Interchange Recharged (Wood Mackenzie)

This week, we’re challenging our long-held beliefs about whether individual actions matter. Even if we drastically altered our lifestyles, would it do anything to address climate change?

We all want to believe that our individual life choices will have a meaningful impact on carbon emissions. But a focus on solar panels, LEDs and vegetarianism may just be a distraction.

This week, Stephen is going to take the position that individual actions are inconsequential. Shayle will argue the other side.

This is the second installment that addresses this theme. Last episode, we asked: do people care about energy? Listen here. 

Support for this podcast comes from PG&E. Did you know that 20 percent of EV drivers in the U.S. are in PG&E’s service area in Northern California? PG&E is helping to electrify corporate fleet vehicles. Get in touch with PG&E’s EV specialists to find out how you can take your transportation fleet electric.

We're also sponsored by Wunder Capital. Wunder Capital is the leading commercial solar financing company in the United States. Click here to find out how Wunder Capital can help you finance your next commercial solar project.

Subscribe to The Interchange podcast via Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, Spotify or wherever you find your audio content. Or integrate our RSS feed into the app of your choice.

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We’re rebroadcasting one or our favorite episodes, called “Would I Lie to You?” 

We originally ran it right after the 2020 election as a light-hearted distraction during a dark news cycle.

Shayle Kann gets together with Adam James, the Chief of Staff and Senior Vice President at Energy Impact Partners (where Shayle also works) to play an energy-themed version of the British game show Would I Lie to You?

Here are the rules:

Each player selects three energy-related facts or stories. Any number of the three can be lies, and at least one has to be a lie.

They have to be clear lies, not slight adjustments of the truth.

The other person can ask three questions, and they must get an answer.

At the end of the round, the truths and lies are revealed. If the score is a tie, it moves to a penalty shootout where each person offers a fact/story and the other person has to determine whether it is the truth or a lie. If someone misses and the other person gets their next answer right, they win.

The Interchange is brought to you by Schneider Electric. Are you building a microgrid? With a microgrid you can store electricity and sell it back during peak times. Keep your power on during an outage. Integrate with renewables. Control energy on your own terms. Having built more microgrids in than anyone else, Schneider Electric has the expertise to help.

The Interchange is brought to you by Bloom Energy. Bloom’s onsite energy platform provides unparalleled control for those looking to secure clean, reliable 24/7 power that scales to meet critical business needs. It eliminates outage and price risk while accelerating us towards a zero carbon future. Visit Bloom Energy to learn how to take charge today.

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The Breakthrough Institute was founded on the idea that traditional environmentalists were wrong about how to protect the planet.

Back in 2004, the co-founders called for ending the "politics of limits" pushed by environmental groups. Rather, they saw economic growth, technological innovation, and human ingenuity as the most important tools for environmental progress -- not necessarily regulatory limits. That angered large swaths of the environmental community.

Over the last decade, the Breakthrough Institute has thrust itself into the tribal warfare that grips the energy and climate movement. Energy innovation versus deployment? Renewables versus nuclear? GMOs versus organic food? The organization brings strong views in those areas.

In this episode, we’re going to talk with Alex Trembath, the communications director at Breakthrough, about where the think tank stands on renewables, nuclear, climate policy, and energy intensity. We'll also spend some time on tribalism itself -- and how to get beyond it.

This podcast is brought to you by Fiveworx, a turnkey customer engagement platform for utilities. Find out more about how Fiveworx can help your customer engagement program succeed -- and get you beyond the meter.

Recommended reading:

• The Death of Environmentalism (2004)
• An Ecomodernist Manifesto
• Nature Unbound: Deocoupling for Conservation
• GTM: What the Struggling Nuclear Industry Can Learn From Boeing, SpaceX and Big Pharma

Subscribe to The Interchange podcast via Apple Podcasts, Google Play, Stitcher or wherever you find your audio content.

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Global energy giants have been on a distributed energy acquisition spree over the last few years. With the formation of its New Energies unit in 2016, Shell is leading the oil & gas majors in investment and vision.

Shell New Energies plans to invest $2 billion dollars in renewables, microgrids, batteries, electric vehicle charging, and other emerging tech every year. That number is just a tiny sliver of Shell’s fossil fuel and chemical businesses, but it’s enough money to start re-arranging the competitive landscape for clean electrification. 

Most recently, the company acquired sonnen, a leading behind-the-meter battery company, and First Utility, a UK retail supplier and smart home service provider. Shell is developing smart home offerings through both companies.

This week, Brian Davis, the VP of energy solutions at Shell, joins us to discuss the company’s strategy.

His job: to help reshape the strategy of Shell and build up new businesses around biofuels and electrification. What does the New Energies strategy tell us about where Shell thinks the world is headed?

We’ll cover the following topics:

• Shell’s acquisitions over the past two years: why those companies? How do we fit those puzzle pieces together?
• To what degree do they optimize for near-term profit vs. land-grabs in key areas?
• How will shell integrate all these businesses, both strategically and culturally?
• What are the biggest risks to Shell's strategy? 
• What's the long-term profitability of the new energies business? How does it become more profitable?
• Will all supermajors eventually follow in Shell's footsteps?

The most recent acquisition of First Utility provides snapshot of Shell’s customer strategy: 

“We’re offering a suite of smart home solutions, starting from smart thermostats that control your heating remotely. And then clearly over time we can offer an electric vehicle charger…we can come in and offer the benefits of energy storage if you have onsite solar. So we’re offering all of that as packages to meet the needs of our customers under the Shell brand in the UK,” says Davis.

Recommended reading/listening:

• Reuters: Shell Goes Green as It Rebrands UK Household Power Supplier
• GTM: Shell New Energies Director on Investing in Clean Energy: ‘It’s About Survival’
• The Interchange: Solar Dwarfs Oil and Gas as World’s Primary Source of Energy in Shell’s Sky Scenario

Support for this podcast comes from PG&E. Did you know that 20 percent of EV drivers in the U.S. are in PG&E’s service area in Northern California? PG&E is helping to electrify corporate fleet vehicles. Get in touch with PG&E’s EV specialists to find out how you can take your transportation fleet electric.

We're also sponsored by Wunder Capital. Wunder Capital is the leading commercial solar financing company in the United States. Click here to find out how Wunder Capital can help you finance your next commercial solar project.

Subscribe to The Interchange podcast via Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, Spotify or wherever you find your audio content. Or integrate our RSS feed into the app of your choice.

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This week, we bring you a joint episode of The Interchange and The Energy Gang recorded in front of a live audience from our quarantine quarters around the country. 

When we started making our podcasts seven years ago, it was clear that the energy transition would be a difficult one. 

Both shows were designed as a forum to grapple with tough issues in an accessible, candid way. The clean energy industry has faced its share of crises over the years — but nothing quite like the current pandemic and economic freeze.

Supply chains are in limbo, funding opportunities for startups have vanished, and once-growing companies are at a standstill. Meanwhile, political leaders are trying to get money to struggling people and businesses, setting the stage for trillions more dollars in spending on infrastructure. 

How will it all pan out? We’re trying to figure it out, just like you. 

In this episode, we take listener questions about how to use the current crisis as an opportunity. We use some thought exercises as a way to break up the gloom, and do a mental health check-in with each other. 

Listeners submitted over 120 questions. We’ll be considering them on future shows. If you have any other show topic ideas, tag The Energy Gang and The Interchange on Twitter. (And please give us a rating and review on Apple podcasts!)

The Interchange is sponsored by Viking Cold Solutions, a leader in thermal storage for refrigerated warehouses, grocery store freezers, and restaurants around the globe. Find out how thermal storage can benefit your facility.

We’re also sponsored by NEXTracker. NEXTracker has more than 30 gigawatts of resilient and intelligent solar tracking systems across six continents. Optimize your solar power plant.

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Coal has taken center stage publicly within the Trump Administration. But solar is the real innovation star behind the scenes. 

This week, we're talking with Charlie Gay, the director of DOE's solar technologies office, about all the activity happening in the agency.

We'll discuss the solar power plants of the future: advances in power electronics; the normalization of energy storage; new ways to value and distribute solar electrons; and integration with the internet of things. We'll also discuss the winning politics of PV in Washington.

This podcast is supported by Wunder Capital, the easiest way to invest in large-scale solar energy projects across the U.S. With Wunder, you can help finance renewable energy projects while earning up to 7.5 percent annually. Get started here to diversify your portfolio and support American solar projects.

This podcast is brought to you by Shoals, the gold standard for solar and storage balance-of-systems solutions. Learn more about how Shoals can make your project operate at the highest level.

Have a question for us? Record some audio on your phone or computer and send it to podcasts@greentechmedia.com.

Recommended reading and watching:

• GTM: DOE Announces $105 Million in New Funding for Solar R&D
• GTM: To Become Truly Mainstream, Solar Will Need to Cost 25 Cents per Watt by 2050
• YouTube: A Brief History of Photovoltaics With Charlie Gay

Subscribe to The Interchange podcast via Apple Podcasts, Google Play, Stitcher or wherever you find your audio content.

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Back at the start of December, leading industry experts and energy figures converged in Phoenix, Arizona, for the annual Grid Edge Innovation Summit.

As we look ahead to this year’s Solar and Energy Storage event on 21-22 June in San Francisco, we thought we'd dip into the archives and release some of the best interviews and unheard content from last year's summit.

Hear from Wood Mackenzie’s experts and representatives from the leading distribution utilities, software technology developers, public utility commissions (PUCs), and distributed generation players in North America addressing key issues affecting the sector, including the latest insights on grid modernization, distributed energy resources (DER) aggregation technologies and transportation and building electrification. 

Featuring on this episode:

• Aimee Bailey, Director of Innovation and Portfolio Management, National Grid Partners
• Kathy Knoop, Manager, EV Stakeholder Solutions, General Motors
• Anna J Siefken, Commercialization Executive, U.S. Department of Energy
• Fahimeh Kazempour, Head, Grid Modernization, Wood Mackenzie
• Giri Iyer, Vice President, Business Development, Sentient Energy, a KES Company
• Vince Faherty, Head of Energy Marketplace & Implementation Partnerships, Google
• Tiya Gordon, Co-Founder, itselectric

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Solar is attracting the power generation industry’s best talent. As solar and storage enter a new era of applied strategy, better analytics and tools are accelerating growth. Pine Gate Renewables is aiming to ‘get solar done’ by providing renewable energy to local communities across the country.

On today’s episode of the Interchange: Recharged, we are joined by David Groleau, Senior Vice President of Origination at Pine Gate. Together, they explore how unprecedented demand and regulatory integrations are transforming solar and storage in the US.

Plus, more of the best discussions from a packed Solar and Energy Storage Summit in San Francisco. We are joined by solar and storage experts with a focus on community and social enterprise, live from the Wood Mac event, including:

• Patrick Regan of Crossroads Solar
• Bill Jordan of community initiative Share the Sun
• Eric Hafter from Origami Solar
• Nate Webb of Passage Studio & Robert Cross from Cross Consulting Services

Follow us on Twitter, we’re @interchangeshow

Pine Gate Renewables is a fully integrated renewable energy company powering the nation's energy transition with trusted utility-scale energy and storage solutions. Building projects from a community mindset, Pine Gate is committed to delivering sustainable value where we live, work and operate. Visit pinegaterenewables.com/learnmore

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The energy transition can’t be solved simply by focusing on infrastructure, digital solutions or investment alone. These three parts of the puzzle need to fit together. 

The federal government recognises this; at the end of June the Environmental Protection Agency, funded by the IRA, dedicated $7 billion to community solar projects. These projects will focus on supplying solar to lower-income neighbourhoods. This paradigm shift to the community and individual consumer level is welcome news to Michael Pinto, CEO of CleanWatts. 

They’re a cleantech company focused on the local energy market – utilising the power of solar farms and AI to provide clean energy to communities. Based in Portugal, they’ve seen a significant increase in community-based renewable energy initiatives. What lessons have they learned in Europe that can be replicated in the US? 

We guide you through a conversation to answer exactly that. Michael explores some of the major stumbling blocks and hurdles facing communities trying to access solar power, and how CleanWatts and others are overcoming them. 

In addition to looking for ways to improve energy efficiency, CleanWatts also perceives AI as an essential tool in managing and predicting future energy needs. These digital innovations enable a higher level of control, providing a more stable and resilient grid system in the face of the huge changes the energy transition places on the existing infrastructure.

Two significant challenges that the industry faces are regulatory frameworks and supply chain dependencies. Speedy regulatory approvals for local energy generation constructs are critical to accelerating the energy transition. The latest announcement of funding from the US government could be a significant step on this path. 

Coupled with mass-scale infrastructure solutions, local demand-side activation needs to grow rapidly. 

Subscribe to the show so you don’t miss an episode and follow us on Twitter @interchangeshow

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How do we manage the explosion of data across the grid?

Digitization is transforming the way energy is produced, directed and spent. Power plants are using real-time data to drive efficiency, smart grids are directing energy where needed and data models are now essential to help us make sense of the market. Across devices and sensors, we’re seeing an explosion of data which needs to be analysed to drive efficiencies. Machine learning and digital twins are tools which can be used for modelling, which in turn helps us make better decisions around where and how we direct energy. Optimizing the grid as best we can is key to moving forward in the energy transition.

On the Interchange today, we are joined by Ben Hertz-Shargel, Head of Wood Mackenzie’s Grid Edge. Ben explores the role of virtual power plants in managing energy demand in real time. Short-term forecasting and analytics typically benefit traditional power plants, so how can VPP’s use the same information? Grid sensors are another important part of the digital grid, and Ben examines the data they work with.

How is that data analysed and processed? Matthew Boyda is Senior Vice-President of Global Power & Renewables Research at Wood Mackenzie, and he joins the show to explain the forecasting capabilities in the industry and the importance of a transition from data centres to the cloud. Digital twins are a term you’ll likely have heard before, but how do they actually work? Why are they so central to the digitization of the grid?  

It all comes down to driving efficiencies, and on the show today, we look at the technology that’s evolving at a rapid rate and enabling clean energy to flow to the right places.

Don’t forget to subscribe to the show and follow us on Twitter, we’re @interchangeshow

Wood Mackenzie’s Solar & Energy Storage Summit is back, taking place at the Palace Hotel in San Francisco on June 21 and 22. Join expert solar and storage analysts for discussions with leading grid-scale utilities, solar and energy storage developers and federal policy makers.   

How is the IRA catapulting the development of solar and storage in North America? How can we continue to build a productive environment for solar and energy storage as we move forward with the energy transition? What is required to nurture the development of a thriving localized storage component supply chain?  

Expect two days of panel discussions, presentations and workshops, as we explore the opportunities for solar and storage in the coming decades.  

If you are interested in sponsoring or attending find out more on woodmac.com/events/solar-energy-storage-summit 

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The trends, challenges and breakthroughs.

Clean energy in 2025 will face challenges from rising electricity demand, inflation-driven costs, and political pressures. How can these challenges be solved? And what else lies ahead this year?

To find out, host Sylvia Leyva Martinez, principal analyst at Wood Mackenzie, sits down with fellow analysts Chris Seiple (Vice Chairman of Wood Mackenzie’s Power & Renewables group) and Jonny Sultoon (Head of Markets & Transitions, Energy Transition Practice at Wood Mac). 

It’s not all doom and gloom - the good news is the continued growth of solar; it’s leading carbon-free power additions despite a global slowdown in renewables. Will this trend continue? Plus, a look at what could change with utility tariffs, and advancements in energy technology.

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New York State offered Tesla $750 million to turn Buffalo into a solar manufacturing hub — why hasn’t Tesla delivered on the vision it promised?

It’s been five years since SolarCity first declared plans to become a solar manufacturer, and nearly three years since Musk unveiled the solar roof. Tesla had plans to pump out thousands of solar roofs per week by now. But the company has quietly struggled to build out any meaningful production in its Buffalo location.

Customers are angry. Buffalo locals and New York politicians feel burned. And employees are jaded. What do we make of the Gigafactory 2 debacle? 

We’re joined by Austin Carr, a reporter at Bloomberg, who’s been covering the Tesla solar story better than anyone else. 

We’ll look at the history of SolarCity/Tesla’s manufacturing plans, the derailed plans for the solar roof, and how current manufacturing activity compares with Tesla’s promises to New York.

Read Austin’s reporting on Tesla’s solar business:

• Bloomberg: Did Elon Musk Forget About Buffalo?
• Fast Company: The Real Story Behind Tesla’s Acquisition of SolarCity

Support for this podcast comes from PG&E. Did you know that 20 percent of EV drivers in the U.S. are in PG&E’s service area in Northern California? PG&E is helping to electrify corporate fleet vehicles. Get in touch with PG&E’s EV specialists to find out how you can take your transportation fleet electric.

The Interchange is brought to you by Uplight, the company you once knew as Tendril and Simple Energy.

