Episode 53: The Missing Marketplace - How to Unlock Distributed Energy Flexibility

James Johnston is a PhD-turned-entrepreneur who has spent the last 12 years building toward a single thesis: that energy markets need to be redesigned from the ground up for a distributed future. This venture, Piclo, is the first Distribute Energy Resource (DER) flexibility marketplace in the United States.

The global energy transition has an infrastructure problem. Building new transmission lines and generation capacity takes years — queues are long, supply chains are strained, and the economy can't wait. Meanwhile, we are in the wake of the AI boom where data centers are multiplying, electricity demand is surging, and affordability is becoming a political crisis. The answer, according to James, is unlocking the power of distributed energy resources.

DER — batteries, solar, controllable loads, and other small-scale assets — is the lowest-cost, fastest way to build energy infrastructure. But unlocking its potential requires more than just deploying the technology. It requires the markets, systems, and procurement mechanisms to match. That's the gap Piclo was built to fill.

Piclo's flexibility marketplace connects utilities and hyperscalers with DER owners, operators, and aggregators through an open, competitive platform. Instead of utilities prescribing specific technologies through patchwork bilateral programs, they post a need — capacity, demand response, location, timeframe — and let the market respond. The result is better prices, more competition, and a critical mass of liquidity that bilateral contracting can never achieve.

Tune in to learn why the era of DER has finally arrived.

Keynotes:

• Why data center load growth is forcing utilities to rethink how they procure energy

• What it takes to build a two-sided marketplace in a regulated industry

• How a marketplace model unlocks competition, liquidity, and lower costs for DER

• And much more

Book Recommendation from the Show: Amory Lovins' Small is Profitable