An Insider’s View of Clean Energy and Climate Policy

An Insider’s View of Clean Energy and Climate Policy

Jun 6, 2022

Bob Weisenmiller has been on the inside of clean energy and climate policy in California since 1977, when he started as an advisor to CEC Commissioner Ronald Doctor, pretty much straight out of graduate school at UC Berkeley.  With 45 years of engagement, he has a good window on what is going on and what is coming that would affect opportunities for clean tech innovators.  Bob is unusual in having been appointed to the CEC by Gov. Schwarzenegger, appointed as Chairman and then reappointed by Gov. Brown, eventually serving 9 years on the CEC.  He is well-regarded as a nonpartisan leader always searching for the areas of practical agreement which allow progress on solving our climate change problems.  He shared a number of his views at our Perspectives podcast on May 17.

He talked about the politics and challenges of the 100% renewable power plan, of the slow progress on getting fossil fuels out of the transportation sector, and the tug-of-war with China over leadership in the production of technologies crucial to achieving longer-term climate goals.  

Bob first noted the increased sense of urgency to take action against climate change reflected in the latest IPCC report: “Climate Change is here now and humans are responsible.”  For California there is elevated concern because of the continuing drought and the huge increase in wildfires.

Bob noted the toughest nut to crack on reducing fossil fuel use, no surprise, is the transportation sector, which accounts for over 50% of the GHG emissions when including the refining, pipelining, and distribution of the product as well as vehicles themselves.  The reality is that we have still made only a small dent in the 28 million vehicles on the road in California that burn fossil fuels and in fact the amount of GHG from transportation has actually increased in the past few years.  He sees in the latest scoping report from CARB more emphasis on carbon capture and sequestration to meet carbon reduction goals, even though those technologies have not been deployed much to date and have been expensive.  (This change is viewed by some as a retreat.)  More creativity in cracking this nut is needed and it probably will involve both faster EV deployment and the production of low-carbon, renewable fuels to substitute for conventional gasoline and diesel.  

On the transition to 100% renewable power in the electricity sector, Bob noted the recent caution reflected in CARB’s latest Scoping Report and the Governor’s call for a $5 billion emergency reserve based on more reliance on existing gas-fired generators as indicative of the fear that having more blackouts this summer will lead to resistance to more reliance on renewables.   This is a tough balance to achieve.  Over 4600 MW of grid-connected storage projects are supposed to be on-line in June.  We will see how well they can deal with the possible shortages.  Others are trying to postpone the shutdown of the Diablo Canyon Nuclear Power Plant as a backstop.  This will likely be a fierce debate for the next few years.

While Bob was CEC Chair, Governor Brown asked him to take point on getting more collaboration with China on clean energy and climate tech, including more investment in production in California.  Bob is still involved in that effort.  Geopolitics have gotten in the way of these discussions, but there may still be some promising developments.

Thomas Hall

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Gary Simon is the Chair of CleanStart’s Board. A seasoned energy executive and entrepreneur with 45 years of experience in business, government, and non-profits.

CleanStart Sponsors

Weintraub | Tobin, BlueTech Valley, Revrnt, 

Moss Adams, PowerSoft.biz, Greenberg Traurig

Tesla Battery Day

Tesla Battery Day

Oct 5, 2020

There were many groans when Elon Musk did not come forward with a big blockbuster announcement like the 500 Wh/kg battery at under $100/kWh capacity.  But that reaction misses the point.  Tesla has made a number of substantial pivots in its battery design that are setting the stage to reach the blockbuster stage faster than most expect.

When Tesla announced its Nevada Gigafactory (>1 GWh in the capacity of the batteries produced per year), my immediate reaction was:  “Oh no, his factory will be obsolete the day it opens”.  That was because he chose a battery size, electrolyte type, and chemistry that were solidly conventional (with all its flaws) on the day the announcement was made but overlooked how fast battery technology was improving.  In the three years, it took to get the Gigafactory humming, much better batteries were becoming available.

Here was what I missed:  Tesla did not know much about building batteries.  They had to learn and took a low-risk approach by building a well-known battery with dozens of suppliers to support it.  In doing so, it could avoid making battery packs the limiting item in EV production.  Turns out that was brilliant.  And it allowed them to do some other stunts like the PowerWall. 