The goal is still the same: to offer utility leaders a suite of engagement solutions that deliver customer experiences like Amazon and Netflix. Learn more about how Uplight is building an end-to-end product for utility customer engagement.

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We are going to build a lot more wind and solar over the coming decades. It will inevitably lead to oversupply of these resources on the grid. But is that a good thing?

That’s the focus of this week’s show, featuring a conversation between Shayle Kann and Columbia University's Melissa Lott.

The stars have aligned for a rare win-win-win situation: Solar and wind are popular with politicians; they’re popular with customers; and they’re often the lowest-cost resource, making them an attractive bet for investors.

As we build more solar and wind, many regions will start to look like California does on a sunny spring day, or like West Texas does on a windy night: power prices drop to zero or below, producers curtail excess electricity, creating the dreaded "overproduction” of renewables.

So what do we do with all this carbon-free power?

We asked Melissa Lott and it turns out quite a lot! She argues that renewable oversupply can actually be a feature of the grid, not a bug (even if it causes some minor pests along the way). There are all kinds of new resources we can harness with excess wind and solar. 

Melissa is a Senior Research Scholar at Columbia Center on Global Energy Policy and she and her colleague, Julio Friedman, wrote a paper laying out the case for intentionally overbuilding capacity — and thus intentionally creating oversupply. They lay out a framework for figuring out what to do with intermittent excess energy and zoom in on a case study in New Zealand.

What happens when an aluminum smelter — one that uses a whopping 12% of the county’s annual demand and is powered largely by hydroelectric power — closes down? It was one decarbonization modeler’s dream. 

The Interchange is brought to you by the Yale Program in Financing and Deploying Clean Energy. Through this online program, Yale University is training working professionals in clean energy policy, finance, and technology, accelerating the deployment of clean energy worldwide, and mitigating climate change. To connect with Yale expertise, grow your professional network, and deepen your impact, apply before March 14, 2021.

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Net-zero commitments went mainstream in 2020. There are now 22 regions, 452 cities, and over 1,100 companies with revenues over $11 trillion that have pledged to bring emissions to net zero by middle of the century. 

In 2021 we’re going to spend a lot of time working backward from that. We’ll be trying to understand the pathways to get to net zero and what it means for today — for the technology and business of decarbonization.

That brings us to this week’s guest: Jesse Jenkins, a professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering at Princeton. He’s a well-known expert energy-systems modeler.

Last month Jesse and a team of colleagues at Princeton came out with a massive study called Net-Zero America that examines five pathways for the U.S. to decarbonize the entire economy.

Even without reading the report, you can probably guess some of the headlines: More renewables. More transmission. Electrify transportation. Carbon capture and carbon removal. But there are some other conclusions that are less obvious.

As more and more renewables come online, how will biomass, fossil fuels and hydrogen will fit into the multiple pathways to transition? We also examine the chicken-and-the-egg problem of CO2 transportation and CO2 conversion. And we ask: How much are these massive transition scenarios  going to cost, and who’s paying?

The Interchange is brought to you by the Yale Program in Financing and Deploying Clean Energy. Through this online program, Yale University is training working professionals in clean energy policy, finance, and technology, accelerating the deployment of clean energy worldwide, and mitigating climate change. To connect with Yale expertise, grow your professional network, and deepen your impact, apply before March 14, 2021.

We're also brought to you by Nextracker. Nextracker is building connected power plants of the future by integrating new solar technologies, storage and advanced control software. At the end of the show, we’ll feature part 3 of our series on the future of solar technologies with Nextracker CEO and industry veteran Dan Shugar.

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This week, we present a special episode in collaboration with Centrica Business Solutions and GTM Creative Strategies.

For the last decade and a half, we’ve been hearing about how the internet-of-things would completely reshape how our buildings operate -- and how people operate within them.

But while the layer of digital tech in buildings is advancing all the time, the IOT revolution is taking longer to play out than some expected.

“In short, a lot of the promise has not been fulfilled,” says Paul Kuehn, a senior sales director for distributed energy at Centrica Business Solutions.

“I don't think it's necessarily a measure of the technology at this point. We've gotten past the hype of having the devices. It's the use of the devices and the competency of the operators to be able to figure out how to solve problems with those devices,” explains Kuehn.

By next year, there will be 10 billion IOT devices connected to the cloud globally. In another three years, the number will more than double to 22 billion.

Billions of those devices -- sensors, intelligent lighting and HVAC systems, control systems -- are being deployed in commercial buildings and industrial facilities. They’re making buildings smarter. But are they making the people who run buildings any smarter?

We brought Paul Kuehn together with Darren Cooper, the president of Renteknik Group, to answer that question and discuss the state of play for IOT in C&I buildings.

This podcast was produced on behalf of Centrica Business Solutions. Centrica is using analytics, market know-how, and distributed technologies to help C&I customers take control of their energy use and improve their environmental performance.

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“If you don't think in 15 years that we're going to value decarbonisation, or if you're worried about the 45Q, it's pretty tough to write that multi-billion dollar cheque,” says Peter Findlay, Director of CCUS Economics at Wood Mackenzie. In this week’s Interchange Recharged, Peter sits down again with host Sylvia Leyva Martinez to look at the challenges for new CCUS projects. It’s tough, as Peter says, because of the regulatory frameworks, financial mechanisms and incentives that currently exist in the US. 

To look at these and go deep on the legal barriers for CCUS deployment, Peter and Sylvia are also joined by Liz McGinley, partner at Bracewell Law Firm. Liz leads the firm’s tax practice and the energy transition team, and is renowned for her expertise in carbon capture and IRA tax credits. 

Liz discusses the intricate details of tax credits and regulatory updates while Peter reflects on the financial challenges of decarbonisation projects. In this episode:

• What will future legislative shifts mean for the industry’s growth? 
• How might regulatory shifts under the Trump administration impact clean energy and CCUS projects, including potential changes to clean hydrogen, fuels, and power regulations?
• How do the costs and complexities of pre-combustion and post-combustion CCUS projects differ, and how are financial incentives structured for each?

For more detailed analyis, check out the Lens reports from Wood Mac. Lens is a data analytics platform with sector-specific insights to help you power your Business Intelligence tools. Find it at woodmac.com/lens

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We've spent a lot more time lately looking at the structure of U.S. power markets. Why? Because they're about to get shaken up.

It's already begun. In this episode, we'll look at how renewables are upending wholesale power markets today -- and what we can do about it.

We'll examine the issue from a few different angles.

How the growth of renewables is depressing power prices: Wood Mackenzie's Prajit Gosh describes why low-price events are becoming more common in wholesale markets than high-price events. He'll also look at the impact on other generation sources.

How prices are decreasing: MAKE Consulting's Dan Shreve talks about what's driving cost reductions in wind. 

And GTM's Shayle Kann will look at the "vicious cycle" of low prices, and how to manage the wholesale market transition in the U.S.

This podcast is sponsored by Schneider Electric. Now, you can reap the benefits of a microgrid with no upfront capital through the new microgrid-as-a-service business model from Schneider Electric. Find out how it works.

Recommended reading:

GTM: The Rise of Renewables Creates Uncertainty in US Power Markets

GTM: Next-Generation Energy Technologies Are Constrained by Outdated Markets. Here’s How to Fix Them

Subscribe to The Interchange podcast via Apple Podcasts, Google Play, Stitcher or wherever you find your audio content.

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We may be facing one of the worst economic downturns in American history, but it hasn’t stopped the surge in battery storage development.

We’re constantly hearing the phrase “world’s largest” or “record breaking” as new gigawatt-scale projects are unveiled weekly. 

Small-scale batteries are being attached to more than one-third of residential solar systems for leading installers, making distributed batteries a staple of home energy offerings.

New markets like Texas are heating up. And utilities are putting batteries front-and-center in their 100% clean energy plans.

As a result: we will likely see a 14-fold increase in batteries deployed on the grid in the US over the next five years, according to our analysts at Wood Mackenzie Power & Renewables.

With us is the reporter at the front edge of all these developments: Julian Spector, a staff writer at Greentech Media.

Read Julian’s coverage here. And check out his newsletter.

The Interchange is brought to you by Stem, a global leader in artificial intelligence-driven energy storage services. By combining advanced energy storage solutions with Athena, a world-class AI-powered analytics platform, Stem enables customers and partners to optimize energy use by automatically switching between battery power, onsite generation and grid power. Find out more. 

The Interchange is also brought to you by GTM Creative Strategies. You’ve got a story to tell, and we’re here to help you tell it, including custom podcasts. GTM Creative Strategies leverages unmatched editorial credibility, top creative minds and seasoned analysts to drive unparalleled brand awareness that puts you ahead of your competitors. Find out more.

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To continue to accelerate the energy transition investment in clean tech companies is essential. We’ve seen more growth in the last 5 years than the last 100 with trillions of dollars flooding the market in the interests of accelerating the path to Net Zero. 

On today's Interchange, we are joined by Matthew Nordan for an eye-opening conversation. Matthew is the General Partner of Azolla Ventures, a venture capital firm that invests in early-stage tech companies with the potential for gigaton-scale climate impact. Azolla have unique evaluation criteria; gigaton scale climate impact, the principle of additionality and only investing in cases where they can see bullet point level seed milestones.

In this episode, we discuss the current investor appetite for green tech investments, how the sector deals with green washing and whether SPACS are still an effective tool.

Follow us on Twitter @InterchangeShow

The Interchange is brought to you by JinkoSolar, a leading solar panel manufacturer and energy storage integrator.

JinkoSolar now offers energy storage for a variety of residential, C&I, and utility projects.

To learn more about Jinko’s EAGLE Storage products visit www.jinkosolar.us/interchange.

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The pandemic has forced just about every part of society to reckon with resilience, but for cities the question is especially urgent. Will the global trend toward urbanization, which has been underway for more than 50 years, change its trajectory? Will increasing density remain the norm?

The intersection of these two issues -- resilience and urbanism -- is relevant in a COVID context, but it's also increasingly important in a climate context. 

Shayle has talked about how the increasing prevalence and magnitude of natural disasters are going to slowly but surely foster a "culture of resilience" in society, where we're forced to deal with the likelihood that once in 100-year events are happening much more often.

So what does building better resilience into cities actually mean, and how are we performing?

To tackle these questions, Shayle turns to the co-hosts of Technopolis, a podcast about how technology is disrupting, remaking, and sometimes over-running our cities.

Molly Turner is an urban planner and teaches urban tech at UC-Berkeley’s Haas School of Business. Jim Kapsis runs The Ad Hoc Group, a firm that helps climate tech startups navigate and grow in heavily regulated markets.

Shayle, Molly and Jim discuss the changing urban migration patterns and what it means for the future of cities.

The Interchange is brought to you by Smarter Grid Solutions, a leading enterprise energy management software company. Find out how Smarter Grid Solutions’ software can give you real control over your clean energy assets.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

This week, we’ve got our year-end recap — with an Interchange twist. 

We’re going to cover the following topics:

• The story that didn’t warrant the attention it got. 
• The story that should have gotten more attention than it did.
• The energy tech/sector/personality that had the biggest breakthrough of the year
• The energy tech/sector/personality that had the biggest setback of the year
• A notable trend that you wish you had predicted.
• The "most 2018" story of the year. In other words, a story that embodies the zeitgeist.

Get your GTM Squared discounted membership here using the promo code, PODCAST.

This podcast is sponsored by Sungrow. Sungrow is the leading pure-play solar inverter supplier with a range of solutions for both solar and storage applications. Find out more about how Sungrow is investing in U.S. solar.

Subscribe to The Interchange podcast via Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, Spotify or wherever you find your audio content. Or integrate our RSS feed into the app of your choice.

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We’re back with another edition of “consensus” this week. GTM Co-Founder Scott Clavenna joins us to explain the arcane and hyped up world of blockchain to our listeners in the energy business.

We promised not to discuss blockchain on The Interchange until we saw some newsworthy developments — now we have too much to sift through. So we’re going to survey the most important stories of the last year.

We’ll start with a quick rundown of Amazon’s plan to develop blockchain-as-a-service: does this signal anything special about the market?

Then we’ll address a basic question: where are we in the hype cycle? Are people moderating their expectations?

Other stories we’re tracking:

• How did WePower tokenize Estonia’s grid data?
• Why did Grid+ face so many regulatory hurdles in Texas’ electricity market?
• The year of standardization: how are the players rallying around data and privacy standards?
• The cryptocurrency price drop: how does it impact investor enthusiasm in these new energy applications?

We’re giving listeners major discounts this fall. Use the promo code PODCAST to get a $50 discount for a GTM Squared membership and 20% off our final GTM conferences of the season.

Get your GTM conference discount here. 

Get your GTM Squared discounted membership here.

Support for this podcast comes from Wunder Capital. Wunder Capital is the leading commercial solar financing company in the United States. Click here to find out how Wunder Capital can help you finance your next commercial solar project.

We're also supported by Shoals Technologies Group, the gold standard for solar and storage balance-of-systems solutions. Learn more about how Shoals can make your project operate at the highest level.

Subscribe to The Interchange podcast via Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, Spotify or wherever you find your audio content. Or integrate our RSS feed into the app of your choice.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

This week, we are talking about artificial intelligence, machine learning, and many ways they can decarbonize the economy.

From optimizing buildings to modeling new industrial processes to better managing the grid, AI and machine learning are core to many technology strategies for addressing climate change.

So how, exactly, will they be implemented? And what problems can they solve?

With us is Priya Donti, a PHD student at Carnegie Mellon University. Her work is focused on machine learning, grid systems and climate change. She is also the co-chair of Climate Change AI, a group of academics and practitioners looking at machine learning as a decarbonization tool.

Want to share your opinion about the topic? Let us know on Twitter. Follow @InterchangeShow, @shaylekann & @stphn_lacey and send comments about the show.

This podcast is brought to you by Fronius. Now, Fronius gives you more control over your solar energy than ever before with its versatile hybrid inverter, the Primo GEN24 PLUS. Whether you’re storing solar power, integrating energy storage or looking for backup power, the Primo GEN24 PLUS has you covered. Find out more.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

280 million EV’s worth of battery material is sitting on the ocean floor, but do we need to mine it?

The end is nigh for the internal combustion engine. Electric vehicles will be phased in across the next decade, with two-thirds of vehicles sold in the US by 2032 mandated to be electric. In California, 100% of cars will need to be electric by 2035. As a result, demand for the critical metals that are needed for EVs is forecast to increase significantly. 

Every solution creates its own challenges. Electrification is one of the answers to the net zero question, but it’s created an issue in itself – where are we going to get the minerals? 

On this episode, we are joined by Gerard Barron, CEO of The Metals Company. They estimate that there are quantities of metals equivalent to 280 million EVs (comparable to the total US fleet today), sitting on the seabed. Deep see mining is a new frontier – but do we need to start scouring the ocean floor when there’s an abundance of metals on the surface? How ecological is the practice? 

Also joining the discussion to answer these questions is Robbie Diamond, Founder, President and CEO of SAFE. SAFE is an advocacy group for US energy security and economic resiliency by reducing dependency on overseas energy supply. They work to ensure that the US and allies secure key aspects of the technology supply chain.

Deep sea mining represents a significant opportunity to alleviate supply chain constraints. The mining, done in international waters, presents a few advantages: minimal impact on ecology (though this is debated, and addressed on the show today), avoidance of issues related to cross-continental delivery and rapid utilisation of resources due to lack of infrastructural hurdles.

Despite the potential of deep sea mining to diversify supply chains, there has been some resistance from NGOs and other conservation groups who are hesitant about the potential environmental impacts. Understanding the benefits of deep sea mining and, as we do on the show, confronting its potential drawbacks is crucial.

Follow us on Twitter - we're @interchange show, or head to woodmac.com/podcasts for more. Subscribe to the show on your podcast platform of choice so you don't miss an episode, out every second Friday at 8am ET. Also do check out our sister podcast The Energy Gang, out on the alternate Friday when the Interchange isn't.

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You can develop enough renewable energy to power the world, but without energy storage systems, those developments are rendered somewhat moot. To achieve President Biden’s target of 90% renewables by 2035, the US needs an additional 9 terawatts of solar storage.

What do our current storage solutions look like? Are batteries leading the charge?

To answer those questions we turn to Rebecca Ciez, Assistant Professor of Mechanical Engineering at Purdue University.

We look at the current storage options. Are batteries powerful enough to deliver power during outages or periods of no sunlight? Rebecca talks about the materials needed for solar batteries and how we can improve the technology to reduce the strain on supply chains. Investment and government incentives are then thrust under the microscope by David, before the discussion wraps with examining the technological advancements in the space.

The Interchange is brought to you by Schneider Electric. Are you building a microgrid? With a microgrid you can store electricity and sell it back during peak times. Keep your power on during an outage. Integrate with renewables. Control energy on your own terms. Having built more microgrids in than anyone else, Schneider Electric has the expertise to help.

