Interchange Recharged

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

What would a truly bold presidential plan to decarbonize the economy look like?Democratic candidates are offering up their visions.Elizabeth Warren is focusing on banning fossil fuel extraction on public lands and using the military to counter climate threats; Beto O’Rourke is looking to executive action; Joe Biden is teasing a “middle ground” plan.Then there’s Washington State Governor Jay Inslee. He just released his second climate plan — it’s more of a manifesto — called the The Evergreen Economy. It’s a culmination of a decade and a half of his thinking, writing and policymaking on climate.The document was so good, we decided to devote a whole episode to talking about it. You can read it here. And check out Dave Roberts’ supplemental analysis 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.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Uber and Lyft are now public — and now under more investor pressure to expand quickly. What does that mean for energy use and carbon emissions as more cars hit the roads?Multiple new studies show that these transportation networking companies are causing more traffic and pulling people away from public transit. Meanwhile, cities and states are trying to clean up those fleets by promoting electrification.Will we be able to clean up ride-hailing fleets fast enough?This week, in honor of the Uber and Lyft IPOs, we are looking at the negative and positive consequences of ride hailing.Recommended reading:GTM: Electric Ridesharing Benefits the Grid, and EVgo Has the Data to Prove ItPBS: Why is Your Uber or Lyft Stuck in Traffic? Most lLikely bBecause of Uber and LyftSchaller Consulting: Lyft, Uber and the Future of American CitiStreets Blog: Uber and Lyft Caused U.S. Transit DeclineSupport 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.

Big energy giants around the world are investing heavily in renewables and cleantech. But there’s a whole class of companies making moves in the sector behind the scenes.In this episode, we’re looking at the unsung corporate heroes of the clean energy transition.Shayle and Stephen share their picks for companies that are making surprising moves into renewable energy, electrification and clean materials. What does it tell us about how deeply clean energy is embedded in the corporate world?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.

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 YetClean Technology is Disrupting Fossil Fuels Faster Than EverSupport 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.

This week: we dig into the causes of PG&E’s latest bankruptcy: wildfires.PG&E’s restructuring is one of the biggest in U.S. history — and it could be considered the first climate bankruptcy. The utility faces tens of billions of dollars in liabilities after investigators pinned over a dozen wildfires on PG&E equipment. What does it tell us about the health of utility infrastructure and corporate preparedness for climate risk?The future structure of PG&E is still uncertain as it moves through bankruptcy proceedings. And California lawmakers are struggling with how to both protect and penalize utilities for wildfire damages.We are going to explain what wildfires mean for PG&E and other California utilities. We’ll speak with Katherine Blunt of the Wall Street Journal about what her reporting has uncovered.Our current Interchange sponsor is PG&E. Please note: our sponsors have no influence on our editorial content in our podcasts. Read some of Katherine Blunt’s reporting:California Governor Proposes Fixes to State’s Wildfire CrisisPG&E Delayed Safety Work on Power Line That Is Prime Suspect in California WildfireJudge Moves to Curtail PG&E’s Dividends Until it Reduces Wildfire RisksSupport 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.

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 SupplierGTM: 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 ScenarioSupport 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.

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 ResolutionsGTM Squared: The Rise of China’s World-Leading EV MarketReuters: Analysis of 29 Global Automakers’ EV SpendingBloomberg: Ford Invests $900 Million to Build Electric Vehicles in MichiganCNBC: 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.

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 LineUtility Dive: Electrification could drive $600B in transmission spending by 2050GTM: Siemens Buys Transmission Line to Take Iowa Wind to the Eastern GridSupport 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.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

We're on spring break this week. So we're offering a replay of an earlier episode -- it's all about pivots.Did you know that Nokia started out as a paper mill in Finland? Or that Nintendo once made instant rice? Many of the world's leading companies start out in radically different markets.Cleantech is the same. Sales cycles are often slow, technologies don't work as planned, and customer needs are constantly evolving. In the tumultuous world of energy, companies pivot all the time.On this week's episode of The Interchange, we celebrate the pivot.We'll look back throughout history and choose the most successful and unsuccessful pivots of all time. What do they tell us about how to succeed in this market?Recommended reading:Forbes: 14 Famous Business PivotsWall Street Journal: How a Florida Utility Became the Global King of Green PowerLA Times: How SunEdison Went From Wall Street Star to BankruptcyVestas: The History of Vestas Wind TurbinesGTM: Hard Lessons From the Algae Biofuel BubbleSubscribe 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.