Inevitable

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Decoding Coal Dispatch with RMI Aug 05, 2024

Show notes

Joe Daniel is a Principal on the Carbon-Free Electricity Team at RMI.

Our topic today is coal, specifically the "non-economic dispatch" of coal. This phenomenon occurs when coal-fired power plants deliver power to electricity grids even when their electricity is not the most cost-effective option, thereby disrupting the "merit order" of electricity dispatch. This complex topic is explored with Joe's help, as he provides insights into this intricate issue. The US electric grid is notoriously difficult to understand, and there may be moments when the conversation becomes challenging. However, Joe and Cody consistently strive to make the concepts clear and accessible.

The complexity of the system contributes to the problems Joe highlights. Information asymmetry creates economic friction, which disadvantages renewables, despite their general economic superiority. Joe's work at RMI involves developing and deploying quantitative tools, such as RMI's Economic Dispatch Hub, which he will discuss. These tools aim to accelerate affordable and equitable utility de-carbonization pathways.

In this episode, we cover:

[2:42] Joe's background and work at RMI
[4:25] Seasonality and cyclical trends in coal usage
[6:20] Operation and flexibility of coal plants
[10:05] Merit order and prioritizing resources based on cost
[12:25] Types of resources and their cost ranking
[16:01] Dispatching resources and electricity sources
[21:03] Non-economic dispatch of coal and cost impacts
[25:02] Public utility commissions' role in regulation
[29:23] Need for transparency and market price signals
[33:31] Smooth energy transition and coal's future role
[39:09] RMI's role in providing expertise and assistance
[40:30] Cost implications and solutions for non-economic dispatch
[43:49] Public engagement in utility commission hearings
[46:16] Policy and local engagement in clean energy adoption

Episode recorded on July 18, 2024 (Published on Aug 4, 2024)

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*Editing and post-production work for this episode was provided by The Podcast Consultant

Startup Series: Distributed Hydrogen with Fourier Jul 31, 2024

Show notes

Siva Yellamraju is the Co-founder and CEO at Fourier.

Fourier's mission is to make hydrogen universally accessible with on-site and on-demand production. Fourier is not Siva's first startup, it's his fourth. He sold his last company to Apple the one before that to Google and the one before that to Polycom, so he knows a thing or two about entrepreneurship.

Fourier is barely two years old and they raised a seed round in mid-April led by General Catalyst. They've largely operated in stealth. In fact, there's nothing on their website at fourier.earth other than their thesis statement for starting the company, so we were excited to learn from Siva about why he transitioned from a very successful entrepreneurial career in software to tackle a business in the energy sector. We were also eager to learn specifically about what Siva’'s building in distributed hydrogen and what he's learned from the process thus far.

In this episode, we cover:

[2:01] Siva’s entrepreneurial background
[4:46] His decision to work on climate and energy
[7:35] Customer pain point understanding
[12:44] Potential use cases for distributed hydrogen, including power backup solutions and data centers
[15:04] Approaching hydrogen production as a data problem
[21:47] Customers working with Fourier as part of a broader movement around clean energy
[24:01] Potential use cases for distributed hydrogen, including power backup solutions and data centers
[27:14] Advantages of hydrogen over batteries for long-term storage and heavy transportation
[33:20] Geographic markets for hydrogen deployment; the US, Germany, India, and Indonesia
[35:33] Fourier's success to date and plans for commercial rollout
[37:12] The goals for Fourier's pilots in the US and India
[40:16] Siva's learning curves in building an energy company
[42:29] Potential for India to become a leader in hydrogen
[44:21] The name behind Fourier
[45:34] Fourier's current capital and hiring needs

Episode recorded on July 25, 2024 (Published on Aug 1, 2024)

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*Editing and post-production work for this episode was provided by The Podcast Consultant

Japan's Energy Mix Post-Fukushima Jul 22, 2024

Show notes

Japan is important to consider on the global energy stage. The country’s emissions footprint is considerably smaller than China and the U.S. While Japan's energy footprint isn't growing as rapidly as India's, it’s still the fifth-largest emitter of any country globally, with emissions representing roughly three to 4% of the global total. Japan's energy system is heavily fossil fuel-based, especially after it cut nuclear power generation from roughly one-third to zero in the aftermath of the 2011 Fukushima incident.

Today we're diving into the Japanese energy economy and decarbonization efforts with Isshu Kikuma. Isshu has been with Bloomberg New Energy Finance since 2018, and up until last month his role there was Japan Energy Analyst. He just switched his focus to the energy storage world, but clearly brings a wealth of knowledge on Japan, energy, and decarbonization.

