Kraken Technologies
Sam Lynch is the APAC Director of Regulatory Affairs and Market Development at Kraken Technologies, leading Kraken’s policy engagement across the Asia-Pacific and supporting its clients in navigating the intricacies of Asia-Pacific’s evolving energy markets and regulatory frameworks. Prior to joining Kraken, Sam worked as a consultant specializing in energy sector commercial advisory and transactions. He also has extensive public policy and commercial experience in the private, public, and not-for-profit sectors.
Galen Erickson is Senior Manager of Regulatory Affairs and Market Development at Kraken Technologies, a proven operating system designed to help utilities improve customer engagement, manage distributed energy resources, and unlock grid flexibility. He leads Kraken’s policy engagement and supports go-to-market strategy across North America. Before joining Kraken, Galen spent over six years as a managing consultant with Bates White Economic Consulting, producing expert analysis for utility regulators and federal courts.
America’s next grid resource may already be parked in a driveway or mounted on a garage wall. Accessing and orchestrating these resources is a crucial tool to accommodate continued load growth and make the most of our existing grid.
One recent Brattle analysis models annual electricity sales rising 20-30 percent by 2030, driven by data centers, electrification, and new manufacturing. Despite this, the power system often remains underutilized because it is built to accommodate system peaks that occur in just a few hours per year.
That headroom is not uniformly available – local constraints and reliability reserves do matter. However, as utilities plan necessary infrastructure, regulators must ensure that targeted flexibility and better asset utilization are leveraged as fundamental tools to maximize investment efficiency and safeguard affordability.
Australia and Great Britain offer two complementary, if not directly comparable, lessons for U.S. utilities and regulators. Australia shows that rapid device deployment does not guarantee participation, whereas Britain’s experience shows how enabling rules and a simple, valuable offer to consumers can convert flexible devices into a usable service.
The lesson is not to copy either market wholesale. Rather, it is to pair price signals with products customers can trust, understand, and control.