The Energy Gang

We're on spring break this week. We'll be back on Thursday with our regular show.To get you through the next few days, we’re offering up an earlier episode of Watt It Takes about the origin story of Greentech Media.In this edition of Watt It Takes, Powerhouse CEO Emily Kirsch interviews GTM Co-Founder Scott Clavenna about the beginning of the 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.Don't forget to subscribe to our other GTM podcast, The Interchange.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

The latest numbers for U.S. energy storage activity are out. They show a surge of activity coming over the next five years, leading to 6x market growth.By 2024, the storage market will be worth $4.7 billion dollars, driven evenly by utility-scale and behind-the-meter battery projects.On this week's episode, we'll unpack the numbers in the latest Energy Storage Monitor from Wood Mackenzie and the Energy Storage Association. They show a doubling and then a tripling of storage to come — making batteries an important part of utility planning in every region of the country.Where’s growth happening, and what does it mean for grid planning?Then, with many farmers in crisis, more of them are putting solar on their land. That’s providing new sources of income, but many fear it could take prime croplands out of commission. How do we site solar on agricultural lands properly?And finally, what is going on over at Tesla? We’ll make try to make sense of the confusing series of decisions at the company.Recomm

This week on Watt It Takes: Terry Jester has seen it all in her four-decade career in solar and electronics. As both an engineer and an executive, she’s learned that timing is everything in the energy business. “I think as I’ve gotten older, I understand when best to strike…a good idea can not make it for bad timing, and a bad idea can go too far.”In this episode, Powerhouse CEO Emily Kirsch sits down with Terry, who is now chief executive of SolPad, maker of a modular home solar-storage system. Terry started her career at ARCO solar in 1979, where she worked on making products that could last decades. She’s since held operations or engineering positions at Shell, Siemens, SunPower, SolarWorld and Solaria — witnessing the initial evolution and eventual explosion of solar firsthand.Terry is now in the startup world, where she’s trying to help SolPad carve out a niche in the market for home solar-battery systems. So we’re going to hear about how she’s applying operations lessons from big corporations

This week, we’ve got a bonus episode produced in collaboration with NEXTracker.It’s all about the risks and rewards of doing business in the roaring Latin American solar market.We are speaking with two of the most in-the-know people on the subject.We’re joined by Manan Parikh, Wood a solar analyst focused on the Americas for Wood Mackenzie Power & Renewables. And we’ll hear from Alejo Lopez, a senior director at NEXTracker, who’s helped grow a 3-gigawatt pipeline of trackers in Latin America — resulting in some of the cheapest and grandest solar projects in the world. Auctions in Mexico, Chile, Argentina, Colombia, and Brazil are unleashing extremely low prices — between 2 and 3 cents a kilowatt-hour. As a result, the region is actually the strongest for trackers compared to the rest of the world.It’s also a pretty crazy place to do business. Every country is very different. Political and economic volatility can make markets super hot one year, and then nonexistent the next. And ultra-low prices

We weren’t planning on making the Green New Deal a weekly item on the show. Then a video of Senator Dianne Feinstein dropped over the weekend, where she appears to lecture climate-protesting kids. It set off a chain reaction of outrage.The social media fervor has since died down, but some really interesting journalism was left in its wake. This whole affair highlighted the crazy upheaval in climate politics — we’re going to tackle some of the bigger questions raised. Are kids a legitimate constituency? What makes climate politics so different from other issues? Are climate delayers as bad as climate deniers? What’s the end game for Democrats?Then, another ethics conflict for Trump’s energy people. We’ll talk about an EPA official who worked with a secretive utility group that lobbies against air pollution regulations, just months before he took a role regulating air pollution. Zack Colman of Politico joins us to talk about the ties he uncovered. What do they tell us about the state of lobbying ethic

It’s been one year since the Trump White House slapped 30 percent tariffs on solar cells and modules imported into the US. What happened since?The solar industry said tariffs would destroy tens of thousands of jobs and set the market back years. Turns out, the market is a lot more resilient than presumed. We now have the jobs numbers and installation data for 2018 — and yes, the tariffs definitely hurt solar, but not nearly as much as expected.We’ll take stock of how tariffs shaped America’s solar market over the last year, both bad and good.Then, Shell continues its distributed-energy acquisition spree. The oil giant just scooped up German battery services company sonnen — one month after buying EV charging firm Greenlots in January. What’s the end game?We’ll end with a Trump Administration plan to freeze lighting standards. Is this Trump’s vendetta against hipster bars using globe lights and Edison bulbs?We’re doing a live show at the MIT Energy Conference on April 4 in Cambridge, Massachusetts. F

