CIC Insights

Articles tagged as: power

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…

Read Article

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…

Read Article

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…

Read Article

Can H2 solve the Texas freeze?

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

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

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

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 

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

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

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