“We Only Get One Shot At It” Featuring Professor Jesse Jenkins, Princeton University

Today we had the very interesting opportunity to visit with Professor Jesse Jenkins of Princeton University. Jesse is an Assistant Professor with a joint appointment in Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering and the Andlinger Center for Energy and Environment. He has an extensive background in engineering systems and technology, getting his Ph.D. at MIT and his undergraduate degree in Computer and Information Science at the University of Oregon. He leads Princeton’s ZERO Lab (Zero-Carbon Energy Systems Research and Optimization Lab), a research group focused on evaluating carbon-free energy systems using optimization modeling in terms of policy, engineering, and economics. We were thrilled to spend time with him and get a chance to better understand what has gone into the team’s work as well as the outputs (by energy flavor) their work implies is possible. Importantly, Jesse and his team believe we can rebuild and expand our electricity system by 2050 but still do so within the acceptable boundaries of reliability and cost. Jesse and his team also believe (and highlight) we can avoid a significant amount of premature deaths associated with air pollution by embracing the future suggested by their energy models.

In our conversation, Jesse first provides background on his research focus and the modeling tools his team has built to understand how to best push the energy system forward using new technologies and how to develop policies that push our energy system towards a zero-carbon outcome in 2050. Jesse and his team’s research have been highly influential in the climate and energy policy debates that led to the passage of the IRA, so it was truly a thrill to connect with him. His team has identified five pathways to Net-Zero, all with significant reliance on wind and solar and to varying degrees of other flavors. We discuss reliability and cost, the challenges and execution risks involved in implementing new technologies at scale, and the sensitivity analysis Jesse’s team conducted to identify key factors driving the cost and composition of the system. We touch on considerations around efficient spending and the scale of investment required, the difficulty of states managing their energy infrastructure differently, “accountability” when the power isn’t available, the role of hydrogen and its potential impact on the grid, as well as the Clean Hydrogen Production Tax Credit. We had a hard time ending the discussion and, for our final question, asked Jesse what technology he is most excited to see make progress in the next ten years. As you will hear, he is very excited about the potential for EVs. Please take a minute and review these pieces of work to better understand the scenarios Jesse describes. We can’t thank him enough for joining us and greatly enjoyed the conversation. We also told him to send some of those energy-curious Princeton grads our way!

Mike Bradley kicked us off by highlighting the FED could be pressured to continue hiking rates based on strong economic reports and noted crude oil prices continue to trade in a tight range due to an ongoing battle between financial and physical crude markets. He further mentioned that broader equity market volatility is low and that equity markets are technically overbought as momentum investors continue to chase for fear of missing out. He then flagged several key events and recent M&A deals, as well as ERCOT’s warning to residents to conserve power this week. Brett Rampal also joined and added his power perspective to the discussion.

Thank you, as always, for your support and friendship!