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California is on the front lines of a climate war we cannot afford to lose

California is on the front lines of a climate war we cannot afford to lose
Tim Hade, co-founder and chief development officer of Scale Microgrids Solutions (courtesy: Scale Microgrids Solutions)

Scale Microgrids Solutions co-founder Tim Hade sets the table for his keynote speech at GridTECH Connect Forum – California

If you spend enough time hammering, eventually every problem will look like a nail. That’s not necessarily a bad thing when there’s plenty of furnishing to do.

Tim Hade, co-founder of Scale Microgrids Solutions and keynote speaker at next month’s GridTECH Connect Forum – California, is comfortable with conflict. He spent nearly six years on active duty with the United States Air Force; his service has sculpted his worldview and directly influenced how he approaches the climate crisis. He sees this as a war, and California is on the front lines.

“I think that gives me a different perspective than a lot of other people,” Hade admits.

The Department of Defense taught Hade how to win wars when economics don’t matter. And since we can’t afford to lose this fight regardless of its cost, Hade is uniquely positioned to help lead the Golden State toward its decarbonization goals.

“We’re at a pretty pivotal moment,” he notices. “And you can either look at it as a catastrophe or an opportunity.”

The Battle of California

In Hade’s eyes, California is the tipping point for global climate change policy. He likens Scale’s first-of-its-kind Santa Barbara virtual power plant project to storming the beaches of Normandy in World War II.

“We’re like- this is going to be the definitive battle of this broader war,” Hade recalls. “And just because we win this battle, doesn’t mean we win the war, but we have got to win this battle, and I think that applies to a lot of the big projects happening around the state.”

The fight can feel overwhelming, Hade admits, especially when we’re figuring out so much on the fly. But changing the world is never easy.

“It’s always a $#!* show, right?” Scale’s co-founder riffs.

“Think about World War II, and it was just like: ‘Hey, half of you are now going to Europe, the other half of you are going to the Pacific Theater, and everyone else has to go get a job that they’ve never had before and start building planes and tanks.”

In 1941, Hade asserts, the lift must’ve felt overwhelming.

“And yet we did it, right?” He harkens back to the space race as another example, mindful of how implausible it seems that we visited the moon in the 1960’s.

“No one thought that $#!* was possible, but we united and we figured it out. We put a lot of smart people in the room. We said: ‘Don’t worry about making mistakes, concentrate on success.’ And we did it. So there’s precedent for us doing really, really complicated things that no one’s ever done before.”

In his upcoming keynote speech at GridTECH Connect Forum on June 25, Hade aims to reinvoke what he calls the “American spirit of #*@% it, we’ll do it,” just in time for global attention to turn toward California.

Join us at GridTECH Connect California, June 24-26, 2024, in Newport Beach, CA! With some of the most ambitious sustainability and clean energy goals in the country, California is at the cutting edge of the energy transition while confronting its most cumbersome roadblocks. From electric vehicles to battery storage, microgrids, community solar, and everything in between, attendees will collaborate to advance interconnection procedures and policies in California.

Looking Westward

About four years after GridTECH Connect Forum’s upcoming stop in Newport Beach, the world will be watching Southern California during the buildup to the 2028 Olympic Games in Los Angeles. California’s progress will be front and center as America’s contemporaries race to meet their own decarbonization goals.

“If (visitors) are riding diesel buses to stadiums powered by natural gas, or if they’re reading newspaper articles about how no one can afford electricity, we’re going to lose a lot of leverage in global climate negotiations, right? Because a lot of other countries are going to be like, wait a minute, we went to the most progressive city in the most progressive state in your country and like, it’s a shit show. So how do you expect us in Country X to decarbonize effectively?”

– Tim Hade, co-founder of Scale Microgrids Solutions on the 2028 Olympic Games

If we can solve the climate crisis in California, Hade believes, that model can be utilized by the rest of the world. And if we can’t? He’s pessimistic about the whole shebang.

“Like I say all the time- if you can’t solve the climate crisis in California, you can’t solve it in the United States, and if you can’t solve it in the United States, you can’t solve it,” Hade quips.

Fortunately, he thinks we can solve it- in California and abroad.

“If we can prove that you can decarbonize your economy, and not only avoid economic catastrophe but create economic opportunity in the process, then other people are gonna believe it’s possible. And if other people believe it’s possible, then they’re going to do it,” he concludes.

Figuring it out together

Those who serve tend to possess “insane confidence,” as Hade puts it. He counts himself in that camp.

“I don’t know how I’m gonna win, but I’m gonna win,” he laughs. “When you have that sort of mentality, that changes the perception of what’s possible, and that’s what we need right now.”

Hade estimates California’s success or failure over the next half-decade will likely be determined by whether the state figures out how to stabilize utility rates while meeting its decarbonization goals. He is frustrated by the state of juxtaposition California seems to exist in; simultaneously lauded for progressive energy policy, yet “at the same time, no one can afford electricity.” However, Scale’s chief development officer is encouraged by those willing to think outside the box to solve problems. Ten years ago, he says, most utilities were apt to shoot down innovative ideas outright.

“But now, the vibes around the table are all positive,” Hade shares. “Now they’re willing to come to the table. It’s that sort of collaboration that I think is really, really exciting.”

From his seat, most of California’s decision-makers understand the urgency of the situation, and at the end of the day, as he puts it, we’re going to figure it out, or we’re not. The “figuring it out” started a long time ago, and it continues June 24-26 at GridTECH Connect Forum.

“It’s so important that everyone gets in the room and works together,” Hade believes. “All you can ask is that a bunch of really smart people walk into the room with an open mind and a clear heart.” (If that line sounds a little familiar, Hade jokes that 80% of his leadership philosophy is based on Friday Night Lights.)

“None of this is going to work unless we figure out how to work together effectively, and there’s no better forum to do that than GridTECH Connect,” he adds. “My goal is for everyone to leave that room on the first morning really excited for the next two days.”

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