Thomas Folker, CEO of Leap Energy | The One-Stop Shop for Grid Services Ep.76
Thomas Folker describes Leap as the Stripe for energy.
The same way that Stripe provides the infrastructure for online payment processing, Leap allows anyone with energy resources (battery or EV companies, for example) to connect to the grid and trade energy as if they were a power plant.
In other words, Leap is a one-stop shop for grid services.
Thomas is the Cofounder and CEO of Leap Energy, a virtual power plant that connects EV, solar storage, battery and smart thermostat companies to the grid. To date, Leap serves customers in California, Texas and New York, with plans to expand and decarbonize electric grids across the US and internationally.
On this episode of Clean Power Hour, Thomas joins Tim to share his background building wind farms in the Netherlands and explain how he realized the value in selling grid services to utilities.
Thomas walks us through the concepts of demand response and demand flexibility, describing what differentiates Leap from traditional DRMS.
Listen in for Thomas’ insight around the legislation that allows virtual power plants like Leap to exist and learn what Leap can do to make global energy markets accessible to you.
Key Takeaways
How Thomas developed an interest in renewable energy and grid services
Why the Dutch were early adopters of wind technology and what inspired Thomas’ move to the US
How Thomas realized the value in selling grid services to utilities
How Leap functions as a virtual power plant to connect EV, solar storage, battery and smart thermostat companies to the grid
Leap’s ideal customer and how the company makes money
The concepts of demand response and demand flexibility
What differentiates Leap from traditional demand response aggregators (DRMS)
The 3 markets where Leap is active now and Thomas’ plans to expand to all relevant US markets
The legislation in the US that allows virtual power plants like Leap to exist
How Thomas navigates friction with utility companies (e.g.: the net metering fight in CA)
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