The Interchange is brought to you by Bloom Energy. Bloom’s onsite energy platform provides unparalleled control for those looking to secure clean, reliable 24/7 power that scales to meet critical business needs. It eliminates outage and price risk while accelerating us towards a zero carbon future. Visit Bloom Energy to learn how to take charge today.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

New battery technology could get EV prices down and drive mass adoption

In this week’s episode of Wood Mackenzie’s The Interchange Recharged, we look at the rapidly evolving landscape of EVs and the battery technology that powers them. Market sentiment in the US is up and down; despite a 40% sales increase from the last quarter of 2022 to the same period in 2023, the industry is struggling with competition from China amid a price war. Batteries have a critical role to play in accelerating mass EV adoption and so their dramatic cost reduction - nearly 90% over the past 14 years – has potentially sparked an EV revolution.

Joining us is Haresh Kamath, an expert in energy storage and clean tech from the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI). Together, they explore the nuances of battery economics, the potential of cutting-edge technologies like solid-state batteries and the imperative of developing efficient recycling methods to sustain this green momentum.

They examine the challenges of scaling EV infrastructure and supply chains, looking forward at the technologies that will continue to drive down costs and extend EV ranges.

Subscribe to The Interchange Recharged on your preferred podcast platform, and join the conversation on X – we’re @interchangeshow. 

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Insight and analysis from the second day of the Solar & Energy Storage Summit 2024.

Day 2 of the 2024 Solar and Energy Storage Summit and the conversation was still in full swing. We were there once again to capture all the debate and discussion on the future of the solar energy sector. 

Electrification is at the heart of the energy transition. There’s been a sharp rise in grid connection capabilities in the last couple of years, and it’s causing a headache for the industry. Permitting queues are long, and connection charges are high. What needs to change to ease these? 

Kelly Snyder is Senior Director, Origination, at EDP Renewables. She joins us to discuss it, as well as the latest trends in solar PPAs.

What’s the future of US electricity demand? Data centres, EV infrastructure and widespread electrification are causing a surge in demand, so how much is going to be met by green energy? Leuwam Tesfai is Deputy Executive Director for Energy and Climate Policy at the California Public Utilities Commission. She spoke to us about California’s plans to secure solar and storage supply chains to ensure there’s enough clean energy to meet demand. 

Plus, conversations with Oscar Araujo, General Manager for North America at Canadian Solar, and Shaun Laughlin of Solaris Energy, on mitigating climate risk and clean energy finance. Connection bottlenecks and possible solutions to the problem, PPAs, solar and storage technology and trends in funding and finance: it’s all here on our recap of day 2 of the summit.

Subscribe to the show so you don’t miss any of the analysis from the Solar and Energy Storage Summit. Find us on X – we’re @interchangeshow.

For more information from our sponsor Convergent Energy and Power on their industry-leading battery storage and solar solutions, please go to convergentep.com

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Before the pandemic, one of the biggest news stories of the year was BlackRock’s decision to make climate risk a central part of its investment strategy. This isn’t your average family office; this is BlackRock, a company with $7 trillion under management.

It brought more mainstream attention to ESG, or environmental, social, governance. ESG is a set of standards for valuing ethical business practices, including decarbonization. Suddenly all kinds of ESG funds focused on sustainability are popping up, worth $1 trillion.

The concept is not new. But activity has ramped way up in the last few years. BlackRock’s splashy climate declaration only ramped it further.

It’s also a world that is not well defined, not well regulated, and still very messy. Will that messiness derail progress in the world of sustainable investing? 

The Interchange is brought to you by Stem, a global leader in artificial intelligence-driven energy storage services. By combining advanced energy storage solutions with Athena, a world-class AI-powered analytics platform, Stem enables customers and partners to optimize energy use by automatically switching between battery power, onsite generation and grid power. Find out more. 

The Interchange is also brought to you by GTM Creative Strategies. You’ve got a story to tell, and we’re here to help you tell it, including custom podcasts. GTM Creative Strategies leverages unmatched editorial credibility, top creative minds and seasoned analysts to drive unparalleled brand awareness that puts you ahead of your competitors. Find out more.

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Why wouldn’t everyone invest in solar? Well, for that reason exactly: it’s an investment. Although it’s praised for its low maintenance costs and long-term savings, it is still a hefty investment in terms of individual finance cost, manufacturing, and installation. The production of solar panels requires expensive raw material, such as high-grade silicon, and silver for the wiring and cells.

If the industry could just get the cost of materials down, the climate and environmental benefits would extend far beyond the energy sector.

An Australian organization called SunDrive solar recently made headlines for their use of copper wiring in solar cells, opening up the opportunity for solar production costs to plummet and increase global solar adoption. 

We are joined by PV Magazine Founding Editor Jonathan Gifford to examine this achievement, and what it could mean for solar.

They also explore supply chains issues, tackling NIMBYism and together they predict the Next Big Things in solar tech.

The Interchange is brought to you by Schneider Electric. Are you building a microgrid? With a microgrid you can store electricity and sell it back during peak times. Keep your power on during an outage. Integrate with renewables. Control energy on your own terms. Having built more microgrids in than anyone else, Schneider Electric has the expertise to help.

The Interchange is brought to you by Bloom Energy. Bloom’s onsite energy platform provides unparalleled control for those looking to secure clean, reliable 24/7 power that scales to meet critical business needs. It eliminates outage and price risk while accelerating us towards a zero carbon future. Visit Bloom Energy to learn how to take charge today.

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It’s taken decades for renewables to compete with fossil fuels. But we’re now entering the third phase of the clean energy transition, when new renewables are beating existing coal and gas plants on price alone. 

"We’re on the verge of a new, radically different point in history,” argues futurist and technologist Ramez Naam.

This phase of the energy transition will bring change that is faster and more disruptive than at any point in history.

But will it happen fast enough? 

This week, we’ll ask Ramez to outline the optimistic and pessimistic scenarios for our energy future. We’ll look at how the energy transition may unfold, and what we can learn from other tech sectors.

In the second half of the show, we’ll talk about long-duration storage, the system-wide benefits of cheap batteries, the future of small-modular nuclear, and artificial superintelligence.

Ramez is chair of energy & environmental systems at Singularity University. He is a computer scientist who worked at Microsoft developing products like Outlook and Internet Explorer. And he’s also the author of the award-winning science fiction series, “Nexus.”

Recommended reading from Ramez:

• The Third Phase of Clean Energy Will Be the Most Disruptive Yet
• Clean Technology is Disrupting Fossil Fuels Faster Than Ever

Support for this podcast comes from PG&E. Did you know that 20 percent of EV drivers in the U.S. are in PG&E’s service area in Northern California? PG&E is helping to electrify corporate fleet vehicles. Get in touch with PG&E’s EV specialists to find out how you can take your transportation fleet electric.

We're also sponsored by Wunder Capital. Wunder Capital is the leading commercial solar financing company in the United States. Click here to find out how Wunder Capital can help you finance your next commercial solar project.

Subscribe to The Interchange podcast via Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, Spotify or wherever you find your audio content. Or integrate our RSS feed into the app of your choice.

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Over the next two weeks, we are challenging our long-held assumptions about energy.

We’re going to take the opposite stance of an argument that we agree with. Can we change our minds?

In part 1, we’re revisiting the assumption that most people do not care about energy. 

Most people care about convenience, lifestyle and price. But do they care enough about their energy use to make a change for environmental reasons without external pressure? 

Shayle is going to take the opposite stance of what he believes — he’s going to argue that consumers do care. Stephen will respond by arguing that people don’t care.

For your reading pleasure, here’s the article Shayle references on “flight shame” in Sweden.

Support for this podcast comes from PG&E. Did you know that 20 percent of EV drivers in the U.S. are in PG&E’s service area in Northern California? PG&E is helping to electrify corporate fleet vehicles. Get in touch with PG&E’s EV specialists to find out how you can take your transportation fleet electric.

We're also sponsored by Wunder Capital. Wunder Capital is the leading commercial solar financing company in the United States. Click here to find out how Wunder Capital can help you finance your next commercial solar project.

Subscribe to The Interchange podcast via Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, Spotify or wherever you find your audio content. Or integrate our RSS feed into the app of your choice.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Tesla built the world's biggest lithium-ion battery ahead of schedule. It's an important milestone for the technology, and Tesla itself. 

But is it coming at a cost to smaller players in the industry?

This week on The Interchange, we'll talk about how Tesla's battery supply constraints are hitting downstream installers and developers. We'll bring GTM Staff Writer Julian Spector on the show to discuss his recent reporting on Tesla's delivery delays.

Then, we'll cover some of Spector's other big stories this year: how gas is suddenly challenging natural gas peaker plants around the world; and why New York is struggling to put a cohesive energy storage framework in place.  

This podcast is sponsored by Schneider Electric. Now, you can reap the benefits of a microgrid with no upfront capital through the new microgrid-as-a-service business model from Schneider Electric. Find out how it works.

Recommended reading:

·      Tesla Fulfilled Its 100-Day Australia Battery Bet. What’s That Mean for the Industry?

·      NRG Asked to Suspend Its Controversial Gas Plant Application. What Does That Actually Mean?

·      Can Batteries Displace Gas Peakers in South Australia’s Fast-Changing Grid?

·      Years In, NY REV Lacks Major Storage Action. That May Have to Change Soon

Subscribe to The Interchange podcast via Apple Podcasts, Google Play, Stitcher or wherever you find your audio content.

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Shayle has been brewing up an investment thesis around how decarbonization will create stratification in traditional commodity sectors, like chemicals and materials.

If you can produce the same thing in the same cost range -- but you can do so in a CO2-free or carbon-negative -- you'll reap the rewards.

Lanzatech is a great test case for that thesis, as well as a great story to tell about the history of this sector. It was founded in 2005 as a biofuels company. Now, it captures industrial waste gasses, such as CO2 and CO, and recycles them into the chemicals used to make everything from plastics to medical supplies to fabric for Lululemon. It has even spun out an entire company focused on jet fuel.

Shayle talks to CEO Dr. Jennifer Holmgren about carbon recycling and the big dent it could make in global greenhouse gas emissions. They break down the economics of competing with undifferentiated ethanol, jet fuel, and chemicals and the brand interest driving interest in carbon recycling tech.

Jennifer hints at the potential for applying genetics expertise from medicine to industrial biotechnology; one day Lanzatech hopes to produce acetone, isopropyl alcohol and other valuable chemicals directly from its carbon-eating microbes. She reflects on leading one of the few companies to survive booms and busts of cleantech over the years. And she explains why the Lanzatech team decided not to ask their bacteria to do cartwheels. 

The Interchange is brought to you by Hitachi ABB Power Grids. Are you building a renewable plant? Looking for a battery energy storage system? Thinking about how to integrate renewables to your grid? Hitachi ABB Power Grids is your choice. 

The Interchange is brought to you by LONGi Solar, the world’s leading solar technology company. A global market leader, LONGi has unmatched bankability, quality and performance validated by third-party laboratories, and has breakthrough innovation at both the wafer and module level.

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Leading climate models point to a sobering reality: Even if the world’s economy reaches net zero emissions by midcentury, we will still have too much CO2 in the atmosphere. And so if we have to not just emit less, but remove greenhouse gases from the atmosphere, how do we do it?

Today we dive into carbon dioxide removal, or CDR. It’s an increasingly diverse and vibrant technology landscape, with some fundamental business model questions yet to be answered.

To take stock of this space, we spoke to Sarah Sclarsic, a carbon removal researcher at MIT with business acumen to boot: She co-founded the mobility company Getaround. She’s now an investor and on the boards of two SPACs (one of which took XL Fleet public).

We survey the existing technologies, ranging from the old school, like planting trees, to the novel, like direct air capture. And then we take a dive into some theoretical bioengineering approaches. 

Sarah argues that we already use powerful biotech tools for medicine and food. She shares her research on the potential to apply these biotech approaches to CDR, laying out what these technologies might look like, such as bioengineering microbes to assist with enhanced rock weathering or cultivating fields and fields of carbon-locking cassava.

The Interchange is brought to you by the Yale Program in Financing and Deploying Clean Energy. Through this online program, Yale University is training working professionals in clean energy policy, finance, and technology, accelerating the deployment of clean energy worldwide, and mitigating climate change. To connect with Yale expertise, grow your professional network, and deepen your impact, apply before March 14, 2021.

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Within the next decade, automakers will invest up to $300 billion in electric models, according to a recent tally from Reuters. These automakers are also spending billions more on autonomy to compliment those investments. It could result in 21 million new electric cars, trucks and SUVs on the roads.

A lot of that activity is happening in China. But we’re also starting to see new investments in EV manufacturing in the U.S. For example, VW, Ford and Chevy are collectively putting over $2 billion into new or upgraded factories to produce EVs with autonomous functions.

So with all this money sloshing around, who’s doing what? And are any definitive leaders emerging?

On this week's Interchange podcast, we'll look at the competitive landscape for EV manufacturing.

Additional resources:

• GTM Squared: Major Auto Brands Unveil Their New Year’s EV Resolutions
• GTM Squared: The Rise of China’s World-Leading EV Market
• Reuters: Analysis of 29 Global Automakers’ EV Spending
• Bloomberg: Ford Invests $900 Million to Build Electric Vehicles in Michigan
• CNBC: VW Boosts Electric Vehicle Production by 50%
• Quartz: Are Automakers Overestimating Consumer Demand for EVs?

Support for this podcast comes from PG&E. Did you know that 20 percent of EV drivers in the U.S. are in PG&E’s service area in Northern California? PG&E is helping to electrify corporate fleet vehicles. Get in touch with PG&E’s EV specialists to find out how you can take your transportation fleet electric.

We're also sponsored by Wunder Capital. Wunder Capital is the leading commercial solar financing company in the United States. Click here to find out how Wunder Capital can help you finance your next commercial solar project.

Subscribe to The Interchange podcast via Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, Spotify or wherever you find your audio content. Or integrate our RSS feed into the app of your choice.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

SMRs: a new horizon in Nuclear Power.

This week on The Interchange: Recharged, we are joined by Ted Nordhaus, Executive Director at the Breakthrough Institute, an environmental research centre in Berkley, California. They focus on finding technological solutions to environmental problems.

Achieving a net-zero emission grid by 2050, they claim, with a significant nuclear component would not only be feasible but also cost-effective compared to over-reliance on variable renewable energy sources. This approach requires substantial investment, estimated between US$150 to US$220 billion by 2035, escalating to over a trillion dollars by 2050. Together they discuss the likelihood that the private sector will drive this investment, provided that nuclear technologies are economically viable and regulatory uncertainties are addressed. They look at the Build Nuclear Now campaign, which aims to rally public support for nuclear energy and drive towards grassroots pro-nuclear advocacy. Is this a sign that public sentiment is changing?

The main challenges hindering the adoption of nuclear energy include regulatory hurdles, financial barriers and ongoing concerns surrounding nuclear safety. Ted explains that regulatory reform and public sector commitment could overcome these obstacles. The Nuclear Energy Innovation and Modernisation Act are examples of a policy aimed at modernising the regulatory environment, to facilitate the licensing of advanced nuclear reactors.

So, are SMRs the solution to everything nuclear? They’re designed to produce between 50 to 300 MW of electricity per module, which is about one-third of the generation capacity of traditional nuclear power reactors. NuScale's design (listen back to our episode from April last year for more on this) for instance, is for a 77 MW module, with plans to deploy modules in groups that can generate up to 924 MW. The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has been actively supporting SMR development, investing over US$600 million in the past decade to assist in the design, licensing and siting of new SMR technologies in the U.S. The technology seems to be there, as does the baseline investment.

What’s next for the nuclear industry? Listen to find out.

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This spring, electric bikes and electric scooters started showing up on the streets of a handful of major U.S. cities in droves. Where did they come from? They were put there by a new breed of Silicon Valley companies focused on creating a new "last mile" ride sharing service.

The startups have spread so quickly, Uber and Lyft are now trying to get in on the action.

This week, we talk with Emily Warren, the senior director of public policy at Lime. Lime one of the leading "micromobility" companies hitting the streets. We'll talk with Emily about what this new form of mobility borrows (and hopes to avoid) from the last six years of ride sharing.

"That first wave of on-demand transportation has now prepared the public and the market to accept a much broader variety of transportation modes. They've now opened the door for a whole bunch of additional kinds of options that are coming on the scene. Frankly, I don't think any of us expected that scooters were going to be the thing," says Warren.

Recommended reading: 

• Vox: Electric Scooters' Sudden Invasion of American Cities, Explained
• Washington Post: The Electric Scooters Swarming Our City Won’t Solve Our Commuting Calamity

Support for The Interchange comes from Wunder Capital. According to ​GTM Research​, Wunder Capital is the leading commercial solar financing company in the United States. Click here to find out how Wunder Capital can help you finance your next commercial solar project.

