Distributed generation

Uh, but now there's, um, a new solution rather than just fully building out the grid.

The newest solution are, uh, DERs or distributed energy resources.

And we think that, you know, as Jackery, um, who specialize in selling batteries, um, distributed batteries for previously it was for emergency backup use, um, our future five to 10 years is looking at how we can use these distributed batteries and, uh, help the grid also, you know, solve the, uh, solve their issues and solve their problems as well.

Um, Doomberg, a- as a closet, uh, prepared person and everything else, you have to be mission critical when you're writing stories and everything else.

And, um, preparedness starts at home.

I think you have a similar phrase.

And when I think about distributed energy resources, you know, uh, all this talk about emergency orders and, you know, grid level perturbations You know, we did this Doom Zoom where we talked about the physics of operating a home, and I think the subtitle was Prudent Preparedness for the Responsible Provider.

And, um, you know, a grid that's only 99% reliable is practically worthless in the developed world.

Are you interested in how distributed energy systems can work in practice? Our debate today works with the report titled National Standard Practice Manual for Benefit-Cost Analysis of Distributed Energy Resources, the Summary, from 2020, by Tim Wolfe, Courtney Lane, Melissa Beited, Chris Nehme, Mike Alter, Steve Fine, Carl Rabago, Stephen R.

Schiller, Kate Strickland, and Brenda Chu, published on the National Association of State Energy Officials website.

This is a great preparation to our next interview with Carl R. Rabago in episode 460, talking about the opportunities within the distributed energy system model.

Since we're investigating the future of cities, I thought it would be interesting to see how local energy investments value against traditional utility alternatives.

This report provides a comprehensive framework for conducting benefit-cost analyses of diverse distributed energy resources.

What is the future for cities? Do you want to learn more about them? Do you want to know how others think about them? Do you want to be part of the conversation? Then this is the right place.

Welcome to today's What is the Future for Cities podcast and its research episode.

The NSPM?

Funny story, like, it's the the the lore i guess as as the current kids would say around the concert is amazing and it's global and i'll take you back to a lot of the early work at z prime was doing research we were doing market studies for companies uh and it happened by accident there and one of the companies early on was a japanese company and and they had us do a study about sensors and And one of the companies and organizations, this was 2014, they wanted to learn about what's Pecan Street on there.

And they were just in awe of the Pecan Street journey of the early, this was early before I think DERs, any of that existed, of all the different gridded devices that were being connected.

And then we actually had a chance to go to Japan.

We took someone from Austin Energy, another utility there, And the room was packed.

Absolutely.

I think that what you struck on in the very beginning is something that I think is really important.

I think it's important for consumers regular people to hear from regular people like me who are not subject matter experts with DERs, who are not subject matter experts with energy, just writ large.

And Dr. Weber talks about this a lot.

Pat Wood is one of those people.

Pat Wood is the co-chair of the Pew Charitable Trust Distributed Energy Resources Initiative Advisory Council.

Say that three times fast.

He has spent three decades building more competitive, resilient energy systems.

He's also a self-proclaimed, and I quote, evangelist for a power system that is decentralized, dependable, democratized, diverse, decarbonized, and digitalized.

He guided the recent Pew report, Distributed Energy Can Unleash the Resilient Affordable Grid of the Future.

a comprehensive policy playbook with recommendations and examples from throughout the country and around the globe for deploying distributed energy resources and virtual power plants.

Listeners, that report will be linked in our show notes and stay tuned for my conversation with Pat Wood.

You build, we allow cost plus profit.

That maybe made sense in a pre-distributed energy.

But what it didn't account for, when suppression of risk becomes unprofitable or invisible, maintenance gets deferred.

When growth slows, incentives distort.

Risk socialized.

Consequences very mild.

Why should customers still bear the cost of this model? Before we talk about distributed energy, I have to tell you about the monument PG&E built to its own hubris.

The Diablo Canyon Nuclear Power Plant.