We've been doing these geo tours on the pod for a while, covering countries like China, India, Brazil, and Kenya. Just check out our pod archives at the links below.

In this episode, we cover:

Japan's current power mix and heavy reliance on fossil fuels
Decrease in nuclear power generation after the Fukushima incident
The country's share of renewables
Challenges and potential of offshore wind in Japan
Programs and initiatives to encourage emission reductions, including the feed-in tariff scheme
The structure of Japan's power grid and interconnections between regions
The role of industry in energy use and emissions reduction
Japan's emissions targets
Market-based levers and consumer programs in Japan, including the RE-100 initiative and EV subsidies
Japan's funding of coal power plants in other Southeast Asian countries
Climate change impacts on Japan and resiliency efforts
The role of battery energy storage in Japan's power grid
Geothermal and more

✈️ Travel With Us:

Episode recorded on June 4, 2024 (Published on July 22, 2024)

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*Editing and post-production work for this episode was provided by The Podcast Consultant

Startup Series: Hoxton Farms’ Cruelty-Free Fats Jul 18, 2024

Show notes

Max Jamilly, CEO and Co-founder at Hoxton Farms. And today, we're talking about fat.

Hoxton Farms, a London-based startup, grows and sells animal fats without animals. They aspire to be an ingredients provider; cultivating fats via bioreactors and selling cruelty-free and sustainable fats to other food brands, starting with meat alternatives.

It's been a challenging time for the alt-meat space, and we were eager to hear how Max feels the industry will develop and the role Hoxton Farms can play therein. He's also got a vision for how Hoxton Farms can expand beyond that initial market over time. Hoxton raised a series A led by Fine Structure Ventures and Collaborative Fund in late 2022, in which MCJ is proud to have participated. So grab a plate and let's dig in.

In this episode, we cover:

[1:37] Intro to Hoxton Farms
[2:36] Founders' background: Max Jamilly and Ed Steele
[5:51] Meat alternative industry: Challenges and opportunities
[9:00] Expansion potential beyond meat alternatives
[12:56] Cost parity with traditional animal fats
[17:08] Scalability, production, and commercialization plan
[18:51] Consumer appetite for meat alternatives
[24:49] Regulatory environment and labeling requirements
[32:56] Hoxton Farms' pork fat cultivation process
[34:48] Potential for genetic engineering in cultivation
[40:18] Overview of Hoxton's facility
[42:48] Capitalization and financing history
[46:13] Importance of branding and merchandise
[47:21] Hoxton Farms is hiring!

Episode recorded on June 26, 2024 (Published on July 18, 2024)

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*Editing and post-production work for this episode was provided by The Podcast Consultant

Startup Series: Permanent Geologic Carbon Storage with Vaulted Deep Jul 11, 2024

Show notes

Julia Reichelstein is the CEO and Co-founder at Vaulted Deep, a carbon removal company that injects carbon-rich waste slurries deep underground into permanent geologic storage. They've come onto the scene quite fast recently securing just north of a $58 million order from Frontier to sequester over 152,000 tons of carbon between now and 2027, which is Frontier's largest commitment yet. They're one of 20 finalist teams still in the mix for the $100 million Carbon Removal Xprize, and one of 24 semi-finalists of the DOE's Carbon Dioxide Removal Purchase Pilot Prize. Try saying that three times fast.

They also recently announced an $8 million seed round led by Lowercarbon Capital with participation from Earthshot, Woven Earth, Collaborative Fund and others. We got to know Julia and her co-founder Omar Abou-Sayed as they set up Vaulted as a spin-out of Omar's waste disposal company, Advantek. Vaulted is a complex set of operations based on a relatively simple construct: Humans have been sucking geologically stored carbon in the form of oil out of the ground for 150 years now. What if we could put it back?

In this episode, we cover:

Backgrounds of Vaulted's co-founders and the company's mission
How Vaulted turns organic waste into carbon storage
Julia's shift from venture capital to carbon removal
Advantek's history and technological contribution to Vaulted
Technical details of Vaulted's sequestration wells
Types of wells used in Vaulted's process
Community and environmental benefits
Vaulted's business model and financial sustainability
The rigorous process for selecting and processing waste for carbon removal
Comparison of carbon removal strategies and Vaulted's unique approach
Financial and ecological benefits of Vaulted's methodology
Hutchinson Kansas facility's role and historical significance
Vaulted's partnership with Frontier for carbon removal
Vaulted's participation in the $100 million Carbon Removal Xprize competition
Potential global health impact of Vaulted's technology
Open roles and opportunities at Vaulted for furthering its mission

Episode recorded on Jun 17, 2024 (Published on Jul 11, 2024)

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*Editing and post-production work for this episode was provided by The Podcast Consultant

Startup Series: Rhizome's Resilience Planning for Utilities Jun 27, 2024

Show notes

Mish Thadani is the CEO and Co-founder of Rhizome. Rhizome helps utilities plan for resilience. It's an AI-powered software platform that helps electric utilities identify vulnerabilities from climate threats to quantify risk and to measure the economic and social benefits of grid enhancing investments.

