Kurt Rhee

Karen Herter, this is an incredibly timely and helpful report. Most telecom and energy engineers are focused on deploying two-way networks and IP connectivity to everything. In contrast, this report provides strategic quantification of the benefits of using multiple existing networks to provide hyperconnectivity to demand response devices. Well done!!!

5

Merchant vs hedge in battery storage... That's what I'll be discussing at the Solarmedia Battery Asset Management Summit November 12 in San Diego I'll be on a panel with my friend Joe Crespo, Sandeep Arora of REV Renewables, Erdal Kara, PhD of Vistra Corp., Li Xu of LXI Capital and Sebastian Blake of Octopus Energy talking about risks and rewards, and sharing my Plus Power perspective #energystorage #batterystorage #batteries https://lnkd.in/eQDiv_Ax

5

THis is so nice! According to new data released by the California Energy Commission (CEC), in 2022, nearly 61% of California's energy came from NON-FOSSIL FUEL sources. 39% of the state's energy was generated from renewable sources, highlighting the substantial progress in incorporating solar, wind, and other renewables into the energy mix. Solar energy, has played a pivotal role in this transition. With abundant sunshine, California has leveraged solar power to become a leading state in solar energy production. The widespread adoption of solar panels has significantly contributed to the state's renewable energy output. Looking ahead, microgrids or local sustainable power plants, represent the next big step in revolutionizing California's energy landscape. By enabling localized energy production and distribution, microgrids enhance energy resilience and reliability. They can operate independently of the central grid, providing critical power during outages and emergencies. Microgrids can integrate various renewable energy sources, including solar, to create a flexible and sustainable energy system. As California continues to invest in microgrid technology, the state can achieve even greater efficiency and stability in its clean energy grid, further solidifying its position as a leader in the fight against climate change. https://lnkd.in/geEXn_pK

3

One of the top priorities for all utilities will need to be clearly and effectively communicating all the costs associated with the "energy transition." "Half of the average consumer bill has nothing to do with what fuel is used to generate electricity. It reflects the cost of transmission and distribution. And those costs are rising fast, according to consumer advocates. Utilities are spending heavily to ramp up their transmission infrastructure as electricity demand grows because of the advent of electric vehicles and data centers for artificial intelligence applications. Increasingly, those costs will be passed along to consumers." “I expect it to accelerate,” wrote David Springe, executive director of the National Association of State Utility Consumer Advocates, in an email to Barron’s. “A lot of spending has yet to hit the consumer bill.” Ten percent rate increases are beginning across the country during a period where natural gas prices are rock bottom and the cost of capital is rising like the sun. Hard to buy the argument that inflation will soon moderate and the Fed will cut rates soon. But if inflation does moderate somewhere down the road, it will not be because of lower electricity prices. There is no kicking this can down the road #communication #utilities #inflation #electricity #costofcapital #interestrates

8

A colleague asked me based on the last 5 years of ERCOT wind and solar hourly output how many GW of wind + solar + MWh of storage would be needed to deliver a continuous 1GW of Carbon Free Energy for every hour in the period. That was a fun question. So I pulled hourly data from here for ERCOT https://lnkd.in/e9DcWKk to give me a database of Jan 1, 2019 to Feb 1, 2024 of hourly wind and solar generation. Then I pulled installed wind and solar data capacity from here for ERCOT: https://lnkd.in/gaxU2JAd I used the installed capacity of wind and solar to convert the actual generation through the period to hourly outputs as a percentage of the installed capacity at the time (I just linearly interpolated solar and wind installed capacity throughout the year from capacity for the end of the previous year to end of the current year based on the EIA installed capacity inventories). With those hourly percentages I set up a calculator to tell me if I installed 'x' GWs of solar or wind in ERCOT what I would get looking at every hour in the Jan 1, 2019 to Feb 1, 2024 dataset. I then setup a calculator to figure out a storage inventory based on a continuous need for 1GW of Carbon Free Energy (CFE) needed for every hour in the dataset. I did a number of runs with different installations of Wind (GW), Solar (GW), and Storage (MWh) to see if they could deliver 1GW of energy for every hour in the ~45,000 hour dataset. Below is a table of results.

