DER Task Force DER Task Force

Last week we sat down with Dave Riess, the CEO and co-founder of Wunder. They’re working hard to scale mid-sized commercial solar projects, where they believe the real TAM is in this market. Dave is an awesome guy who’s been grinding in the space for years now, so we naturally had a ton to talk about.
* (00:02:55) Introduction and Guest Overview: Introduction of the hosts and the guest, David Reese, co-founder, and CEO of Wonder (formerly Wonder Capital).
* (00:07:33) Network-Based Energy Infrastructure: Discussion on evolving energy infrastructure to a more network-based architecture.
* (00:40:42) Commercial Solar Market Challenges: Analysis of why the commercial solar market isn't scaling more quickly.
* (00:50:25) Pricing and Merchant Exposure: Examination of pricing strategies and the risks of merchant exposure in solar projects.
* (00:57:49) Reducing Transaction Costs: Strategies to streamline the underwriting, structuring, and de-risking processes in solar projects.
* (01:27:39) DERs and Market Dynamics: Insights on the role of Distributed Energy Resources (DERs) and their impact on the energy market.
* (01:34:42) Future of the Grid: Speculations on how the main grid might evolve or shrink in favor of the grid edge.
* (01:45:03) Technology Development vs. Deployment: The imbalance between resources allocated to technology development and deployment.
* (01:46:06) Solid-State Power Electronics: Potential impact of solid-state power electronics on grid infrastructure.
* (01:47:24) Energy Market Evolution: The slow evolution of the energy market and the role of capitalism in driving change.
* (01:48:38) Solving Energy Problems: Identifying and addressing the primary constraints in the energy market.
* (01:50:15) Transformer and Power Electronics: Discussion on transformers, power electronics, and their role in future energy systems.
* (01:50:59) DC Microgrids and EV Charging: Potential benefits of DC microgrids and advancements in EV charging technology.
* (01:51:34) Capital and Risk Management: Matching capital with the risk profile of solar assets and the importance of certainty in asset performance.
* (02:00:39) Revisiting Past Technologies: Reflection on past technological advancements and their relevance today.
* (02:01:25) Deployment Focus: Emphasis on the importance of focusing on the deployment of existing technologies.
* (02:12:35) CSP 2.0 for Data Centers: Exploration of CSP 2.0 technology for providing clean power to AI data centers.
* (02:14:36) Opinions on Emerging Technologies: Mixed views on the potential success of emerging energy technologies like CSP 2.0.
* (02:11:57) Solar and AI Data Centers: Discussion on the announcement of a new project for AI data centers using solar thermal energy.


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We’re back! This time with Casey Handmer, founder and CEO of Terraform Industries. Terraform is building a system to turn cheap solar electricity into methane. To pull this off they’ll need to commercialize the most performant and lowest-cost electrolysis, carbon capture, and Sabatier reactors ever seen. Casey had a ton of interesting thoughts about how to pull this off from engineering fundamentals in a manner that is tailored to the capacity factor of solar. We also get into the history of the energy industry, space, incumbency, electricity versus gas distribution networks, utility-scale DERs, and a ton more. This is one for the true energy nerds!


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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

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We’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.

We’re back, this time joined by Jesse Jenkins - professor at Princeton and lead of the Zero Lab. We cover a ton of ground in this one, including:
* Jesse’s DERs journey, including skepticism at times and optimism at others.
* A ton of discussion on rate design.
* Jesse’s recent pod on rooftop solar.
* How the hell is rooftop solar so expensive here versus Australia?
* Where DERs are unfairly advantaged and disadvantaged.
* How we’re going to deal with load growth, transmission buildout, interconnection queues, etc.
The is a free episode, but if you appreciate our work and want to support it, and get access to exclusive paid content, consider subscribing at www.dertaskforce.com.


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 with Lynne Kiesling, Director of the Institute for Regulatory Law & Economics (IRLE) at Northwestern University.
Lynne is an Economist who has been working on power systems issues since the early 2000s, with a focus on power markets, transactive energy, and “quarantining the monopoly” as she says.
Lynne was a panelist at DERVOS, as paying subscribers know from our previously released episode. We felt her Hayekian perspective (distributed, emergent, local) rounded out those from Matt Huber (big, planned, federal) and Pier LaFarge (distributed, planned, local), and she graciously agreed to jump on the pod to dig in.
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