In a 13-year stretch while working at Duke Energy, he helped deploy five products to drive efficiencies in the utility’s operations and generating fleet, from advanced analytics to business intelligence to machine learning applications.

Take work management software, for example. Pompee’s team introduced iPads for workers to bring to a plant site, rather than a sheet of paper. These iPads would allow workers access to problem reports, equipment histories, even a digital library of the utility’s maintenance procedures.

Using talk-to-text, workers could make notes quickly, rather than waiting to access a single computer shared by multiple team members in the maintenance shop. They could close out jobs on-site.

“But the challenge…was not in the technical saving of time,” Pompee noted. “The real challenge was in the culture shift.”

He said some workers were hesitant to adopt the tools because of personal routines or concerns about efficiency backfiring.

“We had to convince people why it was better for them and not necessarily just better for the company,” he said.

To that end, new developments and technological change often require a mindset shift.

That’s where Pompee finds himself now, as the VP of Power & Emissions for Compass Datacenters, a hyperscale data center developer. He is now more than five months into the role, at a time when AI advancements are leading to energy-consuming data centers popping up everywhere. He is an evangelist for the company’s slogan, “Data centers done differently.”

But more on that shortly.

Pompee has all the power generation bona fides one might expect of a 23-year career in the utilities industry, working for both Florida Power & Light (FPL) and Duke.

He began his career as a steam turbine support engineer and was involved in repowering projects converting oil burners into natural gas combined cycle (NGCC) units. He later spent six years in the nuclear sector, including working in oversight at the now-retired Crystal River Nuclear Plant under Progress Energy, before it was bought by Duke.

Pompee was also a gas turbine program manager, focusing on GE 7F turbines. He would later become Duke Energy’s managing director of low-carbon technologies, like small modular reactors, hydrogen, long-duration energy storage and carbon capture.

“My career trajectory was actually very well-scripted,” he said.

Even as he worked on the strategy side, he hadn’t considered leaving the utility industry. But in Pompee’s last few years at Duke, the realities of AI became more real.

A breakthrough moment came when a hyperscaler asked the utility about securing 750 megawatts (MW) of hydrogen power for their facility—equivalent to the output of a large gas turbine power plant. At the same time, Duke was already running out of capacity for its own machine learning algorithms.

“It makes perfect sense that these things would require this much power,” said Pompee.

While conducting modeling for Duke Energy’s Integrated Resource Planning (IRP) and focusing heavily on data center-driven load growth, Pompee was connected with Compass Datacenters, which was seeking a leader for its data center initiatives.

Unsurprisingly, Pompee’s initial conversations with Compass centered around the challenges of finding reliable data center power. By this time, projections were suggesting U.S. data center electricity consumption would at least double by 2030.

The opportunity to shift industries and take on this challenge from the data center side had a lot of appeal for Pompee.

While he said he initially processed data center power challenges from a utility planning perspective, Pompee soon recognized there was a more flexible approach. Instead of solely relying on large-scale infrastructure projects, the focus was on more innovative, creative solutions.

“Not every one of these power challenges requires you to go build 100 miles of transmission and a gigawatt of power,” he said.

The ‘Co-Serve’ Model

Utilities and data center companies are undoubtedly learning more about each other as getting a grid connection in certain power-constrained markets is not as cut-and-dry as it used to be.

Understandably, there are some communication and expectation gaps.

Pompee noted that data center developers, who are requesting increasingly large amounts of power over time, may not always fully account for how utilities interpret these requests. Utilities need to plan for that requested capacity in their resource modeling and secure enough reserves to meet the demand, even if data centers aren’t immediately using the full amount.

Pompee pointed out that while data center operators may assume excess capacity can be sold to others if not used, regulated utilities cannot operate in that way. They must ensure the full committed capacity is available.

“The idea of the realistic load ramp and the load shape is something that both sides really need to get together and have a realistic discussion,” he said.

This speaks to a more collaborative approach between utilities and data centers companies, rather than a transactional one. Pompee said Compass has adopted the former approach.

Instead of simply requesting large amounts of power, he said Compass conducts a detailed study to determine the actual power needs for a specific site, engaging in an ongoing dialogue with utilities. This process includes conducting a “test fit” to assess how much load can be supported on a given piece of land, followed by discussions on infrastructure requirements, such as whether new transmission lines are needed.

