Energy Central Top Voices 2024 [Generation Network]

Each year, Energy Central proudly recognizes the Top Voices across our six networks.  These individuals have gone above and beyond in sharing their expertise, insights, and thought leadership with our community, delivering high-value content and sparking meaningful discussions about the future of energy. In a year full of challenges and opportunities, their contributions have shaped the conversation around the most pressing topics in the energy sector.

We asked each of our 2024 Top Voices honorees three important questions this year:

1. What was the most significant trend in the energy and utility sector in 2024 and how do you think it changed or impacted the industry? 
2. What do you anticipate will be the story to watch in 2025? 
3. What’s a recommendation you have for our Energy Central community—an article, podcast episode, book, video, etc.—that’s elevated the way you think about our industry? 

Keep reading to hear from the Top Voices in the Energy & Sustainability Network (and stay tuned all week as these Top Voices get published in each of the six networks—we’ll update this article with links to all Top Voices as they go live). 

By the way: Want to be a Top Voice for 2025? Now’s the time to start sparking conversation on Energy Central.

 
Jim Lazar

Company: Electricity Brain Trust

Title: Moderator

Energy Central Member since 2023

Key Community Contribution:California Will Follow Hawaii and See A Shift of Solar: Most Will Now Go Onto Commercial Buildings

The biggest story in 2024: The sharp decline in battery prices is a huge impact on the electricity industry.  Wind and solar prices had already dropped into the 2-4 cent range by 2023, but even a well-selected portfolio of wind and solar still needs a fair amount of storage.  Battery prices dropping below $100/kWh really spells the end of fossil and nuclear generation.  At $100/kWh, and a lifetime of 5,000 charge/discharge cycles, that’s about 2 cents to shape the power (plus carrying costs).   That really means the quick demise of existing fossil peaker units, and reasonable certainty that all of the current hype about advanced nuclear will face an impossible market challenge.  (Remember:  nuclear is baseload, not load-matched, so it will need storage ALSO to serve loads that vary though the day.)

What to watch in 2025: More and more new EVs are coming with the hardware and software to enable them to supplement home electricity service.  This V2H service will enable lots of people in warmer climates to disconnect from the grid entirely, if the cost of remaining connect is high.  Utilities in Brisbane, Honolulu, San Diego, South Florida,  and dozens of tropical island nations will see customers discontinue service.  It will start slowly, and smart utilities will offer attractive terms to keep these customers connected, because their storage is more valuable to an interactive grid than it is to the owners.  But the monopoly standing of many utilities will be challenged by the ability to use large batteries in EVs to supplement smaller stationary batteries.   

Jim’s recommendation: I strongly recommend Adam Dorr’s book “Brighter.”  It paints a very optimistic picture of how the world will be a better place in the future.  Disruptions will come in energy, food, transportation and labor.  We’ve seen the beginning of this in solar, wind, battery storage, electric vehicles, Impossible Burgers, and AI-trained robots, but there is much more to come.  I have been a pessimist for a half-century; Brighter gives me more hope than anything else I’ve seen. 

 
Ryan Quint

Company: Elevate Energy Consulting

Title: CEO

Energy Central Member since 2024

Key Community Contribution: Grid Readiness Levels: From Technology Readiness to Systems Integration

The biggest story in 2024: The electricity sector continues to experience significant demands for energy driven predominantly by data centers, transportation electrification, and multi-sector electrification. At the same time, clean energy resources dominate the interconnection queues which creates unique challenges for grid planners and operators, particularly since these resources are inverter-based technologies that change the inherent characteristics of the future power system. Both these trends are faced with a transmission network that continues to be challenged given the long lead-time of building EHV infrastructure. Therefore, grid flexibility and advanced grid services are becoming increasingly valuable and needed.

What to watch in 2025: Data center load deals and buildout, and continued trends for increasingly high levels of instantaneous inverter-based resource operating conditions.

Ryan’s recommendation: I continue to see the Energy Systems Integration Group (ESIG) doing useful work reaching a broad audience of stakeholders and industry experts. I recommend following their work and attending their workshops!