Good Disruption: Distributed Energy Resources (DERs)

For more than a century, utility-scale power plants have delivered electricity to millions of customers through a vast grid of connected substations, transmission lines, and distribution lines. This one-way generator-to-customer business model is shifting due to a rapid increase in DERs like rooftop solar and energy storage systems, capable of localized generation and transacting on the grid.

This is disruption in the purest sense, where poor planning and mismanagement of DERs can result in disruption to the current grid system. Yet, if done right, DERs can add cost-efficiency and resiliency to the grid.

Mike and Yael are joined by the Executive Director of the Dominion Energy Innovation Center, Adam Sledd, to discuss DERs and important considerations for a modernized electrical grid.

For more episodes, visit: https://gooddisruption.podbean.com/

About the Expert

Yael Grushka-Cockayne

Vice Dean; Senior Associate Dean for Professional Degree Programs; Altec Styslinger Foundation Bicentennial Professor of Business Administration

Grushka-Cockayne’s research and teaching activities focus on decision analysis, forecasting, project management and behavioral decision-making.

As an expert in the area of project management, she has served as a consultant to international firms in the aerospace and transportation industries. She is the secretary/treasurer of INFORMS Decision Analysis Society, a U.Va. Excellence in Diversity fellow and member the Project Management Institute.

B.Sc., Ben-Gurion University; M.Sc., London School of Economics; M.Res., Ph.D., London Business School

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About the Expert

Michael Lenox

Special Adviser for the Dean; Tayloe Murphy Professor of Business Administration

Lenox’s expertise is in the domain of technology strategy and policy. He studies the role of innovation in helping a business succeed. In particular, he explores the sourcing of external knowledge by firms and this practice’s impact on a company’s innovation strategy. Lenox has a longstanding interest in the interface between business strategy and public policy as it relates to the natural environment; his work explores firm strategies and nontraditional public policies that have the potential to drive green innovation and entrepreneurship.

In 2013, Lenox co-authored The Strategist’s Toolkit with Darden Professor Jared Harris. His latest book,

Lenox is a prolific author; his most recent book, Strategy in the Digital Age: Mastering Digital Transformation, examines how digital technologies and services enable the creation of innovative products and services, as well as identifying new competitive positions.

B.S., M.S., University of Virginia; Ph.D., Massachusetts Institute of Technology

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