99

55 Comments

SunPower PPA & 0% escalation: “With their SunPower systems, homeowners will pay 10% less for electricity than they would from SoCal Edison and have the same electricity rate for the next 25 years…” $0.00 ZERO added cost for Solar panels and battery storage to the home selling price. 🙌 Only 10% discount vs SCE… but the same kWh rate locked in for twenty five (25) years will create tremendous savings for all the families that live in these homes. Unfortunately, the builders never put enough solar panels on the roof to power both the home, to Net Zero, an EV for commuting. As a rule of thumb, there should be one (1) solar panel for every one hundred (100) square feet and one solar panel for every two thousand (2k) miles drive per year. For example: A two thousand (2,000) square foot home and a driver needing ten thousand (10k) miles, would require twenty five (25) solar panels each 400W. In short, California needs all new housing developments to replicate this brilliant KB Homes design, but add more solar panels… and L2 EV charger.

10

For anyone who will be at IEEE Power & Energy Society T&D Conference feel free to stop by our panel session on #EVs and #gridreliability. Will be an interesting cross-sector discussion including technology provider, independent system operator, and utility perspectives among others. E-mobility is driving the blending of Transmission and Distribution system planning, design, and operations. Particularly with the growing prevalence of distributed energy resources, IoT and grid-edge technologies, and virtual power plants (#VPPs).

15

⚡ Interested in unlocking the true potential of #distributedenergy? There are a few spots left in our workshop at Microgrid Knowledge 2024! ⏳ When: April 22nd at 1 pm (Exactly 1 week away!) 📍 Where: Harbor Ballroom B 🤝 We are excited and grateful to partner with Kate Cummings from G&W Electric Co., David Braun from Intelligent Generation, Venkataramana Ramireddy from Rolls-Royce Solutions America, and Samuel Harrell from Intel Corporation. This 2-hour Workshop will cover the following use cases and MORE! 1. Setting and operating systems capable of complex operations 2. Utilizing Grid Services to maximize the revenue potential of the assets within your system 3. Moving towards a commitment to Net Zero Carbon by efficiently configuring systems that maximize renewables 4. Establishing a digital foundation that enables an expanding microgrid portfolio 5. Connecting to the digital world to deliver solutions at scale Don't miss this powerful discussion and demonstrations on building, deploying, optimizing, and managing microgrids for real-world applications. Link to register below 👇 #workshop #MicrogridKnowledge #MicrogridKnowledgeConference #SustainableEnergy 

33

4 Comments

The urgent need to bring more clean energy resources online has created growing pains for California's outdated power grid. Read part 1 of UCS's Vivian Yang's posts on the roadblocks and bottlenecks the Golden State is facing in its transition to 100% clean energy. #PowerGrid #CleanEnergy

4

It is amazing to see the continued deployment of large scale batteries onto the grid. Grid stability has never been more important due to the higher penetrations of clean yet intermittent energy sources such as PV and Wind. When properly designed and applied, technologies like BESS (battery energy storage systems) can truly enhance grid voltage, frequency and angular stability. Can’t wait to see advancements in utility controls (especially large scale remedial action schemes) where fast acting BESS power electronics are called upon during large scale power disturbances! Note: The views expressed are solely those of the author and are based on their personal technical experiences. These views do not represent those of any organization.

23

1 Comment

Leeward Renewable Energy, alongside California's PG&E, has established a pivotal long-term agreement ensuring resource adequacy for a substantial PV co-located Battery Energy Storage System (BESS) in Arizona. This 15-year commitment encompasses the energy generated by the Sierra Pinta BESS project in Yuma County, Arizona, boasting a capacity of 112.5MW/450MWh and slated to commence construction in September, aiming for commercial operation in the first half of 2025. Resource Adequacy (RA) agreements, such as this, are vital mechanisms within the CAISO market, allowing resources to commit their capacity to meet demand requirements, bolstering reliability without reliance on centralized Capacity Market (CM) auctions. Arizona's landscape is witnessing a surge in grid-scale BESS initiatives, driven by long-term Power Purchase Agreements (PPAs), tolling agreements, and RA commitments. Notably, Plus Power secured tax equity for a 360MWh project in May, followed by Longroad Energy's commencement of an 855MWh system in March. Additionally, a 1GWh project came online during the same month, claiming the title of the state's largest endeavor in energy storage. This flurry of activity underscores Arizona's emergence as a focal point for large-scale energy storage endeavors. https://lnkd.in/gN2SPQHx

