Can H2 solve the Texas freeze?

By: Keshav Ahuja

The snow has finally melted, and the debate settled. The primary cause of the Texas electrical grid failure during the Great Freeze of 2021? The loss of fossil fuel generation capacity. The solution…

Texas citizens were in the dark and cold when they needed these services the most. The blackout exposed several vulnerabilities, highlighting the lack of critical equipment weatherization. How do we move forward to avoid…

Read Article

Energy Storage: New Technologies and Forecasts

By Keshav Ahuja

Energy storage is one of the most discussed topics today and is expected to be a key component of the global energy transition and stabilizing the grid for Renewable Energy Portfolio Standards. Over the last decade, energy storage technologies have continued to evolve, adapt, and innovate in response to changing energy requirements and regulatory policies.

Energy storage technologies are broadly categorized into four segments: electrical, thermal, mechanical, and electrochemical storage. Though electrochemical (batteries) and mechanical (hydrogen/pumped hydropower) storage remain the most common forms of energy adoption, research on…

Read Article

The Intelligent Grid: Smart, Autonomous, Predictive

By Nishant Jain

The Intelligent grid transformation will be the backbone of our new energy infrastructure. CIC defines an Intelligent Grid as having 3Ds – Digitalized, Decarbonized and Democratized – which is actualized by some key elements of ‘smart’, ‘autonomous’ and ‘predictive’.

Smart – The key element for a system to get “smart” is its ability to exchange signals between its components. The underlying technology has evolved from the Internet of Things (IoT) toa combination of low power sensors, connected device, computing, and software to enable digital monitoring and control of systems.

For example, a smart…

Read Article

Capturing the Untapped Value of Edge Computing Investments for the Intelligent Grid

By Keshav Ahuja

Smart embedded devices and algorithmic decision making will transform services across many domains, including a smarter and intelligent grid.

Edge computing has gained momentum since the onset of 5G technology. And while 5G deployment for telecoms has been robust, investors have been wary of capitalizing edge computing technologies in the past, awaiting a lucrative operating model to be developed by an industry very much in its nascency. However, the emerging opportunities in the digital grid offer promise for power utilities in a global electrical infrastructure transition.

Read Article

Texas’ Big Post-Covid Opportunity to Modernize Its Power Grid

by Eugene Han and Alex Rozenfeld

Modernizing Texas’ power grid will stimulate jobs and resilience. The time is right to look at ways of cultivating robust power sources that can withstand both pandemics and climate events.

Throughout history, civilizations have seen pandemics as mechanisms for innovation to support the future well-being of their people. In the 19th century, multiple cholera epidemics broke out in New York, causing traffic jams of horses and carriages as people fled for the perceived safety of the suburbs. These outbreaks resulted in the building of underground…

Read Article

Why the Texas oil crash is terrible for renewables

Don’t celebrate plummeting oil and gas prices. The crash won’t be good for renewable energy.

BY ALEXANDER ROZENFELD

Texas oil and gas companies are experiencing their most dire crisis ever. As countries have shuttered and industries slow from COVID-19, demand for oil and gas has plunged while supply from OPEC, Russia, and the United States continues to rise. Oil usually hovers around $40-$60 a barrel, but during this pandemic, prices are struggling to stay above $20. For some, the crash of the fossil fuel energy industry is a reason to celebrate. Such celebrations by the “oil is our enemy” crowd…

Read Article

Pecan Street and CIC develop a strategic framework for grid modernization initiatives

Pecan Street and CIC launched a strategic partnership to develop frameworks and projects for resource optimization and energy efficiency with a focus on grid modernization headquartered in Austin, TX

Grid Modernization is a critical next step in the world’s energy transition. To accelerate this transition, CIC and Pecan Street Inc signed a strategic partnership in February 2020 to focus on shared learning, collaboration and prioritization of new products and services as we move towards a modern grid and utility model. Our partnership embraces grid resiliency projects to accommodate rapid technological changes in the generation, transmission, and distribution of electric power….

Read Article

Corporate Responsibility vs Accountability

Corporate responsibility: When corporations improve their own footprint and provide better alternatives to the consumer to help them reduce theirs (e.g. zero net carbon products)

Corporate accountability: When corporations improve their own footprint and that of their consumers, providing better choices without passing on regressive costs

We share the world – the good, the bad, and the ugly, but can we share the blame? Global warming is here, but is any single entity responsible for rising emissions that lead to shifting ecology, extreme weather, and other larger, yet unclear, impacts? It’s easy to point the finger on greedy corporations, peddling…

Read Article

Ex-Shell Venture Exec Rozenfeld Founds Firm For Energy Innovation

Houston—The energy industry is still reeling from low oil prices but Alexander Rozenfeld is placing a bet that this is the right time to back innovative ideas in the sector.

Rozenfeld left his position as president of Shell Technology Venture to form his own venture firm, Climate Impact Capital. The past several years have not been kind to venture investors in cleantech and energy, as well as food, water, and other environmentally focused segments. Still, Rozenfeld says he believes that taking a longer-term approach to cleantech investing will prove to be successful.

“We’ve been talking about this for a long…

Read Article

2020 Impact Investing Insights

2010s was about me and you; 2020s will be about us.

Combating and adapting to climate change is a lofty goal and though the global track record on positive impact is all over the map (literally), we see collaboration as the key to meaningful progress. Recognizing that proactive organizations will survive and thrive, many of you are already on your journey and some of you will embark in this new decade. In either case, we hope to join you and to collaborate with you in 2020! Below, we highlight some of the major…

Read Article

The World’s Climate Solution Capital May Be Texas

Introducing the Climate Change View from Texas

Let me start 2020 with a confession: I’m not a Texan, but I got here as fast as I could. Why, though? What’s so special about this state? Historically, people flocked to Texas to take advantage of its resources, which spurred three big Texas industries: ranching, oil, and real estate. More recently, it has become known for its affordable cost-of-living, business-friendly policies, and of course, as the epicenter of the shale oil & gas revolution.

Texas is the self-proclaimed oil & gas capital of the United States, producing more than a third of…

Read Article

US Electrical Infrastructure at a Critical Crossroads

The Road not taken?

‘Energy Strategy: The Road Not Taken’ by Amory Lovins, the founder of the Rocky Mountain Institute, explores two different electrical infrastructure paths for the coming 50 years. The first path is a continuation of present federal policy. The second involves a serious commitment to energy efficiency, renewables, and transitional fossil fuels. Lovins argued, convincingly, that the two roads are mutually exclusive; the year was 1976!

Forty-four years later– and renewables are finally being connected to the US grid at scale.

However, the grid was originally designed to distribute electricity in one direction and supply and…

Read Article