The Clean Energy Race - Dean Spaccavento Is On The Blocks

Dean Spaccavento is on the show today. And if there is someone who embodies the mind, body and spirit of the enormity we as attempted change makers more than Dean does, then I haven’t met them. In a week where we’ve seen nuclear energy and the Liberal party totally poleaxed by the electorate - and what a surprise that is - the race to decarbonise the Australian and global energy systems is absolutely on at the moment. For more than 15 years Dean has been on the vanguard of what a new energy system in this country could and needs to be. The distraction and denial that has permeated the energy transition to deliver zero emissions and support justice and equity for as many people as possible is an immense undertaking, and certainly not an undertaking I wish to sound dismissive or cynical about. Re-engineering and re-wiring how we all live and work on a daily basis is a staggering effort, and add into that vested interests who have demonstrated no interest in being part of this transition, the challenges of land access, problems of bad operators and poor practice, plus the necessary changes in our own practices regarding energy plus finding alignment on value propositions for new energy models is all incredibly complex.

Dean has seen it all though, and as the CEO and Co-Founder of Reposit Power, his life’s work since 2008 has been to been to play a central role in elegantly threading a needle that too often has seemed to have no eye. Reposit Power have created a customer proposition that is still unmatched in the market, where alignment between a customer who’s homes acts as renewable energy generator exists with Reposit’s technology and energy market service capabilities, then their ability to be able to work with a solar install sector that one third of the time doesn’t deliver what they’re paid to do, plus navigating complex regulatory conditions all within the largest machine in the world - the National Electricity Market, is extraordinary. And he does it all without being a far right sympathiser, hasn’t sought prosecution for the head of an infectious disease department nor publicly slandered people seeking to help and rescue trapped kids in a cave in Thailand.

Today’s chat is a lesson and primer on the Australian electricity system and the transition we want and need it to go through. It’s full of stories from Dean’s experience - the ups and downs, the illogical and the logical. We chat about the increasingly bifurcated energy system we now have in place, the array of problems this causes, obfuscation by vested interests, the problems of accelerating technology evolution and the downside for the less well off and the crucial, central role of trust and truth in this grand endeavour to change the underlying functioning of our economy and society.

Dean Spaccavento is a role model for me in how to go about making change - with perseverance, integrity and maybe most importantly, a sense of humour. I hope you take as much from this chat as I did.

Til next time, thanks for listening.

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