In our discussion, we delve into how utilities address vulnerabilities arising from extreme weather and other climate change impacts. We also explore how they balance preventive investments to avoid disaster-related outages with strategies to rapidly recover after incidents.

In this episode, we cover:

[2:42] Exploring the definition of resilience
[6:26] Vulnerabilities of utilities to climate and weather extremes
[10:02] Data-driven balancing of utility investments
[14:15] Enhancing decision-making in utilities with Rhizome's software
[16:43] Comparing physical asset and capacity risks
[18:07] Reconductor technology as a resilience strategy
[22:53] Regulatory challenges in resilience investments
[25:50] The impact of proactive resilience investments
[29:42] Inside look at Rhizome's software platform
[33:35] Rhizome's market strategy and achievements
[36:07] Federal initiatives on resilience: expectations and realities
[39:53] AI in resilience: challenges and opportunities
[42:34] Where Rhizome needs help

Episode recorded on May 23, 2024 (Published on June 27, 2024)

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*Editing and post-production work for this episode was provided by The Podcast Consultant

Onshoring Clean Energy with Giulia Siccardo, DOE's Office of Manufacturing and Energy Supply Chains Jun 18, 2024

Show notes

Today's conversation is all about how the US is trying to onshore manufacturing of key clean energy supply chains, things like EV, battery metals, and the like.

Giulia Siccardo is the Director of the US Department of Energy's Office of Manufacturing and Energy Supply Chains or MESC.

We start out with a bit of a history lesson on why manufacturing somewhat intentionally moved offshore from the 1980s through the 20-teens and the implications of this move on the American workforce. We then talk about how and why MESC was formed and the initiatives and programs that MESC is undertaking to swing manufacturing back within America's borders.

To give you a bit of the detail before we start the conversation, MESC was established as a new office in the DOE in 2022 with the aim of strengthening and scaling America's clean energy supply chains through investments in manufacturing capacity, workforce development, and data analysis of America's supply chain vulnerabilities.

Giulia joined the DOE after many years with McKinsey, including having led McKinsey's green growth service line and having co-created Frontier, the advanced market commitment to buy over a billion dollars of carbon removal.

In this episode, we cover:

[2:55] History of offshoring manufacturing
[6:08] U.S.-China tensions in clean energy manufacturing
[9:57] Energy supply chain and workforce intersection
[15:14] AI as a blue-collar workforce generator
[17:33] Evolution of the manufacturing workforce and training
[22:08] Overview of DOE's Office of Manufacturing and Energy Supply Chains (MESC)
[29:42] MESC's non-dilutive equity efforts
[35:03] Critical minerals and materials for energy transition
[37:18] MESC's global collaboration portfolio
[42:04] MESC's 48C tax credit program
[47:05] Considerations for companies approaching MESC during an election year
[48:47] Giulia's background at Frontier
[54:04] Data analysis on U.S. supply chain vulnerabilities
[58:00] MESC's plans to publicly share data and insights

Episode recorded on May 31, 2024 (Published on June 17, 2024)

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*Editing and post-production work for this episode was provided by The Podcast Consultant

Advancing Nuclear Innovation with INL’s Dr. John Wagner Jun 10, 2024

Show notes

Dr. John Wagner is the President of Battelle Energy Alliance and Director of the Idaho National Laboratory or INL.

INL is one of 17 national labs in the United States and leads the nation in work on advanced nuclear research. INL boasts a rich legacy in the narrative of nuclear energy, marked by its pivotal role in producing the inaugural usable electricity from nuclear sources on its premises. Dozens of reactors have been built at INL during its decades of operation.

Dr. Wagner has been with INL since 2016 and has been director of the lab since 2020. Prior to that, he was the division director at the Reactor and Nuclear Services division at Oak Ridge National Lab. He has a PhD in nuclear engineering from Penn State University and has spent his career working to advance nuclear energy innovation.

In our conversation, we cover the history of INL, its key priorities, current projects under development, and Dr. Wagner’s vision for our nuclear future.

