Rooftop Revolution: John Berger on Scaling Distributed Solar in Texas

It's well known that Texas is number one in wind power and has been for a long time. And more recently, Texas became number one in utility scale solar and we're number two (but gainin’ on ya, California) in utility scale batteries. But one area where Texas severely lags is in distributed generation, generation that's localized close to where it's used. Think of solar panels on rooftops, backup natural gas generators at nursing homes, and small batteries in garages. 

When I interviewed ERCOT CEO Pablo Vegas for this podcast and asked him about his vision for the grid and five year’s time, he said:

“I see a future where there are distributed generation resources scattered throughout every community that we live in. And those resources will be electric vehicles. There'll be HVAC systems in your house connected to a smart thermostat, could be rooftop solar. And I think the grid of the future is going to get down to that premise level where these resources will be acting and participating in grid activities to the benefit of everybody. I think that's where we start to see improved resiliency and potentially improved reliability because of how we can leverage these resources."

But recently ERCOT staff made a presentation on long-term projections out to 2039 and in this presentation, they envisioned only 6,000 megawatts of rooftop solar, a relatively small number considering we already have about 3,000 in Texas. To put that in context, Australia – with fewer people than Texas – has 20,000 megawatts of rooftop solar. During extreme weather events like heat waves or cold snaps, these localized energy sources can alleviate stress on the grid, benefiting everybody. During Hurricane Beryl, homes with rooftop solar panels and batteries were able to keep the lights and more importantly with 100-degree weather, the air conditioning on. These distributed resources also lower costs and help reduce pollution. 

So, what steps do we need to take in Texas to foster growth in this important emerging market? To explore this question, there's no one better than John Berger, founder and CEO of Sunnova Energy. Headquartered in Houston, Sunnova is a leader in residential solar, battery storage and energy management technologies across the US John has been in the industry for about 30 years now, and he understands the value proposition and the barriers to renewable energy and distributed generation as well as anybody. 

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Timestamps

4:03 - Current trends in the power market and how that’s impacting the value of distributed generation and resilience

7:49 - Bull vs bear market; changes in the power market in the past 30 years and demand growth

12:25 - What policy/regulatory changes needed to grow distributed solar

17:11 - Potential for greater competition in distribution and publicly available distribution resource plans, challenges of central planning

23:30 - Why is Texas lagging in distributed generation?

28:17 - A performance mechanism for microgrids

31:06 - Sunnova’s Adaptive Retail Plan with David Energy

33:51 - Virtual Power Plants

36:05 - Benefits of distributed generation and VPPs to consumers; what’s holding back the growth of VPPs

38:52 - How to make solar available and affordable to all 

42:03 - Sunnova’s Project Hestia with the Department of Energy

44:41 - Impact of Inflation Reduction Act investments on the market 

46:57 - Are solar supply chains shifting to the US / North America

50:07 - EVs and EV charging

Show Notes

Sunnova

Sunnova’s Adaptive Retail Plan with David Energy

Critics Say CenterPoint CEO’s “Relationship” Influenced $818M Deal For Generators - Texas Monthly

CenterPoint spent $800M on mobile generators. Where are they post-Hurricane Beryl? - Houston Chronicle