“We don’t submit a power request and then go away and wait for the utility to give us an answer,” said Pompee. “We submit a power request, we talk to the utility. We have a lot of back and forth, and we solve the problems together.”

Hence: “Data centers done differently.”

DTECH Data Centers and AI is a new event under the DISTRIBUTECH brand that aims to explore the strategies necessary to navigate data center project delays, power constraints and the increasing demand for sustainable, flexible solutions. We are seeking dynamic and engaging speakers, presentations, panel discussions and case studies related to these issues. Apply through our Call for Content submission portal here.

Compass, with 20 active U.S. data center campuses and four more in development, believes in a “co-serve” model, which means being a more active partner in planning, risk and capital costs.

For one, when utilities commit to million- or billion-dollar generation and transmission investments, Compass believes the burden shouldn’t fall solely on residential ratepayers if speculative data center projects fail to materialize. Instead, data center developers should contribute by covering some costs, like for upfront feasibility and environmental impact studies.

The company also believes data center developers can play a critical role in infrastructure development, with their greater flexibility than regulated utilities in deploying capital. They can help secure rights of way and construct transmission lines and substations more efficiently, potentially accelerating timelines and easing bottlenecks in the construction process.

Another option Compass advocates for is to embrace more creative approaches to rate paying, such as utility tariffs requiring large load customers like data centers to pay more.

Peak shaving offers yet another potential solution. Pompee noted that emergency backup generators at data centers, which typically remain idle, could be deployed during peak demand periods to alleviate grid pressure. While stringent air quality permits make this solution difficult to implement universally, he supports exploring flexible approaches to utilizing backup generation.

Power providers, regulators and the data center industry could collaborate on this effort, coming up with permitting structures that consider different fuel sources and their emissions profiles. Even updated permitting structures for hydrotreated vegetable oil (HVO), which Compass data centers use for emergency backup rather than diesel, haven’t been fully explored.

“Let’s figure out a way to make use of those assets that’s not prescriptive,” Pompee said. “I’m not saying, hey, relax air permits and let’s let it rip, but there’s an answer there, and there are assets here.”

A future breakthrough could be for some data centers, particularly those in AI training, to be able to flexibly shift their IT workloads in response to grid demand signals. This could mean adjusting AI training schedules or shifting load to other data center campuses to avoid power strain during peak times, like heatwaves or holidays.

Hyperscalers and technology providers have said temporal and spatial computational flexibility is possible if they are given appropriate signals. However, federal energy officials could not identify examples of grid-aware flexible operation at data centers today, with a few exceptions: The carbon-minimizing geographic optimization Google has employed for several years, recent efforts to respond to energy shortages in the European Union resulting from the Russian-Ukraine war, and flexibility requirements in Ireland.

In a more fundamental way, load flexibility solutions begin with utility-data center collaboration. Right now, there’s no set, universal template for a direct path of communication from system planner to operator.

“I think we’ve got all the bones there,” said Pompee. “It’s just a matter of, because we haven’t done it, there’s no real best practices on how to.”

The Cavendish NextGen Hydrogen Hub draws solar power from a nearby FPL site, using electrolysis to produce hydrogen.

The hydrogen produced will be compressed, stored and mixed into existing natural gas infrastructure at FPL’s Okeechobee Clean Energy Center, a 3-on-1 combined-cycle plant with a capacity of approximately 1622 MW.

FPL has said a 5% blend of hydrogen will initially be tested in one of the three natural gas combustion turbines on site.

The utility called the hub an important pilot project that allows FPL “to learn more about clean fuels and their potential benefits to customers.”

Florida Power & Light aims to fully decarbonize its power generation assets by 2045.

While a portion of the solar energy will flow directly to the grid, the rest will power a series of electrolyzers. The hydrogen produced will be compressed, stored and mixed into existing natural gas infrastructure at FPL’s Okeechobee Clean Energy Center, a 3-on-1 combined-cycle plant with a capacity of approximately 1622 MW.

All of the components together make up what FPL calls its “Cavendish NextGen Hydrogen Hub.” Construction of the facility is expected to be complete by the end of the year.

FPL said a 5% blend of hydrogen will initially be tested in one of Okeechobee Clean Energy Center’s natural gas combustion turbines.

