Energy Gang
Wood Mackenzie
Covering breaking news in clean tech, going deep on global energy policy, and debating the levers that need to move to accelerate the energy transition. Energy Gang is the podcast covering clean energy technology, renewable energy, and the environment. The world of clean energy moves fast, and you need a reliable source to stay on top of the news that matters. You’ll find it on Wood Mackenzie’s Energy Gang.How will changes to the US government affect decarbonisation and energy security? When will hydrogen, nuclear and carbon capture deploy at scale? Where’s the money for the energy transition green finance coming from and how much more is needed? What’s the outlook for EVs? What are the energy predictions for solar energy? What's the latest on climate change?Get answers to questions like these, bi-weekly on Tuesdays at 7am ET. Plus, get special live episodes recorded at the biggest climate and energy events throughout the year, like COP30 and Climate Week NYC. Don’t worry if you can’t make it in person, Energy Gang brings you all the updates on energy policy, energy finance and energy innovation you need to hear.Energy Gang is presented by Wood Mackenzie and hosted by Ed Crooks, Vice-Chairman of Energy at Wood Mackenzie and a former Financial Times and BBC News journalist. Regular guests are Amy Myers-Jaffe (Director of NYU’s Energy, Climate Justice and Sustainability Lab), and Dr Melissa Lott (Partner at Microsoft) – plus a roster of industry leaders and policy influencers, like Jigar Shah (Industry figurehead and former director of the Loan Programs Office in the US Department of Energy), Caroline Golin (Head of North America, Global Energy Market Development and Policy at Google) and Ambassador Geoffrey Pyatt (Former Assistant Secretary of State for Energy Resources).If you like The Energy Transition Show, Catalyst with Shayle Kann, The Big Switch from Columbia University, Open Circuit with Stephen Lacey or The Green Blueprint, you’ll enjoy Energy Gang.Want to get involved with the show? Reach out to podcasts@woodmac.com to:Bring Energy Gang to your eventBe a guest on the showSponsor an episodeAsk a question to Ed Crooks or one of our guestsCheck out another leading clean tech global podcast by Wood Mackenzie, Interchange Recharged: https://www.woodmac.com/podcasts/the-interchange-recharged/Wood Mackenzie is the leading global data and analytics solutions provider for renewables, energy and natural resources. Learn more about Wood Mackenzie on the official website: https://www.woodmac.com/
Episodes
Mentioned books
Aug 2, 2016 • 38min
Cleantech VC Is Dead! Long Live Cleantech VC!
Enjoy this free episode of The Interchange from GTM Squared. If you like what you hear, make sure to become a member: http://www.greentechmedia.com/squared
We’re more than a decade on from the beginning of the cleantech gold rush -- and a lot of venture capital firms failed to strike it rich.
In this week's show, we tally the boom and bust in cleantech VC, and look at how it compares with other sectors. We're joined by Varun Sivaram, a fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, and Ben Gaddy, the director of technology development at the Clean Energy Trust.
The two recently teamed up with another colleague, Frank O’Sullivan from the MIT Sloan School of Management, to log the performance of venture investments in clean energy and materials from 2006 to 2011. They then compare it to the medical field and software.
They found that the failure rate in cleantech was much higher (and the returns were much lower) than these other fields. Their conclusion: venture capital is not the right model for revolutionizing the energy industry.
So if that’s true, what should take its place? We debate.
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Jul 27, 2016 • 47min
Elon Musk's Master Plan for Tesla
Last week, Tesla Motors dropped “motors” from its name, and is now calling itself just Tesla. This is an indication that the electric car company is thinking about much more than cars. And Elon Musk went way beyond indicating a shift – he explicitly spelled it out in his new master plan, published last Thursday.
His first master plan, published in 2006, described the company we know today: build an expensive electric car, improve manufacturing, build a less expensive car, grow manufacturing, and finally build a mass market EV. While Tesla hasn’t always hit Musk’s ambitious timeframes, it is on a path to achieving his original vision.
Part two is much more ambitious. It includes building a seamless solar-plus-storage offering, dominating grid-scale storage, revolutionizing busses and tractor trailers, and making shared fleets of autonomous vehicles available to all.
As Musk described in his post: “Starting a car company is idiotic and an electric car company is idiocy squared.”
So is his latest plan idiocy cubed? Or the right amount of Muskian ambition at just the right time? In this week's podcast, we dissect the plan.
Then, we'll discuss energy in campaign politics. We’ll look at Hillary Clinton’s pick of Tim Kaine for vice president, and examine Donald Trump’s relationship with fracking tycoon Harold Hamm.
Finally, we’ll take the pulse of regulators, who debated how to grapple with distributed resources at a big meeting this week.
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Jul 21, 2016 • 34min
Does 'Clean' Coal Have a Future?
At this week’s Republican National Convention in Cleveland, the GOP doubled down on its commitment to coal -- calling it “an abundant, clean, affordable, reliable domestic energy resource.”
Coal can get cleaned up. But it comes at a steep price. And that price can make it hard for even the most ardent supporters to get behind carbon capture and sequestration in practice.
Earlier this month, the New York Times published an investigation on the Kemper Power plant, a carbon capture and sequestration project supported by the stimulus that is billions of dollars over budget and still not in service. Securities regulators are investigating the use of government funds, ratepayers in Mississippi are suing Southern Company, and now a whistleblower has released thousands of documents showing that Southern Company covered up its problems and lied about timelines.
This is the latest blow to the clean coal industry – which detractors say will never materialize. This week, we'll talk about what Kemper means for the future of carbon capture and sequestration in the U.S.
