The high-wire act of unlocking clean energy | Jason Huang

[00:00:02] Want a deeper dive into the ways AI is shaping our work, our lives, and the world we live in? Then I recommend Pioneers of AI. Hosted by AI scientist, investor, and author Dr. Raina L. Calubi, Pioneers of AI takes you behind the headlines for a look at what's really happening in the fast-changing world of AI. Featuring insights from the leading creators, critics, and thinkers on the forefront of this exciting technology, Pioneers is your guide to understanding and anticipating what comes next.

[00:00:31] Hear Pioneers of AI on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, or anywhere you find podcasts. Atlanta's west side, a vibrant blend of old and new, became my home in 2022. I bought a beautifully rehabbed 1921 bungalow, and I was eager to be part of a community experiencing a renaissance.

[00:00:57] But my excitement soon gave way to a stark realization. The city's growth was outpacing its infrastructure. My neighborhood, like many others, was grappling with an overburdened power grid. As new families and recent homeowners like myself poured in, the demand for electricity skyrocketed, and the aging system was clearly struggling to keep up. What followed was a frustrating series of power outages, sometimes lasting hours, even in broad daylight.

[00:01:26] Picture this. Mid-afternoon, I'm working from home, and suddenly, everything goes dark for an hour or more. Every. Day. For six months, the utility company was in a constant state of repair. And honestly, the problem persists today with regular disruptions at least every month. It's not just an inconvenience. It's a constant worry. My experience highlights a critical issue.

[00:01:52] The infrastructure we rely on is often invisible until it fails. And in a rapidly developing city, that failure can have a significant impact. Not just on the community, but on your daily life. This is TED Tech, a podcast from the TED Audio Collective. I'm your host, Sherelle Dorsey. Today, we're tackling something fundamental, something we often take for granted.

[00:02:21] The very wires that power our lives. But here's a question that's been nagging at me, and likely many of you. In a world of rapid technological advancement, why are we still relying on power grid technology that's over a century old? In the age of 5G, something is amiss. Our speaker today is material scientist Jason Huang. Jason is the co-founder of TS Conductor,

[00:02:48] and his company is working to create more efficient power transmission technology. He illuminates our existing energy paradox and offers a compelling solution. He's not just talking about incremental improvements. He's proposing a radical upgrade to our global power grid. Imagine tripling the capacity of existing transmission lines, slashing energy loss in half, and doing it all while saving money.

[00:03:16] Before we dive in, a quick break to hear from our sponsors. Want a deeper dive into the ways AI is shaping our work, our lives, and the world we live in? Then I recommend Pioneers of AI, hosted by AI scientist, investor, and author, Dr. Raina L. Calubi.

[00:04:02] And now, Jason Huang takes the TED stage. One of the greatest inventions of all times is our transmission and distribution grid. It connects electricity generation to electricity consumption safely, reliably,

[00:04:29] resilient against extreme weather conditions, and keep our lights on. But if we were to facilitate electrification of everything, this most sophisticated and largest machine on Earth is not quite large enough to take on all the renewable generations from where the sun shines and the wind blows to where people actually live.

[00:04:57] It does not have the capacity to handle the two-third energy that we consume, not yet in the form of electricity. Without transmission, we have no transition. The real bottleneck in our power grid is actually the conductors. Those wires that are carrying electron are based on outdated technology invented in 1908. It has limited capacity and also poor efficiency.

[00:05:27] The next generation of advanced conductor exists. It has been invented, leveraged, and the best material science today has to offer to build the best conductors. This is what the company I co-founded TS Conductor is working on. It can triple line capacity at the same time reduce line loss by 50%.

[00:05:52] The best part is it comes with a green discount, saving utility and their customers' money from day one. There are many things in our lives that are over 100 years old. So why are we still using and relying on those old-fashioned power lines?

[00:06:13] This is because our utility companies are regulated monopolies with a very conservative culture. To understand today's advanced conductor, let's take a look at yesterday's wires. The original century-old technology, ACSR conductor, which is still dominant today in our power grid,

[00:06:39] it has steel wire as a core for structural support and layers of aluminum for electrical connectivity. The steel wire at the time, 100 years ago that is, wasn't strong enough. So we had to use hard aluminum for strength contribution. The problem is hard aluminum cannot handle high temperature. This limits capacity. In the 1970s, our steel industry was able to deliver stronger steel,

[00:07:08] which then can be combined with a neode aluminum that forms the ACSS conductor, which is capable of high temperature operation for high ampacity. The problem is steel expands when hot. This causes excessive sagging. You probably have noticed that our power lines drooping in a hot summer day, and that's why.