The utility aims to fully decarbonize its power generation assets by 2045.

“What we discover could eventually help us hedge against the volatility and cost of fuel,” said Tim Oliver, vice president of development at FPL. “This is about creating more options for affordable and clean electricity for Florida.”

Florida Power & Light (FPL) said 10 new solar farms came online January 31.

The facilities combined can generate 745 MW and are scattered throughout the Sunshine State.

Notably, FPL said the Cavendish Solar Energy Center – located in Okeechobee County – will help power the electrolysis process to produce hydrogen. FPL’s Cavendish NextGen Hydrogen Hub is expected complete by the end of 2023.

The utility said the hydrogen produced will be compressed, stored and mixed into existing natural gas infrastructure at FPL’s Okeechobee Clean Energy Center, a 3-on-1 combined cycle plant with a capacity of approximately 1622 MW.

The new solar facilities are:

·       FPL Chipola River Solar Energy Center (Calhoun County)

·       FPL Flowers Creek Solar Energy Center (Calhoun County)

·       FPL Anhinga Solar Energy Center (Clay County)

·       FPL First City Solar Energy Center (Escambia County)

·       FPL Apalachee Solar Energy Center (Jackson County)

·       FPL Everglades Solar Energy Center (Miami-Dade County)

·       FPL Cavendish Solar Energy Center (Okeechobee County)

·       FPL Blackwater River Solar Energy Center (Santa Rosa County)

·       FPL Pink Trail Solar Energy Center (St. Lucie County)

·       FPL Bluefield Preserve Solar Energy Center (St. Lucie County)

FPL – a NextEra Energy subsidiary – now has 60 solar energy centers installed statewide.

Two GE 7HA.03 gas turbines are now operating at Florida Power & Light’s (FPL) Dania Beach Clean Energy Center near Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

It’s the first time the 7HA.03 turbines – the largest 60Hz turbines and most efficient in GE’s fleet – are commercially operable worldwide.

GE said the new air-cooled turbines are part of a plant modernization effort that is resulting in a 70% emissions reduction. Dania Beach Clean Energy Center is now generating up to approximately 1,260 MW.

GE secured FPL as a customer for the project back in 2019, around the time it launched the 7HA.03 turbine. The utility planned to spend $880 million on the project, we reported at the time.

The 7HA.03 pulls much of its design from decades of overall HA experience. However, it does include the first adoption of GE’s DLN 2.6e combustion system on its 60Hz gas turbine line. Another innovation is a larger titanium R1 blade to enable greater volume of airflow and output.

The 430 MW model has a 75 MW-per-minute ramp rate, 64% net combined-cycle efficiency and can turn down to 30% load while staying within emissions compliance, according to GE.

The company said this was validated at GE’s Test Stand 7 in Greenville, South Carolina, in parallel with the installation of the gas turbines at Dania Beach. GE said it validated the turbine control system settings and provided the adjustments to system software for improved turbine operability and reliability.

FPL said it believes that the turbines – at Dania Beach and elsewhere – may be fueled by hydrogen with some modifications. The utility is currently developing a pilot project to test the use of green hydrogen to replace a portion of the natural gas at its power plant in Okeechobee County, Florida – which also uses GE turbines.

GE said its 7HA.03 gas turbine has the capability to burn up to 50% by volume of hydrogen when blended with natural gas.

FPL’s Dania Beach property has been the site of power generation for 90 years. It hosted the first power plant in FPL’s system, beginning operations in 1927. The plant was modernized in the 1950s and again in the 1990s, according to FPL.

The Microgrid Control Lab features control center equipment and software that UCF engineering faculty and students will use to gain hands-on experience.

“The Microgrid Control Lab provides unprecedented access to a modern grid control center that enables some of the brightest young minds in the country to collaborate, learn and help reimagine the energy grid of tomorrow,” said Jim Walsh, General Manager of GE Digital’s Grid Software business. “As renewable energy sources, like solar, continue to expand and evolve, the technology behind the grid has to keep up. It is critical that electrical and computer engineering talent have real-life experiences with the hardware and software than underpins the modern grid helping utilities securely deliver reliable clean energy.”