The Green New Deal plan is out, and we’re suddenly having a national conversation about climate change again. It’s also injecting some early drama into the presidential primaries.This week, we’re digging into the plan. We’ll tell you what’s in it, assess the reactions, and look at whether it will amount to anything. Also: is the democratic-socialist agenda antithetical the “creating climate wealth” framing — or complimentary?Then, recycling is in crisis. You’re probably recycling wrong. China is cracking down. And your city is probably losing money. We’ll ask how to address it.Finally, lab-grown meat and meat alternatives are facing a backlash from the meat industry. Bills are getting introduced in states around the country to prevent companies from using the word "meat." Could it set the industry back just as these products are gaining traction?We’re doing a live show at the MIT Energy Conference on April 4 in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Follow this link and use the promo code “energygang,” and we’ll

This week on Watt It Takes: How David Crane worked his way up in the power business to become CEO of NRG Energy — only to get tossed out of the job for his bold stance on climate.In this episode, Emily Kirsch talks with Crane about taking risks in the conservative power industry. We’re going to hear from Crane about why being a CEO is so lonely, how his open exit letter to NRG employees went viral, the best investment he ever made, and his early career.Watt It Takes is a collaboration between Powerhouse and Greentech Media. The series is recorded in front of a live audience at Powerhouse headquarters in Oakland, California. Buy tickets for upcoming events.Subscribe to GTM podcasts 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.

This week: a battle Royale for energy dominance.We're cross-posting an episode from our other Greentech Media podcast, The Interchange. The competitors: utilities, oil & gas majors, mobility providers and big tech. We’re pitting them against each other inside of a voice-activated, electrified cage to see who will emerge as the energy company of the future.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.

What will the U.S. grid mix look like in 2050? It depends on which models you follow.The future according to the Energy Information Administration's latest report: wind will stop growing, coal will stop declining, demand for electricity will keep going up, and emission reductions will moderate. A lot of people are unhappy about it.It's no secret that EIA is ultra-conservative in its modeling. But why is there such a disconnect from the technological and economic shifts in energy markets? And why does EIA have such a hard time mapping technological change? We'll offer some solutions to the government's data problem.Then: cancel your trip to Disneyland, stock up on Coca-Cola, and hoard as many iPhones as possible. We'll look at how the world’s biggest companies are detailing their risks to climate change.Finally, we'll end on a philosophical note: who is to blame for climate change? Individuals? Companies? Governments? We'll take a cue from an articulate 16-year-old in Davos.Don't forget to rate and review

What is energy efficiency? That sounds like a pretty simple question. But it’s not.Defining efficiency used to be pretty straightforward: weatherize, upgrade equipment and lighting, use a bit of social science to cut consumption. But now efficiency is becoming just as much about shaping demand in real-time to support distributed energy. And that’s shaping how it gets defined, implemented and tracked.A confluence of factors — the rise of new consumer tech in the home, bundled distributed energy offerings, a shifting demand curve due to PV, improvements to data collection, and the “electrify everything movement — are changing efficiency's role on the grid. We'll discuss this changing paradigm in our first segment.Then, we'll move to electrification. Why are heat pumps suddenly getting so much attention? And how can they help meet efficiency and decarbonization goals?Finally, we'll end with an update on how global power brokers are thinking about energy at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. Katherin

We are about to witness one of the most contentious and consequential bankruptcies in the history of energy.PG&E, California’s biggest utility, is reeling from wildfire costs — and it is now headed to the courts, where it will likely be dismantled.Will it crush California’s goals to clean up the electric grid? Or will lawmakers step in with a political fix? The stakes couldn’t be higher. We’re going to tackle the big questions raised by PG&E’s spiral.Then, why are hundreds of liberal green groups shutting down every technology except wind and solar as part of the Green New Deal? We’ll discuss a letter has raised a lot of criticism — and risks fighting among allies even before a real plan is considered.Finally, we’ll have a rundown of a terrifying Wall Street Journal story about how the Russians infiltrated dozens of utilities, allowing them to hide out inside the computer systems controlling the grid.Don't forget to rate and review us on Apple podcasts. We're giving away a free subscription to GT

The political insanity in Washington can feel disconnected from reality. But two years into the Trump presidency, Americans all over the country are feeling it in the form of higher pollution.In this week's episode, we're starting off with a look at how the government shutdown and Trump's regulatory rollback are impacting energy-related agencies, and encouraging the discharge of more chemicals, heavy metals and air pollutants.Then Bill Gates is once again talking about the limits of renewables and the importance of nukes. Where does Gates’ message and investment thesis stack up with the reality of the global emissions picture?Finally, we revisit the media and climate change. 60 Minutes is talking about the New Green Deal; Meet the Press devoted an hour to climate; and the New York Times called climate change the most important story of 2018. A sign of things of change in the media environment?Read along with us:New York Times: 'This Is Our Reality Now'The Guardian: Americans' Health at Risk as

