Pedagogical Detours (and Learning)
This blog is a slight change from the regular topics. It’s about a couple of my pedagogical detours, and experiences where in the process I learned a lot myself. People who know me know about my curiosity of new topics and learning opportunities, a topic I wrote about here as well.
First of which is where I was a guest lecturer in classes at Penn State University. These classes were led by Dr Monty Alger, with whom I’ve had a pleasure of working with and learning a ton over the past couple of decades. The students, mostly seniors, will be transitioning to the real world this summer. One of the goals of lectures was to provide an additional industry and career perspective, so that soon-to-be graduates walk into the real world with eyes more open. The case study focused structure was even more important for the students to critically analyze and propose solutions for the actual problems. We anchored around renewable energy.
One of the problems focused on the growth of renewable energy in California, where the state has a goal to have 100% clean generation by 2045. As a result of state policies, CA achieved a 33% renewables goal in 2018, 2 years before the target. Solar and wind, as a result accounted for ~80% a deployment capacity, a number that has only increased since. While this has resulted in attractive economics, including ~90% in solar prices and similar drop in PPA prices. What this also led to is the now famous duck curve, which makes the problems to balancing demand and supply at the system level even more complex. Students dug deeper into various themes, including yearly investment, emissions reductions, and cost v benefit trade offs.
Another case study focused on a second unexpected outcome of higher renewable penetration — curtailments. In CA only, because of the mismatch between demand and supply, up to 225 MWh of clean energy is curtailed per month and not put to productive use. Globally, it’s estimated that this number could be almost 250 TWh per year — which is almost the total generation in the entire state of CA. At conservatively 10 cents per kWh, the economic cost (opportunity) due to curtailment is $25B per year. What could be the solutions to reduce this cost and have more productive solutions? Stay tuned for more!
The second experience included teaching a group of students and professionals from FAU in Germany on innovation and entrepreneurship. A cross-border initiative that was co-led by Gurmeet Naroola, who is also a faculty member at SJSU. The group, on a visit to Silicon Valley (pre-covid days), was motivated to learn more about innovation and company creation opportunities in the energy and mobility sector. Many times (even in the real world), in addition to a great technical idea, the emphasis on various aspects of business building and growth to take the idea from ‘0 to 1’ were missed. By having several structured and casual conversations with a wide range of experts and legends in Silicon Valley the group gained several lessons. This culminated in the publication of a book, One and One Equals Eleven, with my book chapter. I’m looking forward to what heights these students will reach and the next steps on potential collaboration between SJSU and FAU.
My experiences of helping and working with early-stage company founders follows a similar mindset, of learning and teaching. In the world where there are large macro problems from climate change to human health to solve, the need for innovation, science-based solutions will be more important than ever. If the past year with covid has taught one thing, odds are that we’ll need a focus on global scale, welcoming ideas from different cultures, industries, and even functions. And what a better way cadre to carry this forward than the students who will be graduating soon!
For me, as is one of the core principles in Invent & Wander, it’s having my personal Day 1 mindset and enjoying this learning journey.