FPL and GE Digital employ more than 400 UCF alumni, the companies said. Currently, more than 1,400 undergraduate and graduate students at the university are studying electrical or computer engineering.

GE Digital also announced a new internship program offering UCF students experience in the utilities and power sectors.

“This new facility is exactly the kind of strategic partnership that makes UCF a premiere choice for students with future-focused career goals. GE Digital and FPL have been both philanthropic investors and design collaborators in this lab, ensuring our students in this field will be industry-ready on day one of their careers,” UCF President Alexander Cartwright said. “It’s a win-win. Our students get a leading education in a lab environment, and both companies open up a pipeline of incredible talent for their workforce.”

The 74.5-MW Rodeo solar project is FPL’s fifth solar energy center in DeSoto County, tops in the state for the utility. Rodeo Solar Energy Center comprises approximately 300,000 panels and marks the completed development on land FPL originally purchased in the 1960s. 

DeSoto County served as a launching pad for FPL’s solar investments with the 2009 construction of the FPL DeSoto Next Generation Solar Energy Center. At 25 MW and about 90,000 panels, DeSoto Next Generation was the largest of its kind in the nation at the time and was commissioned by former President Barack Obama. DeSoto County has served as an innovative hub for FPL’s clean energy ideas and investments ever since.

“For more than a decade, FPL has been on a mission to turn the Sunshine State into a leader in clean energy and sustainability, and so much of it has been anchored in DeSoto County,” said FPL President and CEO Eric Silagy. “But DeSoto County isn’t just home to millions of solar panels — it’s also a hub for clean energy innovation. Every time FPL has decided to disrupt the status quo, push the limits or test new ideas, DeSoto County has shown up as an eager partner. The FPL Rodeo Solar Energy Center may be the last solar center on this site, but we hope it’s just the beginning of many more innovative projects to come.”

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Rodeo Solar Entergy Center also is the second project built to support the utility’s FPL SolarTogether program for community solar.

In 2016, FPL was able to build three more solar energy centers in Florida, one of which was the FPL Citrus Solar Energy Center, built on the same site as the DeSoto Next Generation Solar Energy Center. At 74.5 MW, each one of the three centers were three times the size of the first and still cost less to build. FPL built its Wildflower and Cattle Ranch solar energy centers in 2018 and 2020 respectively, making DeSoto County home to a total of four solar energy centers at the time.

“FPL has been a wonderful friend to this community, and it’s been a thrill to watch their clean energy transformation unfold right before our eyes in DeSoto County,” said DeSoto County Commissioner J.C. Deriso. “When our journey began in 2009, we couldn’t have dreamed our legacy would kick off such a rapid solar expansion across the state, or that this county would be home to five solar energy centers and more than a million solar panels. I don’t know what the future holds, but I hope DeSoto County continues to be at the center of clean energy innovation.”

FPL is a subsidiary of NextEra Entergy.

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Utility-scale and community solar are growing tremendously and will be a key part of content at POWERGEN International event planned Jan. 26-28 in Dallas. The POWERGEN Call for Speakers is still open and seeking submissions for tracks such as Decarbonization, Digitalization, Energy Storage Breakthroughs, the Future of Electricity, Hydrogen: What’s New, Optimizing Plant Performance, the New Energy Mix (on-site power) and Trends in Conventional Power. Click here to see more and submit a session idea.

This is according to a new report by BloombergNEF. The research wing of media giant Bloomberg is focused on next-generation energy technologies which also reduce carbon emissions.

Hydrogen can be a zero-carbon substitute for fossil fuels. Companies such as Mitsubishi Hitachi Power Systems (MHPS), GE, Siemens and Ansaldo Energia already are working on programs to blend hydrogen into their turbine fuel mixes.

In fact, the BNEF report says, clean hydrogen deployment could cut about one-third of global greenhouse gas emissions from generation,  heavy duty transportation and industrial manufacturing such as steel making. The concept of clean or green hydrogen requires that renewables such as wind or solar power the electrolysis plants which would create the hydrogen by separating that molecule from water.

 “Hydrogen has potential to become the fuel that powers a clean economy. In the years ahead, it will be possible to produce it at low cost using wind and solar power, to store it underground for months, and then to pipe it on-demand to power everything from ships to steel mills,” Kobad Bhavnagri, head of industrial decarbonization for BNEF and lead author of the report, said in a statement.

