01/08/2020
The Power Convergence
Power generation, distribution and security are some of the greatest concerns of the world economy, present and future. Without a reliable supply of power, water, food or air, our society as we have come to know it ceases to exist and the human race may not be far behind.
We have technologies to clean the water, grow food indoor, and to scrub an environment’s air supply. Where we run into trouble is in our inability to power those technologies in an efficient and environmentally sound manner. Presently no single power technology can stand alone as an overall solution. However, a convergence of new technologies combined with older tech has made it possible to create solutions with small or no carbon footprints using combinations of these technologies.
21st-Century Solutions
Artificial Intelligence/AI, Internet of Things/IoT, Ultra High Speed Internet/5G, Aluminum Hydrogen Gasification/AG and Block Chain/BC, all in the marketplace today, represent the new tech driving the efficiency revolution. These technologies facilitate the use of 21st Century upgrades to Battery Storage on an industrial scale, as well as Wind Power Generation and Photo Voltaic Solar generation, both of which follow their own version of Moore’s Law of efficiency. Combined they turn the standard model of power distribution and use on its head by creating a far more efficient power grid with a far tinier carbon footprint.
The Financing Challenge
Through proper combinations it becomes possible to design a system that can reduce energy consumption, increase efficiency and leave a small footprint. The question is not whether or not we can make this all work. We can. The question is first how do we interest investment capital into financing technologies that don’t emanate from readily financeable old-line companies, and what kind of assurances and insurances need to be met by companies advancing these new technologies to make them financeable other than time, which is the main rollout issue in the switch to alternatives. One of the original movers in this industry once told me, “If you think this is a technology play, you are looking in the wrong direction; it is a finance play.” So without financing, the tech will just continue to dribble out a little at a time, its true collective potential unrealized.
Legal Roadblocks
The second impediment area is laws, legislation, and influence, known better as politics. Rules created specifically to keep private citizens and corporations off the grid through the restriction of net metering currently keep gigawatts of power off the grid. There is not a lack of generation; rather, a coordinated effort keeps many alternatives off the grid until the power suppliers can in time convert to alternatives.
However, there is light creeping in. NIPSCO has announced it will shut down all of its coal plants and replace them with solar. Indiana is a large coal-producing state, and even they see the light but the national coal interests are lobbying hard against it. This is a huge win for the power companies. No more buying, shipping, storing, burning, or scrubbing the waste gasses, or handling the toxic waste disposables of coal, not to mention the Federal and State regulatory work. Just keep up with the technology and amortize your equipment purchase, take your investment tax credits and let the sun and wind provide you inputs; that looks like a better solution to me. What would you do if you had the political influence of years in the halls of both state and federal government?
FERC 841: Breaking Through into the Next Phase
There are companies that have weathered these adverse political conditions to bring to market the solutions we need, but they spend a lot of their time fighting for a seat at the table. With the implementation of FERC 841 they have been given an opportunity to sit at the big table and hook into an ISO, effectively go around the power companies and become a single-client (for now) power supplier while being able to trade on the power market. FERC 841 will change everything, but predictably the power companies are leveraging their sizeable lobbying power to grant themselves preferential treatment, which will again try to distort the market.
All of this leads to a logical conclusion: The solution is at hand. Industry politics will continue to be in constant negotiations while technology continues to sprint ahead of both sides of the argument, as it will continue to for a very long time. The time has come for alternative energy companies to move from the test project phase into market-wide commercial and industrial distribution and installation. Not a day goes by that people are not confronted with media focus on energy efficiencies and climate change, which is steadily moving public perception and opinion on new solutions to old problems. As batteries and alternative energy resources become more efficient and affordable, the switch to self-sufficiency becomes real. Today’s ripple in the Gulf of Alaska will in time become that 60-foot wave at Mavericks in California.
About the author: Gary England is the Founder and COO of England Power Solutions LLC, an energy and carbon footprint solutions company with offices in Indianapolis and New Orleans. He can be reached at [email protected].