In this episode, we cover:

[2:00] DOE National Labs Overview
[5:24] Introduction to Idaho National Laboratory
[12:14] Current projects & reactors at INL, including Advanced Test Reactor (ATR)
[14:10] INL's upcoming projects: MARVEL, PELE
[15:39] How INL supports private firms in nuclear tech development
[18:40] End-to-end reactor devolment cycle, e.g., MARVEL
[26:57] How entrepreneurs can collaborate with INL
[31:17] Collaboration with NRC, support for regulatory development and training
[33:07] INL's involvement in fusion research
[34:19] John's focus on nuclear fission, U.S. rebuilding
[36:05] Future reactor mix: large-scale, modular, advanced

Resources Mentioned:

Episode recorded on May 17, 2024 (Published on June 10, 2024)

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*Editing and post-production work for this episode was provided by The Podcast Consultant

Cargill's Corporate Clean Energy Procurement Jun 03, 2024

Show notes

Christina Yagjian leads global renewable energy strategy and origination at Cargill. According to Forbes, Cargill is the largest private company in the USA by revenue with $177 billion in the fiscal year ending in May, 2023. Before Cargill, Christina managed the renewable energy footprint at Meta, the parent company to Facebook and Instagram and one of the world's largest corporate clean power purchasers.

Our topic today is all about clean power purchasing, why large companies have started buying power directly, how they prioritize their needs across factors like cost and emissions, and how they structure their agreements. This is one of the more complex topics in the climate space, combining carbon accounting with power grid economics and a whole lot of wonk. Cody and Christina keep the conversation accessible to folks who are just trying to understand the role of power consumption, emissions and large companies in the first place. Special thanks to Christina for balancing the need to help explain the overall landscape along with articulating some of Cargill's specific initiatives and focus areas.

In this episode, we cover:

[2:41] Christina's background and journey in renewables
[9:53] Reasons behind corporate power purchases
[11:19] The difference between renewable energy certificates (RECs) and power purchase agreements
[16:08] The role of additionality in power purchase agreements
[22:32] Balancing emissions footprints with the cost of power
[26:07] Role of storage in balancing intermittent renewable resources
[30:12] Challenges and barriers to clean power procurement, such as cost, timing, and market uncertainties
[33:24] Considerations in choosing power generators and negotiating PPAs
[36:51] An overview of virtual power purchase agreements
[43:29] Managing clean power procurement and the need for robust data systems
[45:52] Definition of success in clean power procurement for Cargill

Recorded May 15, 2024 (Published June 3, 2024)

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*Editing and post-production work for this episode was provided by The Podcast Consultant

The Science of Startups with Activate's Cyrus Wadia May 30, 2024

Show notes

Cyrus Wadia is the CEO of Activate, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that empowers scientists to bring their research to market. Having supported nearly 200 scientists in founding around 150 companies, including notable names like Fervo, Twelve, Sublime Systems, and Antora Energy, Activate offers selected fellows a unique blend of financial support, business capital, and access to a vast mentorship network. With hubs in Berkeley, Boston, New York, Houston, and a remote program, Activate nurtures the path from scientific discovery to entrepreneurial success.

Cyrus recently joined Activate after stints in sustainability leadership roles at Amazon, Nike, and the White House. This extensive experience, combined with his PhD in energy and resources from UC Berkeley and chemistry degrees from MIT, equips him uniquely for this role.

While the path from computer science to entrepreneurship is well-trodden, Activate champions the less common path from life sciences, chemistry, and physics to entrepreneurship. As we transition our energy systems, it seems inevitable that many new science-based businesses will become iconic industry-defining companies of the 21st century. And for this to be realized, we need to nurture the pathway for scientist-entrepreneurs. Our MCJ venture funds have invested in multiple companies founded by Activate fellows, and we were eager to hear from Cyrus about Activate and his vision for where it's headed.

In this episode, we cover:

[03:49]: The gap Activate fills between academic research and commercialization
[05:44]: Transition challenges for scientists becoming entrepreneurs
[10:42]: The role of tech transfer offices and the gap in supporting hard tech entrepreneurship
[16:34]: Activate's unique approach in supporting fellows through licensing and entrepreneurship
[22:52]: The ideal Activate fellow: ready to jump into entrepreneurship head-first
[24:57]: Selection criteria for Activate fellows
[31:26]: Overview of Activate's program, including support and community involvement
[34:03]: Financial and strategic support provided to Activate fellows
[37:52]: Cyrus Wadia's background and journey to becoming CEO of Activate
[42:04]: Future directions and impact goals for Activate

Episode recorded on Mar 6, 2024 (Published on May 30, 2024)

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*Editing and post-production work for this episode was provided by The Podcast Consultant

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