This vision will not come cheap. Bhavnagri’s report estimates that a hydrogen scale-up would require close to $150 billion in subsidies on the global level. It also factors in a cost applied to carbon such as a tax or allowance policy.

If these policies are put in place, the BNEF report suggests that renewable hydrogen could be produced at between 80 cents to $1.60 per kilogram in most of the world by 2050. That production cost is equivalent to natural gas priced at between $6 to $12 per million British thermal units (mmBtu), according to the report.

Such a price would be competitive with current natural gas prices in Brazil, China, India, Germany and Scandinavia. The cost of electrolyzer technology–which splits water in hydrogen and oxygen components­–has fallen by 40 percent in the past five years, according to BNEF.

Hydrogen does have its competitive challenges elsewhere. For one, U.S. natural gas is abundant and currently costs below $2 per mmBtu in several markets, according to reports. Companies are building liquified natural gas (LNG) export terminals along the U.S. coasts for future delivery to global customers.

Storing and transporting hydrogen also is financially challenging. The BNEF report calculates that an infrastructure investment in storage might cost around $637 billion by 2050.

Putting a price on carbon would help in steel, cement and chemicals production, too. Many countries, particularly in Europe, have a carbon tax policy but the U.S. does not.

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Want to read more stories on hydrogen in Power Engineering? Click here.

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Numerous European business leaders have expressed support for the notion of a hydrogen-based industrial economy. Marco Alverà¡, CEO of Italian energy infrastructure firm Snam, has said that existing gas infrastructure networks and that hydrogen can be blended into gas-fired power generation at relatively small investment up front.

“Europe can turn the hydrogen revolution into a reality and make it affordable for consumers and industry worldwide, while also reaping the industrial benefit of climate leadership,” Alverà¡ wrote in an op-ed to the London-based Financial Times.

In the U.S., MHPS recently was awarded a contract by Intermountain Power Agency to supply two of its M501JAC gas-fired turbines for a long-term hydrogen transition project in Utah. The M501JACs will utilize a 30-percent mix of hydrogen in only five years, with the long-term goal to burn 100 percent by 2045.

A Japanese consortium including Toshiba and Iwantani Corp. is working together on a renewable energy-powered 10-MW class hydrogen production unit. The FH2R project is under construction in the Fukushima Prefecture region.

(Rod Walton is content director for Power Engineering and POWERGEN International. He can be reached at 918-831-9177 and rod.walton@clarionevents.com).

— — — — —

Hydrogen and nuclear will be both be part of the content in the Lowering Carbon with Thermal Generation track at POWERGEN International happening December 8-10 in Orlando, Florida.

It’s enough to keep utility executives awake at night.

Power sector transformation is a nice catchphrase, but it’s a time-consuming, thorny and irresistible matter for those who must keep the electricity running. Commonwealth Edison President and COO Terry Donnelly visited with Power Engineering recently to discuss some of these timely challenges.

Donnelly grew up in a utility family and has spent a large part of his career with the company. He has been president since 2018.

ComEd, a Chicago-based utility within the Exelon Corp. family, is Illinois’ biggest electricity provider with more than 4 million customers. It takes its power from the competitive PJM market.

Eight years and about $2.6 billion later, ComEd has nearly completed the first phase of its grid modernization plan. Those improvements include advanced metering infrastructure, T&D upgrades and next-gen control technologies.

The result, he said, is eight consecutive years of performance improvement on metrics such as outage duration, outage frequency and energy efficiency while incorporating more and more carbon-free energy, whether it’s nuclear or renewables.

It’s been successful, but it ain’t been busy.

“We’re trying to transform a power grid, especially one as complex and vast as ComEd…and trying to do that while it’s working,” Donnelly told Power Engineering. “You are arm wrestling and investing that energized grid into the future.”

Keeping the lights on while inviting a rising portion penetration of renewables and combating weather changes requires real-time situational awareness, which in turn requires a whole new set of digital tools from what Donnelly’s forebearers possessed.

“We’ve improved reliability 70 percent, and 2019 was the best on record,” he noted. Even so, the system still requires countless upgrades for poles and wires to withstand a more dramatic weather environment.

