DER Task Force

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

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.dertaskforce.comWe’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

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.dertaskforce.comBack in November we threw DERVOS, our annual distributed energy summit. It turned out awesome. We really couldn’t be happier or more grateful for how it went. The panels and speakers were great, the crowd that turned up was amazing, and the vehicle to rave afterparty was super fun.Because the talks and panels went so well, we’ve decided to release the r…

We’re back! This time we sat down with Pier LaFarge, co-founder and CEO of Sparkfund. Those who listened to the DERVOS recording released last week may remember Pier pitching a utility-led DER deployment model. It was a pretty interesting idea that we felt deserved its own deep dive on a pod, so we invited Pier on to make the case for what is likely a very counterintuitive DERs approach for many in the space. In the episode he envisions a world where utilities determine the best locations for DERs on the grid, design the systems, provide them via RFP, rate base them, and then use them to make tripling grid throughput cost effective. This of course brought up all sorts of discussion about natural monopolies, emergent outcomes, utility death spirals, price signals, socialization, cost of capital, and more. Hope you enjoy! 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

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.dertaskforce.comBack in November we threw DERVOS, our annual distributed energy summit. It turned out awesome. We really couldn’t be happier or more grateful for how it went. The panels and speakers were great, the crowd that turned up was amazing, and the vehicle to rave afterparty was super fun.Because the talks and panels went so well, we’ve decided to release the r…

