The Integration Challenge
Why brilliant climate tech fails in the real world
Your Progress
Section 1 of 5The 80% Graveyard
You've invented a revolutionary battery technology. Lab tests show 3x energy density at half the cost. Investors are excited. Then reality hits.
Your battery requires rare minerals controlled by one supplier. Existing grid infrastructure can't handle the charge rate. Building codes haven't been updated. Insurance companies won't cover it. 80% of climate tech startups fail not because the technology doesn't work, but because it doesn't integrate.
Technical Barriers
Policy Gaps
Coordination Failure
🎯 Interactive: System Integration Layers
Click each layer to explore what must work for climate tech to integrate successfully. Notice how failure at any layer breaks the whole system.
Physical Infrastructure
The hardware: solar panels, batteries, transformers, transmission lines
↑ Each layer must integrate with the layers above and below it
📖 Case Study: California's Duck Curve
By 2015, California had installed so much solar that midday electricity prices went negative—utilities paid customers to use power. Sounds great? Not really.
The problem: Solar peaks at noon, but demand peaks at 7pm. Without storage integration, grid operators had to ramp gas plants up 13,000 MW in 3 hours every evening—faster than they were designed for. Equipment degraded. Blackout risks increased.
The Technical Fix
- → 4-hour battery mandates (CPUC 2013)
- → Grid-scale storage incentives
- → Smart inverter requirements (Rule 21)
The Integration Challenge
- → $2.5B in storage by 2024
- → 3-year avg. interconnection timeline
- → Coordinating 3 agencies, 100+ utilities
The Three Integration Pillars
Technical Integration
Physical compatibility with existing infrastructure—grids, buildings, transport networks. Requires standards, protocols, and interoperability.
Data Integration
Information flows between systems—monitoring, control, billing, forecasting. Requires APIs, data standards, and cybersecurity.
Institutional Integration
Aligning policies, regulations, business models, and stakeholders. Requires governance, incentives, and trust-building.