Announcements + Updates
As some of you may have noticed, we recently enabled paid subscriptions to DER Task Force’s content. While all of our content will remain free, we hope you’ll consider donating to the DERTF so we can continue to bring you the content, events, and community we all love! There are a couple different ways to donate:
Annual or monthly subscription: gets you BIG shouts
Founding member subscription: gets you even BIGGER shouts, maybe even live on the pod
Regardless of whether you choose to donate or just stick to the free version, we are so grateful for your support of the community — we couldn’t do it without you!
A reminder that DERTFest tickets are available on Eventbrite! Get ready for the unconference of the decade with fellow DER nerds this November 10th at Newlab in Brooklyn. If you or your company is interested in getting involved via sponsorship, reach out to nicole@dertaskforce.com to chat!
In case you missed it, we were lucky enough to sit down with SunRun CEO Mary Powell for an in-depth and inspiring conversation on all things DERs, customer-led revolutions, whether nuclear is a truly dope solution, and plenty more. You can listen to the episode here, and please drop us a line on Twitter or in Slack to let us know your thoughts!
From the community
TikTok’s dire need for energy content
Recently, some of the DER TF’s brightest comms minds discussed the lack of true electrification or DERs content on TikTok (or, as Pamela Wildstein coined it, electricityTok). While DERs occasionally get mentioned by major news outlets’ TikToks or by climateTok, there’s no real DERs-focused space on TikTok. So, if anyone in this community feels inspired to go fill that gaping void, please do (and let us all know so we can support!)
Thread of the Month
This month, Naor Deleanu brought the California Public Utilities Commission’s whitepaper on future electrification strategies to our attention. Key takeaways from the thread below:
Real-time pricing in a consumer context is a double-edged sword. On the one hand, it most efficiently reflects reality and in theory enables the market price to fully reflect supply + demand. On the other hand, it is incredibly challenging for the average residential consumer to track the rapidly changing real-time price of power and respond accordingly, making a real-time price signal potentially less useful
There’s an alternative model to charging customers for power that relies on a subscription model rather than a usage model. In this model, a customer is mapped to a usage level that incurs some recurring subscription fee, then charged the real-time price at the margins for usage over that level and credit back at the real-time price at the margins for usage below that level. The main benefit to this model is lower volatility on the bill for customers, but would also require customers to more closely monitor their usage
Our very own Slack emoji
Thanks to Mallory Baker for creating DER TF’s very own Slack emoji!
Jobs
Gridpoint is hiring a remote, US-based Senior Product Manager! You can learn more about the role and the application here, and please reach out to Kara Edman or Rachel Marcus if you have any questions!
Sunrun is hiring across several open product and software engineering roles, which you can learn more about here. Feel free to reach out to Carl Lenox with any questions or follow-ups!
EnergyBot is expanding its product management team and hiring for a remote product manager. You can learn more about the role and apply here. Reach out to Fred Purches if you’ve got any questions.
Have a job and want to share? Fill out this form to get it in our database.
DER of the Month
As we celebrate the 4th of July this long weekend, please enjoy the most iconic of American cars, which also now happens to be a DER — the Ford 150 Lightning
Thanks for reading!
— DER Task Force Leadership Team