DER Task Force

We’re back! This time with John Berger, the CEO and Founder of Sunnova. Sunnova is not only one of the largest solar and storage installers in the country, they are also one of the most innovative in their offerings to customers. From VPPS in Texas to free batteries and micro utilities in CA, Sunnova is setting the tone for a distributed future. Tune in to hear how John views consumer choice and deregulation, incentives, the continued progression of the space, VPPs, the value of resilience, private wires, the evolution of the utility model, what customers want from DERs, and so much more!This is a fun one that we’ve wanted to do for some time, and not even a power outage in the middle of a conversation about utilities’ obligation to serve could stop us. Were we angering the utility gods, or was it some sort of divine intervention to illuminate the importance of DERs? Spooky stuff, but we must remain undeterred in our quest to DER-pill more youths. Tune in and decide for yourselves! 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

Colleen, Jimbo, and Duncan are back, this time joined by Noah Smith of Noahpinion. While fellow energy nerds might know Noah for his posts Don’t be a doomer, Why I’m so excited about solar and batteries, or Battery-powered appliances!, his reach goes well beyond our small corner of the world. Noah’s an economist and techno-optimist who engages in a wide variety of topics, from globalization, to NIMBYism, and wokeness. We had a great time with Noah and discussed all sorts of fun stuff. The conversation also delivered gems such as “the demand for culture war is highly inelastic”, “doomerism is a function of the clout-matrix”, and “ESG was a zero-interest rate phenomenon”.We hope you enjoy the episode!Timestamps:* (4:20) Discussing the merits of domesticated rabbits and the morality of eating them.* (9:59) What type of sci-fi Noah would write, and why it would be solarpunk, and another mention of our eco-rave obsession.* (12:52) Noah’s hottest energy take, why are so many libertarians nuclear-stans, is distributed solar inherently expensive? * (22:14) Renewable energy narratives and counternarratives* (28:13) Is there a path to nuclear at scale?* (33:24) Noah’s take on who blew up Nord Stream.* (37:20) Energy costs’ role in the great stagnation starting in 1973, how that drove energy efficiency, industrial off-shoring and focus on low-energy economic activities, expensive energy → going nimby and inequality.* (52:56) Noah’s interest in battery-integrated devices, Sam D'Amico = Kaylee from Firefly, Noah gets DER-pilled.* (68:00) Gas stove debates, “the demand for culture war is highly inelastic”, when are bans appropriate, DM Colleen with gas stoves studies, Gell-Mann Amnesia* (80:23) “Doomerism is a function of the clout-matrix.”* (91:32) Noah’s the Energy Czar of America for 1 day.* (93:55) Dope or Nope, “ESG is a zero-interest rate phenomenon”, Noah’s coming to our eco-rave.* (98:25) Bunny mischief, big shouts, qualified shouts, medium shouts, housing is for rabbits. 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 we sit down with Troy Cross, a twitter chameleon of sorts. He’s an environmentalist, philosopher at Reed College, and avid bitcoiner. And depending on who you talk to, you’ll get a different answer as to what he’s all about. We just know him as an intelligent, interesting, super good dude who we love talking to! This is a different episode than what you all may be used to, but we had a blast recording.In it, we talk about why nuclear isn’t really happening, how if it’s ultimately statist, why so called anti-centralization/anti-statist bitcoiners are for it, if bitcoiners just want to be the landed aristocracy, bitcoin citadels, a long riff on the pros and cons of both bitcoin and our current monetary system, how to square narratives around ESG, bitcoin, and climate, how Shell is both at Davos and the Bitcoin Miami conference, how to navigate the culture war when it comes to climate, who these narratives ultimately serve, how DERs and bitcoin share similar philosophical underpinnings, how bitcoin and DERs are a check against our struggling institutions, and so much more!!!Strap in, this is a fun one. 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 still figuring out this whole substack thing. We released this paid ep last week for paid subscribers, but didn’t send out an email or a preview to our unpaid subscribers. So, we’re resending to give the unpaids a snippet of this tasty ep. If you’re an unpaid subscriber, you should change that! Original post:“We’re back with a solo pod! We’ll be d…

