Episode 34 of the Factor This! podcast features Scale Microgrid Solutions co-founder and COO Tim Hade. Subscribe wherever you get your podcasts.
Tim Hade's perspective on the distributed energy transition is simultaneously optimistic and uncertain.
He's confident that distributed energy resources are key to breaking through the barriers holding the industry back. Wildfires, floods, and more frequent extreme weather events routinely highlight the grid's vulnerability, and DERs could be the answer.
But when will this happen?
Markets still undervalue the myriad benefits DERs provide for resiliency and decarbonization, and incumbents aren't willingly ceding ground any time soon.
Will we come to embrace DERs before it's too late?
Hade joined the Factor This! podcast to discuss the role of distributed energy for the grid of the future, the perils of scaling a climate tech hardware company, and what's holding back the Inflation Reduction Act. He also shared five tips for anyone starting a clean energy company. Spoiler alert: get smart on tax equity. Or find someone who is.
Hade was first drawn to the climate fight during his time in the military. He attended the Air Force Academy and went on to serve as an officer for five years.
By 2008, Hade was working in the Pentagon. He recalls conversations about the threat of climate change, which he said the Department of Defense has long recognized as one of the greatest challenges facing the U.S.
"That stayed with me," Hade said.
When he left the military, Hade started looking for his angle to get involved. He said he wanted to devote the next stage of his life to something that would make a positive impact in addressing climate change.
Hade went on to work for ENER-G Rudox, a New Jersey-based provider of primarily diesel backup generators, working alongside his childhood best friend Ryan Goodman and Ryan's father, Howard Goodman.
A turning point came after Superstorm Sandy devastated the Northeast in 2012.
Many of the company's employees went without power for weeks. And he and his partners saw first-hand the impact that the storm had on families and communities, and trends pointed to more frequent extreme weather events in the future.
"That flipped a switch for us," Hade said. "As we move forward into a climate future that has increasingly unstable weather, our infrastructure is really not up for it."
Ryan and Howard Goodman had a vision of transforming their business into a sustainable energy company. That started with co-generation and led them to become early adopters of solar-plus-storage technology. Along with Hade, they used the proceeds from a successful sale of the business to launch Scale Microgrid Solutions in 2016.
The thesis behind Scale is to power the worl
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