We can build a power system that is resilient and decarbonized. How? Distributed Energy Resources.
Just ask today’s guest, Pat Wood.
The sitation is this: the grid is old. And it’s being asked to do things it wasn’t built to do, like charge a bazillion phones and power our very electricity-dependent lives. Luckily, there are many smart people on the task of updating the grid to handle this load efficiently and effectively.
Pat is one of those people.
The co-chair of The Pew Charitable Trusts Distributed Energy Resources Initiative Advisory Council, he has spent three decades building more competitive, resilient energy systems — first as a regulator in the state of Texas and now as an entrepreneur. He is Executive Chairman of Hunt Energy Network, deploying distributed resources across the Texas power grid, and chairs Luma Energy’s board, overseeing the rebuild of Puerto Rico’s power system after decades of underinvestment. Previously, as Chairman of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission under President George W. Bush, Pat helped shape the nation’s wholesale energy markets and strengthen grid reliability, and as Chairman of the Public Utility Commission of Texas, he helped engineer the restructuring that made Texas one of the most competitive electricity markets in the world.
He led the recent Pew report, Distributed Energy Can Unleash the Resilient, Affordable Grid of the Future, a comprehensive policy playbook with recommendations and examples from throughout the country and around the globe for deploying distributed energy resources and virtual power plants.