After a brief haitus to focus on 2025 planning, we’re back! Last week we sat down with Astrid Atkinson, CEO and co-founder of Camus Energy. We talked about all kinds of fun stuff: how this moment of grid expansion is like the expansion of cloud services, how it isn’t, how we can connect large loads faster via flexibility, where Astrid sees the grid going, how Camus started, what cool new stuff Camus is working on today, the nuance between distributed systems versus decentralized systems, and more.

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Last week we sat down with Dana Guernsey, co-founder and CEO of Voltus. There was A LOT to talk about in this one. As you’d expect we went deep on Dana’s backstory, the history of DR, new DER participation models, and where we think the future is headed. But also, Voltus just went through a settlement with FERC and this was Dana’s first podcast appearance since, so we did our best to understand what happened and what the Voltus position on it all is.

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We’re back! And this time, we’re starting a holy war. Duncan launched an amazing paper on solar (wow, total sleight of hand! Don’t you mean GAS BACKUP?) microgrids for data centers with Stripe’s climate team and other DERTF OGs like Kyle Baranko, and some big names on Twitter lost their s**t.

Tune in to hear about the churches of Matt Yglesias, Mark Z Jacobson, and Alex Epstein, who our maud’dib is, how heat DERvos was, what ‘25 is all about, and so much more!

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DERVOS, 10/25/24, NYC

Demand growth has returned to the US electricity sector for the first time in two decades and the cracks are showing in the system. Reindustrialization, electrification, and the AI juggernaut have catapulted us into a new era. New loads are suddenly having trouble getting grid connections, interconnection times for new generation keep growing with no end in sight, and transmission and distribution costs are escalating faster than ever. And yet, technology costs continue to plummet. Will the demand growth story of the 2020s look radically different than that of the 1950s?

Speakers: Ari Matusiak (Rewiring America), Astrid Atkinson (Camus), Jesse Pelton (Type 1 & Abundance Institute), Andy Lubershane (EIP)

Moderator: Duncan Campbell (DER Task Force & Scale Microgirds)

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DERVOS, 10/25/24, NYC

New energy technologies can thrive or die due to regulatory policy. This unbelievable policy panel will feature regulators who have actually supported new technologies and advocates who have successfully fought for paradigm-shifting policies. We know we have great technologies--this panel will explore how we get them to scale.Speakers: Allison Clements (FERC), Marissa Gillett (CT PURA), Arushi Sharma Frank (Luminary Strategies, former Tesla)

Moderator: Allison Bates Wannop (DER Task Force)

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Where else can you witness a pot of water boil in just a few seconds, learn about a micro nuclear reactor that skips boiling water altogether, insane AI-powered electro-cartography, and SpaceX-caliber EV charging infrastructure?

Tons of companies applied to showcase their products at DERVOS and DER Task Force selected these four because, well, they are badass.

* 0:00 - Impulse Labs

* 6:10 - Westinghouse eVinci

* 15:50 - Paces AI

* 27:20 - Electric Era

If you’re listening to this as a podcast, we highly suggest going to www.dertaskforce.com to watch the video version!

And don’t forget about tomorrow’s NYC meetup at 6:30 @ 200 Varick Street. See the meetup calendar here for always up to date info.

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DERVOS, 10/25/24, NYC

David Roberts (Volts podcast) and Mary Powell (CEO of Sunrun and DER legend) will sit down in a “fireside chat” style session to review the past year and chart a course for the future of DERs as two giants in our space.

Speakers: David Roberts (Volts) and Mary Powell (Sunrun)

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DERVOS, 10/25/24, NYC

Renewables have been breaking many of the mechanisms in our power markets, irrespective of structure. Across energy only, IRP, and capacity markets, we have been seeing "weirdness" in price action and regulatory responses as solar and wind continue to dominate new installs. It’ll be an acronym stew: from PCM and RUC buying in ERCOT, adjusting ELCCs in PJM leading to capacity prices 10x'ing, to NEM 3.0 in CAISO. We want to contend with what this means today and then try to map a path into where it all leads tomorrow. Will these existing structures adapt, or will something new emerge?Speakers: Jacob Mays (Cornell), Brian Bartholomew (REV Renewables), Eric Goff (Goff Policy), Andy Reger (PA Consulting)

Moderator: James McGinniss (DER Task Force & David Energy)

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DERVOS, 10/25/24, NYC

Tim Hade is the co-founder of Scale Microgrids and the godfather of DER Task Force. He’s been an inspiration to so many in our community, so we couldn’t think of a better person to kick us off at DERVOS this year.

After this keynote we heard someone say “I’m ready to run through a wall for Tim” and we can’t claim to have felt any differently.

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A truly wild story is unfolding in Pakistan. Over the past few years the country has become the globe’s third largest importer of Chinese solar panels, and yet none of the resulting projects are operated by, or even visible to, the national utility.

Simultaneously, demand from the grid has dropped 9.1% over the past 12 months, which has many scared of a potential utility death spiral.

Here’s a recent story in the Financial Times on what’s been going on that’s good background.

To unpack this, we sat down with Jenny Chase of Bloomberg New Energy Finance. She has been chasing down this story since 2021, when she was the first to report on it.

Jenny is also the OG solar analyst and knows more about this space than pretty much anyone. We highly suggesting scrolling through her annual “Opinions About Solar” megathread on twitter.

On an unrelated note, DERVOS tickets are selling fast. There’s less than 15 left at the discounted price, so snag yours quickly. Final speakers, sessions, demo-day participants, and more to come out shortly.

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