Later in the show, we'll provide some context to an FBI investigation into the 2014 Arizona Corporation Commission elections. And we'll end with a discussion about NextEra's failed bid to acquire Hawaiian Electric Industries.
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Jul 15, 2016 • 48min
Imagining the Future of Transportation: How Optimistic Should We Be?
As the world awaits Elon Musk's master plan for Tesla, we provide a glimpse into America's master plan for transportation on this week's podcast.
Reuben Sarkar, the deputy assistant secretary for transportation at the Department of Energy, joins us to talk electric cars, natural gas cars, autonomous cars, car efficiency and how the public sector can make automotive innovation easier in the private sector. We ask him: how optimistic should we really be about what all the changes underway in the sector?
In the second half of the show, we’ll discuss the end of nuclear power in California. We’ll also ask about Sungevity’s novel approach to going public – a worrying sign, or a clever way to raise money?
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Jun 30, 2016 • 55min
What If We Redesigned the Grid From Scratch?
What would the electric grid look like if we redesigned it from scratch using today's vast array of new technologies and rate designs? Would utilities, regulators and distributed energy providers agree on the design?
They might agree on more than you think.
In this week's show, we'll talk with Julia Hamm, president and CEO of the Smart Electric Power Alliance, about how to reconcile rapid technology change with the way electric utilities are structured.
Then, we’ll talk Brexit. How will Britain’s exit from the European Union complicate energy markets and climate goals?
Finally, we’ll untangle the mess in Brazil. It’s been a really rough year economically for the country – and that has spilled over into renewables.
This podcast is sponsored by SolarEdge, a leader of the DC optimizer market and a leading supplier of inverters to the U.S. residential market.
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Jun 22, 2016 • 49min
Debating Tesla's Plan To Acquire SolarCity
Will Tesla acquire SolarCity? Yesterday, news broke that Tesla’s board offered to buy SolarCity for roughly $2.5 billion. While shareholders and financial analysts don't seem to like the proposed deal, Elon Musk says it's a pivotal part of his long term plan.
This week, we're coming live from GTM's Grid Edge World Forum. We'll debate what an acquisition would mean for both companies – and whether shareholders will bite.
Then we'll discuss whether the smart home will ever materialize. It's been a difficult decade in the smart home sector. What will it take to turn things around?
And finally, we'll take a sober look at fuel cells. Is there any love or respect for them anymore? Eric Wesoff, GTM's editor in chief, gives his bearish take on the future of the fuel cell industry.
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Jun 17, 2016 • 39min
The Climate Crisis Worsens
Thirty years ago, a Congressional committee held a two-day hearing on climate change. In June of 1986, scientists didn’t have the sophisticated measurement tools and supercomputer models that they do today. But they did have a lot of data showing that greenhouse gases were steadily warming the planet -- and that failure to curb those emissions would bring dire consequences.
Three decades later, those predictions are playing out with alarming accuracy. In the last few months, we’ve seen a slew of research showing that the planet has a worsening fever.
We haven’t yet hit summer, but we’re already smashing more climate and weather records. We will talk about the barrage of alarming climate news over the last couple of months.
Then, new data shows that renewables are on their way overtaking fossil fuels in the electric sector. Is the development as positive as it seems?
Finally, we’ll talk transmission. A couple new projects in the U.S. illustrate how to build new lines effectively to support carbon-free energy.
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Jun 9, 2016 • 51min
Getting Subsidies Right for Renewable Energy
Renewables are getting really cheap. But does that mean we need to get rid of all subsidies to support them? Many experts argue that we just need to retarget government support in a smarter way.
In this week's show, we’ll explain how that might be done for both renewables and nuclear.
Then, in a related conversation, we’ll ask whether nuclear needs to be included in state-level renewable energy mandates.
We'll end with a look at a landmark agreement between the U.S. and India that could leverage $1 billion for off-grid solar and microgrid projects.
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Jun 3, 2016 • 47min
How One of the Most Successful Wind Tycoons Stayed Ahead of the Energy Markets
Two years after Michael Polsky moved from Soviet Ukraine to the U.S. in 1976, America passed a law allowing independent developers to own power plants. He knew he needed to get in on the action.
Polsky eventually became one of the most successful energy developers of all time -- building multiple successful businesses around cogeneration, natural gas and wind.
Polsky is now the president and CEO of Invenergy, a company with nearly 14,000 megawatts of wind, solar, natural gas and energy storage projects operating or under construction in the U.S., Canada and Europe. He joins us this week to talk about what he foresaw before most others -- and what he sees as the future of energy.
In the second half of the show, we'll discuss Donald Trump's energy speech in North Dakota last week. And we'll end with a quick look at the latest global investment figures for renewable energy.
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May 26, 2016 • 46min
A Sign of the Utility Death Spiral?
Nevada Power is likely doing a lot of soul searching.
Last week, two of the biggest Las Vegas casino companies -- MGM Resorts and Wynn – filed to leave Nevada Power and set off to buy wholesale electricity on their own. MGM has particularly strong renewable energy goals, and this move signals that the company thinks it can procure clean electrons cheaper than the utility.
As more large corporations make similar moves, will it lead to a financial disaster for utilities? This week, we'll discuss the implications with Cory Honeyman, the associate director of GTM’s US solar research practice, who has been following the commercial customer class closely.
Then, Exxon rejects shareholder demands on climate. We’ll look at the latest salvo over the oil giant’s carbon accounting. And we will end on a low note. Lake Mead, America’s biggest reservoir serving over 20 million people in the West, hit its lowest level ever. Are water wars on the horizon?
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