[00:07:37] This sag causes its own set of challenges. In the 1990s, advanced conductor emerged. Instead of the steel core in the traditional conductors, composite material with lower thermal expansion, such as ceramic fiber composite or glass carbon fiber composite, are used to replace steel and reduce sag.

[00:08:03] Unfortunately, our utility industry experience with this group of first-generation advanced conductors hasn't been positive. They are known to be delicate, difficult to work with, easy to break, with longevity concerns, and they are also very expensive, used for niche applications at best. By 2016, TS technology was developed and commercially deployed.

[00:08:31] We solved all the problems associated with the first-generation advanced conductor at its source. We designed in safety, reliability, longevity, easy installation and maintenance from the start. By leveraging effective protection for the pretension carbon core with a continuous, seamless, a thick aluminum sleeve that is also fully conductive.

[00:09:00] This technology shifted three conductor paradigms. We can run this conductor at high temperature for very high ampacity without conductor sagging problem because the carbon core has virtually no solar expansion. We also maximize the aluminum content in the conductor for optimal ampacity without the weight penalty in the conductor.

[00:09:29] This is because the carbon composite core was able to eliminate 80% of the weight of steel. And we can also incorporate the annealed aluminum for best conductivity in the conductor without compromising on conductor strength because the carbon core is twice the strength of steel. And furthermore, this solution is also corrosion-proof. The heat-tolerant sag-proof feature in this solution

[00:09:58] makes it much better in terms of surviving wildfires compared to traditional conductor. The strong and compact design also makes it more resilient against extreme wind or ice storms due to climate change. Doing this, we can triple line capacity with the same structure in the power line corridors.

[00:10:26] At the same time, we can reduce line loss by 50% while essentially eliminating solar sag. And the best part is this technology comes with a green discount in addition to green dividend that's associated with line loss reduction. This saves the grid operators and their customers money from day one, even though this advanced conductor has a modest premium compared to traditional conductors.

[00:10:56] Here's how. When you build new transmission lines, the cost of conductor in the overall project is very minor, about a few percentage points. But the cost associated with structure can be as much as 30%. With the strong, less sag TS conductor, you can build these new lines with fewer and shorter structure, creating substantial CAPEX savings

[00:11:25] that more than offset the modest premium associated with conductors. There are numerous new transmission lines deploying TS technology that can prove this point. In reconductoring, we replace the wire but reuse the towers. There's even better economics in that situation. We can triple the line capacity without retrofitting any structures.

[00:11:54] For the lowest project cost, if you were to use traditional conductor for reconductoring, the required upgrade to the structure can be substantial. Let me give you a real-world example. In March 2021, we reconductored an 11-mile, 230-kV transmission line in North Dakota. The utility needed to increase line capacity to accommodate wind farms in the area.

[00:12:23] So the traditional conductor ACSS was initially used, which required expensive and time-consuming structural retrofit to 90% of the structures because of excessive sagging. When they later switched to TS solution, they were able to save 40% in total project CAPEX because we avoided all the structural retrofit. The project was completed 12 months ahead of schedule

[00:12:53] with $1.8 million CAPEX savings. Let's imagine what is possible if we thus upgraded our power grid and its capacity around the world. We could connect the renewable generation instantly versus the years-long wait that we're experiencing today. No more bottlenecks that's holding back wind or solar projects.

[00:13:23] We can electrify everything and meet the growing power demand for electric vehicles, heat pumps, industrial process, and data centers without grid reliability or transmission congestion constraints. Here's a big one. We can dramatically reduce greenhouse gas emission just with the reduced line loss saving alone.

[00:13:49] We can avoid as much as 500 million tons of greenhouse gas each year because we do not have to do as much compensatory generation. Add to that the multi-gigaton opportunity if we are able to connect so much more solar and wind to the world's power grid. You can make it happen. For example,

[00:14:17] you can support legislation, policymaking, and regulations that require our utility companies to consider advanced conductor in transmission, reliability, decarbonization, or grid modernization planning, while at the same time providing performance or other incentives that are enabled by a new technology like TS so that they can improve grid performance

[00:14:45] by investing in this technology. Conductors have a design life of 50 to 70 years. Let's upgrade our power grid, build it better for a clean energy future today. Today, we cannot afford to have another 50 to 70 years locked up with century-old technology in our power grid. I believe firmly that our power grid

[00:15:13] can and should be the enabler for energy transition. We have an opportunity to write that legacy. We went from dire-up internet to 5G in a couple of decades. We can do the same for our power grid. We just need to start now with the right conductor technology available today. Together, we can make a difference for humanity and for climate change. Thank you.

