Martin Szczepanik is Director of Energy and Resources at Baringa, a global energy consultancy. He brings 11 years of utility strategy experience, including work with SolarCity, major West Coast utilities, and renewable energy developers. Baringa recently released a white paper called "From Pilots to Portfolios: Scaling the Rollout of Utility Microgrids."
Key Discussion Points:
• The complete microgrid value stack: resilience, distribution capacity deferral, transmission capacity deferral, ancillary services, energy arbitrage, generation capacity deferral, avoided emissions, and avoided public safety power shutoffs (PSPS)
• Why resilience differs from reliability: climate-driven extreme weather events versus age and condition-driven outages
• How billion-dollar natural disasters increased from once every 90 days in the 1980s to once every 19 days today, which necessitates the increased need for microgrids
• Distribution and transmission capacity deferral: using microgrids to avoid $5-10 million infrastructure upgrades
• Energy arbitrage opportunities: charging batteries when solar floods the grid, discharging during peak demand
• FERC 2222 enabling distributed energy resources to participate in wholesale markets and earn revenue
• California wildfires and PSPS (Public Safety Power Shutoffs) events: how microgrids reduce the cost of de-energizing lines
• Why utilities need to assess microgrids in distribution planning instead of defaulting to substations and reconductoring
Connect with Martin Szczepanik, Baringa
LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/martinszczepanik/
Website: www.baringa.com/en/about/regions/north-america/microgrids/
Whitepaper: www.baringa.com/en/insights/digitising-the-energy-system/scaling-microgrids/
Support the show
Connect with Tim
Clean Power Hour
Clean Power Hour on YouTube
Tim on Twitter
Tim on LinkedIn
Email tim@cleanpowerhour.com
Review Clean Power Hour on Apple Podcasts
The Clean Power Hour is produced by the Clean Power Consulting Group and created by Tim Montague. Contact us by email: CleanPowerHour@gmail.com
Corporate sponsors who share our mission to speed the energy transition are invited to check out https://www.cleanpowerhour.com/support/
The Clean Power Hour is brought to you by CPS America, maker of North America’s number one 3-phase string inverter, with over 6GW shipped in the US. With a focus on commercial and utility-scale solar and energy storage, the company partners with customers to provide unparalleled performance and service. The CPS America product lineup includes 3-phase string inverters from 25kW to 275kW, exceptional data communication and controls, and energy storage solutions designed for seamless integration with CPS America systems. Learn more at www.chintpowersystems.com