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Virtual power plants (VPPs) are poised to revolutionize the power sector by orchestrating distributed energy resources (DERs) — like smart thermostats, household appliances, solar panels, batteries, and electric vehicles — into real-time networks of dispatchable capacity. The opportunity is especially significant for advanced VPPs, which aggregate multiple device types, are fully automated and optimized by…

In the blink of an eye, large commercial and industrial customers present big challenges and opportunities. Commercial and industrial customers have historically been boring to utilities. As long as power was reliable and reasonably priced, utilities hardly ever heard from these customers. They were so boring that, according to a 2023 J.D. Power study, only…

Building a climate tech company is not for the faint-of-heart. No part of the process is easy; the tech is difficult, customers can be decidedly old-school, and regulation is often complex, for instance. And too often, the innate challenge for founders is compounded by the weight of high valuations, enormous growth targets, and limited exit…

For climate tech to scale, the collaboration between climate tech founders and capital providers will need  to change. It will need to be a durable — and dare we say, sustainable? — relationship, and one designed for deep partnership.  To get a sense of what this might look like, it is worth looking backward: to…

We’re worried about climate tech. We lived through cleantech 1.0 (b. 2007, d. 2011), and we see signs of similar mistakes unfolding this time around. And the problems are not restricted to a single group. Both founders and venture capitalists need to re-think their approach to the market. On the one hand, founders need to…

Utility wildfire mitigation plans aren’t enough.

“We are all one spark away from bankruptcy,” said one utility CEO at the recent Western Conference of Public Service Commissioners meeting. 

He was speaking about wildfires: a topic under regular conversation at energy industry events and in utility board rooms. The business of providing electricity is being turned on its head, and all of us are paying a price….

In Part 3 of a series on distribution system resources and reliability, The Ad Hoc Group Principal Brian Kooiman answered questions by journalist Herman K. Trabish about the role of demand side flexibility in the U.S. power sector resource mix and reforms are urgently needed from federal and state regulators to allow customer-owned resources to…