The crew is back with another episode, this time sitting down with Arcady Sosinov, Founder and CEO of FreeWire. In this episode we talk about doing things that really, really don’t scale, gearheads in an EV world, utility vs O&G company cold war + the breakdown of 7 Powers in an abundant energy future, FreeWire’s core product innovation and the value of juicing utilization, finally a charging solution for non-suburbs, trojan horsing batteries into your local Wendy’s, the rise of permission-less DER deployment and how utilities will react, the equity questions around rate-basing + EV charger deployment, collecting tax credits like Pokemon, avoiding space-time continuum rips at all costs, and some…questionable… big shouts. 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! This time we sit down with Sam D’Amico, CEO and co-founder of Impulse Labs, an induction stove start-up based out of San Francisco. Listen on for nearly 2 hours of physics, macro, cooking, and much more: * (1:30-22:45 ) Getting DER-pilled (thermal events anyone?), nerding out about college extra-curriculars, Sam’s favorite DER and James’ public retraction, breaking out the old charcoal grill with the boys* (22:45-30:29) When are we finally getting fusion?* (30:30-45:45) How and why Sam took the induction plunge from VR, Impulse Labs elevator pitch in energy and in English, getting people into the vibes of induction by just being better* (45:50-51:05) Duncan asks questions about knobs* (51:05-1:02:00) The Impulse Labs master plan and induction as a NWA* (1:02:00-1:16:20) A microbattery future? The exclusionary story of suburban electrification + driving down soft costs* (1:16:20-1:32:10) Macro chatter: Raising a Series A in a non-optimal capital environment, growing a non-pure-SaaS business in whacky macro conditions, what happens when China rebounds from zero Covid * (1:32:10-1:39:40) Energy czar of America and our energy abundant future* (1:39:40- ) Dope or nope, BIIIG shoutsFriendly reminder that you can always find us on Spotify, iTunes, or your favorite podcast player. Thanks for listening! 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 with a solo ep to talk about Doomers and why you shouldn’t be one! Tune in to ring in your new year with a heavy dose of optimism and why 2023 is going to be insane heat.This time we talk Duncan getting saved by a Christian Scientist, the average person thinking casually that we’re screwed, why having kids is good, Jordan Peterson’s and Alex Epstein’s cringe intelktualism, categorizing doomers and degrowthers, Colleen and James’ climate journeys, how doomers and knee-jerk contrarians in their opposition just both re-enforce the status quo, talking about eco raves with LCD Soundsytem bandmates, what Clean Energy Abundance means to us, doing more with less, why art, changing cultural narratives, and DER-pilling our peers matters so much, listening to the Ion Pack, whether we should go to Mars or just be homesteaders, if Elon is a doomer, 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

Welcome back to another episode of the pod! This week, we sat down with Neha Palmer, CEO and Co-founder of Terawatt Infrastructure. Check out the show notes below: * (0:00-13:00) Getting DER-pilled at PG&E, favorite DER, extra-curricular activities and protecting powDER, Neha’s ideal last job, and hottest energy takes* (13:00- 22:30) The Terrawatt Infrastructure pitch, EV charging for fleets and what’s special about Terrawatt’s model * (22:30- 32:00) Location, location, location and optimization, optimization, optimization, rise of the electrocartographer* (32:00-42:10) Overcoming the interconnection challenge, balancing growth and reliability in the process* (42:10-52:10) What electrification means for how companies run their EV fleets and where hydrogen fits in, plans beyond EVs * (52:10-56:01) Energy czar of America, and dope or nope* (56:01-59:30) Big Shouts to Keyframe, Vision Ridge, and the youths. Plus interconnection analysts, Twitter and Terrawatt Friendly reminder that you can always find us on Spotify, iTunes, or your favorite podcast player. Thanks for listening! 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

Welcome back to another episode of the pod! This episode is a special one — it features many of you! During the DERTFestivities, the crew busted out the recording equipment and captured some live takes from the community. Listen on to hear some major heat from the Task Force….* The crew gives up on explaining franchise rights in minute 1* Russell “Rusty” Wilcox (Thee God) on bigger and better onesies and hard dope, plus big Tim energy* Sophia Cowles (The Low-Talker) on the new boomers, getting DER-pilled, and meeting randoms from the internet* Ben Carron (The Options Guy) on NEM and being שעפּן נחת (shepn nakhes) about DER Task Force* Katie Tweed (The Birdwatcher) tells us about herself + Canary Media (a real bird, unlike Twitter), dreaming of heat pumps and camping outside Sears, and CONFIRMS induction stoves are DERs (sorry Kiran!), expanding Canary coverage for the future * The crew gets told off by the bartender for DERTF being animals* Elta Kolo (Dr. Demand Response) gives candid feedback about DERTF, knee-deep in the IRA with Huck Capital is strong dope with big scope* Eric Goff (James’s Twitter BFF) on working with BEEEEP, the nopest ERCOT proposals + unmasking bad actors, fascist energy policy and California fuckery, infra of last resort model, trade org ASAP* Nick Scherer (Turnstile’s neighbor) on penning + reviewing the DER Task Force Bill of Rights* Billy REDACTED (Hire this man) just took his first DER Pill, entering the Age of the Electron, sitting in the podcast hotseat, interviewing live from Nightmoves, a message for the future recently-DER-pilled who may listen* Task Force OUTFriendly reminder that you can always find us on Spotify, iTunes, or your favorite podcast player. Thanks for listening! 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

Hello there DER Task Force — we are back after a post-DERTFest break with another episode of the pod. This time, the gang interviewed Emily McAteer, founder and CEO of Odyssey Energy Solutions. In this episode we cover…* (0:00) Getting to know Emily: DER-pills in ‘09, the dopest and nopest grids, Emily’s favorite DER, SunEdison in its heyday, hottest energy takes* (17:40) The “uneconomics” of minigrids, and what’s going on in emerging energy markets today * (26:38) The false binary of energy access - a big grid or the bare minimum * (30:45) The Odyssey Energy story (and a new acronym), the core pillars of the business and competitive advantages, being the platform or owning the vertical* (43:00) The job to be done by Odyssey and why build the business, Emily’s personal connection to climate * (51:58) Has V2G made it to emerging markets? Capacity factor math for the new grid + bilateral minigrid agreements, and how to build minigrids for volatile demand* (1:02:10) WORLD energy czar for a day, dope or nope, BIG SHOUTS Friendly reminder that you can always find us on Spotify, iTunes, or your favorite podcast player. We 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