Are oil companies about to become the biggest players in renewable electricity?
What are some of the most novel approaches to using distributed energy assets for grid reliability?
Are Amazon, Apple and Google finally preparing to dominate in home energy services?
Those are some of the big questions we'll be asking -- and hopefully answering -- at our live taping of The Energy Gang podcast next week in San Jose, California.
The Gang will be taking the stage at GTM's Grid Edge World Forum to debate the future of grid technologies and market design. (And it's just one part of an incredible multi-day conference and expo bringing together top utilities, energy experts and companies from around the world.)
All Energy Gang listeners get 15 percent off their registration. Just use the code ENERGYGANG at checkout, and you'll save hundreds of dollars on your conference pass.
If you're a GTM Squared member, you'll get free access to our conference livestream so you can watch in real time from your couch or desk chair.
Each week, the Gang puts together a compilation of top news stories to discuss and debate. Here's a sneak preview of the stories we'll be covering, including links to some handy resources.
Topic 1: Oil majors get serious about renewable electricity
After mostly abandoning renewables investments, the world's biggest oil companies are getting interested in them once again. Faced with carbon constraints, low prices for oil, and a coming shift to electrification, oil supermajors may end up becoming significant players in solar, wind, electric cars and battery storage.
Resources:
- GTM: Global Oil Majors Are Poised for a Resurgence in Solar and Wind
- GTM: Oil and Gas Heavyweights Back a Roadmap for Deep Decarbonization
- Guardian: Oil Giants Need to Invest Heavily in Renewables by 2035, Says Analysis
- Wall Street Journal: Oil Giant Sees Its Future in Electricity
- Wood Mackenzie: Could Renewables Be the Majors' Next Big Thing?
Topic 2: Novel approaches to using distributed energy for grid management
As traditional baseload power comes under pressure, debate rages over the reliability of a distributed grid. Meanwhile, top developers and engineering companies working on renewables, electric cars, smart appliances and battery storage are coming up with novel ways to make these distributed assets valuable actors in the electricity system. We'll look at the latest real-world experiences in this domain.
Resources:
- GTM: How First Solar and NREL Are Balancing the Grid With Utility-Scale Solar
- GTM: GE Can Now Put Battery Storage on Any of Its Power Plants
- GTM: Inside GE and SoCal Edison’s First-of-a-Kind Hybrid Peaker Plant With Batteries and Gas Turbines
- GTM: BMW and PG&E Prove Electric Vehicles Can Be a Valuable Grid Resource
- GTM: A Deep Look at Sacramento’s Groundbreaking Use of Distributed Energy and Customer Data
- Bloomberg: Trump Power Study Riles Trade Groups Before It's Released
- Advanced Energy Economy Report: Reliability and the Evolving U.S. Power System
Wildcard: If Rick Perry's baseload study comes out, we will talk about that in more detail as part of this conversation.
Topic 3: The circuit
In this rapid-fire segment, we'll tackle of the most talked-about stories in energy. Are they worth your attention?
Topics include:
- Is blockchain the great disrupter in energy or just a novel application?
- How drastically will artificial intelligence change the utility workforce?
- Will we see a billion-dollar software company serving the grid edge by the end of the decade?
- Are Google, Apple and Amazon finally ready to become major players in energy management?
- Are we going to price carbon under the Trump administration?
- What is the single most important market design question in the utility sector today?
- Grid decarbonization post-Paris: Does the pathway change?
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Listen to our recent live show from GTM's Solar Summit below.
The Energy Gang is sponsored by KACO New Energy, a leading solar inverter company with superior engineering and unmatched customer service.