3.04 On the Push for Long Duration Energy Storage with Julia Souder

10/31/23 • 35 min

In this episode, Julia Souder shares her passion for Long Duration Energy Storage (LDES) and shares her ideas on how global organizations can work together to make it more widespread as an extremely resilient energy solution.

Quotes

“We are a huge part of the solution in the green energy transition.” – Julia Souder

“Despite what they tell you, it’s not a solved science.” [battery energy storage] – Amy Simpkins

“LDES really does de-risk the transition. It just needs more doors opened to play on the playground with everyone else.” – Julia Souder

“LDES is at the tipping point to provide the benefits.” – Julia Souder
About

Julia Souder is a strategic executive with over 20 years of expertise in the energy and environmental sectors as a coalition builder and advocate. She has been a longtime champion of clean energy technology, working extensively to support environmentally friendly technologies and equitable policies.

Julia leads the LDES Council’s strategy and vision to enable the advancement of long duration energy storage to the center stage of the energy transition worldwide.

Julia served as the Executive Director of the Long Duration Energy Storage Association of California (LDESAC). While there, she led the education and outreach of emerging and existing long duration energy storage developers, focusing on its importance to grid reliability and meeting climate goals.

Julia launched JAS Energies in 2019 to bring inclusive, diverse, and equitable transitions and policies into fruition. She provided a deep understanding of challenges facing the US electricity sector in reducing carbon emissions, building renewable energy projects, creating markets, and implementing a clean energy vision. Previously, Julia was a Director at the The Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), focused on market and energy policy creation and implementation, creating coalitions and interpreted real-time grid operations and transmission planning.

Julia’s prior roles include senior positions at Clean Line Energy Partners, North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC), and the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE).

Resources:

Check out the LDES council’s website: https://www.ldescouncil.com/.

Connect with Juila on LinkedIn.

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Thank you for listening. See you at the whiteboard!

Quotes

“We are a huge part of the solution in the green energy transition.” – Julia Souder

“Despite what they tell you, it’s not a solved science.” [battery energy storage] – Amy Simpkins

“LDES really does de-risk the transition. It just needs more doors opened to play on the playground with everyone else.” – Julia Souder

“LDES is at the tipping point to provide the benefits.” – Julia Souder
About

Julia leads the LDES Council’s strategy and vision to enable the advancement of long duration energy storage to the center stage of the energy transition worldwide.

Julia’s prior roles include senior positions at Clean Line Energy Partners, North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC), and the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE).

Resources:

Check out the LDES council’s website: https://www.ldescouncil.com/.

Connect with Juila on LinkedIn.

You can follow Power Flow Podcast on LinkedIn, Instagram, and Facebook.

Thank you for listening. See you at the whiteboard!

Previous Episode

3.03 On Delivering Financial Returns for Energy Storage and Microgrids with Amy Simpkins featuring Laura Novak

In this episode, Laura and Amy discuss the energy storage and microgrid landscape, with a peek behind the curtain as Amy Simpkins finally answers her own questions as CEO of muGrid Analytics and microgrid architect.

Fresh from the RE+ 2023 conference, Amy and Laura explore the gap between the marketing around battery systems as solved science versus how much more research is truly necessary. Amy explains why 15 years of industry experience led to muGrid’s transition from strictly energy consultants to software vendors, tackling the current chasm between actual economic results delivered and how much more is possible, as well as why the financials are vital.

According to Amy, “The intelligent economic decisions are critical for any kind of battery technology and that is something that gets lost.”

Quotes - all by Amy Simpkins

“The entire value proposition of an energy storage system is in its control, in its decision making piece.”

"No matter which element on the periodic table you are using, you still have to intelligently command the battery to work and make intelligent decisions that will deliver financial results from your battery.”

"In order to actually deploy energy storage and associated hybrid systems, they have to generate revenue."

“We’ve made the transition from consultants who said what could be possible to a product vendor who says we can DO this. It’s not just probable, it’s possible, and we’re doing it.”
About

As co-founder and CEO at muGrid Analytics, Amy Simpkins solves wicked problems at the intersection of energy technology and economics using math and modeling. muGrid provides bankable techno-economic analysis, optimized control, and project development of renewable energy, energy storage, and microgrids to maximize economic return, increase energy resilience, and promote energy equity in the US and around the world.

Amy is also an internationally recognized speaker on innovation and iterative development for entrepreneurs. She is the author of Spiral: A Catalyst for Innovation and Expansion and host of the Power Flow Podcast, which amplifies diverse voices in the energy revolution.

Prior to muGrid, Amy designed and operated spacecraft as a Systems Engineer with Lockheed Martin. Her technical expertise includes system and software architecture, system-level performance modeling, and design tradespace analysis. Amy holds an MS in Astronautical Engineering from the University of Southern California and an SB in Aeronautics and Astronautics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Connect with Amy on LinkedIn.

Check out muGrid’s website.

Connect with muGrid Analytics on LinkedIn or Facebook.

You can follow Power Flow Podcast on LinkedIn, Instagram, and Facebook.

Thank you for listening. See you at the whiteboard!

Next Episode

3.05 On Unlocking the Barriers to Accessible Solar Solutions with Erika Ginsberg-Klemmt

In this episode, Erika Ginsberg-Klemmt shares her family’s journey to creating Gismo Power, her joy in driving EVs and traveling the seven seas, as well as her drive to make solar solutions more accessible to everyone.

Quotes

“It’s fun to run on sun.” – Erika Ginsberg-Klemmt

“Ease of interconnection, especially for small systems, would really explode growth.” – Amy Simpkins

“There are things that have to be addressed at a regulatory level that can help more than just this technology.” – Amy Simpkins

“I feel like I’m much more of a public servant, much more of an activist than an entrepreneur.” – Erika Ginsberg-Klemmt

In 1990, realizing that she wanted to see more of the world before she sold it, Erika abandoned an upwardly mobile position at a travel agency for a one-way ticket to the South of France. She lived and worked in Cannes, Paris and Hamburg before embracing the liveaboard life with her husband on their sailboat Pangaea for the last seven years. The spirit of Pangaea's Wandering Website took form decades ago as an informal newsletter while she studied at UC Berkeley.

Indigenous of Laguna Beach, California, Erika became a grassroots Technomad, faithfully maintaining her wireless Internet updates while sailing around the globe. Then the word "blog" arrived on the scene and she stopped writing for 20+ years, raising her 3 kids and establishing her first company, SRQUS LLC, with which she bootstraps GismoPower. Now she's a solar justice peace-seeker and kochluffel (look it up.)

Resources:

Check out Gizsmo Power’s website: https://gismopower.com/.

Connect with Erika via email: [email protected].

You can follow Power Flow Podcast on LinkedIn, Instagram, and Facebook.