Duncan Campbell of Scale Microgrid Solutions makes the case that distributed energy resources (DERs) — solar panels, EVs, home batteries, etc. — are, thanks to rising electricity demand and constraints on grid expansion, poised for a tsunami of deployment.
We hear podcast after podcast lamenting the structural problems around the fact that utilities companies are compensated only for infrastructure investment. Not for efficiency, not for reducing carbon emissions, not for distributed energy projects.
Clearly, this is a STATE GOVERNMENT problem. Is this where energy advocates are focusing their efforts?
Railroads can be a major DER component. North America has upwards of 25K diesel-electric locomotives which run about 4K horsepower each. In the near future idle pure-electric locos (having battery power in addition to using conventional 'catenary' wire) connected to the grid could offer gigawatts of battery capacity. Also, the U.S. rail right of way of ~140K miles can host HVDC lines using the decades-old model of their hosting fiber optic lines. The Rail Electrification Coalition is uniting the literally parallel rail and transmission industries.
I just wrote a little note about the benefits of micro grids and DERs as my first substack! They are such an important tool for sustainability but also for community energy independence. Thanks for sharing!
The US state of Maryland will require utilities to allow electric vehicles (EVs) with bidirectional chargers to connect to the distribution grid after new legislation was passed last week.
The state legislature, the Maryland General Assembly, passed HB 1256, aka the Distributed Renewable Integration and Vehicle Electrification (DRIVE) Act, on 2 April. It was sponsored by Delegate David Fraser-Hidalgo.
In addition to its “first-of-a-kind” treatment of bidirectional vehicle-to-grid (V2G) technology, the act also enables the creation of distributed energy resource (DER) virtual power plants that pool the capabilities of home solar PV, batteries, smart thermostats, and other equipment.
The legislation also expands utility time-of-use tariffs to allow drivers to charge their EVs at off-peak rates. The utility rules will apply to investor-owned utilities (IOUs), which are distinct from municipal utilities or cooperatives.
I wonder why no one ever questions why AI electricity generation requirements are taken as a given. It feels like we're being manipulated yet again by Silicon Valley for the benefit of its billionaire class.
As soon as you guys started beating around the bush on T&D costs, I knew the problem was broken markets and utilities milking the system. Bring back publicly owned utilities. You can still have smaller, nimble entities for generation, particularly for new technologies.
We've been sold a bill of goods when everyone said governments can't run good, efficient services. It's bullshit.
A typical 1,600 SF home in northern CA can achieve NetZero on utilities, including EV charging, with 18 solar panels. I don’t really know if it’s accurate, but I’ve read that a typical large neighborhood market might spend $160,00 a year for electric utilities. If that market could achieve NetZero with solar canopies shading it’s large parking lot, which seems likely, why isn’t it happening? Because neighborhood shopping center tenants pay the utility bills, not the property owners. In CA, the new state building code requires solar on new commercial & multi-family residential developments. Eventually, existing developments will be required to add solar when they apply for tenant improvement permits.
What will it take to rapidly make cheap, clean energy available to everyone?
Solar parking lot canopies +on-site stationary storage batteries +Vehicle-2-Grid chargers installed behind-the-meter, right where most energy is being consumed, by large apartments & condos, neighborhood shopping centers, business parks & various public facilities. This is community scale synergy.
We have vast acres of ridiculously under-utilized (sub)urban land locked up in widely distributed hot asphalt parking lots that can rapidly be shaded with solar canopies without any new utility transmission, site acquisition, or other site improvement spending. Modular canopy structures will last for 75+years with minimal maintenance, make cleaning & maintaining solar systems very efficient, & provide area for much larger NetZero community micro grid systems than rooftops alone.
This is the most rapidly exploitable strategy to accelerate widely distributed electric vehicle charging infrastructure at large residential & commercial properties, while constructing a matrix of reliable, load-leveling local neighborhood micro grids. And it can be accomplished by typical leased commercial property investors using IRA investment incentives, with just ordinary local building permits & no interconnection queue delays or NIMBY opposition.
"If every yellow school bus currently in operation across the United States were replaced with a V2G-capable electric bus of the same type, this would add over 60 gigawatt-hours (GWh) to the country’s capacity to store electricity."
Given that, I'm really disappointed that the potential of electrifying school buses is not at all mentioned in this episode.
It reveals a deep bias to California style distributed electrification which is not suitable for the rest of the country.
If California were to bus its kids the same way as New York or Pennsylvania, it would not only reduce emissions from toxic tailpipes, save lives, but also provide grid services such as grid decongestion and load relief.
Really interesting! You touched on it just a bit during the episode, but I'd be curious to hear more about the software side of DERs (DERMS, I think?) What kind of software & systems are out there to monitor and control these resources?
We hear podcast after podcast lamenting the structural problems around the fact that utilities companies are compensated only for infrastructure investment. Not for efficiency, not for reducing carbon emissions, not for distributed energy projects.
Clearly, this is a STATE GOVERNMENT problem. Is this where energy advocates are focusing their efforts?
