disposition of all land rights necessary to operate an electrical utility with generation, transmission, distribution, retail, and administrative facilities. Blandon has also served on the City of Roseville Public Utilities Commission since 2012 and is responsible to the city council for recommendations on policies concerning evaluation, operations, and compliance with state and federal rules and regulations relating to the city's utilities within the city limits. Blandon has achieved the International Right of Way Association's (IRWA) Senior Agent (SR/WA) designation and serves on IRWA's International Electric and Utilities Committee and is the past chair of the Asset Management Committee. 

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Chad Hughes | CEO, Entrepreneurial Leader, Author: website |linkedin

Blandon Granger | Supervisor of Real Estate Services at SMUD: website | linkedin