4

Innovo is back with our newest Monday update - Solar & Wind! Check it out below ⬇ ☀ Solar - Increased 16% YoY from 2022 to 2023 with 238,121 GWh of electricity production in total - California produced over 2x compared to any other state with 68,800 GWh of electricity generated - Texas had a 37% increase in capacity added in 2023 - #Solar amassed 4% of the country's electricity production in 2023, up from 0.5% in 2014 🍃 Wind: - Decreased 2% YoY from 2022 to 2023 with 425,235 GWh of electricity produced for utility purposes. The reason? Winds speeds decreasing in the Midwest especially. - Texas generates more from #wind than the next 3 states combined at 119,836 GWh of electricity - Arizona & New York increased their generation by 39% and 25% in 2023 - Wind produces 10% of the nation's electricity, compared to 4% in 2014 ⚡ Out of the ~125 million homes, Wind & Solar generated enough to power 61 million homes in 2023...that's nearly half! There's a lot of progress to be made in order to stay carbon free by 2035. Innovo Markets will continue to support both Solar & Wind generation facilities. Through the Innovo platform these power producers will save money and time leveraging an easy to use tech stack to handle their renewable energy certificates needs. Check out more from our sources here: https://lnkd.in/g7J5Fkvg https://lnkd.in/gmicS2J8 And learn more about Innovo on our website: https://lnkd.in/giXfuw_s

11

California's 8 GW Solar Gold Mine: Resilience Hubs Shaping the Future 🌞🏢 TL;DR: A study spots 18,000 resilience hub sites in California that can generate 8GW of solar power, boosting grid resilience and supporting communities during power outages. It underscores fossil fuel drawbacks and backs solar plus energy storage as a sustainable solution. Highlights • Average US household faced 8 hours without power in 2020. • Resilience hubs more cost-effective, located in public spaces. • Fossil fuel generators high-maintenance, fail 48 hours into outages. • Solar power reliable for critical needs, funding a major challenge. • Identified hubs could power 15.8M Californians, reducing emissions by 5m tons. • Equity crucial for vulnerable communities; strategic placements explored. • High utility rates justify solar; calls for discounted renewable pricing. #SolarPower #ResilienceHubs #CleanEnergy #California #Sustainability #CommunitySupport #EnergyStorage #EquityInEnergy Article Source https://lnkd.in/gA-6Uyxj

2

Two major areas of energy policy reform butting heads in California. Encouraging people to switch to heat pumps is good for everyone, but rate design issues are discouraging the switch https://lnkd.in/g-3cUMtx

1

California targets 100% renewable energy by 2045. Battery energy storage, installed on the customer’s side of the meter, can store energy from renewable solar and wind for later use as well as: ✔️ensure reliable power during grid outages ✔️reduce utility bills ✔️cut carbon emissions To accelerate battery energy storage adoption, the Energy Storage Permitting Guidebook (funded by the California Energy Commission) offers best practices to streamline permitting. CSE's Kelly Leathers discusses the importance of energy storage and best practices to overcome permitting hurdles here: https://lnkd.in/grpvGzB5

12

1 Comment

When is a utility NOT a utility, and how can they affect massive change for EV charging optimization at scale? In California, one of the largest Community Choice Aggregators (#CCA) is MCE which provides retail electricity to nearly 1.5 million residential and business customers in the Bay Area. Our company, ev.energy, provides MCE and its customers with a method to ensure that EV charging happens 1) to avoid stress on the electric grid and 2) when the most abundant renewable energy is available. In the video here, MCE's customers explain in their own words how the ev.energy app allows them to "set it and forget it" to optimize charging to keep electricity bills as low as possible, while keeping their EV charged and ready to go when they need it. We at ev.energy are bringing this forward-looking approach to managed charging not just to utilities around the country and the world, but also to emerging organizations dedicated to clean transportation. #electriccars #electricvehicles #virtualpowerplant #vpp #EVcharging #utilities #tesla #marincounty #loadmanagement #demandresponse

35

1 Comment