The Interchange is also brought to you by Shoals Technologies Group, the gold standard for solar and storage balance-of-systems solutions. Learn more about how Shoals can make your project operate at the highest level.

Subscribe to The Interchange podcast via Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, Spotify or wherever you find your audio content. Or integrate our RSS feed into the app of your choice.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

This week: predictions for the future of home solar and batteries.

Big rooftop solar installers are competing with the largest utility-scale plants in terms of yearly deployed capacity.

Batteries are making their way onto more installations, opening up new advancements in software and power electronics.

Tesla finally says it’s making progress on the solar roof.

Meanwhile, extreme weather, wildfires and power shutoffs in California are providing a new entry point for consumers. 

What does it all amount to? In this episode, we have a conversation with Barry Cinnamon, the CEO of Cinnamon Solar.

Barry has been installing solar for nearly 20 years. He knows the on-the-ground trends and where they fit into the broader market picture. He regularly writes about the industry on Greentech Media. 

Shayle Kann and Stephen Lacey sit down with Barry to talk battery applications, home control, EV charging, Tesla’s solar roof, and more.

Read along with us:

• Greentech Media: 10 Rooftop Solar and Storage Predictions for the Next Decade
• Greentech Media: 10 Mistakes I’ve Made Selling and Installing Battery Storage System
• Mercury News: Why Every House in California Will Have Solar Power
• Listen to Barry’s podcast: The Energy Show

Want to share your opinion about the topic? Let us know on Twitter. Follow @InterchangeShow, @shaylekann & @stphn_lacey and send comments about the show.

This podcast is brought to you by Fronius. Now, Fronius gives you more control over your solar energy than ever before with its versatile hybrid inverter, the Primo GEN24 PLUS. Whether you’re storing solar power, integrating energy storage or looking for backup power, the Primo GEN24 PLUS has you covered. Find out more.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Would electricity work during a zombie apocalypse?

Does Elon Musk own Amazon or Uber?

Are electric vehicles better for the environment?

These are questions that people are asking Google — and we're going to answer them.

This week on the Interchange, what our collective search history tells us about our perception of Elon Musk, electric vehicles and zombies.

Plus, we'll have the results of last week's Deep Decarbonization Draft. (Listen to that episode, if you haven't already.)

This podcast is supported by Wunder Capital, the easiest way to invest in large-scale solar energy projects across the U.S. With Wunder, you can help finance renewable energy projects while earning up to 7.5 percent annually. Get started here to diversify your portfolio and support American solar projects.

This podcast is brought to you by Shoals, the gold standard for solar and storage balance-of-systems solutions. Learn more about how Shoals can make your project operate at the highest level.

Recommended reading on electric vehicle emissions:

• Manhattan Institute report on electric vehicle pollution
• Union of Concerned Scientists report on the cleanliness of electric cars
• Department of Energy calculator for comparing electric vehicle emissions

Subscribe to The Interchange podcast via Apple Podcasts, Google Play, Stitcher or wherever you find your audio content.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

When you grow plants with electrons rather than the sun, what happens to the grid?

This week, we’re talking about the energy profile of indoor plant factories.

Indoor farming is having a moment. Venture capitalists are investing hundreds of millions of dollars into vertical farming startups growing in urban, industrial facilities. Cities are easing restrictions to encourage more plant factories. And even Elon Musk’s cousin founded a vertical farm.

We’re tackling this booming business: what’s driving it, what’s the potential, and what are the energy consequences?

We’re joined by Logan Ashcraft, an indoor agriculture expert who previously served as the manager of energy & power at Plenty. She’s currently doing research on the broader impact of these operations on the energy system.

Support for this podcast comes from Wunder Capital. Wunder Capital is the leading commercial solar financing company in the United States. Click here to find out how Wunder Capital can help you finance your next commercial solar project.

We're also supported by Shoals Technologies Group, the gold standard for solar and storage balance-of-systems solutions. Learn more about how Shoals can make your project operate at the highest level.

Subscribe to The Interchange podcast via Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, Spotify or wherever you find your audio content. Or integrate our RSS feed into the app of your choice.

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We asked on a recent Interchange episode: how are we going to manage all this distributed energy on the grid?

This week, we’re asking: how to we manage all this centralized renewable energy hitting the grid?

The answer is both simpler and more complex. We need to build a lot more transmission, yes. But getting that transmission in place is one of the hardest and most controversial pieces of decarbonizing the electric grid.

There’s plenty of disagreement about how exactly we clean up the grid. Whatever your preferred plan, it probably needs to include way more transmission infrastructure -- like $600 billion worth by 2050.

This week, we’re going to look at why lots of transmission is needed, how much is actually needed, and if we can even build it. What are the current models telling us?

Recommended reading:

• New York Times: Missouri Regulators Approve Midwest Wind Energy Power Line
• Utility Dive: Electrification could drive $600B in transmission spending by 2050
• GTM: Siemens Buys Transmission Line to Take Iowa Wind to the Eastern Grid

Support for this podcast comes from Wunder Capital. Wunder Capital is the leading commercial solar financing company in the United States. Click here to find out how Wunder Capital can help you finance your next commercial solar project.

Subscribe to The Interchange podcast via Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, Spotify or wherever you find your audio content. Or integrate our RSS feed into the app of your choice.

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Something feels different. In the last two years, there’s been a material shift in the way renewable energy and other distributed resources are discussed.

For so long, believers of wind, solar, batteries and microgrids have focused on targeted government support. But direct subsidies and mandates are diminishing in importance.

One example: utility-scale solar in the U.S., which was once almost exclusively driven by state mandates and tax credits, is now mostly being driven by economics. And tax credits are on a path to being phased out.

We now have a proven class of resources that can perform the same function as traditional power plants -- often at a lower economic and environmental cost. And these resources are hitting the grid at an accelerating pace.

Now that people are waking up to this reality, the conversation is shifting toward markets.

How do you put rules in place that fairly value the responsiveness, resiliency and environmental performance of distributed resources like aggregated batteries, real-time energy efficiency and commercial microgrids? And how do you manage the surge of wind and solar so they don’t crush wholesale markets by flooding them with cheap power at the wrong time?

That’s the framework we’re operating in today. It's uniting groups across the political spectrum that favor of open markets and oppose the Trump Administration's agenda to prop up coal.

This week, we'll talk with two experts who are focused intensely on the evolution of markets: Lenae Shirley, the senior director of technology innovation and market adoption at the Environmental Defense Fund; and Devin Hartman, a senior fellow with the R Street Institute.

How much should we read into this alignment?

This podcast is sponsored by Schneider Electric. Now, you can reap the benefits of a microgrid with no upfront capital through the new microgrid-as-a-service business model from Schneider Electric. Find out how it works.

Recommended reading and listening:

• R Street Institute: Refreshing Price Formation in Electricity Wholesale Markets
• EDF: More Subsidies than You Think Influence the Cost of Electricity
• The Interchange: Renewables Are on a Collision Course With Power Markets

Subscribe to The Interchange podcast via Apple Podcasts, Google Play, Stitcher or wherever you find your audio content.

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We were feeling a little stir crazy this week, so we hopped behind the microphone with Chris Nelder, host of The Energy Transition Show for some wonkery while in quarantine.

In this episode we are exploring two simple questions: What was an unknown about the energy transition five years ago that we now know? And what is a question that has emerged in 2020 that is still unanswered?

And as expected, those questions brought us to some complex answers.

Thanks to Chris Nelder for a fun (socially distant) conversation.

Want to connect with us while stuck at home? Follow @InterchangeShow, @shaylekann & @stphn_lacey and send comments about the show.

The Interchange is sponsored by Viking Cold Solutions, a leader in thermal storage for refrigerated warehouses, grocery store freezers, and restaurants around the globe. Find out how thermal storage can benefit your facility.

We’re also sponsored by NEXTracker. NEXTracker has more than 30 gigawatts of resilient and intelligent solar tracking systems across six continents. Optimize your solar power plant. 

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This week, we’ll take a peek at the news. Last week, president Biden unveiled his administration's plan for a $3.5 trillion infrastructure plan which the democrats hope to pass through reconciliation. While the details are still sparse, we do know that one of the linchpins of the Biden administration's climate strategy -- a national clean electricity standard (CES) -- is included in the plan.

It's a big deal. If you care about the power sector, a national CES might be the most impactful piece of legislation affecting it in decades. If you care about decarbonization, almost every pathway drives directly through a decarbonized power sector combined with large-scale electrification of other sectors such as transportation, industry and heating.

But the details are still being worked out, and there’s a labyrinth of parliamentary rules that a CES would have to navigate to make it through the US Senate’s budget reconciliation process. 

To shine a light on the process and what a CES could look like, Shayle turns to Jesse Jenkins, an energy modeling expert at Princeton who is helping to design the policy in the bill. 

Shayle and Jesse talk about the differences between a Renewable Portfolio Standard (RPS) and a CES, crafting a CES through the budget instead of regulation, the role that technology-neutral tax credits could play in the bill, the funds and penalties utilities might face, and how to get the incentives right for the energy transition given the limitations of reconciliation. Helpful links:

• E&E News: Payments or fines: How Dems’ CES would affect utilities
• Jesse’s Twitter thread on designing a CES for the budget, rather than regulation
• Evergreen Action’s explainer on a CES: Everything You Need to Know About a Clean Electricity Standard

The Interchange is brought to you by Hitachi ABB Power Grids. Are you building a renewable plant? Looking for a battery energy storage system? Thinking about how to integrate renewables to your grid? Hitachi ABB Power Grids is your choice. 

The Interchange is brought to you by LONGi Solar, the world’s leading solar technology company. A global market leader, LONGi has unmatched bankability, quality and performance validated by third-party laboratories, and has breakthrough innovation at both the wafer and module level.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Wood Mackenzie’s Solar Energy and Storage Summit is on now, and we’re bringing you all the action from 3 days of talks right here on The Interchange.

We are live in San Diego, bringing you highlights from each day of the conference.

We're here on day 2 of the summit, and the focus of the day is on the ever-evolving connection between solar and storage. In this recap of the second day, David is joined by Bridget Van Dorsten, Hydrogen Research Analyst, to look at solar-to-hydrogen tech, Matt Cox from Greenlink Analytics to explore the ESG impact on projects in terms of job creation and the displacement of fossil fuels and Michelle Davis, Principle Analyst of Distributed Solar, to talk trends in the solar markets.

Follow us on Twitter @InterchangeShow

The Interchange is brought to you by JinkoSolar, a leading solar panel manufacturer and energy storage integrator.

JinkoSolar now offers energy storage for a variety of residential, C&I, and utility projects.

To learn more about Jinko’s EAGLE Storage products visit www.jinkosolar.us/interchange.

Summary

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We talk a lot on the podcast about the technology that powers the latest innovations in energy supply. But what about a solution to the problem of energy procurement?

A few episodes ago, we spoke to the Founder and Executive Director of WattTime, a nonprofit tech company that uses the power of data to reduce emissions at the consumer level. By using more energy when the grid is powered by renewables and less when it's relying on fossil fuels, WattTime automatically manages your home energy usage based on a smart metering system.

This week we look one step along the energy supply chain to where we source our energy. Our guest is Founder and CEO Ryan Peusch. Ryan’s company, Zentility, uses data and an advanced UI to simplify and streamline the energy buying process for businesses. Zentility links energy suppliers to customers through an automated contract management system.

We look at the technology in more detail with Ryan, exploring why it could help businesses across the US make smarter decisions with their energy contracts and lead to a higher concentration of renewables powering our cities.

What are the long-term trends for energy prices amid a global fuel crisis? Can the Zentility platform alleviate price woes for customers? Find out right here, on the Interchange: Recharged

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

The Nobel prize in chemistry in 1918 was awarded to a German man named Fritz Haber for a process to fix nitrogen from the air. The technique, which later became known as the Haber-bosch process, is probably one of the four or five most important inventions of the last century.

Because nitrogen feeds crops. And as our population boomed during the 20th century, nitrogen fertilizer became the core fuel of our food system. It is estimated to have fed about half of the world's population.

Nitrogen fertilizer is incredibly important, and we still produce the vast majority of our fertilizer using this same process. This has all sorts of ramifications that are less than ideal for farmers and crops, but in addition to that, it has become a major source of global warming pollution -- around 5 percent of emissions when you include both the production and application of nitrogen fertilizer.

So it's a big climate issue, and a big ag issue. One company, Nitricity, has a unique technology to produce nitrogen fertilizer at point-of-use, using only air, water and electricity.

In this episode, Shayle talks with Nico Pinkowski, the company's CEO and co-founder, about the world of nitrogen fertlizer, and how you can capture lightning in a bottle to let farmers take control of this key resource.

This podcast is a production of Wood Mackenzie.

The Interchange is brought to you by Hitachi ABB Power Grids. Are you building a renewable plant? Looking for a battery energy storage system? Thinking about how to integrate renewables to your grid? Hitachi ABB Power Grids is your choice. 

The Interchange is brought to you by LONGi Solar, the world’s leading solar technology company. A global market leader, LONGi has unmatched bankability, quality and performance validated by third-party laboratories, and has breakthrough innovation at both the wafer and module level.

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Elon Musk recently laid out his plan for a government on Mars in one tweet: “Direct democracy by the people. Laws must be short, as there is trickery in length. Automatic expiration of rules to prevent death by bureaucracy. Any rule can be removed by 40% of people to overcome inertia. Freedom.”

That got us thinking. Could we craft an ideal U.S. energy policy in less than 280 characters? 

On this week’s podcast, take up the challenge.

Stephen and Shayle will each lay out their overall approach to policy and then argue each one.

Stephen’s policy: Price climate pollution and send the money back to citizens or local governments. Put an end to supporting energy with the tax code. Establish fair and open access for all technologies on the grid. Electrify everything. Don't dogmatize renewable energy. Double ARPA-E's budget. 

Shayle’s policy: Remain in Paris Accord. Retain CPP but increase targets. Resume and increase CAFE standards. Introduce federal green bank. Triple R&D on clean energy enabling tech. Federal push for HVDC transmission. Major infrastructure investment in public transit system. Freedom.

We want to hear from you. Craft your energy policy, take a screenshot and tweet it out to @InterchangeShow. Make sure to tag #energypolicyinatweet.

This podcast is supported by Wunder Capital, the easiest way to invest in large-scale solar energy projects across the U.S. With Wunder, you can help finance renewable energy projects while earning up to 7.5 percent annually. Get started here to diversify your portfolio and support American solar projects.

This podcast is brought to you by Shoals, the gold standard for solar and storage balance-of-systems solutions. Learn more about how Shoals can make your project operate at the highest level.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Earlier this month, Sunrun, the largest residential solar company in the U.S., declared its intent to acquire Vivint Solar, the second largest installer. It’s an all-stock transaction that would value the combined entity at over $9 billion.

It's a big deal -- literally. The enterprise value attached to Vivint is $3.2 billion, which makes it the largest single transaction in the history of the distributed energy market. 

It’s also a big deal because of what it says about the state and future of distributed solar, plus adjacent markets like energy storage and maybe even electric vehicles.

So that's what we're going to talk about today. Shayle sits down with Austin Perea, a senior solar analyst for Wood Mackenzie Power & Renewables, to talk about the strategy behind this deal and what it tells us about the next phase of the market.

Assuming the acquisition goes through, how big will this new entity be?

The Interchange is brought to you by Fluence, a global leader in battery-based energy storage technology and services. From commercializing the first grid-connected battery systems in 2008 to the multi-gigawatt fleet being deployed for customers globally today, the Fluence team is ensuring that storage is the cornerstone of the electric future. Learn more.

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Distributed energy resources (DERs) are going to double on the U.S. grid by 2023, according to our researchers at Wood Mackenzie. 

By then, we’ll likely have somewhere around 100 gigawatts of flexible capacity — made up of distributed solar, combined heat and power, electric vehicles, smart thermostats, and battery storage. Those technologies alone could amount to the current bulk power system in Texas.

Today, utilities are less likely to see those DERs purely as a threat. But figuring out how to manage all those resources is still a monumental challenge.

Now that we’re squarely in the middle of this doubling of DERs, how do we get markets right? This is an age-old question that many are working to answer — and we think it’s a good time revisit it.

We’re joined by Andy Lubershane, senior director of research at Energy Impact Partners, for a wide-ranging discussion about DERs from the utility perspective: the state of DERs, how they fit into utility operations, and whether better pricing can actually help.

This conversation was adapted from Andy’s article on the subject. Read his analysis here.

The Interchange is supported by Wunder Capital. Don’t forget to listen to our careers episode produced with Wunder Capital. We talked with Wunder CTO Dave Riess about the framework he used to completely change his career path into solar — eventually co-founding a successful company. Listen to that episode in the Interchange feed or find it here.

