Episode 24
4:43
Solar forces rate rethink
Californian households on the top tariff tiers installed 1800 MW of solar and stopped paying anything. AB 327 puts the fixed charge back.
SolarRetailInternational
Episode 23
4:45
Utility Death Spiral Companies turn to battery tech
A Californian hotel put in a $100k battery to dodge demand charges. The arithmetic is marginal, which is exactly why it is evidence of a death spiral.
StorageDemand sideInternational
Episode 20
6:51
AEMO Demand Side Management
What NYISO and PJM pay for demand response, what AEMO's demand-side scheme actually offers, and the gap between them.
AEMODemand sideInternational
Episode 18
5:17
Online Utility to Sell Power at a Discount
utility.com raised $52M to sell power 20% cheaper because it was online. A look at how that went in the dot-com era's deregulated US markets.
RetailInternational
Episode 13
5:14
SPS Alpha - NASA's plan to beam solar power from space
NASA's SPS-ALPHA feasibility study reckons solar power beamed from orbit could land at 9c/kWh, using a design copied from an ant colony.
SolarInternational
Episode 11
4:54
SXSW Eco Festival Texas
From SXSW Eco in Austin: Fluitec Wind, predicting turbine failures from operating data so maintenance happens before the breakdown.
WindInternational
Episode 10
6:05
Wind capture and storage
Notrees in West Texas pairs a wind farm with 36 MW of lead-acid battery storage. Forty minutes at full wind, for $22M.
WindStorageInternational
Episode 6
9:04
Should we Reform the Electricity Market?
The UK tabled sweeping electricity market reform: contracts for difference and a capacity market. Would either work here?
Market designInternational
Episode 5
10:44
Are rumours of Germany's solar industry implosion greatly exaggerated?
Forbes said Germany's solar industry was imploding. The generation records say otherwise — so who is exiting, and why?
SolarInternational