Tune in for a chat on why ‘24 is TIME TO DER. Duncan and James reflect on the past 5 years before looking ahead at 2024 and beyond—and why the future is so exciting.We re-hash Dervos, retro our ‘23 new years resolutions, state our ‘24 resolutions, look back on the last 5 years in the space and where it is now, the current tech environment, building energy startups vs. thinking about energy, energy tech vs. climate tech, if CA grid failures are a canary in the coalmine for other regions, and so much more!PS Sorry for the hiatus… we’ll be recording frequently in the new year. 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 a perfect warmup for DERvos in a few days with DERTF OG Ben Carron. Ben has not only worked for FERC, Nat Grid, SunRun, E3, and now Enel X, but also was one of the earliest presenters at our original, pre-pandemic “DG Beers” happy hours.We wanted to have Ben on to get back to our energy market wonkery roots, so don’t worry—you won’t hear any stuff about twitter culture discourse on this ep. In it, we talk about the early “DG Beers” days, dunkelflaute, James’ take that maybe market structure doesn’t matter all that much for DERs, Ben’s take how maybe geography is more important than market structure, a reminder that ultimately DERs need to stand on their own merits, different schemes of crediting T&D vs. energy/capacity benefits, if renewables can thrive in a capacity market, trusting the deal-making nature of all governance structures, and so much more about what the hell else who knows! We barely even understand ourselves. Tune in to bathe in the wonkery! 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! And this time just Duncan and James to talk about weird twitter discourse again! Sorry… we promise we’ll go back to talking about wonky energy stuff in the next episodes.In this ep, we talk about Duncan’s Dad’s epic utility pole story, James’ other less successful business ventures, announcing the first ever V2R (Vehicle 2 Rave) application at DERvos, Marc Andreesen’s manifesto and Sam Altman on Joe Rogan, their (and the e/acc movement’s) views on energy and environmentalism, comparing that to MMA environmentalism, the religious quality to all of this, our belief in balance, our hopes for new envrionmentalism, the myopic focus of the discourse on carbon, chaos theory, complexity science, and so much more! 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! Well, 2/3 of us are. In the first ever duo episode, Duncan and James wade deep into CDR, degrowth meme analysis, more thoughts on nuclear, and corporate environmentalism.They talk about climate week, CDR, the narrow focus of mainstream environmentalism on carbon and where the tree huggers at, comparing the popular memes of population decline and “we used to build things”, the opportunity cost of raising kids, the opportunity cost of building beautiful things, embedded growth obligations, right wing twitter, an extended meditation on these ideas and on how the hell they connect to power markets and nuclear, SMRs and data centers, and last but definitely not least…. the Apple ad!! And so much more. 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! And this time we peeled away from climate week events to record a late night ep with self-proclaimed Nuclear Bro, Mark Nelson. Grab a drink for this marathon of an episode and sink in as we wax poetic about one of our favorite religions, Nuclear Power. And we mean that in the best way.Tune in as we discuss Mark’s journey into nuclear and James’ journey away from it, early 10’s nuclear reddit, how the nuclear movement has evolved over time, how shutting down nuclear plants is as tragic as chopping down great sequoia trees, frame how to think about the political economy of nuclear and why Lazard LCOEs are bogus, how US power markets are not really markets, why centrally planning nuclear is ok, Mark’s questioning if electricity is even a commodity at all, why nuclear advocates should be dogmatic, how the nuclear dream is something worthy to aspire to, what nuclear’s path back to prominence is in the US, and so much more! 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! And this time with a solo ep, for free! Going forward, we’re un-paywalling all eps and going NPR style: PLEASE think about donating $5 anyways. Here’s why: We are launching a policy team! The policy team will be focusing on enforcing the DERTF Bill of Rights. In order to do that, we need to raise money to pay a part-time or full-time policy lead. We’ll be doing this in two ways: through soliciting sponsorships to DERvos, our summit on Nov 9 (buy your ticket!). And hopefully, through your subscriptions, starting at $5 a month.In an ideal case, we could raise ALL our money through community subscriptions, which would ensure we never get captured by corporate interests, or this or that business model. In classic DERTF fashion, we want the ability to be a bit brash, state what we believe to be true and fair as clearly as possible regardless of what powers that be may not like it… It’s a lot easier to remain truly committed to the cause by getting funding from you all instead of some external interest.It’s worth noting that we’ve never taken a dollar out of this, and if anything we’re significantly in the red. All funds brought into the task force get routed back into the community somehow, and we intend for that to always be true.Anyways, in this ep, we talk about arguing about climate change risk, the cold dimes square event we went to, Steven Donziger, how to think about climate risk as a climate optimist, Tesla being a blackberry at best, where we are in the tech cycle with DERs, why we don’t feel bad reading bad climate headlines anymore or really think about climate, why we don’t like doomery nature shows, a new environmentalism, eating organic before the MMA fight, an extended conversation on things we know little about: pesticides, food, seed oils, oat milk, etc, and so much more! 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 Nick Van Osdol of “Keep Cool”, who is… pretty damn cool himself. Nick has a refreshing perspective and lens on climate reporting: equal parts skeptical, optimistic, empathetic, and rational. If only more people could engage like he does.In this wide-ranging ep we talk nuclear fusion, how to think about climate risk, if we should mess around with geo-engineering, Maersk psyops, gene editing trees to be better at carbon sequestration, whether or not nature is spiritual, God, whether a carbon tax makes sense, and so much more! 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! And this time we hosted OG DERTF Heads James McWalter (the better James) and Kyle Baranko from Paces at the David Energy HQ. They are working on one of the gnarliest problems in the entire clean energy space: permitting and interconnection. We go deeeep on the problem, so you don’t want to miss this. We are massive fans of them and what they’re building, and had so much fun recording this!Tune in if you want to hear us go down memory lane on early DERTF days, Kyle and James’ favorite DERs and how they got DER-pilled, private wires, homesteading, solar grazing, why the permitting and interconnection problem even exists, hosting capacity maps, how Paces can help, the journey to founding climate cos, what it’s like being in YC and if more climate founders should do it, the Fractal Grid, creating the clearing price for virtual wires, Sheldon Kimber, utility scale DERs, and so much more! 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! And this time with THEE GOD Julian Spector. It’s our longest episode ever because we just couldn’t help ourselves going in with a member of the OG GTM Mafia. It’s worth it. Julian just had some super rad reporting on how the South is building a vibrant clean energy manufacturing hub, and we sat down to discuss. We nerd out on this one for the real DERTF heads!So settle in on the Fourth of July and hear all about how AMERICA might be becoming a clean energy industrial powerhouse, Julian’s trip through the south eastern US chronicling the new hub of American clean energy manufacturing, us getting nostalgic about the GTM days, how Canary differs (and is also rad), discuss the difference between munis and public power, Duncan’s crazy idea for the future of distribution infrastructure, defining clean energy abundance, the evolution of da discourse, empathetic DJs, and so much more! 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! And this time with Alfred Johnson, Founder and CEO of Crux. Crux just raised a seed round led by Lowercarbon Capital and is building a marketplace to help climate companies unlock billions in IRA tax credits. If you want to understand the IRA, look no further!We nerd out on everything from the ins and outs of transferability, what the democratization of tax credits means, who stands to benefit, step ups, and how the IRA actually works to more macro musings on the intersection of gov’t, tech, and finance, what the IRA really accomplishes, what the downsides could be, what keeps us up at night, and so much more! 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! And this time with Matt Huber, an absolute legend and advocate for centralized public power. This was a different ep, but one of our favorite in awhile.In it, we talk about Marxist geography, how bizarre peak oil discourse was, the coming shift to electricity from oil, becoming un-DER-pilled, the possibilities of a centrally-planned decentralized grid, comparing (never before built) neolib renewable supergrids to (ole, proven and trusty) socialist nuclear heavy grids, the inability of tech-y “libertarians” to make cogent arguments around nuclear, SMRs vs big old school nukes, bodega batteries, putting the hard sell on Matt to re-derpill him, all before a huge shift in gears to discuss the future of the global petro-industrial complex, labor and industrialization in the US, utilities vs public power, and so much more! 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

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.dertaskforce.comWe’re back with a solo ep! And yeah, this one is paid. The NYT wrote an article on decarb bros and we have some thoughts. Tune in to listen to us talk about our first ever eco rave in LA right after we serve up a taxonomy of bros and their varying ethics: the decarb bro, the nuke bro, the bernie bro, the tech bro, the renewable bro, the frat bro, the br…

We’re back! This time on a FULLY SOLAR POWERED POD with absolute legends Corey and Xtina of the Solar Punks Club. We threw the first proper Eco Rave—a solar + storage powered party—at their HQ in LA. Tune in to hear us chat about it the night before the event, and check out more from the day of here.We talked about how they got DER-pilled as non-energy people (big shouts to Saul Griffith!), putting together the largest fully solar powered camp at burning man, using culture as the tip of the spear to DER pill more youths and drive electrification, decarbonizing the entertainment sector, how many millions are spent on diesel to run festivals, how festivals and entertainment have become more about excess than abundance, what abundance mindset really means, the neuroticism of extraction based cultures, solar punk vs cyber punk, creating art with purpose, what punk is in 2023, being optimistic about optimism, and so much more! It’s ultimately just a long discussion on why we think eco raves are so important. Xtina and Corey are GOATed beyond belief, and we plan to do a lot more of these. Enjoy! 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