Afleveringen
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The future of carbon capture
With global emissions on the rise, the pressure to decarbonise is driving interest in CCUS (carbon capture, utilisations and storage) … but is CCUS a viable path to net zero, a temporary solution or a high-cost gamble that may simply just perpetuate the use of fossil fuels?
Sylvia Leyva Martinez, principal analyst at Wood Mackenzie, sits down to talk with fellow Wood Mackenzie team members, Mhairidh Evans, VP, head of CCUS research and co-head of carbon management and Peter Findlay, director of CCUS economics, about the complex nuances of CCUS.
The trio discusses policy support differences between North America and Europe, the impact of government incentives like the U.S. 45Q tax credit, and the need for community buy-in for infrastructure projects. They also explore potential pathways for CCUS growth, address obstacles and opportunities for technology advancement and speculate on whether a consistent global carbon price could be a game-changer.
With insights into real-world CCUS projects and the market conditions influencing investment, the conversation highlights the factors that could determine CCUS’s role in the energy transition.
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Strategic solar for a stronger grid
The solar industry is at a turning point, shifting from niche investments to a cornerstone of America’s clean energy future. With renewable energy investment soaring and energy needs intensifying, solar's role has never been more crucial.
Sylvia Martinez, Principal Analyst at Wood Mackenzie, and David Banmiller sit down with Gregg Felton, CEO of Altus Power, to explore how commercial and community solar are driving the U.S. toward its decarbonisation goals. Gregg shares his journey from investment management to leading a renewable energy powerhouse, detailing how solar has evolved into a viable asset class due to falling costs and rising electricity prices.
The pair discuss Altus Power’s strategy of building solar arrays near consumption hubs to ease grid stress and meet rising energy demand. Gregg emphasises the role of state support, partnerships, and incentives in driving growth, as well as the need for stakeholder education for broader solar adoption.
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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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Zijn er afleveringen die ontbreken?
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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.
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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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Part two of our analysis of safety developments for energy storage and batteries.
Guest host Sylvia Leyva Martinez, Principal Analyst at Wood Mackenzie, joins us to explore the challenges and solutions to lithium-ion battery safety. In part one of our two part series, thermal runaway events (which can lead to fires) were a key issue. What are the big players in manufacturing doing to address these? Andrew Tattersall is Industrial Vertical Market Lead for batteries at Siemens, and he joins the show to answer the question. With net zero goals fast approaching, how are Siemens working to improve safety? Early detection systems and regulatory frameworks are key to preventing incidents.
Additionally, data analytics play a crucial role in predictive safety measures. Dr Kai-Phillip Kairies is Co-Founder of Accure, a battery analytics company working to study battery behaviour to prevent malfunctions before they occur.
Key questions you’ll get answers to in this episode: what are Siemens' Net Zero plans, and how are they addressing sustainability across their operations and supply chain? Andrew discusses Siemens' 2030 net-zero goals and outlines innovations like electric paint lines, and support for suppliers to achieve net zero by 2050. How are battery safety concerns being addressed, particularly around thermal runaway events? Andrew and KP discuss early detection systems and the role of data analytics in preventing safety incidents.
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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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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.
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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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Less than 1% of clean energy investments goes to developing countries. Guarantees and partnerships could increase this.
The global energy transition effort is all about ‘the new’. New technology, new financing models, new ways of looking at energy systems. The need for ‘the new’ is greatest in developing countries. For many of them, the challenge isn’t just transitioning to clean energy, it’s providing energy access in the first place. By 2030, we could see nearly a billion people left without access to energy, never mind clean energy. So how can we get the investment flowing to where it’s desperately needed?
Damilola Ogunbiyi is CEO of the organisation Sustainability For All. SE4All works with public and private sector to provide access to reliable, affordable, sustainable and new energy for all by 2030. We sit down with Damilola to discuss her holistic view of the energy transition, the innovative financing models needed to mobilise capital, carbon markets, and how the industry should address the challenge of improving energy access while transitioning to clean sources.
Energy access is directly linked to quality of life. This is especially true as the climate crisis worsens. Both public and private sectors need to work together to mobilise capital for the energy transition. So how can we do it?
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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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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.
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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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The Environmental Defense Fund wants changes made to the way the industry analyses hydrogen emissions data.