Now that Tesla has learned the battery-building process (in record time probably), it can step out and build the next generation of batteries and battery packs faster (and better) than anyone else.  Most people at Battery Day likely didn’t appreciate this advance.  The downside for Tesla is that they likely bought millions of dollars of equipment they now don’t need.

One example was the initial use of the spiral-wound, sort-of-AA size batteries.  Tesla was eloquent about how that was the right solution when anybody in battery R&D knew that was baloney.  The spiral-wound battery was a holdover from its use in zinc (acid) and nickel (alkaline) cathode batteries.  Li-ion batteries have much less conductive material and so have a lot of internal resistance, leading to heat build-up during charging.  The result is the slow charge and discharge rates of Li-ion batteries (such as 1/6th of the battery capacity per hour).  Other battery shapes mitigate this problem, but Tesla disregarded those.  

Musk announced they are now moving to a much larger cylindrical battery (the size of the old dry cells with screw posts on the top—am I the only one who remembers these?) without the single tabs.  Instead, Tesla has come up with windings that look like overlapping shingles and have multiple connection points.  They call them “tabless” cells.  These have significantly lower internal electrical resistance so that they generate much less heat leading to lower cooling requirement.  And they have higher power density and faster recharge rates.  Now Musk says that anyone that does not use this format will not be competitive in EVs.  So much for the little batteries being the ideal choice.  Head fake!

Among other changes were:  

  • Substituting dry powder electrolytes for the conventional wet paste, cutting manufacturing costs, and reducing processing steps substantially.
  • Eliminating processing of raw materials for the cathode
  • Using a nickel cathode for higher capacity
  • Redesigning the structure of the battery pack and the vehicle frame to reduce weight and complexity

The net result of all the changes is an expected 56% drop in cost/kWh in battery capacity and an increase in factory output to 1 TWh per year (making it a Terafactory rather than a Gigafactory).  They hope to reach 200 GWh per year by 2020.  Tesla’s target is to have a $25,000 EV with a good range in three years, leveraging all they are achieving.

If you want to learn more, here’s a good article and a short YouTube video.  And the whole presentation via YouTube is here.

We had blogged on even bigger advances Tesla has underway for its batteries, but for now still in the shadows.

Thomas Hall

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Gary Simon is the Chair of CleanStarts Board. A seasoned energy executive and entrepreneur with 45 years of experience in business, government, and non-profits.

CleanStart Sponsors

Weintraub | Tobin, EY, BlueTech Valley, Revrnt, Moss Adams, PowerSoft.biz

College of Engineering & Computer Science at Sacramento State

Sacramento’s green tech jobs, revenues up more than 25 percent in past two years

Sacramento’s green tech jobs, revenues up more than 25 percent in past two years

May 18, 2017

As reported by Victor A. Patton of the Sacramento Business Journal, the Sacramento region’s clean energy and green technology sector in 2016 reported all-time high numbers for revenue and jobs — and gains of more than 25 percent for both since 2014, according to a report released Wednesday by the nonprofit CleanStart.

Clean tech industry ‘on a roll’ in the Sacramento region

Clean tech industry ‘on a roll’ in the Sacramento region

May 18, 2017

As reported by Mark Glover of the Sacramento Bee, CleanStart Inc., the Sacramento-based nonprofit that works to foster the growth of clean tech companies throughout the region, said Wednesday that 94 area firms generated $3.2 billion in revenue in 2016.

Sacramento Startup Profile: Arya Rashid Of Tenkiv

Sacramento Startup Profile: Arya Rashid Of Tenkiv

Jan 25, 2017

Clean water, most of us take it for granted. But 2.5 billion people across the globe lack access to clean water. In places like Afghanistan, lack of access to water sanitation leads to a 1 in 5 child mortality rate. But a local Sacramento clean tech startup has taken on the mission of democratizing sustainable water and energy access.

I sat down with Arya Rashid, head of marketing and PR at Sacramento clean tech startup Tenkiv, to talk about their humanitarian mission to tackle things like the water crisis, energy shortage, and climate change. Check out the interview in either video or audio formats below and then check out their KickStarter campaign and help them reach their goal and solve the clean water crisis in developing countries.