Well, that was fun! I’m pleased to report a resonable turnout of people interested in the subject matter of last night’s webinar. We had about 20 people join the presentation live. Further, a number who could not attend have inquired about the availability of a recording. So, here’s the video:
You can also download the slides in PDF format.
I routinely listen to a handful of podcasts. One of the more recent adds to my routine is Doug Lewin’s Energy Capital Podcast. It’s a little on the civilized side for me, but Doug gets some very good guests. The last episode I heard featured Zach Dell, founder of Base Power Company. I must say that I am intrigued by what they are building. Most especially in the wake of last week’s derecho, which left parts of Houston without power for several days.
Base Power Company is a retail electrical energy provider with a potentially novel twist. Their service has two aspects; a flat monthly cost for electrical service, and a 20 kWh home backup battery mated to an 11 kW inverter.
The battery is used to cache power from the grid. In the simplest case, providing whole home backup during an outage.
Further, the company uses the battery to arbitrage the spot rate for electricity. It charges the battery during periods when plentiful wind and solar generation pushes the spot rate for power very low. I’ve read that electricity is almost free when wind and solar is really delivering. When the rate climbs the home can draw on the battery to lower the cost of power.
During periods of peak load, when the spot rate is very high, the company can withdraw power from the battery, feeding it back into the grid. It’s basic “buy-low, sell-high” play that optimizes revenue while acting to balance the grid itself.
Utility power was restored at 4:15pm CDT today. Power went off at around 2am Saturday, Sept 13th. That means we were off-grid for 10 days and 12 hours.