One of the most efficient ways to get to a net-zero economy is to generate electricity from renewable sources, and then make as many things run on electricity as possible. But, as more end-use services (transportation, heating, industry) are electrified, and the source of electricity transitions from fossil fuels to renewables like solar and wind, the electricity supply chain - the pathway from electricity producers to consumers - will need to evolve, too.
In this episode, we spoke with Monica Varman, a clean energy technology investor at G2 Venture Partners who specializes in investments in grid resilience. We spoke with Monica about how the electricity sector works and how it is evolving: What is the pathway from creating electricity from a renewable or fossil fuel source, to being able to flip a switch in our home and have the light come on? And how are companies innovating the electricity generation-transmission-distribution supply chain to prepare us for a carbon-neutral future?
So the grid has three pieces: there's generation, transmission, and then distribution. So the first piece, generation, can include natural gas plants, it can include utility scale, solar utility scale, wind. Nuclear power plants, even coal. The second piece transmission are the lines, the high voltage lines that take power from those point sources of generation, closer to population centers, and take them to a substation that helps step down the voltage from high voltage to a lower voltage that's closer to what we need to use in the home. And then the distribution line is really that last mile. So the last mile of wires from the substation to your home or whatever the point of consumption is. And then today that distribution leg is getting a lot more interesting and complex. - Monica Varman, G2 Ventures
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