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This week, we offer our second installment of the Deep Decarbonization Draft — our fantasy sports event for energy and climate nerds. 

Last year’s draft inspired similar versions at conferences and in the classroom. We’re bringing the game back by popular demand. 

The premise is simple: Shayle and Stephen choose their teams of decarbonization technologies and methods, and then pit them against each other to determine who’s best at saving the planet.

This year’s list climate solutions comes from Project Drawdown. You can find their list and scores here. 

Producer Daniel Woldorff has anonymized the list. We need to choose seven draft picks from the 80+ solutions across seven sectors. After all the picks, one steal is allowed. 

Once the scores are locked in, we’ll tally up the total CO2 reductions and the total savings and determine a winner. Bonus points for the person who made the highest-scoring pick.

Listen to last year’s decarbonization draft. 

Thanks to Matt Farley for the theme song. 

Support for the Interchange comes from Schneider Electric, the leader of the digital transformation in energy management and automation. 

Support for this podcast comes from PG&E. PG&E is helping to electrify corporate fleet vehicles. Get in touch with PG&E’s EV specialists to find out how you can take your transportation fleet electric.

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There are few areas harder to decarbonize than heavy industry. But the stakes are high. Altogether, industry represents over 30% of global GHG emissions, when counting both direct process emissions and industrial energy use.

It’s also a huge opportunity for innovation. This week, Shayle talks with Rebecca Dell, the Director of the Industry Program at The Climateworks Foundation, about the technologies that might transform cement, steel and petrochemicals. 

Shayle and Reecca go industry by industry, examining the pathways to decarbonization. They cover a range of technologies, including carbon capture and storage, alternative chemistries, recycling, hydrogen and biomass, among others. 

And finally, Rebecca breaks down how we might create demand for low-carbon industrial materials. The problem is that shifting to decarbonized alternatives might massively increase the cost of these commodities -- probably not what the owner of a steel forge, plastics plant or cement kiln is particularly excited to invest in. But as Rebecca argues, we may be looking through the wrong end of the telescope. 

For more on Rebecca’s research, check out her report Build Clean: Industrial Policy for Climate and Justice.

The Interchange is brought to you by Smarter Grid Solutions, a leading enterprise energy management software company. Find out how Smarter Grid Solutions’ software can give you real control over your clean energy assets.

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The politics of energy independence are both deeply bipartisan and deeply partisan.

Every president since Richard Nixon has declared a goal of eliminating America’s dependence on foreign sources of energy. But each President approaches independence from a very different political lens. Jimmy Carter was the first to make renewable energy a centerpiece. Ronald Reagan dismantled that strategy and instead focused on lifting price controls on oil and gas.

Later, George W. Bush focused on domestic oil production, but also put in place some foundational policies to support domestic renewables. Barack Obama, of course, put renewables front and center.

Today, we have Donald Trump, who has made coal-powered "energy dominance" the centerpiece of his energy policy. What does that mean exactly?

And after nearly 50 years of talk about energy independence, how are we doing?

Joining us this week is Sarah Ladislaw, a senior vice president and director of energy and national security at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. She'll help us America's energy import-export balance in a historic, geopolitical context.

This podcast is supported by Wunder Capital, the easiest way to invest in large-scale solar energy projects across the U.S. With Wunder, you can help finance renewable energy projects while earning up to 7.5 percent annually. Get started here to diversify your portfolio and support American solar projects.

This podcast is brought to you by Shoals, the gold standard for solar and storage balance-of-systems solutions. Learn more about how Shoals can make your project operate at the highest level.

Recommended reading:

• Foreign Policy: A Short History of Energy Independence
• Sarah Ladislaw testimony: Geopolitics of U.S. Oil and Gas Competitiveness
• Wall Street Journal: Is the U.S. On Track for Energy Independence?

Subscribe to The Interchange podcast via Apple Podcasts, Google Play, Stitcher or wherever you find your audio content.

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California plans to ban new internal-combustion vehicles by 2035. But are electric vehicles ready to take their place?

We know that there are dozens and dozens more models of electric cars on the market. Ranges are increasing. Consumers like the driving experience. And total costs are creeping downward.

But America’s electric vehicle market is anemic. Dealers aren’t pushing them. Consumers aren’t demanding them. And there are still very real infrastructure challenges.

So in this episode, we’re unpacking those trends in the context of California Governor Gavin Newsom’s executive order mandating a halt to new gas-powered cars in 15 years.

This is a conversation between co-host Shayle Kann and his colleague at Energy Impact Partners, Andy Lubershane. It’s a detailed look at the underlying trends that could complicate California’s plans.

In this conversation, they touch on the state of the EV transition, the state of the technology and consumer habits, and the impact of lots of EVs on the grid.

The Interchange is supported by Schneider Electric, the leader of digital transformation in energy management and automation. Schneider Electric has designed and deployed more than 300 microgrids in North America, helping customers gain energy independence and control, while increasing resilience and reaching their clean energy goals.

We’re also sponsored by NEXTracker. NEXTracker has more than 30 gigawatts of resilient and intelligent solar tracking systems across six continents. Optimize your solar power plant.

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This week, we explore a possible financial time bomb for renewable energy: merchant risk.

Since the dawn of grid-connected wind and solar, long-term power purchase agreements were the financial glue that held projects together. Developers could rely on relatively simple multi-decade contracts, thanks in large part to policy that encouraged or mandated utilities to enter those agreements.

Today, things are a lot more complicated. It’s much harder to secure a long-term PPA, so more wind and solar projects are getting exposed to the risks of the market. Contract terms are being cut down to 10 years or less. And that means a vast majority of the electricity produced by those wind and solar projects must get sold on the competitive market.

Wind and solar face “covariance risk” — a negative relationship between electricity output and price. These resources must sell their electricity during the time of day when lots of other solar and wind farms are also generating, thus depressing wholesale prices.

In a not-so-distant future with high amounts of renewable energy, will developers be able to make money from their projects on the open market?

In this episode, we explore the risks of merchant wind and solar. We’ll talk about why contract terms are changing, what kind of hedging strategies have emerged, and why this trend matters.

Our guest is Christine Brozynski, a senior associate at the global law firm Norton Rose Fulbright. She’s represented lenders, sponsors and risk managers on gigawatts of wind, solar and gas deals worth billions of dollars. 

Support for this podcast comes from PG&E. Did you know that 20 percent of EV drivers in the U.S. are in PG&E’s service area in Northern California? PG&E is helping to electrify corporate fleet vehicles. Get in touch with PG&E’s EV specialists to find out how you can take your transportation fleet electric.

The Interchange is also brought to you by Uplight, the company you once knew as Tendril and Simple Energy.

The goal is still the same: To offer utility leaders a suite of engagement solutions that deliver customer experiences like Amazon and Netflix. Learn more about how Uplight is building an end-to-end product for utility customer engagement.

You can listen to Uplight’s 5-part podcast series, called ILLUMINATORS, about what utilities can learn from case studies of business disruption. Subscribe on Apple, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, or anywhere else you get your podcasts.

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At the beginning of the pandemic, energy prices crashed. We did an episode of this show trying to figure out how oil prices fell to negative $40 per barrel.

Times have changed. Oil is up over $100/barrel. But far more acute is what’s happening with natural gas, particularly in Europe and Asia. In the US, natural gas prices have doubled in the last year. But in parts of Europe, the price has risen more than 5 times.

The disruptions are clear. We're seeing stories of power shortages in China, fertilizer plants being shut down in the UK, and fears about home heating costs in the Northeast US as winter approaches.

So what the heck is going on? How long might it last? And what does it tell us about the future?

To answer those questions Shayle turns to Leslie Palti-Guzman, the President of Gas Vista and a non-resident fellow at NYU SPS Center for Global Affairs.

Shayle and Leslie cover the many demand-side and supply-side issues. Then they talk about what comes next: What does this crisis reveal about the vulnerability of the energy system? And will countries double down on renewables, gas, or both to shore up their resiliency?

The Interchange is brought to you by Schneider Electric. Are you building a microgrid? With a microgrid you can store electricity and sell it back during peak times. Keep your power on during an outage. Integrate with renewables. Control energy on your own terms. Having built more microgrids in than anyone else, Schneider Electric has the expertise to help.

The Interchange is brought to you by Bloom Energy. Bloom’s onsite energy platform provides unparalleled control for those looking to secure clean, reliable 24/7 power that scales to meet critical business needs. It eliminates outage and price risk while accelerating us towards a zero carbon future. Visit Bloom Energy to learn how to take charge today.

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How a major US utility plans for sustainable growth.

The US is on track to see over 25% growth in annual clean energy installations this year, despite uncertainty around permitting and grid connections. The new Trump administration threatens much clean energy legislation, so how can the industry plan ahead? Annual clean energy installations are set to average 102 GW over the next 11 years, quadruple the 26 GW averaged over the past decade. The narrative around energy demand must acknowledge long-term trends, not just recent spikes.

Utilities recognise the need for increased transmission investment. Sylvia Leyva Martinez is joined by Sandhya Ganapathy, CEO at one such utility - EDP Renewables North America. Together they try and find the certainty in the uncertainty that lies ahead. The IRA is, as Sandhya says, a beautiful canvas. Is it about to torn down? 

 They discuss the growing demand for renewable energy, and the challenges faced by the grid. Are the economics of PPAs aligning to perhaps provide a path forward? Power purchase agreements are becoming more critical as companies lock in prices. Energy security is still top of mind, as is the need for a balanced energy mix to meet demand. Plus, Sylvia and Sandhya debate the significance of domestic manufacturing, the role of off-takers and the need to get communities onside when planning large energy projects.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Note: after this episode, we will be on hiatus for a few weeks while Stephen Lacey goes on paternity leave.

This week, a conversation about what the Green New Deal reveals about public opinion on climate change.

Why are national climate politics frozen? The conventional understanding is that Americans are deeply divided on the issue along party lines.

Until recently, Democrats have been scared of talking too often about climate in national campaigns because they think the electorate is split; and the Republican Party has been outright hostile to climate policy, believing that’s what the majority of conservative voters think.

And then, in steps the Green New Deal. It’s revealing something extraordinary. 

According to a Yale survey, 81 percent of registered voters say they would support the Green New Deal. And 64 percent of Republicans say they would support it. Other polls have shown similar levels of support.

So what does this reveal about how climate plays among the electorate? And is there a disconnect between what people want and what policymakers think they want? 

We’re joined by Dr. Leah Stokes, an assistant professor of political science at the University of California Santa Barbara. She is an expert on political behavior — which includes public opinion, voting behavior, and how policy is influenced. 

Leah describes why the Green New Deal plays well with voters. She also talks about how climate is shaping the presidential campaign, why Trump is now talking about the environment, and describes the role of fossil fuel incumbents in shaping public opinion. 

Support for this podcast comes from PG&E. Did you know that 20 percent of EV drivers in the U.S. are in PG&E’s service area in Northern California? PG&E is helping to electrify corporate fleet vehicles. Get in touch with PG&E’s EV specialists to find out how you can take your transportation fleet electric.

The Interchange is also brought to you by Uplight, the company you once knew as Tendril and Simple Energy.

The goal is still the same: To offer utility leaders a suite of engagement solutions that deliver customer experiences like Amazon and Netflix. Learn more about how Uplight is building an end-to-end product for utility customer engagement.

You can listen to Uplight’s 5-part podcast series, called ILLUMINATORS, about what utilities can learn from case studies of business disruption. Subscribe on Apple, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, or anywhere else you get your podcasts.

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The excitement around green hydrogen has grown dramatically in recent years. Will it live up to the hype?

This week, we turn to technologist, author and investor Ramez Naam. 

Ramez and Shayle examine the drivers behind cost improvement -- namely the costs of electricity and different electrolyzer technologies -- and why they are likely still a long way off the deep declines hydrogen needs to scale.

They also cover the hurdles hydrogen may face along the way to scale, including fierce competition from grey hydrogen, fossil fuels, and electrification. 

There’s also the location question: Where are you going to make green hydrogen with renewables? The answer: Probably not where you need it, which is a problem given the cost and difficulty of transporting hydrogen.

Ramez breaks down the policy strategies in Europe, North American, Japan and Australia.

Shayle asks: Is blue hydrogen a bridge to green hydrogen, or a bridge to nowhere that will leave niche assets obsolete in a decade or two?

They also assess Michael Liebreich’s grades for hydrogen end uses (Ramez gives ground transport an F).

Finally, given this hydrogen landscape, where do you invest? They find clues in the early days of the solar market.

The Interchange is brought to you by Enel X, a leader in energy storage, DER management software, and smart electric vehicle charging stations to increase project value. Learn what Enel X can do for your business. 

The Interchange is brought to you by Smarter Grid Solutions, a leading enterprise energy management software company. Find out how Smarter Grid Solutions’ software can give you real control over your clean energy assets.

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It’s our last episode of the decade! We’re looking back over the last 10 years and making our choices for:

• The most important statistic
• The most impactful piece of research
• The top buzz phrase
• The most unexpected twist
• The most pivotal deal
• And the dark horse trend of the 2020s

Thanks to everyone who’s been listening to this show since 2014. We appreciate your feedback and support. Please continue to suggest topics via Twitter so that we can evolve over the next decade.

Support for the Interchange comes from Schneider Electric, the leader of the digital transformation in energy management and automation. 

Support for this podcast comes from PG&E. PG&E is helping to electrify corporate fleet vehicles. Get in touch with PG&E’s EV specialists to find out how you can take your transportation fleet electric.

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Geothermal technology is a hugely untapped sustainable energy source. In this episode of the Interchange: Recharged, we drill Carlos, the CEO of Quaise Energy, on all things geothermal and the opportunities it presents to decarbonise energy production. Quaise seeks to unlock the potential of geothermal at the Terawatt scale. Carlos studied at MIT and then spent 15 years with Schlumberger, before he moved to The Engine, MIT’s fund where Quaise was born.

Quaise is an emerging clean energy company leveraging decade-long research, combined with cutting-edge new tech, to access the 90% of clean untapped geothermal energy under our feet. What was possible only on paper a decade ago is emerging as a reality today. Quaise is currently creating ground-breaking millimetre drilling technoogy, developed in partnership with MIT, to dig deeper, faster, and safer than ever before. This innovative technology will break down the many barriers currently inhibiting access to geothermal energy: location, outdated technology, infrastructure costs, and scalability.

They analyse the potential for geothermal in solving the world's energy crisis and accelerating the energy transition. How many terawatts of energy does the world need to operate in the next 50 years? What is Quaise even looking for 12 miles under our feet? Does this new technology mean we can access geothermal energy in most places on the globe? How does Geothermal compare to solar or wind?" The discussion goes deep, so strap in for this week’s Interchange: Recharged.

The Interchange is brought to you by the Yale Program in Financing and Deploying Clean Energy, training working professionals to accelerate the deployment of clean energy worldwide. To connect with Yale expertise right from your laptop, grow your professional network, and deepen your impact, visit yalecleanenergy.info/Interchange and apply before March 13, 2022.

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The market for home batteries is picking up.

Residential storage capacity installations outpaced utility-scale installations in the second quarter of this year. There were more residential batteries installed in Q2 than in all of 2017.

So what’s driving the mini-boom?

Residential storage doesn’t mirror other technologies like solar. It’s more of an emotional sell — and there are a lot different value propositions that contribute to battery sales. 

In this episode, Shayle Kann talks with GTM Staff Writer Julian Spector about the latest trends in residential storage.

Read GTM's recent coverage of the battery market:

• Coverage of record quarter for residential batteries
• On California’s new battery rebate for wildfire zones
• Generac’s strategy for entering the storage market
• Sonnen’s groundbreaking home battery development with utility contract

Support for the Interchange comes from Schneider Electric, the leader of the digital transformation in energy management and automation. Schneider Electric is pioneering solutions like microgrids, for everything from community resiliency to higher adoption of electric vehicles. 

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After a long downturn, cleantech venture capital investments are back on the upswing.

According to year-end numbers from Bloomberg New Energy Finance, venture and private equity investments into the sector grew 127 percent in 2018 over the previous year, amounting to $9.2 billion. That is the highest total since 2010.

Years after venture capital plummeted in 2012 — when investors ran from clean technologies after getting burned by bad bets — we’re seeing a new wave of activity. Oil majors, billionaires and a wide range of corporations are getting in on the action. And there’s a wide range of new funds focusing on both software- and hardware-specific startups.

So, is this spurt of activity different from the last one? For one, fewer people are using the term "cleantech."

This week, we're joined by Abe Yokell, managing partner at Congruent Ventures. He and our co-host Shayle Kann, a senior VP of research and strategy at Energy Impact Partners, will talk about the changing landscape for venture capital. 

