DER Task Force

We’re back! This time we sat down with Quincy Lee, CEO and co-founder of Electric Era, an electric vehicle refueling company. Quincy has a super cool background - starting with designing skyscrapers, then moving on to space technology, and now he’s der-pilled.We talk about all kinds of stuff in this one:* what SpaceX and Starlink were like* why EV charging, or whoops, we mean “car refill”* EV charging reliability* grid constraints limiting EV infrastructure* the role of social media in shaping public opinion on energy* the category isn’t ClimateTech or even EnergyTech - its GridTech* and Deep GridTech is here!* solid state power electronics, quantum-level stuff* where the hell are all the transformers we need?* Quincy: Gundo is “okay”, but come to Seattle* innovation at the grid edge* the grid edge strangler figging the grid?This is a free episode for all subscribers, but if you want access to everything we do and would like to support our work broadly, be sure to visit www.dertaskforce.com and become a paid subscriber for just $5/month. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.dertaskforce.com/subscribe

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.dertaskforce.comWe’re back! This time with a VIDEO POD. We recorded this live at DTECH a few weeks ago and haven’t had time to upload it. But this is a fun one that you don’t want to miss.Not only did we finally find out what a DERMS is, but we also became fully converted distribution utility maxis after walking the show floor. We’re all quitting our jobs and starting hardware companies with the Gundo boys! Tune in to hear why!The is a paid episode for the real DERTF heads. If you appreciate our work and want to support it, all while getting access to exclusive paid content, consider subscribing at www.dertaskforce.com.

In this episode, Jesse Jenkins discusses his DERs journey, rooftop solar costs in the US versus Australia, unfair advantages and disadvantages of DERs, rate design complexities, and strategies to tackle load growth and transmission buildout.

Economist Lynne Kiesling explores decentralized coordination and libertarianism in power markets, discusses projects involving thermostat automation and water heater chip engineering, delves into technological determinism's impact on power markets' evolution, navigates optimism and challenges in the energy sector, and explores historical development and regulation of the electric utility industry.

Discussion on potential changes in the grid over the next few decades, challenges in electrification and decarbonization with panelists Lynn Kiesling, Jesse Jenkins, and Andy Frank.

We’re back! This time we sat down with Pier LaFarge, co-founder and CEO of Sparkfund. Those who listened to the DERVOS recording released last week may remember Pier pitching a utility-led DER deployment model. It was a pretty interesting idea that we felt deserved its own deep dive on a pod, so we invited Pier on to make the case for what is likely a very counterintuitive DERs approach for many in the space. In the episode he envisions a world where utilities determine the best locations for DERs on the grid, design the systems, provide them via RFP, rate base them, and then use them to make tripling grid throughput cost effective. This of course brought up all sorts of discussion about natural monopolies, emergent outcomes, utility death spirals, price signals, socialization, cost of capital, and more. Hope you enjoy! This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.dertaskforce.com/subscribe

The podcast discusses the benefits and drawbacks of central planning and public ownership in managing the grid and distributed energy resources. Panelists explore contrasting perspectives on off-grid living and central planning. The speaker highlights the challenges faced by a small cooperative in integrating DERs and the importance of doubling the grid. The chapter also explores the role of government in public power and proposes regional regulatory commissions.

Duncan and James reflect on the past 5 years in the energy space and look ahead at 2024 and beyond. They discuss the current tech environment, building energy startups, and the difference between energy tech and climate tech. They also explore if the CA grid failures are a warning for other regions.

We’re back! This time with a perfect warmup for DERvos in a few days with DERTF OG Ben Carron. Ben has not only worked for FERC, Nat Grid, SunRun, E3, and now Enel X, but also was one of the earliest presenters at our original, pre-pandemic “DG Beers” happy hours.We wanted to have Ben on to get back to our energy market wonkery roots, so don’t worry—you won’t hear any stuff about twitter culture discourse on this ep. In it, we talk about the early “DG Beers” days, dunkelflaute, James’ take that maybe market structure doesn’t matter all that much for DERs, Ben’s take how maybe geography is more important than market structure, a reminder that ultimately DERs need to stand on their own merits, different schemes of crediting T&D vs. energy/capacity benefits, if renewables can thrive in a capacity market, trusting the deal-making nature of all governance structures, and so much more about what the hell else who knows! We barely even understand ourselves. Tune in to bathe in the wonkery! This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.dertaskforce.com/subscribe

We’re back! And this time just Duncan and James to talk about weird twitter discourse again! Sorry… we promise we’ll go back to talking about wonky energy stuff in the next episodes.In this ep, we talk about Duncan’s Dad’s epic utility pole story, James’ other less successful business ventures, announcing the first ever V2R (Vehicle 2 Rave) application at DERvos, Marc Andreesen’s manifesto and Sam Altman on Joe Rogan, their (and the e/acc movement’s) views on energy and environmentalism, comparing that to MMA environmentalism, the religious quality to all of this, our belief in balance, our hopes for new envrionmentalism, the myopic focus of the discourse on carbon, chaos theory, complexity science, and so much more! This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.dertaskforce.com/subscribe