The Grid, Grid, Grid. Welcome back and welcome to 2023! It has been a busy week away and we slide ride into the top story from the holiday break. Winter Storm Elliot, struck across the Country with even my temperatures reaching the low 40s. While many people were handling it fine, the grid was strained across many power markets. PJM called a system wide emergency, first one since 2014 and ERCOT once again underestimated capacity need with several power plants going offline. The short duration of the weather event saved the day as 24 hours later, most everything went back to normal. Looking forward it shows that the grid is the central point of risk and opportunity for the energy transition, when the transition is defined by the electrification of everything. We’ll talk a lot about this going forward.
Year Of Batteries. Somewhat obvious given the above need for grid resilience and inertia but also with regulatory changes coming at the end of the year in residential solar like NEM 3.0 in California. Because batteries will be so important to everyone’s work, I’ll do my part to help you segment who is who and what is what. Battery companies are not all created alike and not all batteries are meant to do the same thing. I’ve said it before and will offer it again, part of our work at FlexGen is building out the most robust energy storage innovation lab and we will look to host many of you to learn more about what it takes to configure, control and analyze your batteries.
The Lender You Can Depend On. In a market that is full of uncertainty, you can rely on Dividend Finance to bring you white glove service to help you reach your long-term goals. Apply Here
- Bloomberg: Eastern US Power Grid Orders Cuts Amid System-Wide Emergency
- Power Magazine: Bulk Power System Deficiencies During Winter Storm Elliot Prompt Inquiries
- Vox: Winter storms put the US power grid to the test. It failed.
- Solar Builder: Will California NEM 3.0 boost home energy storage installations?
- Utility Dive: Energy Dept. to invest up to $72M to expand clean energy workforce efforts
- Energy Storage News: New York climate plan has ‘major role’ for energy storage across different sectors
- PV-Magazine: Global solar capacity additions hit 268 GW in 2022: BNEF
Opinion
Best, Yann