In this episode, we'll address:

• What went wrong for VCs in the first cleantech boom? What should we have learned from that wave? Should we still call it "cleantech"? 
• Are we in a new cleantech VC renaissance? What's the current state of supply/demand for capital for a cleantech startup? How much does it vary by stage?
• What to make of a few new classes of major entrants: utilities, oil majors, incubators/accelerators, and long-horizon investors.
• How should the risk of a looming recession impact this market?
• Where to funds get their capital, and what is the appetite for LPs to deploy capital into the space?

Support for this podcast comes from Wunder Capital. Wunder Capital is the leading commercial solar financing company in the United States. Click here to find out how Wunder Capital can help you finance your next commercial solar project.

Subscribe to The Interchange podcast via Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, Spotify or wherever you find your audio content. Or integrate our RSS feed into the app of your choice.

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We present a special episode produced in collaboration with Centrica Business Solutions.

In 2006, Kate Sherwood left her job in strategy consulting to work in solar. 

“I realized what I had been doing wasn't getting me out of bed anymore,” says Sherwood. “So, I took a very big pay cut to move into carrying a bag, into being a salesman.”

Selling solar to corporate customers at that time wasn’t easy. But C&I solar blossomed as the technology got cheaper, financing got better, and companies got more comfortable.

Today, Kate is the vice president and head of sales at Centrica Business Solutions. There, she runs a team that packages all kinds of energy tech for commercial and industrial customers — solar, batteries, combined heat and power, demand response.

So much as changed since 2006. There’s a new company committing to 100% renewables every week; tech firms and industrial giants are looking to procure gigawatts of wind and solar for their operations; and extreme weather is forcing a lot of companies with critical infrastructure to build on-site generation with a green twist.

In this podcast episode, produced in partnership with Centrica Business Solutions, we’ll speak to Kate Sherwood about the biggest shifts in commercial energy since she first found her calling in the space.

"I think corporate energy buyers have gotten more sophisticated. Hats off to the commodity suppliers and even the brokers and aggregators out there who have helped educate large customers on that their energy load, their spend is not just a liability, but also an asset that they can deploy. I think customers today are more sophisticated on average," says Sherwood.

Centrica Business Solutions is using analytics, market know-how, and distributed energy tech to help C&I customers take control of their energy use and improve their environmental performance. Learn more here.

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Tackling the global textile waste challenge.

The fashion and textile industries are at a pivotal point, urgently needing to incorporate sustainable practices, particularly in textile recycling. With the industry's shift towards synthetic materials like polyester, there's a significant challenge in handling the large quantity of textile waste, estimated at 92 million tons globally every year. Emerging chemical textile recycling technologies, especially those focusing on common polyester-cotton blends, are key to reducing waste and decreasing reliance on new raw materials.

This has major implications for the circular economy; if you can reduce textile waste to zero then the techniques could theoretically be used across other manufacturing sectors. To discuss this, we are joined by Toby Moss and Erik Koep from Worn Again. Worn-Again focuses on recycling polycotton blends, which make up 80% of all textiles.

Erik and Toby explain how they navigate the intricacies of recycling materials in a world where the average garment contains multiple fabric blends, often with less than 1% of unknown materials. What strategies are they employing to expand their technology's reach, considering the scale of this global challenge?

The use of polyester in textiles is almost as widespread as the use of plastic bottles in Europe. Effective recycling methods for these widely used materials are essential in reducing environmental impact, marking an important stride in changing the industry's waste management and sustainability strategies.

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This week, we take stock of the market for solar and storage. 

How much solar and storage are getting built — and at what cost?

We’re joined by MJ Shiao, director of Americas research for Wood Mackenzie Power & Renewables, for a look at the factors currently driving PV development and battery deployments.

We'll answer:

• How have tariffs impacted pricing?
• How did the sudden slowdown in China influence the U.S. market?
• How is the tax credit stepdown pushing development?
• What goes into record-low solar-plus-storage bids?

Support for The Interchange comes from Wunder Capital. According to GTM Research , Wunder Capital is the leading commercial solar financing company in the United States. Click here to find out how Wunder Capital can help you finance your next commercial solar project.

The Interchange is also brought to you by Shoals Technologies Group, the gold standard for solar and storage balance-of-systems solutions. Learn more about how Shoals can make your project operate at the highest level.

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There are still questions about what exactly caused California’s blackouts during last month’s heat wave. We know that imports were down, natural gas plants tripped off line, and wind generation fell. 

But what about all those air conditioners, batteries and industrial loads that are supposed to support the grid? What role did they play -- or didn’t they play -- in helping California’s stressed grid?

We’re going to look at how distributed resources are being used today in different grids around the U.S.

With us this week is Dr. Elta Kolo, a content lead on the grid edge team at Wood Mackenzie. She’s an expert on utility business models, grid integration, and demand response.

She’s going to help us understand the technology and market-design landscape for demand response. With California going through another round of grid stresses due to a heat wave and wildfires, this conversation is particularly relevant.

The Interchange is supported by Schneider Electric, the leader of digital transformation in energy management and automation. Schneider Electric has designed and deployed more than 300 microgrids in North America, helping customers gain energy independence and control, while increasing resilience and reaching their clean energy goals. 

We’re also sponsored by NEXTracker. NEXTracker has more than 30 gigawatts of resilient and intelligent solar tracking systems across six continents. Optimize your solar power plant.

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There’s money to be made in climate tech, broadly defined. But where exactly?

As investment pours into climate tech, it’s true that a rising tide lifts all boats. But in markets -- especially fast-changing markets, like batteries, hydrogen, carbon capture, just to name a few -- those boats don't all get the same lift. 

Certain parts of the value chain, from upstream mining or manufacturing to downstream deployment models, are far better places to build a business than others. These profitable niches can be thought of as profit pools. 

And to make it more complicated, those profit pools shift over time. So it might be a great time to be in the manufacturing business. But just a few years later, it may be the worst place to be.

This week, Shayle and Nat Bullard, Chief Content Officer at Bloomberg New Energy Finance, try to predict where those profit pools might show up.

They examine historical examples, namely wind and solar, where profit pools have shifted from manufacturing to servicing. Along the way, they note some of the winners and losers of those shifts.

Then they turn to the less-mature technologies, focusing on batteries, hydrogen, direct air capture, and carbon accounting. They discuss what lessons can (and cannot) be applied from the earlier generations of climate technologies.

Within these spaces they cover entrepreneurs in this space may be wondering: When should I specialize vs. vertically integrate? Why do investors keep telling me to get out of the commodity business?

Get your swim suits on. It’s time to dive into profit pools.

The Interchange is brought to you by Smarter Grid Solutions, a leading enterprise energy management software company. Find out how Smarter Grid Solutions’ software can give you real control over your clean energy assets.

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Less than one percent of all hydrogen produced today comes from renewables. Is that about to change?

The vice president of Siemens Middle East just called green hydrogen the “new oil” in the coming decades. A lot of big industrial companies and oil majors are taking another serious look at hydrogen. Why?

In an era of extremely cheap renewables that are increasingly being curtailed, hydrogen production could finally be an attractive use. There are emerging regulatory pressures on existing hydrogen production.

This week, we talk with Ben Gallagher, an expert on emerging tech at Wood Mackenzie. He’s the author of a new piece of research on the market. Ben will help us understand what’s different about today’s hydrogen hype. 

Want to share your opinion about the topic? Let us know on Twitter. Follow @InterchangeShow, @shaylekann & @stphn_lacey and send comments about the show.

This podcast is brought to you by Fronius. Now, Fronius gives you more control over your solar energy than ever before with its versatile hybrid inverter, the Primo GEN24 PLUS. Whether you’re storing solar power, integrating energy storage, or looking for back-up power, the Primo GEN24 PLUS has you covered. Find out more.

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In 2010, solar modules cost a little over $2 per watt. Many people questioned whether solar costs could come down another 50%.

Well, here we are today with solar modules well below 50 cents per watt, far cheaper than most expectations. And it wasn’t some breakthrough revolutionary technology -- it’s been the crystalline-silicon solar panel the whole time.

History has a tendency to repeat itself. Our guest, Jessika Trancik, an associate professor at MIT’s the Institute for Data, Systems, and Society, published research earlier this month showing, quantitatively, that lithium-ion batteries have been repeating history and get cheaper, faster, than nearly anyone anticipated. 

This matters because it could happen again. The obvious next candidate is hydrogen electrolysis, where experts are saying we might be able to reach the promised land of $1 per kilogram by the end of this decade. 

Jessika and Shayle dug into her findings around batteries to see what broader lessons we could learn. We also talked about some other, related and fascinating research she’s done to examine what it will take to reach mass-market EV adoption.

The Interchange is brought to you by Smarter Grid Solutions, a leading enterprise energy management software company. Find out how Smarter Grid Solutions’ software can give you real control over your clean energy assets.

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In this episode, we’re measuring the energy transition -- using “Price is Right” rules. 

Our former co-host Stephen Lacey is back on the show to face off against our current host, Shayle Kann. Producer Daniel Woldorff steps in as arbiter. 

We’ll guess stats and trivia about climate tech, and discuss what those figures mean for the energy transition. They cover the MSRPs of popular EVs, the cheapest PPA in the world, carbon prices, carbon capture investments, industrial materials and more.

Who won?* Have a listen to find out!

*Note: Our producer Daniel miscounted the score. It didn’t affect who won, but he’s going back to math classes to relearn how to count.

The Interchange is brought to you by Hitachi ABB Power Grids. Are you building a renewable plant? Looking for a battery energy storage system? Thinking about how to integrate renewables to your grid? Hitachi ABB Power Grids is your choice. 

The Interchange is brought to you by LONGi Solar, the world’s leading solar technology company. A global market leader, LONGi has unmatched bankability, quality and performance validated by third-party laboratories, and has breakthrough innovation at both the wafer and module level.

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With major airline companies setting net zero goals by 2050, we’ve talked a lot about the aviation industry and its contribution to our emissions problem.   

In recent episodes we have featured several companies which are creating technologies that will get us closer to meeting this goal. We’ve visited the world of sustainable fuel, had a layover in the land of hydrogen-powered engines and today, we’ve arrived at our next destination: speed and sustainability.  

On this episode, we are joined by Ben Murphy, Head of Sustainability at Boom Supersonic. Boom is building a supersonic plane they are calling the Overture – the world's fastest airliner.  

Boom is redefining the future of flight with their goals of speed, safety and sustainability. The company aims to usher in a new era of supersonic travel by transporting passengers from places like New York to London in only a few hours. The Overture will be equipped with noise-reduction technologies and emit zero carbon. But how will it work? What sustainable aviation fuel will it use?   

With major investment already secured from the likes of United and American Airlines, are we inching closer to realising the dream of ultra-fast, carbon-neutral air travel? When will people be able to fly it? Listen now to find out.  

The Interchange podcast is brought to you by Schneider Electric. 

Are you looking for more energy control but worry about the upfront costs of a microgrid and renewables? Schneider Electric have you covered.  

Schneider Electric offers Energy as a Service for customers like you who spend $40,000 or more each month on energy. With Energy as a Service, you get customized solutions to help you meet goals for sustainability, efficiency, and cost control — including a microgrid and adjacent energy infrastructure. They also handle every step of the process and assume financial and operational risks.  

Upgraded electrical equipment. Reduced emissions. Predictable long-term pricing. Energy as a Service provides all this, and more.  

Visit se.com/us/eaas to find out if Energy as a Service is right for you.  

The RE+ conference is the clean energy industry's largest and most comprehensive event in North America. This year it’s taking place in Anaheim, California from Sept. 19 through to Sept. 22. Wood Mackenzie is excited to be attending the conference this year and we hope to see you there on the floor. To learn more about RE+, including how to buy tickets, visit woodmac.com/replus 

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In the world of venture capital, climate tech is about as hot as it gets. In the first two quarters of 2021, climate tech companies raised $16B from VCs. New designated funds are announced regularly, startup valuations are sky high, and times are frothy. It's never been a better time to be a climate tech entrepreneur.

It's easy to get lost in the noise -- so what does the hard data say? How much investment are we talking about, really? Where is it coming from, and who is it going to? And what does that tell founders about how to operate and grow their businesses?

To answer these questions, Shayle turns to Climate Tech VC, the leading newsletter on climate and innovation. Co-founders Kimberly Zou and Sophie Purdom have gathered and crunched the data in a new report.

Sophie is a sustainability business practitioner and early-stage climate investor, and was a co-founder of the microbial fertilizer company Kula Bio. Kimberly is an investor at Energy Impact Partners, where Shayle is a partner.

Shayle, Sophie and Kimberly define the space, look at hotspots, and discuss where the influx of capital is coming from. Also, be sure to check out the job board and investor list that Clean Tech VC maintains.

The Interchange is brought to you by Hitachi ABB Power Grids. Are you building a renewable plant? Looking for a battery energy storage system? Thinking about how to integrate renewables to your grid? Hitachi ABB Power Grids is your choice. 

The Interchange is brought to you by LONGi Solar, the world’s leading solar technology company. A global market leader, LONGi has unmatched bankability, quality and performance validated by third-party laboratories, and has breakthrough innovation at both the wafer and module level.

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The 100% renewable energy future doesn’t start with a country, state or region. It starts with a city. One power plant in a city, in fact. In Glendale, California.

Glendale is a city of 200,000 people just north of Los Angeles. And in 2014, the was in a tricky spot. The city’s natural gas plant was old. The City Council faced a decision that would impact the city for decades to come: revamp the 252-megawatt gas plant, or find local alternatives?

After modeling many different types of local resources, the city found the perfect mix: 75 megawatts of utility-scale storage; 15 megawatts of solar, efficiency and demand response; and 93 megawatts of Wärtsilä engines for backup reliability. It saved the city millions of dollars.

“And it's just a huge win...and really, an important model for the future of energy,” says David Millar a resource planning consultant at Ascend Analytics, who helped model Glendale’s energy system. 

In this episode, produced in collaboration with Wärtsilä, we look at the hidden hero of the 100% renewable future: power systems modeling.

This is the second in a three-part series produced in collaboration with Wärtsilä. You can listen to part one here.

As cities, states and countries make tough choices about cleaning up their power systems, they need to rely on sophisticated models. 

We’ll look at the experience of Glendale. And then turn to Joe Ferrari, the general manager for utility market development at Wärtsilä North America. Joe is an expert on how utilities are planning for the 100% renewable energy future.

“The technology is there. It's just understanding how to put all the pieces together,” explains Ferrari.

Wärtsilä creates smart, flexible power technologies to enable a cleaner grid and put the world on a path to 100% renewable energy. They’re helping clients worldwide meet their clean energy goals in an efficient and cost-effective way. Find out more.

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How can we reimagine Scope 3 in order to make faster progress?

The intention of the original framing of Scope 1, 2 & 3 emissions reporting was to support business understanding of their broader impact on the climate, so they would take responsibility for transformation to net zero and the impact of the complete value chain. Scope 3 emissions reporting in particular has become more of a focus of progressive companies that have developed robust plans for - and taken meaningful steps to address - scope 1 and 2 emissions. As they dig into scope 3, they are often overwhelmed by the accounting that’s required and struggle to develop strategies to meaningfully address impacts in their value chains, especially in ways they can quantify and count towards targets. 

So how can the industry streamline this process? To find out we are joined by Jenny Ahlen, Managing Director at the We Mean Business Coalition. Jenny directs the strategy, coordination, and execution of their net zero programs and campaigns; these include a focus on improving the way scope 3 emissions are approached. We Mean Business were introduced to Ed Crooks - host of our sister podcast The Energy Gang - at COP28, where CEO Maria Mandiluce outlined their mission. That conversation, which also examined the pledge to phase out fossil fuels, you can find on The Energy Gang podcast, wherever you're listening to this.

The argument is that the reporting standards have created a huge amount of work for organisations without any real benefit to decarbonisation efforts. Companies need to draw up net zero plans, understand Scope 3, manage their supply chain emissions and so on, but to what goal? So, the key question we discuss in this week’s episode: is it possible that in focusing so much on the influence big corporations can have on their value chains, we’ve let many companies and stakeholders in the global north off the hook for proactively reducing emissions without that prompt from customers?  

Jenny explains why the need for new, alternative approaches to reporting is crucial to accelerating the energy transition. Scope 3 is about global climate impacts and getting companies engaged to catalyse the system transformations needed. What would this then need to look like to incentivise that type of action at scale? And how do we create an ecosystem to reward those participating and making meaningful progress? Listen to find out.

Subscribe to the Interchange Recharged so you don’t miss an episode on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. Find us on X – we’re @interchangeshow.

To keep up to date with everything we talk about on the show, sign up for our weekly Inside Track newsletter. You’ll get extra analysis from Wood Mackenzie and be notified when a new episode of the podcast is out. 