A recent study from the Environmental Defense Fund asserts the energy industry is miscalculating the true impacts of deploying hydrogen. Hydrogen systems, with new analysis, could prove to be better – or worse – than the fossil fuels they intend to replace.
“Clean, green” hydrogen deployment can be considerably better or worse for the climate based on factors typically overlooked in standard assessments. That’s the finding of a new study from the EDF. The climate benefits of hydrogen vary depending on factors such as methane emissions, carbon capture, and hydrogen loss. Steve Hamburg is Chief Scientist at the EDF. He joins us to discuss his findings, and to examine the impact on the energy industry of these new analyses, as hydrogen continues to gain traction as a reliable source of clean energy.
Improvements are needed for standard hydrogen life cycle analyses as they currently don’t account for all climate warming emissions and impacts over time. By including the warming effects of three crucial and frequently overlooked factors in determining the climate impact of hydrogen deployment pathways the results of an assessment can look surprisingly different. Just how different? Listen to find out.
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Over 50 million homes in the US use propane. Within a few years, anywhere from 100-300 million gallons of renewable propane are expected to be available for homes and the transport industry. By 2050, renewable propane could meet half the world’s demand for non-chemical propane.
So, the demand is there, but are the means of production? Where is the feedstock coming from and how scalable are production methods? To answer this, we are joined by Mike Stivala, President and CEO of Suburban Propane Partners, a nationwide distributor of propane and renewable propane.
The benefits of renewable propane are clear: reliability, portability and power, but with four times less carbon intensity than its regular counterpart.
How is Suburban Propane Partners tackling the issues of supply chain? Where does Mike see the future of the sector and where is the investment coming from? Listen to find out.
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The Department of Energy’s ARPA-E (Advanced Research Projects Agency – Energy) is an agency tasked with the research and development of advanced energy technologies. Since 2009, they’ve provided nearly US$4 billion in funding for more than 1500 potentially transformative energy technology projects.
One particular area of focus for them at the moment is advanced nuclear. There’s a lot of potential for nuclear to deliver reliable power to millions of American homes, but projects are still finding costs prohibitive. Could advancements in technology be the thing to change this? Jenifer Shafer is Associate Director for Technology at ARPA-E, and she joins us to discuss initiatives in her department, and the focus on reducing imports, reducing emissions, improving efficiency and enhancing American competitiveness in clean energy manufacturing.
What are the priorities for nuclear? Is it advancements in technology, getting costs down, or removing regulatory barriers to deployment? To analyse the current state of the sector, Jenifer is are joined by David Brown, Director of Energy Transition Practice at Wood Mackenzie, for the second half of the show. Together they explore the impact of the Biden administration's US$900 million support for nuclear small modular reactors, and the government’s role in sponsoring new supply sources for uranium.
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Demand for heating at industrial sites around the world is rising. How can demand be met sustainably?
Think of energy storage, and what do you think of? Probably lithium and nickel. But what about salt, and bricks? One of the big challenges for the energy transition is storage. It’s a particular problem for industrial-scale buildings and areas that need a lot of energy. Currently about half the energy demand is heat, and electric batteries are (most of the time) the ones providing it.
Where you need heat, you need a big battery. Or do you? On the Interchange: Recharged, we explore the other options that are emerging. Professor Robert Barthorpe is a lecturer in the Dynamics Research Group in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Sheffield. He joins us to discuss the new technologies that are opening up possibilities when it comes to providing heat to homes in the UK. There are plenty of options on a residential scale, but what about industrial?
In California, a company called Rondo is approaching the issue of heat delivery to commercial-scale buildings with a novel solution: they’re using bricks to store energy at half the cost of green hydrogen or chemical batteries. What’s the technology look like, and how scalable is it? We talk to CEO John O’Donnell to find out.
Finally, another innovative way of storing energy in the form of heat comes from Norwegian-based company Kyoto. What they call the Heatcube is a structure of vertical tanks filled with molten salt, that are charged by renewable electricity at periods of low cost. Installed at the site where heat is needed, the Heatcube stores it at 500c for use when required. Camilla Nilsson is CEO at Kyoto, and she joins us to explore the Heatcube and the trends in demand for heat across global industry.
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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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The 2024 Solar and Energy Storage Summit has wrapped. What are the key takeaways?
In the past three years there’s been a lot of advancement in solar deployment. We’ve seen technology develop and policy support increase. The key talking points have changed similarly in the last three years of the event, but a common thread has been consistent: the importance of supportive government policy.