Railroads can be a major DER component. North America has upwards of 25K diesel-electric locomotives which run about 4K horsepower each. In the near future idle pure-electric locos (having battery power in addition to using conventional 'catenary' wire) connected to the grid could offer gigawatts of battery capacity. Also, the U.S. rail right of way of ~140K miles can host HVDC lines using the decades-old model of their hosting fiber optic lines. The Rail Electrification Coalition is uniting the literally parallel rail and transmission industries.
I just wrote a little note about the benefits of micro grids and DERs as my first substack! They are such an important tool for sustainability but also for community energy independence. Thanks for sharing!
Check this out:
The US state of Maryland will require utilities to allow electric vehicles (EVs) with bidirectional chargers to connect to the distribution grid after new legislation was passed last week.
The state legislature, the Maryland General Assembly, passed HB 1256, aka the Distributed Renewable Integration and Vehicle Electrification (DRIVE) Act, on 2 April. It was sponsored by Delegate David Fraser-Hidalgo.
In addition to its “first-of-a-kind” treatment of bidirectional vehicle-to-grid (V2G) technology, the act also enables the creation of distributed energy resource (DER) virtual power plants that pool the capabilities of home solar PV, batteries, smart thermostats, and other equipment.
The legislation also expands utility time-of-use tariffs to allow drivers to charge their EVs at off-peak rates. The utility rules will apply to investor-owned utilities (IOUs), which are distinct from municipal utilities or cooperatives.
I wonder why no one ever questions why AI electricity generation requirements are taken as a given. It feels like we're being manipulated yet again by Silicon Valley for the benefit of its billionaire class.
As soon as you guys started beating around the bush on T&D costs, I knew the problem was broken markets and utilities milking the system. Bring back publicly owned utilities. You can still have smaller, nimble entities for generation, particularly for new technologies.
We've been sold a bill of goods when everyone said governments can't run good, efficient services. It's bullshit.
We should definitely rebrand these as Very Awesome Distributed Energy Resources or VADERs. Its gotta be catchy or it won't catch on.
I got "DER Pilled" years ago.
Bring the tsunami!
But something needs to GET DONE for under-served populations before the death spirals.
I think the stove with a battery is on the right track.
( https://www.channingcopper.com/products/pre-order )
A typical 1,600 SF home in northern CA can achieve NetZero on utilities, including EV charging, with 18 solar panels. I don’t really know if it’s accurate, but I’ve read that a typical large neighborhood market might spend $160,00 a year for electric utilities. If that market could achieve NetZero with solar canopies shading it’s large parking lot, which seems likely, why isn’t it happening? Because neighborhood shopping center tenants pay the utility bills, not the property owners. In CA, the new state building code requires solar on new commercial & multi-family residential developments. Eventually, existing developments will be required to add solar when they apply for tenant improvement permits.
What will it take to rapidly make cheap, clean energy available to everyone?
Solar parking lot canopies +on-site stationary storage batteries +Vehicle-2-Grid chargers installed behind-the-meter, right where most energy is being consumed, by large apartments & condos, neighborhood shopping centers, business parks & various public facilities. This is community scale synergy.
We have vast acres of ridiculously under-utilized (sub)urban land locked up in widely distributed hot asphalt parking lots that can rapidly be shaded with solar canopies without any new utility transmission, site acquisition, or other site improvement spending. Modular canopy structures will last for 75+years with minimal maintenance, make cleaning & maintaining solar systems very efficient, & provide area for much larger NetZero community micro grid systems than rooftops alone.
This is the most rapidly exploitable strategy to accelerate widely distributed electric vehicle charging infrastructure at large residential & commercial properties, while constructing a matrix of reliable, load-leveling local neighborhood micro grids. And it can be accomplished by typical leased commercial property investors using IRA investment incentives, with just ordinary local building permits & no interconnection queue delays or NIMBY opposition.
Per https://pirg.org/edfund/resources/electric-school-buses-and-the-grid/
"If every yellow school bus currently in operation across the United States were replaced with a V2G-capable electric bus of the same type, this would add over 60 gigawatt-hours (GWh) to the country’s capacity to store electricity."
Given that, I'm really disappointed that the potential of electrifying school buses is not at all mentioned in this episode.
It reveals a deep bias to California style distributed electrification which is not suitable for the rest of the country.
If California were to bus its kids the same way as New York or Pennsylvania, it would not only reduce emissions from toxic tailpipes, save lives, but also provide grid services such as grid decongestion and load relief.
A timely podcast-
California’s new rules allow solar and batteries to help out the grid
https://www.canarymedia.com/articles/distributed-energy-resources/californias-new-rules-allow-solar-and-batteries-to-help-out-the-grid?utm_campaign=canary&utm_medium=email&_hsenc=p2ANqtz-_nExU7dWQ5CLcucR3mF46ZeKonq_nd3sf3BfrhiND1uYUE3HRfEuqgZ_fugcnF3ZiWbXPn_KieEfwKrrCNIF-kMscE-HW_Ofh1ZzwnqcLDNnixmp0&_hsmi=300777371
It is a first step--not enough, but a good start to what could become highly significant.
Really interesting! You touched on it just a bit during the episode, but I'd be curious to hear more about the software side of DERs (DERMS, I think?) What kind of software & systems are out there to monitor and control these resources?