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The last thing I want to do is discourage anyone from learning, but I'm afraid you're looking at this (fascinating) field the wrong way. To the extent that this

The last thing I want to do is discourage anyone from learning, but I'm afraid you're looking at this (fascinating) field the wrong way. To the extent that this is unlikely to be an interesting intellectual pursuit for you, as it's currently framed. If you really do want to operate a business generating electricity, start by learning how the power market operates in your area. Unless you live off-grid with a high degree of autonomy, you're likely to find that there are zero opportunities for an individual to enter this market on their own. Providing stable power to the grid requires unbelievable amounts of capital, planning, compliance, person-hours, and way too many other elements to list here. If what you're actually interested in is generating electricity for yourself or your community, the good news is this is much more approachable. Developing and operating small-scale off-grid renewable energy system for a small home is achievable with off-the-shelf components and a basic understanding of electronics. You'll still want an electrician to validate and perhaps perform some of the work, but it's all pretty basic. If what you're actually interested in is spearheading a renewable energy campaign for a large community currently dependent on other forms of power, take a look at community solar programs and energy cooperatives. Both are in practice all over the US.

analyte123 4y ago
Indeed participating in a power market whatsoever (even paper trading) usually has regulatory and collateral requirements to get in the door. For example, on MISO in the US: https://cdn.misoenergy.org/Minimum%20Participation%20Requirements70105.pdf https://cdn.misoenergy.org/Minimum%20Participation%20Require...
tareqak 4y ago
Thank you very much for your kind, considerate, and cautionary response. I can totally understand that out of my depth, and I am asking the wrong questions based on my vantage point. One question that I would now add to my list of questions would be form of the 3rd question, but more like: “what are the right kind of questions I should be asking myself when approaching this broad topic?”. I kind of want of something in between the first two potential interests. Imagine something that is like a cross between a solar panel and a night light that you plug in to an AC outlet, but that plays nice with the local power grid in every which way. Sure the amount of power it could produce would be negligible, but being able to create something that is able to feed the grid and meet all appropriate regulations for the electrical code would be an accomplishment in itself. I don’t know what the physics and capital costs behind creating something like that would be or if this idea absolutely infeasible because of the same physics and capital costs, but that is also what I am trying to learn. I am also not married to this idea at all: it is just an illustration of my level of knowledge on the subject matter as a whole, and the kinds of questions that first come to my mind.
- bloudermilk 4y ago
  Happy you found my comments helpful. If you want to learn more about the technologies and companies behind the energy transition you can check out this list we curate[0]. I would also recommend reading Project Drawdown[1] for a high level overview of the emerging generation of energy technology. For what it’s worth, the scenario you describe is basically how the state of the art home systems work in the markets that support them. Distributed generation (via solar), energy storage (via batteries), and bidirectional grid connections for feeding surplus energy to the grid. Some companies even aggregate homes to act as a virtual power plant which can be dispatched on demand. There is a ton of interesting stuff happening in this area, I hope you find an opportunity that suits you! [0] https://climatescape.org/categories/energy https://climatescape.org/categories/energy [1] https://projectdrawdown.org https://projectdrawdown.org

analyte123 4y ago

Indeed participating in a power market whatsoever (even paper trading) usually has regulatory and collateral requirements to get in the door. For example, on MISO in the US: https://cdn.misoenergy.org/Minimum%20Participation%20Requirements70105.pdf https://cdn.misoenergy.org/Minimum%20Participation%20Require...

tareqak 4y ago

Thank you very much for your kind, considerate, and cautionary response. I can totally understand that out of my depth, and I am asking the wrong questions based on my vantage point. One question that I would now add to my list of questions would be form of the 3rd question, but more like: “what are the right kind of questions I should be asking myself when approaching this broad topic?”. I kind of want of something in between the first two potential interests. Imagine something that is like a cross between a solar panel and a night light that you plug in to an AC outlet, but that plays nice with the local power grid in every which way. Sure the amount of power it could produce would be negligible, but being able to create something that is able to feed the grid and meet all appropriate regulations for the electrical code would be an accomplishment in itself. I don’t know what the physics and capital costs behind creating something like that would be or if this idea absolutely infeasible because of the same physics and capital costs, but that is also what I am trying to learn. I am also not married to this idea at all: it is just an illustration of my level of knowledge on the subject matter as a whole, and the kinds of questions that first come to my mind.

bloudermilk 4y ago
Happy you found my comments helpful. If you want to learn more about the technologies and companies behind the energy transition you can check out this list we curate[0]. I would also recommend reading Project Drawdown[1] for a high level overview of the emerging generation of energy technology. For what it’s worth, the scenario you describe is basically how the state of the art home systems work in the markets that support them. Distributed generation (via solar), energy storage (via batteries), and bidirectional grid connections for feeding surplus energy to the grid. Some companies even aggregate homes to act as a virtual power plant which can be dispatched on demand. There is a ton of interesting stuff happening in this area, I hope you find an opportunity that suits you! [0] https://climatescape.org/categories/energy https://climatescape.org/categories/energy [1] https://projectdrawdown.org https://projectdrawdown.org