#48 Utility-led DERvolution w/ Pier Lafarge

We’re back! This time we sat down with Pier LaFarge, co-founder and CEO of Sparkfund. Those who listened to the DERVOS recording released last week may remember Pier pitching a utility-led DER deployment model. It was a pretty interesting idea that we felt deserved its own deep dive on a pod, so we invited Pier on to make the case for what is likely a very counterintuitive DERs approach for many in the space. In the episode he envisions a world where utilities determine the best locations for DERs on the grid, design the systems, provide them via RFP, rate base them, and then use them to make tripling grid throughput cost effective. This of course brought up all sorts of discussion about natural monopolies, emergent outcomes, utility death spirals, price signals, socialization, cost of capital, and more. Hope you enjoy!