Solar Plus Storage: Could a 'Utility in a Box' Cause Massive Grid Defection?

The Energy Gang

Wood Mackenzie

Alternative Energy, Tech News, 958784, Environment, Technology, Renewable Energy, Energy, Business, Sustainability, Wind Energy, Climate Change, Cleantech, News, Solar Energy, Innovation, News Commentary

4.6 • 1.3K Ratings

🗓️ 11 April 2014

⏱️ 47 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Could solar paired with battery storage make utilities obsolete? That's the question analysts are asking as the economics of the technologies improve. The short answer is "no." Utilities operate an extremely valuable set of infrastructure and still benefit from legacy customer relationships. And the economics of grid defection are usually not favorable. But it's an important question to ask, says Jon Creyts, managing director of the Rocky Mountain Institute, because it can guide how utilities manage future consumer empowerment. In this podcast, we'll talk with Creyts about Rocky Mountain Institute's latest report on"grid defection," and examine the different scenarios for solar and storage. Then, we'll look at Exxon Mobil's response to the latest UN climate report, and talk about possible policy solutions for supporting new financing structures for clean energy projects. The Energy Gang is produced by Greentechmedia.com. The show features weekly discussion between energy futurist Jigar Shah, energy policy expert Katherine Hamilton and Greentech Media Editor Stephen Lacey. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Transcript

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0:00.0	For the week of April 10th, 2014,acey, a senior editor with Green Tech Media here in Washington, D.C.
0:22.0	I don't know if you can pick up the happiness in my voice, but I'm coming to you from my new digs on 7th Street in D.C.,
0:29.0	which unlike my other home office has massive windows, which I can look at the happenings outside of my
0:35.2	neighborhood of Shaw so it's really nice being here I must say it's a lot
0:39.2	louder so if you hear sirens and horns you'll know why we may have to experiment with where my equipment
0:44.6	goes but for now I've got the sun on my face and the same wonderful voices in my
0:49.3	earbuds in downtown DC it is Catherine Hamilton a partner with 38 North Solutions
0:55.4	Catherine what is new and exciting in your world and let me guess baseball.
1:00.9	Oh yes Jason Worth Grand Slammer in the 8th last night. I mean, nothing
1:07.1	is more beautiful than that in the spring. Were you at the game? No, I was watching it at
1:12.3	home. You were also in New York this week, right? Yes, I was with Jigger.
1:17.6	And that brings me to Jigger, who is normally based in New York. He's an investor,
1:22.0	author, entrepreneur, clean tech pundit.
1:25.0	Jigger, which of those things do you feel most like today?
1:28.0	Well, you know, I have to say that I can't imagine that there's a single person who wasn't a die-hard
1:34.6	Yukon fan already that picked them. How did we get from baseball to a Bloomberg
1:39.1	Finance Summit to basketball? Well you know I just, and then the Yukon women just won, so I'm just like, I don't know, too much love in Yukon right now.
1:49.8	Do you have like a specific rivalry against Yukon? Well I went to Illinois. Illinois
1:54.5	traditionally had a good basketball program, not this year, but so I was written for
1:58.6	the big 10 teams and we had three I think going into the lead eight Michigan State Michigan in Wisconsin and all three of them lost their games into the final four
2:10.1	and we have a special guest today I'm not sure if he's an expert on basketball or baseball,
2:16.2	but he certainly knows a thing or two about energy. We've been trying to get him on the show for a while.
	...

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