Solar Jobs and Energy Transition Careers

Mind The Gap – Solar Jobs, Workforce Development

Do you believe today’s high school graduates are prepared to secure America’s energy future?

A continued lack of vision for an integrated energy network has left us with a sizable gap, most notably in human resources. America’s power grid needs an overhaul and renewables offer a sustainable solution to lower energy costs, improve resiliency through decentralization, and create equitable energy distribution. However, the US has been slow to implement the changes needed. To achieve this we will need a skilled and diverse workforce in every US county that will both build and maintain…

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Virtual Power Plants Catalyze Grid Stability in Texas

Bringing Energy Equality to Renters in Texas with Virtual Power Plants

Historically, choosing solar energy as a way to cut down on electric bills and add value to homes has only been a viable option for people with good credit and the ability to purchase a home. With a new program, however, the opportunity to power one’s place of residence with solar is being extended to renters and people with lower credit scores through virtual power plants, community solar and innovative storage.

Project TexFlex
The apartments at 2410 Waugh Street in Houston’s…

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EVs will be the Resilience and Disaster Recovery Solution of Choice for Intelligent Grids

Climate Impact Capital sees EV infrastructure as the solution of choice for intelligent grids and is pleased to announce an investment into OpConnect, alongside Reinventure Capital and Black Founders Matter.

OpConnect is a Minority Owned Small Business taking on big names like ChargePoint, ABB, and Shell (which purchased Greenlots). The team has developed a lean model that has enabled EV service providers to quickly integrate their EV charging networks with advanced payment processing and customer care tools.

Mobility and energy are undergoing a massive…

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60Hertz Energy Closes $1.3M Round to Improve Remote Microgrid Operations

60Hertz Energy is pleased to announce the closing of its Pre-Series A round of $1.3M to improve remote microgrid services, bringing total capital raised to $2.7M to date. 60Hertz Energy is a SaaS Computerized Maintenance Management System (CMMS) platform improving electricity microgrids and backup generator operations. The round was led by Factor and Climate Impact Capital, with major investments from SeaChange Fund, Clean Energy Venture Group angels, and the Alaska Investor Network.

“Maintenance is a critical element of ensuring grid resiliency, as we saw during the near-collapse of the Texas ERCOT grid early in 2021,” said Alex Rozenfeld, the…

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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…

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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…

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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…

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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.

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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…

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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…

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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….

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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…

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