Why we can’t wait long for new energy transition tech

The power industry no longer has the luxury of waiting up to 10 years for product development and commercialization for the energy transition – time is of the essence, and delays can cause problems further down the line on the grid.

James Richmond, e2Companies founder and CEO, discussed this and more with John Engel, DISTRIBUTECH and POWERGRID editor-in-chief in the EV Zone at DISTRIBUTECH International 2024.

“I think the biggest thing is to really accept and understand that we have an infrastructure that’s 40-plus years old for about 70%, of it and time is of the essence,” Richmond said. “We’re at the point of: we got to start moving faster and get innovation moving faster. So when we think about resiliency and reliability, what we want to do is figure out how we can get that started faster, better.”

As far as specific tech to look out for, Richmond is excited about the demand side. With the power industry traditionally focused on power generation and grid stabilization, there’s plenty of room and need for innovation on the demand side. The biggest power users, such as data centers, crypto miners, and large industrial facilities, will also need to play a role in the demand side of stabilization, Richmond said.

However, the transition needs to be equitable as well, Richmond argues.

“[Equity is] critical because in the end energy independence is going to be what’s going to happen,” Richmond said. “We’ve reached some crossover points on the cost, so as the cost continues to climb from the utility infrastructure rate, if they don’t start bringing efficiencies into play, people will put in their own power for cheaper than the utility can provide.”

Originally published in POWERGRID International.