Cedric Brehaut is an accomplished Cleantech Product and Strategy Executive with over 20 years of experience in product management, market research, competitive intelligence, marketing, and business development. Formerly a renowned solar industry analyst and independent consultant, Cedric specialized in asset management, operations & maintenance, and monitoring. He has authored over ten comprehensive market reports published by GTM Research and is a recognized thought leader and keynote speaker at major industry events in the U.S. and Europe.
Through this article, Cedric highlights the challenges facing electric grids worldwide, primarily due to the increasing demand for electricity and the transition to renewable energy sources.
Electric grids around the world are facing unprecedented challenges. On the demand side, a tidal wave of power-hungry innovations like artificial intelligence, cryptocurrencies, and electric mobility, are driving explosive growth in electric loads. On the generation side, societal, investor and regulatory pressure, like the White House goal of 100% clean electricity by 2035, are accelerating the need to decarbonize the supply mix.
New solutions introduce new challenges.
Renewable and clean energy technologies like solar and batteries represent 81% of new electric generation capacity in 2024 and renewables will continue to dominate the growth in supply in the foreseeable future, with 94.4% of the capacity in the interconnection queue. However, solar and wind introduce a new set of challenges such as intermittency and the need to integrate large-scale inverter-based resources into the grid. Behind the meter, large amounts of generation and energy storage assets also create challenges to grid operators, who often lack visibility and control over these Distributed Energy Resources (DERs).
“With new and complex asset classes like energy storage and hybrid solar/storage plants, which represent more than half of the capacity in interconnection queues, the ties between commercial and technical performance run deep”
Orchestration of flexible, fast-acting transmission- and distribution-side Energy Storage Systems (ESS), Virtual Power Plants (VPPs), Demand Response (DR) and capacity programs help mitigate renewable intermittency issues and reduce the need to add traditional peak generation assets, but they also introduce new and unique complexities for asset managers, who face questions such as: Which programs offer the most commercial value? What operating risks are introduced? What asset combinations create the greatest lifetime value?
Asset management needs more than big data.
It all starts with data. Lots of data. Today’s gigawatt-scale solar plants count millions of photovoltaic modules, and similarly sized energy storage systems have millions of cells. Asset managers need reliable and consistent data collected across a multitude of products, manufacturers, and technologies. They need software that extracts actionable insights from oceans of data and presents these insights in usable workflows that drive effective results and operational excellence. Excel spreadsheets are gone.
Technical excellence is not enough.
Historically, technical asset management and commercial asset management were two relatively separate topics, intersecting around a set of clearly understood performance metrics such as availability, capacity factor, and fuel costs. With new and complex asset classes like energy storage and hybrid solar/storage plants, which represent more than half of the capacity in interconnection queues, the ties between commercial and technical performance run deep. Maximizing asset returns requires asset managers to incorporate both technical and commercial factors into operational strategies and daily decisions. Operators need to answer questions such as: Under what market conditions would you risk accelerating the degradation of a storage asset by violating its cycle limit or minimum state of charge? How much money are you leaving on the table because of capacity reductions due to cell imbalances? How much are you willing to pay to accelerate the replacement of faulty equipment based on tomorrow’s wholesale market forecast? How much value are you willing to assign to one percent of cell degradation? What is the best window for preventative maintenance based on solar generation and market price forecasts? Advanced software and efficient operational processes that empower asset managers and traders to quickly answer these kinds of questions will drive a tangible impact on commercial results and asset value.
