Chris Larsen , Dynapower’s Senior Director of Clean Energy, visited with Tom Raftery on the Climate Confident podcast to discuss developments in clean energy. Their conversation spanned many topics including progress with EVs, the future of green hydrogen, the impact of the Inflation Reduction Act, and much more. Here are a few excerpts – be sure to catch the whole episode here .
Developments in Clean Energy: How EVs will help create a Virtual Grid:
Chris: There was a pilot program up in Canada by one of our partners, a company called Peak Power, and they did a pilot near Toronto. They designed and built bi-directional chargers and worked with the utility for this program where the vehicle owners were paid. They were being paid a substantial multiple for those kilowatt hours above what they paid in the charging process. So the economics of it, I think, will work well, because when the utilities need that power, there’s money to be to made for the vehicle owners, which I think is a kind of virtuous cycle, right? As these sorts of programs start to happen and people hear about it, think about the economics of owning an electric vehicle. So up front, you pay a little premium for your electric vehicle. We all know that it’s less expensive to charge with electricity than with gasoline. But having this opportunity to participate in vehicle to grid programs, would, would further accelerate the payback and I think the adoption of EVs.
Tom Raftery: The recent passing of the Inflation Reduction Act has to have really kicked into gear the Clean Energy space Dynapower is in, right?
Chris Larsen: Without a doubt, it’s been hugely important. I heard one one major developer, hydrogen developer from the Netherlands, describe it this way: he said it’s simple, it’s smart, it’s fast and it’s predictable. It’s not competitive in the sense that you’re competing against other projects. Basically it’s kind of – if you build it, they will come – you know, the money will be there. In fact, one of the major wind and hydrogen developers out of Scandinavia actually said that their pipeline for hydrogen projects is greater in the US than it is in Europe, even though they are a European based company, principally because the incentive structure is there.
Tom Raftery: You mentioned hydrogen…I’m quite skeptical about hydrogen. I think there’s a lot of hype out there about hydrogen and there’s far more probably pipeline for hydrogen generation and the demand that we will see. Where are you seeing most of the developments happening?
Chris Larsen: Hydrogen is a heavily traded and used commodity today, and I think a lot of folks don’t really know that. It’s used in refining, in ammonia production, in methanol production, in steel, in cement…there is a thriving industry for hydrogen. So is this green hydrogen revolution going to really make a difference? The issue today is the cost of green hydrogen, which is simply hydrogen produced from renewable energy: it’s expensive. To answer the question, well, there’s this hype about green hydrogen plants being built, is this real? And you know, my perspective is absolutely yes. And we are seeing projects that are actually getting built and getting to FID and being funded.
Prefer video clips? Check out the excerpts below!
What’s the Dynapower story? Hear what Chris had to say in this video clip.
A key development in Battery Energy Storage Systems has been the move towards long-duration storage…what is that and what does it mean for the industry? Hear Chris’s thoughts.
Being located in Vermont, Dynapower has worked with Green Mountain Power – a utility innovator – on several projects. Learn more here.