[00:15:45] That was Jason Huang at TED Countdown's 2024 Dilemma event in Brussels. In 2024, the White House announced efforts to improve grid modernization, citing the need for cleaner and stored solar energy as critical factors for increasing efficiency. Later that year, $13 million were earmarked for additional projects

[00:16:12] with funding out of the Inflation Reduction Act. These recent efforts and related projects are under review amid changes in the Trump administration. But the issue still stands. Updating our grid isn't just about technical specs. It's about overcoming the inertia of regulated monopolies and the inherent conservatism of the utility industry. It's about how innovation, even when it's clearly beneficial, faces hurdles when applied in the real world.

[00:16:40] And it's about the urgent need to modernize our grid to meet the rising energy demands of a rapidly electrifying planet. Jason Huang's talk is a powerful reminder that progress isn't just about flashy new gadgets. It's about upgrading the fundamental systems that underpin our lives. And the exciting part is we have the tools to do it. These advanced conductors aren't just a technological marvel. They're a tangible opportunity to build a more resilient, sustainable future.

[00:17:09] By supporting policies that prioritize grid modernization and embracing innovative solutions, we can all play a part in powering a brighter tomorrow. It's not just about keeping the lights on. It's about illuminating a path towards a cleaner, more equitable world. And that's it for today. TED Tech is part of the TED Audio Collective. This episode was produced by Nina Bird-Lawrence, edited by Alejandra Salazar, and fact-checked by Julia Dickerson.

[00:17:40] Special thanks to Maria Latias, Farrah DeGrunge, Daniela Bellareso, and Roxanne Heilash. I'm Sherelle Dorsey. Thanks for listening. Dr. Katherine Saunders is a leading obesity specialist

[00:18:09] at Weill Cornell Medicine and co-founder of FlightHealth, a software and clinical services company democratizing access to medical obesity care. One of her goals as a physician is to create a long-term relationship with her patients and break down stigmas surrounding obesity. She recently sat down with one of her patients, Barbara, to talk about what an empathy and science-based approach to healthcare actually looks like. I really battled obesity and I have been battling it my entire life.

[00:18:39] In 2010, I weighed about 340 pounds. I had a Roux-en-Y bypass. I probably lost about 150 pounds and I felt pretty good. But my weight gradually began to creep up. I went back to my bariatric surgeon. I was looking for help. He looked me straight in the eye. He was very blunt. And he said, go see Dr. Catherine Saunders.

[00:19:06] We talk a lot about how it's so important in this field of medicine to have good partnership between the patient and the care team against the disease. Especially in the field of obesity medicine, it's so critical that we as healthcare providers listen to our patients. They've heard from so many other healthcare providers, oh, just eat less and exercise more. Just go off and lose weight. It's a long-term relationship where there has to be trust. Yeah, Dr. Saunders, you said there are going to be bumps in the road. And when that happens,

[00:19:36] I want you to contact me immediately. The fact that you gave me that permission, it was almost like vaccinating me against failure. Yeah, it's so much better for us to understand early what's going on. We have to be detectives. And we can very often pinpoint what it is. Yeah, Dr. Saunders, you probably remember the time I came to you and I said, I've started eating in the middle of the night

[00:20:06] and I have no idea why. I was flabbergasted. We talked and came up with a plan. Yeah, and it's my job to figure out why is this happening? What's not working? I think we adjusted the timing of one of your medications to cover nighttime better. When you reached your health goals, we decided to transition from the phase of weight loss to the phase of weight maintenance. We recognized at that point

[00:20:34] that your prediabetes was gone. Your blood pressure was in the normal range. And all of the health complications that were associated with your higher weight were improved or gone. That was really exciting. You allow yourself as a patient to start to think about what that means for your life. I realized that I didn't fear being around food anymore.

[00:21:01] It's really important for people to understand that what they are struggling with is not their fault and there are effective treatment plans. Hearing stories like Barbara can change so many lives. If obesity was just about willpower, losing weight and keeping it off would be simple. Novo Nordisk is committed to driving change to defeat serious chronic diseases. Learn more about our mission to defeat obesity

[00:21:31] at novo nordisk.com. That's N-O-V-O-N-O-R-D-I-S-K dot com.