DER Task Force

This week we’re in the ThunDERdome with Crucible Capital’s Meltem Demirors and Honour Masters.
Have we become too Malthusian? Is AI an extension of Steve Jobs’ “bicycle for the mind” metaphor, or is it becoming more of a wholesale replacement for the bicyclist? Are your alt milk lattes and petroleum-derived garments more environmentally destructive than a data center? Will Meltem achieve her dream of deploying fleets of self-replicating nanosatellites into the universe to spread versions of herself, infecting alien cultures with her self-described “weird-ass personality?” Should David Energy create a brutalist, fluted concrete battery? Is Duncan “smoking crack?” These questions – and many more – discussed and/or generally riffed upon in this week’s DER Task Force.


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Buckle up, this is a long one. But when we’re talking about a revolution of this magnitude, how could it not be?
We couldn’t help ourselves once we sat down with Daan Walter, principal of Ember, to unpack how solar and batteries are fueling the electrotech revolution, why it’s happening faster than anyone expected, and what this looks like far beyond the U.S.
This disruption is all about cheaper, better technology winning the day across the entire stack, from generation and storage to how we consume energy. It’s particularly interesting in emerging markets, where energy is evolving like smartphones did—leapfrogging traditional infrastructure.
As global oil supply disruptions have reclaimed the front page because of the war in Iran, this episode is a refreshing deep dive into the inevitable future where solar is the dominant supply of energy.
And if you need some visuals to dig into, check out the Ember team’s post for us on the electrotech revolution in 10 charts and not too many numbers.


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We’re back! This time with a solo pod. We continue our tradition of talking about New Year’s resolutions, unpacking DERVOS ‘25, and looking ahead to DERVOS ‘26 and beyond. We feel we’re at the start of a new epoch—rather, DERcade—so we try to tee up the key themes and what we’re interested in exploring for the next 10 years.
We get into what’s up at Scale and David Energy, permissionless DERs, scalability, affordability and electricity being the super topic on the national stage in ‘26 for the first time, how it’s going to be real weird and messy, electrostates being The Thing, institutional decay in the US and on the grid, nimbyism and how some states are going to get left behind, building mainstream narratives, AI and data centers, and so much more!


This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.dertaskforce.com/subscribe

Our final discussion of DERVOS 2025 was a panel on the ramifications of electricity becoming the primary lever of economic and geopolitical might.
If you’re listening to this as a podcast, keep in mind that the full video is available on our website www.dertaskforce.com and Youtube channel.
This year James solidified the newfound tradition of saving the arguably wonkiest discussion for the end of the day. It did not disappoint. The topic at hand is the emergence of electrostates, where electricity is the dominant energy input to a nation’s power and security. There is no question that China will likely be the first electrostate. In the first half of 2025 alone, for instance, it built about 250 GW of solar, more than twice as much solar capacity as the rest of the world combined (in May alone, it built an eye-popping 93 GW).
It’s not just about renewables build out. China owns and has mastered the electrotech stack, argues Impluse’s Sam D’amico, which includes lithium-ion batteries, magnets and electric motors, power electronics and embedded computing. But that doesn’t mean it’s not happening in the U.S. Here it is unsurprisingly messier, slower, and certainly hampered by our fossil fuel riches. Grab some popcorn for hot takes on how this plays out here and around the globe.
Speakers:
* Drew Baglino, Founder and CEO, Heron Power
* Tristan Doherty, Chief Product Officer, LG Energy Solution Vertech
* Sam D’Amico, Founder and CEO, Impulse
* Daan Walter, Principal, Ember Futures
* James McGinniss - Founder and CEO, David Energy


This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.dertaskforce.com/subscribe

Our third discussion of DERVOS 2025 was a panel on how the hell we’re going to deploy and orchestrate a massive new fleet of distributed energy systems to fill a rapidly growing electricity demand gap.
If you’re listening to this as a podcast, keep in mind that the full video is available on our website www.dertaskforce.com and Youtube channel.
DERs are kind of having a moment. Whether you call their orchestration virtual power plants, distributed power plants, or think both those descriptions suck, the reality is that there’s a convergence of technology and need for energy assets that can be deployed quickly.
No longer a cute side show (duh), DERs are being deployed at scale. This discussion brings together folks with the battle scars of early days of DER deployment who are leading the charge now that affordability and capacity constraints are the calling card of the day. Come for the deep dive on program design, stay for the shade thrown at California.
Speakers:
* Ryan Long, Executive Vice President, Xcel Energy
* Seth Frader-Thompson, Co-Founder and CEO, EnergyHub
* Dana Guernsey, co-founder and CEO, Voltus
* Chris Rauscher, VP of Grid Services & Electrification, Sunrun
* Moderator - Colleen Metelitsa, Senior Director, Strategy, Scale Microgrids


This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.dertaskforce.com/subscribe