Building new energy infrastructure takes a long time, much longer than the duration of political cycles. So energy technology gets caught up in a start/stop cycle as political parties change.
“When a new party gets elected, they get advised that there needs to be some new policy that’s going to change the world,” Fonger says in the latest panel discussion on Microgrid Talk.
Too often, “the information that they get comes from someone who knows very little about the electricity sector.” The result is “a hodgepodge of development that happens over a long period of time that makes it very difficult for new solutions to move forward,” he says.
What do political leaders need to understand about microgrids in particular?
“I’d just like them to understand that consumers might pursue a microgrid or an on-site power solution for a variety of reasons,” says Tom Poteet, vice president of corporate development for Mesa Solutions. “Sometimes it’s in pursuit of renewable sources. Sometimes it’s for resilience. Sometimes it’s about the cost of electricity. So when you’re trying to craft legislation or regulation, you have to bear in mind that one size doesn’t fit all.”
Mike Byrnes, senior vice president of Veolia North America, offers a word of caution for the microgrid community: Among electricity players, utilities have the most political clout.
Politicians “remember the guy who was in their office last or the guy they’ve known the longest. And that’s typically the utility,” Byrnes says.
Unfortunately, utilities at times feel threatened that microgrids will usurp their business model — which makes it harder to get microgrid policies and legislation approved.
“We’re trying not to be a threat to them because you know, frankly, their political clout is much more than ours most of the time,” Byrnes says. “You don’t wanna threaten the big bear.”
Watch this Microgrid Talk video, which is part 2 of a 3-part series. Part 1 is available here.
