Luminary Strategies, LLC

Luminary Strategies, LLC now has several advanced materials, energy and tech infrastructure clients and strategic affiliates in Texas. Today in Washington DC, I got to recount with Greg Abbott some of my time building innovation strategies in Texas in multiple jobs, including early days at Tesla before there was a #gigafactory, #Megapack, and #VPP operating in the state. At one point 4 jobs prior, I was in Texas so much Jeffrey Frank had to chase me down there and propose to me in #Dallas while I was on business. I also enjoyed sharing today the latest about my TX clients, like Base Power Company and Alchemy Industrial. Texas is also home to my Indian classical dance guru and Kalachandji's, my favorite meditation spot in the world. Food isn't bad either. Thanks Arun Agarwal for creating this opportunity in my hometown today!!

Now on Substack: "From Wildfires to Winter Storms: How California’s Crisis Sparked Texas’s Virtual Power Plant Revolution" - Dive into an insider’s journey through competitive spirit, extreme weather crises, and regulatory innovation in building ERCOT’s first Virtual Power Plant (VPP) pilot. https://lnkd.in/eBpQdYih The question that arises in the wake of crises like California’s wildfires—marked by preemptive utility shut-offs and the resulting human impact—is this: how quickly can we get ahead of these challenges as a society? Are we leveraging distributed energy resources (DERs) to their full potential? What could we do more synergistically to make these solutions rapidly accessible for utility operators managing weather-induced risks across the country? In 2021, after Winter Storm Uri devastated Texas, I shared commentary at the Public Utility Commission of Texas and ERCOT about grid-integrated battery #VPPs. Drawing on Tesla’s global experience—especially in Australia’s nodal market—I made the case for Texas to adopt these solutions. What many don’t know is that the push for rapid grid export VPP policy changes in Texas was built on California’s experience. The wildfires of 2021 and 2022 prompted California to lead the way in compensating residential battery exports for their grid-stabilizing contributions. Learn about those contributions in this post, and check out my Substack for the insider anecdote only VPP foot soldiers can recount. Please Subscribe to Substack so I can continue evangelizing and educating to generations of energy professionals and advocates everywhere about the vital necessity of #DER solutions everywhere.

Utilities managing growing DER penetration and EV adoption should adopt low-cost monitoring approaches where sub-second-level visibility of power quality and transformer health at specific feeders on their system, could be as or more critical for managing assets and system planning at a lower cost and a faster timescale, than replacing every AMI device.?Accomplishing more with less is the motto for efficiency everywhere - it should drive our approaches nationwide to right-size the distribution system. Join us shortly for a Heatmap News webinar to hear about this topics from leaders in the field. Excited to moderate this cool group of professionals! https://lnkd.in/eeaj_pmG 1 PM ET Zoom Link: https://lnkd.in/eUPb6W6Z

Happy and Hired as a policy professional: policy graduate students and emerging policy professionals should check out this article which reflects the great work and discussion we had at The University of Texas System LBJ Washington Center recently. Many thanks to a super helpful handful of students who attended, for putting together a visual diagram of the green ink marker board bonanza which this content started as during my lecture! Joseph Matawaran Carlos Repetto-Ayala Alyssa H. https://lnkd.in/eP3PgAej

A lot has happened over Summer 2024 to restart the efforts of the ADER Task Force. This article summarizes some of the integrated problem solving considerations that I have elicited in public comments filed between July and October. More coming soon on recent work of the task force, ERCOT, and what to expect in 2025. For more details, check out Project No. 53911 on the Public Utility Commission of Texas website.

If you would like to see the City of New Orleans thrive on distributed energy solutions, now is the chance to say something about it. Please submit a short comment supporting the City undertaking a new initiative to build massive solar-battery VPP and microgrid investment programs. Comments can be a few sentences and no more, indicating your support. Thank you! https://lnkd.in/eQZutR39

In a moment of thunderous revelation for myself, like all the stars in my head finally aligned themselves into the Biggest Dipper, a book I am reading by Dr. Gretchen Bakke concludes: “One result of this [utility clampdown-dereg-Enron debacle] is that as the holes PURPA rent in the system have grown larger over the decades, the electrical utilities in their hamstringed attempts to reinvent themselves all too often remain an impediment in the task of reimagining and remaking our grid.” Excerpts and Research Citations: Dr. Gretchen Bakke, The Grid, Chapter 4. This edition is an homage to data, the world of SaaS, light speed and sound speed as comparatives for how quickly technology zooms by utilities and governtment entities respectively, and a to-do list for fixing things faster. You'll also learn that the brou-ha-ha of decentralizing big power sources for C&I loads like hashtag #datacenters is a repeat performance of fairly recent history at a bigger scale, rather than a novelty. Visit the Substack for the full read. Visit below to learn enough to annoy your family at dinner. https://lnkd.in/gPzqX5tA

In a moment of thunderous revelation for myself, like all the stars in my head finally aligned themselves into the Biggest Dipper, a book I am reading by Dr. Gretchen Bakke concludes: “One result of this [utility clampdown-dereg-Enron debacle] is that as the holes PURPA rent in the system have grown larger over the decades, the electrical utilities in their hamstringed attempts to reinvent themselves all too often remain an impediment in the task of reimagining and remaking our grid.” Excerpts and Research Citations: Dr. Gretchen Bakke, The Grid, Chapter 4. This edition is an homage to data, the world of SaaS, light speed and sound speed as comparatives for how quickly technology zooms by utilities and governtment entities respectively, and a to-do list for fixing things faster. You'll also learn that the brou-ha-ha of decentralizing big power sources for C&I loads like #datacenters is a repeat performance of fairly recent history at a bigger scale, rather than a novelty. Visit the Substack for the full read. Visit below to learn enough to annoy your family at dinner. https://lnkd.in/gPzqX5tA

The Luminary Strategies, LLC knowledge center is now available on Substack. Students should navigate to the teaching syllabus section on "Teach What I Know." Industry professionals should check out the affiliated comany page: https://lnkd.in/e9m-Evgw. #Jobsearch and #careertransition candidates interested in energy positions, climate positions, and advocacy should read anything and everything. Thanks Mia Hermine for the great testimonial. I can't wait to see you rock it in your new position.

The Luminary Strategies, LLC knowledge center is now available on Substack. Students should navigate to the teaching syllabus section on "Teach What I Know." Industry professionals should check out the affiliated comany page: https://lnkd.in/e9m-Evgw. Job search and energy career transition candidates should read anything and everything.