Interchange Recharged

This week: consolidation and cooperation in the distributed energy market.Just as federal regulators in the U.S. are making batteries, solar systems, electric cars, generators and other similar resources more valuable in wholesale markets, we’re seeing a new wave of business activity.Wood Mackenzie predicts that U.S. distributed energy resource capacity will reach nearly 390 gigawatts by 2025. And a lot of companies are getting in on the action.Amazon is jumping deeper into the smart-home game. Generac, one of the top generator companies in the U.S., just made another acquisition to help it manage batteries and pumps and motors and possibly other clean energy resources.And Calibrant is a new company being formed by industrial multinational Siemens and MacQuarie Capital, part of the Australian financial services giant. Calibrant will offer businesses and industry and schools and hospitals no-money-down, on-site energy systems known as Energy-as-a-Service.   What do all these business moves mean for the future of this market?Additional resources:Amazon Blog: Alexa’s New Energy Dashboard (Coming Soon) Greentech Media: Generac Acquires Enbala, Boosting Plan to Harness Behind-the-Meter Energy ResourcesGreentech Media: Siemens and Macquarie Form Calibrant Energy to Tackle Distributed Energy MarketThe 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.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

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

In recent weeks, five million acres have burned across California, Oregon and Washington State -- killing dozens, displacing tens of thousands of people, and causing untold damage.In California, over three million acres have burned since the start of the year. At the height of the current wildfire outbreak, western cities had the worst air pollution in the world for days.It makes the solutions we talk about on this show -- renewables, grid resilience, microgrids, decarbonization -- that much more urgent. This week, we’re replaying a conversation that we taped last fall, just after a different round of record fires. It’s Shayle talking with Kate Gordon, the director of the office of planning and research in California. She's also a senior advisor to Governor Newsom on climate.Kate details the diverse range of climate risks that California faces -- and how it's impacting every decision the state makes.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.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

The market for initial public offerings dropped way down this year. Or did it? There is a surge in activity in a different kind of IPO: a special purpose acquisition company, or SPAC. It’s also known as a reverse merger.These are shell companies listed on exchanges with a mission to buy private companies and convert them into public ones.According to a tally from Barron’s, there have been 70 IPOs through this method in 2020, with proceeds totaling $27.7 billion.It’s creating a path for little-known, pre-revenue cleantech companies to get access to public markets. Does all this frothiness make sense? And why now?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.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

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

This week: how an innocuous grid-modeling project became a threat to Trump’s efforts to save coal -- and then languished inside the Department of Energy.It’s one of many pieces of research that have been suppressed by the current administration.What is the study? What does it tell us about the systematic dismantling of government under Trump? What are the implications for a cleaner grid?Journalist Peter Fairley joins us to talk about his investigation, which was a collaboration between InvestigateWest and The Atlantic. 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.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

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

We’re constantly going through waves of hype in different energy sectors: flexible solar panels, vertical-axis wind, electric planes, vehicle-to-grid, the smart home, blockchain. Some are real, some are not. Some just need to mature.So what phase are we in now? In this episode, Shayle and Stephen are digging into different sectors and trends at various stages of the climate tech hype cycle. They’ll decide whether to buy, sell or hold based on the current level of fanfare. In other words, do we think it's overhyped, underhyped or just right? We’re going to do this for six sectors, some of which came from listeners. Green hydrogenMicromobilityResidential battery storageDirect air capture (tons of people on twitter suggested this one)BlockchainVirtual power plantsAnd here’s Shayle’s climate tech hype cycle chart that we discuss on the show.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.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

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

The world looked bleak for startups in the spring. According to figures from Crunchbase, venture capital deals were down 44 percent from March to June compared with last year. Seed-stage deals took the biggest hit, down nearly 60 percent. But series B deals also took a hit. It was difficult at any stage of funding.Deals are finally coming back. Obviously, travel startups won’t be a hot category for a long time. But what about climate and cleantech? Are they insulated? And what does the reorientation tell us about who’s still all-in on the category?We’re joined by Abe Yokell, managing partner and co-founder of Congruent Ventures. He and Shayle dig into a wide range of venture capital trends:COVID impacts on the “climate tech” venture revolution. We’ll check back in on what we talked about last time, given the new state of the world.The rise of the tech company mega-climate-fundPublic market madness. What, if anything, does this say about exit prospects for climate tech startups?Hot sectors: where is the smart tech talent going?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.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.