The Interchange Recharged is brought to you by Anza Renewables. Are you wasting valuable time tracking down solar module information that quickly goes stale? Anza’s revolutionary platform can help with up-to-date pricing, technical, risk, and domestic content data from 110 solar modules. Compare products in minutes and redirect your time to higher value work. Find out more

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This week, we present an original podcast, brought to you by Wunder Capital.

Katie and Becca do a lot of solar deals. They're closing tens of millions in commercial solar projects every month.

Karen is an SREC trader and longtime real estate pro. She recently approached Katie and Becca with a complicated merchant solar project. The three of them worked hard to refinance the project -- and when it was all over, formed a deep relationship.

Katie Lynch is lead director of finance at Wunder Capital. Becca Gallery is the manager of business development at Wunder. And Karen Lichtin is the president of Cleanlight Power + Energy.

Despite their ability to do high volumes of deals, they often get the same reaction from men: "You are not what I expected."

Solar is more diverse than other energy sectors. But there are few women working on the business side of projects.

In this episode, talk with Katie, Becca and Karen about how they do deals, how gender dynamics play out in the solar industry, and why more diverse teams are good for business. 

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Venture capital is an effective source of money for scaling companies quickly. But what if your company needs 15 years to prove itself?

That’s the time horizon for many “tough tech” companies in energy that are developing new semiconductors, industrial processes, chemical production methods, and long-duration storage systems.

The first cleantech bubble showed the limits of VC in backing tough, capital-intensive tech. So we are asking: can venture capital ever step up to the big industrial-scale challenges of our day?

Our guest, Katie Rae, believes it can. Katie is the CEO and managing partner at The Engine, a venture firm based in Cambridge, Mass that invests in a wide-ranging sector she calls tough tech.

Katie joins us to explain why she’s hopeful that startups doing difficult things are finding more opportunities to connect with investors.

You can also learn more about The Engine’s upcoming Tough Tech summit next week.

Support for the Interchange comes from Schneider Electric, the leader of the digital transformation in energy management and automation. Schneider Electric is pioneering solutions like microgrids, for everything from community resiliency to higher adoption of electric vehicles.

Support for this podcast comes from PG&E. Did you know that 20 percent of EV drivers in the U.S. are in PG&E’s service area in Northern California? PG&E is helping to electrify corporate fleet vehicles. Get in touch with PG&E’s EV specialists to find out how you can take your transportation fleet electric.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

This week, we present a special episode on behalf of Centrica Business Solutions.

The Green New Deal is now a driving force in climate politics. But up until now, it’s been mostly theoretical.

And then, in April, Mayor Bill De Blasio declared that New York City is creating its own version of the Green New Deal. As part of the law, large commercial buildings will need to cut emissions by 40 percent by 2030 and 80 percent by 2050 — or face steep fines. 

After so much theorizing about the Green New Deal, we can finally see what happens when a resolution meets reality. 

And the impact is not what you might think. Many building upgrades in the city are now stalling because of uncertainty around the law.

“No matter who I’ve spoken to, nobody’s disagreeing with the goals. It’s the application of how we benchmark. There are clearly buildings that can become vastly more efficient. But this legislation doesn’t prize density, it doesn’t prize efficiency, for some of our most modern buildings,” explains Paul Kuehn, sales director for distributed energy at Centrica Business Solutions.

In this episode, we dive into New York’s new building emissions mandate. We’ll explore the short-term unintended consequences and the positive long-term impacts for clean energy. 

What can other cities — and eventually the entire country — learn from its complexities?

We’ll have a conversation with Paul Kuehn of Centrica Business Solutions and Aaron Miller, a partner at Gotham 360, about how the details may play out. 

This podcast was produced on behalf of Centrica Business Solutions. Centrica is using analytics, market know-how, and distributed technologies to help C&I customers take control of their energy use and improve their environmental performance.

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A decarbonized power sector will unlock massive opportunities across nearly every other sector, either via direct electrification or via indirect electrification via the production of low-carbon fuels, like green hydrogen.

But here’s the rub. Many of the companies that are working on these solutions rely on pretty heroic assumptions around the cost, availability and cleanliness of electricity in order for the economics to work.

To put it bluntly, many decarbonization business models hinge on a cell deep in their spreadsheets that has 1- to 3-cent per kilowatt-hour electricity. Is it a realistic assumption?

To tackle that question, Shayle turns to his colleague at Energy Impact Partners, Andy Lubershane, the Senior Vice President of Research & Strategy.

They survey the technologies that depend on this super cheap, super abundant power, such as EVs, space heating, carbon removal, green hydrogen and industrial heat.

Then, they examine the talk of cheap renewables, covering the difference between cheap wholesale and more expensive delivered prices. They break down the variables that make up the difference between wholesale and delivered prices, namely transmission, distribution and capacity factors. 

So what are the solutions that could shrink that gap?

The Interchange is brought to you by Enel X, a leader in energy storage, DER management software, and smart electric vehicle charging stations to increase project value. Learn what Enel X can do for your business. 

The Interchange is brought to you by Smarter Grid Solutions, a leading enterprise energy management software company. Find out how Smarter Grid Solutions’ software can give you real control over your clean energy assets.

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The US Department of Energy’s Loan Programs Office might be the most talked about -- and yet least understood -- part of the federal government’s efforts to support climate tech. 

It has already invested more than $35 billion in everything from Tesla's first big factory to the first two nuclear reactors to begin construction in the U.S. in more than 30 years. It was crucial in getting the first multi-hundred-megawatt solar projects ever developed off the ground.

Today it has more than $40 billion of available loan capacity to throw at the next wave of climate technologies to scale.

And now, as of a couple months ago, it has Jigar Shah as the director. Previously, Jigar was the co-founder and president of Generate Capital. He also founded SunEdison. And, of course, he is the former co-host of our sister podcast The Energy Gang. 

Jigar believes we have the technologies we need to put us on the right path toward decarbonization today. And further, that those technologies aren't as risky as the capital markets make them out to be.

Therein lies the arbitrage opportunity Jigar has pursued his whole career. And now he's got $40 billion of federal dollars to test it in a whole new arena.

In this episode, Shayle and Jigar break down the role of the Loan Programs Office and the specific financial products it offers. The backing of the federal government comes with the unique opportunities -- namely to move way faster on market opportunities than traditional debt markets can. But as Jigar explains, it comes with key limitations too.

They also cover the technology sectors that Jigar sees opportunities in -- everything from green hydrogen to small modular nuclear to virtual power plants. And they highlight the stage of companies and types of projects the office might be uniquely suited to support.

Plus, Jigar names the ideas he’s waiting to see (but that no one has pitched to him yet). 

The Interchange is brought to you by Smarter Grid Solutions, a leading enterprise energy management software company. Find out how Smarter Grid Solutions’ software can give you real control over your clean energy assets.

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Ryan Hanley is convinced that the distributed electric grid will create vastly more economic, security and societal value than today's centralized system.

Over the course of his career as a civil engineer -- working at Pacific Gas & Electric, SolarCity, Tesla and now Advanced Microgrid Solutions -- Hanley has worked to understand and extract that value. 

"A macro theme that I've been tracking in my career is that exchange of value over the grid [that] I'm convinced will only become more transactive over time. More value will be exchanged in markets as the system relentlessly tries to take out economic fat from the system."

In this week's conversation, Shayle Kann talks with Hanley about the tools at hand to re-engineer the distributed, transactive grid system. 

Topics addressed in this interview include:

• What distributed energy resources actually look like to utility distribution engineers and planners.
• The ultimate outcome of net metering battles and the market's natural "equilibrium."
• How markets can extract maximum value from solar, storage and load control.
• What it takes to build a 100-megawatt battery in South Australia in 100 days based on a tweet from Elon Musk.
• The role of blockchain in future electricity markets
• Plus, we'll play a bonus round of "who said it" and quiz Hanley on quotes from executives from PG&E, SolarCity, Tesla and Advanced Microgrid Solutions.

This podcast is also brought to you by Shoals, the gold standard for solar and storage balance-of-systems solutions. Learn more about how Shoals can make your project operate at the highest level.

This podcast is brought to you by Fiveworx, a turnkey customer engagement platform for utilities. Find out more about how Fiveworx can help your customer engagement program succeed -- and get you beyond the meter.

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When President Trump took office, U.S. coal was in a state of decline. Between 2007 and 2016, coal production and consumption each fell by more than a third, and mining jobs fell from 125,000 to 75,000.

Trump promised to reverse that trend. Did his deregulatory agenda work?

In 2017, U.S. coal production grew by 6 percent. That increase, however, came from a factor unrelated to Trump Administration policy: demand in foreign markets. Meanwhile, domestic coal consumption fell by 2.4 percent last year.

This week, we talk with Trevor Houser, a partner with the Rhodium Group, about where things stand in America's coal sector. It still doesn't look good.

In this conversation, we unpack some of the big themes we're grappling with as 2018 unfolds: coal demand, electric system reliability, and possible directions for climate policy. Houser will also explain why we've "achieved escape velocity" in renewable energy, and why that matters for our emissions trajectory.

This podcast is brought to you by Fiveworx, a turnkey customer engagement platform for utilities. Find out more about how Fiveworx can help your customer engagement program succeed -- and get you beyond the meter.

Recommended reading from the Rhodium Group

• The Year in Coal
• Electric System Reliability: No Clear Link to Coal and Nuclear
• Preliminary US Emissions Estimates for 2017

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Today, the global aviation industry is responsible for around two percent of carbon dioxide emissions. With major airlines pledging to hit net-zero by 2050, all eyes are on sustainable fuel manufacturers to help power these airlines towards their goal. But what if there’s another way?  

When it comes to making aviation sustainable, the industry seems to have just two options: make the fuel sustainable or build engines powered by renewable energy. In this episode, we are joined by Val Miftakhov, founder and CEO of ZeroAvia – a company betting their chips on the second option.  

ZeroAvia has developed a hydrogen-powered engine which they hope will provide the foundation for the future of sustainable air travel. Some of the world’s biggest airlines share this hope with United, British Airways and American Airlines invested in the technology. Over 1,000 engines have been pre-ordered.   

Val explains why ZeroAvia looks to hydrogen engines rather than investing in processes to make zero-emission fuel. Their engine is undergoing certifications on small propeller planes, but Val and ZeroAvia have their eyes on the ultimate prize: powering wide-body jets and revolutionising the industry. What does their path look like? Let’s find out.  

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In 2017, Google became the first major company to reach 100% renewable energy through corporate renewables procurement. 

But it was also the first major company to acknowledge that 100% renewable is not really 100% carbon-free.

So Google set out to go further, and match procurement on an hourly basis, to reach the promised land of 24/7 zero carbon energy.

It's going to be hard. But Michael Terrell, Google’s Director of Energy, thinks it’s doable.

In this episode, Michael talks with Shayle about how it could even become a new norm for corporate and state commitments.

But first: What will it take to get there?

Shayle and Michael cover the datasets, the accounting mechanisms, and the massive scale of transactions needed to make it possible. 

They break down about Google’s efforts to shift computing load across its fleet of data centers. 

They talk about the power of corporate buyers to push policymakers to clean up grids.

Where current clean technologies fall short, Google is looking at new technologies to fill in the gaps. They talk about that lineup of potential solutions, such as long-duration storage, carbon capture and storage, geothermal, advanced nuclear, and lithium-ion batteries. 

And finally they tackle cost and scalability: Will organizations without the capital and expertise that Google enjoys be able to follow its lead?

The Interchange is brought to you by Smarter Grid Solutions, a leading enterprise energy management software company. Find out how Smarter Grid Solutions’ software can give you real control over your clean energy assets.

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A boisterous CEO who brags of “out-Eloning” Elon Musk; a reverse merger that makes a little-known fuel cell trucking company as valuable as Ford; and no actual cars or trucks in production.

This week, we try to make sense of Nikola Motor. 

Nikola Motor went public last week through a reverse merger, achieving a ~$13 billion valuation. As the markets closed on Wednesday, the company’s market cap was at $23 billion. 

But with a non-traditional IPO, an enigmatic CEO, and zero revenue or actual vehicles, it’s become one of the more befuddling stories in cleantech in recent memory. 

We’ll dig into the company’s claims and business model. Is this just another overhyped penny stock, or is there any substance to Nikola’s plan?

• LA Times: Electric Truck Maker Nikola Looks Like Tesla 2.0 — Except Even Riskier
• CNBC: Meet Nikola, the Speculative Electric Vehicle Stock
• Barron’s: Truck-Building Tesla Competitor Nikola Draws the Attention of a Short Seller

The Interchange is brought to you by Prisma Energy Solutions. Prisma Energy Solutions provides a unique financing model for battery energy storage systems that can help you reduce energy demand, participate in both energy and ancillary service markets, improve renewables integration, increase system reliability, and reduce your carbon footprint. Get your system today.

We’re also brought to you by Wärtsilä Energy. Wärtsilä is leading the energy transition with The Atlas of 100% Renewable Energy, an open-access tool based on the modeling of 145 countries and regions worldwide to illustrate the cost-optimal 100% renewable energy systems.

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Everyone is paying close attention to Judge Brett Kavanaugh.

On Thursday, Trump's Supreme Court nominee will face questions from Congress about alleged sexual assaults. In most cases, Supreme Court confirmation hearings aren't made-for-television affairs. But a new poll out from PBS and NPR shows that 58 percent of Americans will be paying attention to this week’s confirmation hearings.

Since so many people are fixated on Judge Kavanaugh, it’s a good opportunity to discuss his extensive record on energy and the environment.

This week on The Interchange podcast, we're joined by Michael Wara, director of the climate and energy program at the Stanford Woods Institute for the Environment. Michael is familiar with some cases that Kavanaugh has heard as a circuit judge — and he’s going to help understand Kavanaugh’s judicial philosophy.

Wara calls him an "extreme textualist" who rarely gives deference to agencies. "He tends to discover that words in legislation can only mean one thing — and that 'thing' happens to mean that the agency can't regulate. Putting him on the court in combination with Gorsuch would likely mean a significant curtailment of agency authority to make judgments."

Support for this podcast comes from Wunder Capital. Wunder Capital is the leading commercial solar financing company in the United States. Click here to find out how Wunder Capital can help you finance your next commercial solar project.

We're also supported by Shoals Technologies Group, the gold standard for solar and storage balance-of-systems solutions. Learn more about how Shoals can make your project operate at the highest level.

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Global investment in renewables is projected to surpass US$2 trillion by 2030, with wind, solar and storage projects leading the way. Syliva Martinez, Principal Analyst at Wood Mackenzie is joined by Ray Long, President and CEO at ACORE (American Council On Renewable Energy), to look at how the energy transition is creating jobs, lowering costs and making the U.S. more competitive in the global market. American families are expected to save between US$27 and US$38 billion over the next eight years thanks to clean energy initiatives. However, there are still bottlenecks holding back progress, like transmission gridlock and permitting delays. With bipartisan efforts underway, such as the Manchin-Barrasso permitting bill, Ray explores the impact they’re having, and how the industry is moving toward overcoming the challenges.

Subscribe to the Interchange Recharged so you don’t miss an episode on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. Find us on X – we’re @interchangeshow.

The Interchange Recharged is brought to you by Anza Renewables. Are you wasting valuable time tracking down solar module information that quickly goes stale? Anza’s revolutionary platform can help with up-to-date pricing, technical, risk, and domestic content data from 110 solar modules. Compare products in minutes and redirect your time to higher value work. Find out more at go.anzarenewables.com/woodmac

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This week, a conversation with Joe Aamidor, an expert on smart buildings. 

Over the last two years, large multinational energy firms have dumped billions of dollars into commercial energy management — acquiring companies in smart lighting, demand response, battery storage, energy billing, microgrids, smart controls and software.

But there’s no one-size fits all approach to the built environment. Creating a scalable business that serves the diverse needs of building owners is tough. Joe explains.

Read Joe Aamidor’s three-part series for GTM Squared on building energy management. 

Subscribe to The Interchange podcast via Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, Spotify or wherever you find your audio content. Or integrate our RSS feed into the app of your choice.

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The traditional process of battery development is slow, expensive, and capital-intensive. AI can help overcome the challenges of predicting battery performance, exploring the vast design space, and conducting time-consuming cycle life testing. We are joined by Alán Aspuru-Guzik, a professor at the University of Toronto specialising in Chemistry and Computer Science, and Jason Koeller, the CTO and Co-founder of Chemix, to examine the role of machine learning in EV battery development. 

Chemix is exploring new ways of developing batteries for electric vehicles (EVs) by utilising AI, aiming to make it faster and more efficient compared to the traditional, slower, and costlier methods. AI not only speeds up the development process by predicting performance and exploring design options, but also – as Professor Aspuru-Guzik explains - leads to innovative battery compositions that improve performance. The machines can do calculations in timeframes inconceivable for a human.