We are joined by Vanessa Witte, Senior Research Analyst at Wood Mackenzie, and Kelly Sarber, CEO of Strategic Management Group to recap the summit and explore the impact of the most important climate legislation in living memory: the IRA. New tariffs on solar and storage are part of it – what’s the impact been? What are the policy effects on emerging markets?
Plus, supply chain issues in 2022 were a major talking point. Have these been resolved? On previous episodes of the show the issue of bottlenecks to new projects was raised as a big concern – Vanessa gives her perspective on this. It’s a high cost of capital environment and it’s causing delays. What can be done?
Finally, Kelly explores the geopolitical risks, and the impacts of tariffs and policies aimed at strengthening domestic solar manufacturing.
Registration for the 2025 Solar and Energy Storage summit will be open soon. Keep an eye on woodmac.com/events to secure your ticket.
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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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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.
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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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Insight and analysis from Day 1 of the Solar & Energy Storage Summit 2024
The 2024 Solar and Energy Storage Summit from Wood Mackenzie kicked off in San Francisco this week. We were there to capture all the debate and discussion on the future of the solar energy sector. If you couldn’t be there in person, we’ve got you covered. We are joined by a roster of expert analysts and industry leaders to explore the key topics. It’s a packed show, with conversation around the technology, policy and financing of the solar industry.
There’s over a terawatt of solar, and gigawatts of storage in interconnection queues around the US. If all of that was built today, we’d have all the solar and storage we need to decarbonise the grid. How are these bottlenecks being eased? Why are projects taking years to complete? Becca Jones-Albertus, from US Department of Energy, joins us first on the show to discuss it, and analyse the latest advanced solar tech.
Plus, what impact has the IRA had on the industry? Cassidy DeLine is CEO of Linea Energy, and she argues that there are three clear wins from the historic bill. David gets a new perspective on financing for projects from Kelsey Clair, Director at NY Green Bank, and a look at storage technology and government policy with Mike Graveley from the California Energy Commission.
Finally, it wouldn’t be an energy podcast in 2024 without a look at the integration of AI. Kendra Williamson is Senior Principal at Key Capture Energy, and she talks with us about the nuances of storage optimisation.
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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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Increased energy demand is inevitable. How do make sure the grid can cope?
We’ll likely need a grid twice the size it is today. And balancing supply and demand in the years ahead will require a smart approach.
Transmission capacity is one of the most important things to address as we accelerate the energy transition. Achieving net zero by 2050 will require an upgrade and expansion of the grid, in the UK and US. So how do we do it?
We are joined by Ben Wilson, Chief Strategy and Regulation Officer at National Grid, to analyse the grid-enhancing technology and investment we need to see deployed. Together they discuss the path to a smarter, more advanced grid.
Ben highlights the need for policy support as well; streamlining permitting processes is crucial.
In this episode, find out how National Grid is planning and investing in new infrastructure, the approach to finding and investing in the latest tech, and the importance of dynamic line ratings in managing energy demand.
About National Grid
National Grid is an electricity, natural gas, and clean energy delivery company serving more than 20 million people through our networks in New York and Massachusetts. National Grid is focused on building a smarter, stronger, cleaner energy future — transforming our networks with more reliable and resilient energy solutions to meet state climate goals and reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
Catch up on the latest episodes of National Grid’s podcast, The Clean Energy Revolution, which explores the people, policies, and projects that are leading the transition to clean energy.
For more information, please visit nationalgrid.com
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Can innovative new lithium extraction methods prevent a supply chain crisis?
New lithium extraction methods are essential to meet the rising demand driven by EVs and grid storage. Traditional methods are time-consuming, geographically limited, and in some cases environmentally damaging. The concentration of lithium mines worldwide has implications for the supply chain; the fewer producers there are, the higher the likelihood of disruption. Lithium often travels tens of thousands of miles, so reducing these scope 3 emissions is critical.
Xerion is a company who are trying to address this issue. John Busbee is Founder and CEO, and he chats to us about Xerion’s development of new lithium extraction techniques.
Xerion are also developing methods to create newer, more efficient batteries with the lithium they extract. Paul Braun is the Director of the Materials Research Laboratory, and Professor of Materials Science and Engineering at the University of Illinois. He also joins the show, and says there’s no escaping lithium as a key component for EVs and batteries, so the question is how to mine it efficiently and with minimal environmental impact.