This is one way that ComEd is looking into the future, Donnelly said. Others include investing in next-gen, decentralized energy options such as microgrids and, perhaps more importantly, putting stock in the next generation of a potential workforce.

For the latter, ComEd offers numerous Chicago-area programs reaching out to all students, with special emphasis on STEM education for minorities and women. The company offers a Solar Spotlight, an Icebox Derby solar-powered race, the Dawson Tech training program for future linemen and an energy academy at Dunbar Vocational High School in the Bronzeville neighborhood.

“It’s absolutely critical,” Donnelly said, noting the “premium on having a workforce development program in line with the suite of technology investments.”

And it’s not just serendipity that ComEd has placed its truly unique Bronzeville Microgrid Cluster project in that area. Bronzeville, a collaborative effort including U.S. Department of Energy support and the Illinois Institute of Technology, has several microgrids which will be ultimately connected with an array of utility-owned energy storage, utility-scale and rooftop solar, as well as on-site power.

The microgrid is an intriguing concept to mission-critical services such as public safety and hospitals, but it is not without significant headwinds both in financial and technical feasibility terms. ComEd and Illinois Tech are achieving significant progress with their microgrids and also dealing with the challenges.

Phase two is coming with the promise of full islanding capabilities, Donnelly noted. Islanding allows electrical service to continue within a microgrid even if the utility system is otherwise down or disconnected.

And this is where the roads of grid advancement and community outreach intersect each other. Having a microgrid cluster in Bronzeville provides a “living laboratory” for cutting-edge electricity technologies that is accessible to young students interested in STEM careers.

ComEd is learning more about microgrid interaction even as students are. Donnelly is good with that.

“They can’t be just technical investments anymore,” he said. “They have to be in the community where you’re hoping to nurture the benefits of technology.”

(Rod Walton is content director for Power Engineering and POWERGEN International happening December 8-10 in Orlando, Florida. He can be reached at 918-831-9177 and rod.walton@clarionevents.com).

All of those above statements are clichés, of course, spoken at many a conference by many a speaker looking for a cohesive theme. They are also clichés because they are true.

POWERGEN International has been around more than 30 years not because of the genius of its planners, but due to the contributions of its core audience. POWERGEN’s call for abstracts is a key element of the event that allows power generation leaders to show what works, what didn’t and why teamwork almost always wins the day.

And now the deadline has been extended to March 4.

Click here to see what POWERGEN is seeking in terms of content for the event happening December 8-10 in Orlando, Florida. The call for abstracts wants case studies, utility projects, lessons learned and best practices earned the hard way in power plant performance, gas-fired turbine technologies, digital transformation, energy storage, wind, solar, hydro, coal-fired generation, nuclear and on-site power.

Video: Mark Barton, a Public Service Co. of Oklahoma power plant manager and member of the POWERGEN advisory committee, talks about coal-fired power and conversion projects during POWERGEN 2019 in New Orleans.

Those who are selected by our advisory committee will be able to present their projects at a conference which draws more than 10,000 attendees from utilities, OEMs and suppliers from around the globe.

Last year, representatives from more than 30 utilities and some of the world’s biggest manufacturing, EPC and equipment firms were among the speakers at more than 90 content sessions. Yet many of those sessions featured innovators from small companies which are helping to remake the power generation mix of tomorrow.

This year’s POWERGEN will feature Knowledge Hubs on the exhibitor floor, as well as longer, more in-depth conference workshops and a Leadership Summit. Former U.S. Energy Secretary and Texas Gov. Rick Perry will be one of our keynote speakers.

Shaping the Future of Generation Together is our North Star, so to speak, the navigational point which guides us. All of which is to say it is not about us at Clarion Energy; it is about you, the power generation industry. Click here to see the call for abstracts. See where your project fits and then submit. Please feel welcome to contact us if you are having any problems or have a question. My email is rod.walton@clarionevents.com.

Getting back to the start, POWERGEN is only as great as the sum of what the industry offers, which is pretty great. It keeps the lights on, gives us warm from the cold, relief from the heat and keeps the wheels of this giant vehicle called society rolling along. And it strives, always strives, to do it better and better.

Those are the stories we want to hear at POWERGEN. The call for abstracts is how we get there.

It’s kind of like a lottery but with much better odds. You got to submit to win.