There are wide-ranging applications for AI in areas beyond battery development, including grid optimisation and materials design. Professor Aspuru-Guzik shares insights into the work of the Acceleration Consortium, which aims to be a leading hub for AI-driven scientific advancements in various sectors. Jason addresses some of the practical challenges in the EV industry, such as the need for adaptable battery solutions and the hurdles in introducing new manufacturing technologies. Technological advancement in battery technology and charging infrastructure are progressing together, enabling growth in the EV market.

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Blockchain is coming to the energy industry in a big way.

We're at the beginning of a fierce hype cycle, when new startups are emerging weekly to tout their Initial Coin Offerings and tokenization platforms for energy trading. Utility executives are grappling with yet another distributed technology that proponents say will demolish the traditional power delivery business.

Still having a hard time understanding why all this matters? Getting lost in the maze of new terminology? We've got you covered.

On this week's Interchange podcast, we're starting a new segment called "consensus." 

We'll bring a blockchain-related topic that we don’t understand -- a term, a business model, or an application -- and present it to GTM’s resident blockchain enthusiast, Scott Clavenna, to see if he can help us out. Hopefully we'll reach consensus.

In this week's segment, we're bringing two questions to Scott: How does WePower's tokenized energy trading work? And how to different variations of cryptocurrency mining?

If you need a blockchain 101 course, try listening to our earlier Interchange episode on the subject.

This podcast is brought to you by Fiveworx, a turnkey customer engagement platform for utilities. Find out more about how Fiveworx can help your customer engagement program succeed -- and get you beyond the meter.

Recommended reading:

• GTM: Can We Prevent a Global Energy Crisis From Bitcoin Mining?
• GTM: WePower Expansion Hints at Adoption of Blockchain for Energy Trading
• Come to our Blockchain in Energy Forum in New York City

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Exploring fire risk mitigation in the face of lithium-ion challenges.

Battery and energy storage-related fires are still relatively rare, but when they do occur, they are challenging to manage due to the high energy density of lithium-ion batteries. So how is the industry working to mitigate these risks? To find out, we are joined by Kelly Sarber, CEO of Strategic Management and Vice Chair of NY-BEST, a battery industry trade group in New York. Kelly advocates for educating communities with planned energy storage projects, especially around risk management. A recent survey revealed that 42% of these communities expressed safety concerns, primarily due to fears of fires. The conversation emphasises the importance of involving local communities and first responders early in the planning process to build trust and transparency.

Lithium-ion battery fires can be particularly difficult to suppress due to the risk of thermal runaway, which can cause the fire to reignite even after being extinguished. Anthony Natale, Director of Risk at the Fire & Risk Alliance, works on identifying and managing risks in utility and battery storage. Anthony and Kelly discuss the complexities of controlling these fires and stress the need for better containment and isolation strategies during incidents. They also explore necessary design changes in battery energy storage systems (BESS), such as direct injection of suppression agents, to improve fire response.

Subscribe to the Interchange Recharged so you don’t miss an episode. Find us on X – we’re @interchangeshow.

The Interchange Recharged is brought to you by Anza Renewables. Are you wasting valuable time tracking down solar module information that quickly goes stale? Anza’s revolutionary platform can help with up-to-date pricing, technical, risk, and domestic content data from 110 solar modules. Compare products in minutes and redirect your time to higher value work. Find out more at go.anzarenewables.com/woodmac

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New forecasts for weather patterns could help the solar and wind industries make better investment decisions in the long term.

Climate trends are accelerating rapidly. Global temperatures hovered consistently at around 1.5 degrees above pre-industrial levels from January to August. Then in September, they shot up to 1.8 degrees. Dr Zeke Hausfather, research scientist at Berkeley Earth, opined in a recent NYT piece that global warming has actually accelerated in the last 15 years, rather than continuing at a gradual pace. 

The effects of climate change are no longer something for the next generation to worry about; they’re being felt here, and now. As a result, it’s crucial to deploy renewables as quickly and efficiently as possible. This involves continuing to invest in the two largest sectors – wind and solar. 

There’s a strong correlation between the effectiveness of these energy sources and the weather predictions we make to inform our long-term planning and investment decisions. 

Anticipating and planning for variability in supply and demand comes from analyzing historical weather and climate data. 

On the Interchange Recharged today, we are joined by Rob Cirincione, founder and CEO of Sunairio. They have a model which they say can make better predictions for solar and wind demand and supply, helping the industry to make better investment decisions and deploy more quickly. 

Traditionally, historical data has been the primary tool for making predictions about future weather events and their possible impact on supply-demand imbalances. Historical data has its limits and does not always provide an accurate representation of future weather events. With climate change accelerating faster than we thought, and with a limited amount of historical data available, there’s a need for modeled projections to fill this gap.

For instance, in the solar industry, historical average models like the typical meteorological year (TMY) are used to predict future performance and returns. However, the assumption that the climate is the same as it was when the model was developed is flawed. Therefore, it's essential to continually measure and observe the impact of climate trends on irradiance and thus, the performance and returns of solar projects.

Rob explores the tools used to predict weather-driven variability in energy, what the solar industry currently uses to predict long-term performance, how to apply the predictive model Sunairio is developing to make better investment decisions, and how progress with decarbonisation efforts could impact future forecasts.

Subscribe to the show on your podcast platform of choice and visit woodmac.com/podcasts to listen back to previous episodes. Join in the conversation on X – we’re @interchangeshow

00:00:00: Introduction to the show

00:00:01: Rob's career and the start of Sunairio

00:00:06: The weather's impact on energy supply and demand

00:00:37: Tools used to predict weather-driven variability in energy

00:01:01: The limitations of using historical weather data

00:01:47: The reason for creating Sunairio

00:02:02: Sunairio's role in the industry

00:03:18: Investment analysis and planning in regards to weather events

00:03:32: Current practices in solar industry

00:04:38: Flaws in using historical data for future predictions

00:07:18: The impact of changing climate trends on the solar performance

00:09:02: The importance of this analysis for investors and project managers

00:09:30: The risk of production underperformance in renewable projects

00:10:49: Sunairio's use of statistical climate model for predictions

00:11:16: Discussion on weather forecasting and its impact on energy production

00:12:20: Using statistical approach in climate modeling for energy production

00:12:42: Applying the predictive model in decision-making

00:14:27: The forecasted production gap and how it affects renewable energy goals

00:16:13: Coverage and capabilities of the modeling system

00:17:49: Expansion and future expectations for the renewable energy markets.

00:20:01: Geographical challenges and solutions in energy production

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We spend most of our time talking about other companies. For our first podcast of the year, we're turning the tables and reflecting on GTM.

In this edition of Watt It Takes, Powerhouse CEO Emily Kirsch interviews GTM Co-Founder Scott Clavenna about the origins of our company, the challenges of being a startup in the cleantech world, and our recent acquisition by Wood Mackenzie. 

Watt It Takes is a live interview series produced by Powerhouse in partnership with GTM. The conversation was recorded live in Oakland, California.

As we prepare for the onslaught of news in 2018, this interview will give you more insight into how we operate as a company.

This podcast is brought to you by Fiveworx, a turnkey customer engagement platform for utilities. Find out more about how Fiveworx can help your customer engagement program succeed -- and get you beyond the meter.

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5x growth in five years: Convergent energy is overseeing $1 billion worth of energy storage development.

Managing intermittent energy supply is a crucial part of the energy transition. When the wind doesn’t blow, or the sun doesn’t shine, we need a backup. Across two days of the Solar & Energy Storage summit, industry leaders and analysts explored the newest technology providing that service. 

Peter Cavan is Senior Vice President of Market Development at Convergent. They finance and manage all aspects of on-site renewable energy development and operations to significantly and sustainably lower electricity bills for the industrial sector, electric cooperatives, and municipal utilities, and investor owned utilities. Peter joins us in the SESS podcast studio to discuss the future of energy storage and the trends in the market. 

Convergent has over 800 MW of storage and 1 GWh of solar-plus-storage capacity operating or under development. How has their approach to storage evolved over the past decade? How are utilities integrating distributed storage into their operations? And where does Peter see the next big innovation in the sector coming from? 

To wrap up our SESS 2024 coverage, we bring you everything you need to know about distributed energy storage.

For more information from our sponsor Convergent Energy and Power on their industry-leading battery storage and solar solutions, please go to convergentep.com

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This week: What can meal kits tell us about the energy intensity of the food system?

When you get meal-kits delivered to your home -- are they a net benefit to the environment? Or are these time savers carbon-heavy?

Since 2012, there’s been a surge in meal-kit delivery options. Online buying and delivery is now the norm. There’s a surge in interest in healthy eating. And we’re all insanely busy. And that’s making Meal-Kits like Home Chef, Blue Apron and HelloFresh a $5 billion business.

But how guilty should you feel unboxing that pre-measured parsley, or berry sauce for that salmon? How does the carbon that got burned to make that packaging and drive that delivery van, compare to buying the ingredients yourself? Has anyone done the math? 

We found someone who can actually answer this question for us: Dr. Isabella Gee, an engineer at the Webber Energy Group at the University of Texas. She did her thesis on this exact question -- and she spends her time looking at the food system broadly. 

Want to share your opinion about the topic? Let us know on Twitter. Follow @InterchangeShow, @shaylekann & @stphn_lacey and send comments about the show.

The Interchange is sponsored  by Viking Cold Solutions, a leader in thermal storage for refrigerated warehouses, grocery store freezers, and restaurants around the globe. Find out how thermal storage can benefit your facility.

We’re also sponsored by NEXTracker. NEXTracker has more than 30 gigawatts of resilient and intelligent solar tracking systems across six continents. Optimize your solar power plant.

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A lot of companies and governments are committing to 100% renewable energy. But a target of that scope without considering time of use isn’t technically or economically optimal.

So how do we get 24/7 renewables for offices, data centers, municipal buildings, cities, and eventually countries?

Calculating renewables consumption on an annual basis isn’t sufficient. If we really want to make them an effective decarbonization tool, we need to match them to real-time demand. And there are a lot of ways to do it. 

In the last few months, we’ve seen examples of large corporations taking the challenge head on. We’ve also seen the negative consequences for a city when it failed to account for time of use.

Dr. Melissa Lott, a senior research scholar at Columbia University’s Center on Global Energy Policy, joins co-host Shayle Kann for a deep dive into 24/7 renewables.

Want to share your opinion about the topic? Let us know on Twitter. Follow @InterchangeShow, @shaylekann & @stphn_lacey and send comments about the show.

This podcast is brought to you by Fronius. Now, Fronius gives you more control over your solar energy than ever before with its versatile hybrid inverter, the Primo GEN24 PLUS. Whether you’re storing solar power, integrating energy storage or looking for backup power, the Primo GEN24 PLUS has you covered. Find out more.

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Back in 2016, Mateo Jaramillo left Tesla, where he was leading the stationary energy storage business, and started looking for a new challenge to tackle. He took on long-duration energy storage -- not long duration like 8 hours or 12 hours, but days or weeks or more. In 2017 he came on the show to talk about it. 

He formed a company, now Form Energy, that has been toiling on this problem in stealth mode. Apart from saying they were building a "metal air" battery, his team held the technology close to the vest.

That is, until last week. 

The company announced a $200M Series D financing led by ArcelorMittal, the world's largest steelmaker, and in the process finally made public the technology, which is an iron air chemistry. 

Full disclosure: Shayle led Energy Impact Partners’ investment in Form.

Shayle and Mateo discuss the technology itself and the counterintuitive economics that Mateo believes will make it work. They also examine how it beat out the alternatives and how it might complement more efficient, but more expensive lithium-ion. It turns out financial modeling was far more important than spec sheets in understanding the tradeoffs.

They tackle the critical question: Where exactly are the profitable applications of this technology before we hit very high 80% renewables? 

They also talk about the semantics of long-duration storage vs. multi-day storage, why Mateo hates holy grails, and potential partnerships with tofu companies.

The Interchange is brought to you by Hitachi ABB Power Grids. Are you building a renewable plant? Looking for a battery energy storage system? Thinking about how to integrate renewables to your grid? Hitachi ABB Power Grids is your choice. 

The Interchange is brought to you by LONGi Solar, the world’s leading solar technology company. A global market leader, LONGi has unmatched bankability, quality and performance validated by third-party laboratories, and has breakthrough innovation at both the wafer and module level.

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The clean energy industry may not have a lot of money to spend collectively on advertisements. But over the years, we've seen numerous TV ads, infographics, slogans, and all kinds of marketing campaigns from individual companies.

So this week, we are going to rank some of our favorite – and least favorite – marketing efforts. We'll also debate the perennial question: do we need a "Got Milk" campaign for clean energy?

We're joined by Tor Valenza, a marketing expert better known as Solar Fred. Tor founded the marketing firm UnThink Solar and is currently the director of marketing at SepiSolar. 

Firstly, what is unique about clean energy that makes branding so important – yet so hard? Then, what are the best marketing campaigns in history outside of energy? Why are they so good? Finally, we’ll pick our favorite and least favorite ads or marketing campaigns in cleantech.

Below are links to our picks for best and worst campaigns.

Best non-cleantech campaigns:

• Mac versus PC ads
• Got Milk commercial

Our favorite cleantech ads or pop-culture placements:

• Nanosys thin-film solar mention from "Wall Street 2"
• Sunrun dolphin babies ad
• Mr. W

Our least favorite cleantech ads or campaigns:

• Yingli's World Cup sponsorship
• Solar freakin' roadways
• Solon AG ad 
• SolarWorld's racist Christmas card

This podcast is supported by Wunder Capital, the easiest way to invest in large-scale solar energy projects across the U.S. With Wunder, you can help finance renewable energy projects while earning up to 7.5 percent annually. Get started here to diversify your portfolio and support American solar projects.

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75% of American households do not have access to solar power. Residents that do not own their own home or who live in apartments are unable to host a solar system and reap the benefits. So, what’s the solution? Community solar. Community solar projects subscribe multiple customers, including households, businesses, municipal buildings, and community organizations. These subscribers receive energy from an offsite solar facility in exchange for discounts on their electricity bills. Subscribing to community solar allows customers who might not otherwise be able to go solar to receive clean energy. 

At the National Community Solar Partnership summit, the DOE laid out plans to try to help meet the Biden administration’s goal of powering 5 million homes by 2025 with community solar – with plans to develop 20 GW of new capacity. Meeting this target will require an unprecedented amount of community solar growth. By the end of 2021, 4 GW of community solar had been installed across the country. The latest Wood Mackenzie Community Solar Outlook Report forecasts 4.5 GW to come online in the next five years under current market conditions. The industry has its work cut out for it to reach DOE’s targets.

In today's episode, we are joined by 3 bright lights in the community solar sector. Jeff Cramer is the CEO of CCSA - the Coalition for Community Solar Access. CCSA is a national coalition of businesses and non-profits, looking to increase access to solar for all American households. Kacie Peters also joins us – she’s the Director of Industry Relationships at Pivot Energy, a solar provider that develops, builds and manages solar projects. We’ve also got Rachel Goldstein, Solar Research Analyst at Wood Mackenzie, to offer insight into the Wood Mac Community Solar Outlook Report and examine the policies and market drivers that are fueling solar growth.

What will community solar look like in 10 years? What share of clean energy will be met by community solar? What federal and state-level investment is needed to reach the Administration’s aggressive emission goals? What political reform helps pave the road to more access to community solar? How much can families save on their electricity bills by subscribing to community solar? The team tackle these questions and more in this enlightening episode.

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If you were offered free software that would automatically reduce the CO2 emissions from your energy usage would you accept it? This week's guest, WattTime, found that 90% of survey participants said “yes” to that very same question. At the other end of the scale, only about 55% of Americans believe in climate change, according to a 2019 survey. New programs that help reduce emissions from domestic utilities can take time to deploy, and are could be more of a hassle than a benefit. WattTime wants to change that. That's why they have developed their Automatic Emissions Reduction Software that can be downloaded by any smart device.

In this week's episode, we sit down with Gavin McCormick, the Founder and Executive Director of WattTime, a nonprofit tech company that uses the power of data to reduce emissions at the consumer level. Gavin holds a master's degree in Energy Economics from UC Berkeley and left his Ph.D. program to pursue his dreams of launching a start-up. Nine years later, WattTime has partnered with a range of companies, from your local utility companies to Google. Gavin has a goal to implement his AER technology into every IoT device to help significantly reduce emissions at home and beyond. 

We explore WattTime's business model, and Gavin’s plans for staying as a non-profit. We ask how WattTime collects, analyzes, and shares the data they retrieve, and poses questions regarding WattTime's place in the net zero transition, as Gavin hopes to implement his software into every IoT device.

It’s a bold idea, and works at the consumer level, but is it scalable? And what’s next? Let’s find out.

The Interchange is brought to you by JinkoSolar, a leading solar panel manufacturer and energy storage integrator.

JinkoSolar now offers energy storage for a variety of residential, C&I, and utility projects.

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