New techniques in extraction and battery production promise to reduce CAPex by two-thirds and emissions by 40%. How do they do it? Can these technologies make clean energy more accessible and affordable? We find out.
The Interchange will be at the annual Solar & Energy Storage Summit in San Francisco from the 12th of June. We’ll be recording some special shows from the event, with all the conversation and analysis on the solar sector in the US and beyond. Get your ticket at woodmac.com/events/solar-energy-storage-summit
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In the UK, the collaboration between banks and policymakers is crucial for accelerating the energy transition. The financial sector in the UK managed assets worth over 9 trillion UK pounds (11.3 trillion USD) as of 2020, with a considerable portion needing realignment towards sustainable investments to meet the 2050 net zero goal. The Climate Change Committee, an independent advisory board to the UK government, estimates 50 billion UK pounds, or US$60 billion per year, is needed to meet net zero goals.
Heather Buchanan is co-founder of Bankers For Net Zero, an initiative aiming to involve banks with governments to make better investment and policy decisions for the energy transition. One significant need for investment is the retrofitting of the housing stock; over half of the UK’s homes are old and inefficient. This a major challenge for banks. With host David Banmiller, Heather explores the financial implications of decarbonizing financed emissions from all banking products by 2050.
Plus, the importance of Energy Performance Certificates and measuring efficiency, the financial incentives to de-risk clean energy investments, and how B4NZ is working to engage banks, government and NGOs to drive us to net zero. Collaboration is crucial, but it’s a constant struggle.
For more information visit woodmac.com/podcasts. The Interchange is back at Wood Mackenzie’s Solar Energy and Storage Summit, in San Francisco on June 12. To secure your ticket visit woodmac.com/events/solar-energy-storage-summit.
In this episode:
00:00:08: Importance of collaboration between banks and policymakers for energy transition
00:00:43: About Bankers for Net Zero initiative
00:01:20: Discussion begins about financial community involvement in energy transition
00:01:35: Introduction and milestones of Bankers for Net Zero
00:04:19: Focus area for Bankers for Net Zero
00:06:06: Challenges faced in housing issue and retrofit issue
00:08:33: Introduction to National Retrofit Hub and role of energy performance certificate
00:10:40: Ideas to de-risk financial burden of energy efficiency
00:12:24: Coordinating energy efficiency on a larger scale
00:14:41: Importance of convincing constituents
00:15:22: Role of communities in the energy efficiency transition
00:16:20: Designing policy to support the energy efficiency efforts
00:18:01: Importance and issues of EPC in retrofitting
00:20:00: Balancing energy security and costs
00:23:35: The Role of Financial Institutions & SME's
00:25:50: Changes to GHG Protocols
00:27:04: Introduction to Project Perseus
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Estimates for the cost of decarbonising could be inaccurate. What does that mean for investment and policy-making?
About $1.2 trillion is invested annually in climate technology and infrastructure worldwide, with significant portions allocated to China due to its accelerated decarbonization goals. However, experts argue that about $9 trillion could be needed annually to effectively counter climate change, indicating a substantial gap in current funding. Debate continues over the economic feasibility of such costs, to the detriment of progress, but what if the cost was actually far less? RMI, the research and clean energy advocacy group, says that this may indeed be the case. These forecasts could be overinflated by trillions of dollars. If that’s true, what will it mean for investors, markets and policy?
We are joined by Dan Goldman, managing partner at Clean Energy Ventures, a VC that funds startups developing early stage breakthrough technologies. He says the there’s a significant investment shortfall – regardless of the total cost of decarbonising – currently to stabilise global temperatures. He discusses a downturn in venture capital investments in climate tech, particularly affecting early-stage companies and innovation in new technologies. Challenges remain in scaling up clean energy technologies due to a combination of high interest rates, inflationary pressures, and supply chain disruptions, which increase costs and complicate project implementations.
There's a specific shortfall in investment for infrastructure necessary for large-scale renewable energy implementations, like wind and solar, which are essential for a robust energy transition. We discuss how this could be addressed, and analyse the current economic environment, characterized by high costs and uncertain returns.
Is it these barriers that are hindering significant capital flow into this sector, or the forecasted cost for decarbonising global energy systems? How can global financial strategies be adjusted to accelerate the necessary investments in clean energy and technology? Find out on the show.
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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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