This week, it’s our year-ender episode. And you know what that means: we’re going round the horn with our assessment of 2018.First, we’ll discuss the top trends of the year. Then, a roundup of the best energy journalism of 2018. And finally, some predictions for 2019 — with a twist.Here some links to our top journalism choices:“The Coal Bailout Nobody is Talking About,” by Joseph Daniel“Drilled” podcast, by Amy WesterveltAn interview with Ken Ward, jr. about his MacArthur Genius grant for investigative reporting on the coal industry.And Stephen’s other picks for top podcasts of the year.The Energy Gang is brought to you by GE's Reservoir, a modular lithium-ion energy storage system that can slash construction costs by 50 percent. Find out more about what Reservoir can do for your electric grid, solar plant, wind farm, microgrid or thermal power plant.Use the promo code PODCAST to get a $50 discount for a GTM Squared membership this holiday season. Get your GTM Squared discounted membe

This week on Watt It Takes: Wunder Capital CEO Bryan Birsic on why he wants to solve the commercial solar financing challenge, when so many others couldn't."That is what a startup is to me. It's 50 or 100 people who can move a multi-billion-dollar industry in a way that an incumbent with thousands of people and multitudes of resources cannot," says Birsic.Since its launch in 2014, Wunder has exploded onto the solar scene. In this edition of Watt It Takes, Powerhouse CEO Emily Kirsch talks with Birsic about applying the lessons from fintech to cleantech.Watt It Takes is a collaboration between Powerhouse and Greentech Media. The series is recorded in front of a live audience at Powerhouse headquarters in Oakland, California. Buy tickets for upcoming events.This podcast is brought to you by GE's Reservoir, a modular lithium-ion energy storage system that can slash construction costs by 50 percent. Find out more about 

Back in 2008, there was a lot of excitement about geothermal. Many major banks were backing large-scale geothermal projects around the world; a wide range of startups were promising to unlock new resources; and wind and solar hadn’t shown their explosive growth yet. But then the financial crisis hit. In the decade since, growth in geothermal has been lumpy — relegated to a handful of supportive markets around the world. Why has geothermal grown so slowly compared to other renewables? What’s holding it back?This week, we’re joined by Alexander Richter, the founder of the geothermal news site ThinkGeoEnergy. Alex has experience in project finance, research and journalism. We’ll talk with him about the last decade of geothermal development.Then, in the second half of the show, we discuss the Green New Deal. There’s a movement within the Democratic Party to push climate hard. What’s behind it? How would the New Green Deal work? (For a compliment to this discussion, check out the latest episode of P

California has seen a million and a half acres of forest burned this year. As the state recovers from the devastating Camp Fire and Woolsey Fire, residents are looking for someone to blame.Now attention turns to utilities. Both Southern California Edison and Pacific Gas & Electric are under investigation and facing class-action lawsuits for potentially starting the blazes.What happens to utilities if they are found at fault? And how do you protect a vulnerable electric grid as these fire get worse and worse? We'll discuss.Then, we’ll mark the Thanksgiving week in the second half of the show. We’ll each share our picks for the top turkey of 2018. Who made the biggest blunders this year?Recommended reading:GTM: If Wildfires​ Drive PG&E Into Bankruptcy, What Happens to Renewable Energy Contracts?SF Chronicle: California Regulator Lays Groundwork for PG&E BailoutNational Geographic: See How a Warmer World Primed California for Large FiresThe Energy Gang is brought to you by GE

This week on Watt It Takes: How Sunrun CEO Lynn Jurich convinced homeowners and banks to invest millions into third-party rooftop solar during the great recession.“Everybody said it won’t work. We took it as a challenge,” says Jurich. “And so we just went for it.”Sunrun was a pioneer in residential solar services. Unlike some of its fallen brethren pushing the national model, Sunrun grew at a much more sustainable clip. Today, the company is at the top of its game. Sunrun installed 100 megawatts of residential solar last quarter. It will likely install 5,000 residential batteries. It’s now partnering with utilities on using those batteries and rooftop systems as a virtual power plant. In this edition of Watt It Takes, Powerhouse CEO Emily Kirsch talks with Jurich about how she went from begging homeowners at county fairs to signing hundreds of thousands of customers.This podcast is brought to you by GE's Reservoir, a modular lithium-ion energy storage system that can slash construction cos

This week: we make sense of America’s midterm elections.Will Democrats do anything on energy in the House? Why did so many ballot initiatives fail? What does the score tell us about the value of running as a climate hawk?First, we’ll look at what happened in states with major ballot questions on carbon pricing, market design and renewables. Then, what happens over the next two years under Democratic leadership in the House.Finally, some specific races we were watching and why.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.The Energy Gang is brought to you by GE's Reservoir, a modular lithium-ion energy storage system that can slash construction costs by 50 percent. Find out more about what Reservoir can do for your electric grid, solar plant, wind farm, microgrid

Ten years ago this week, stock markets around the world cratered as fears grew that the global economy was headed into a deep, dark recession.Alan Greenspan called it “a once-in-a-century credit tsunami.”Today, we are still feeling the economic and geopolitical consequences of the financial crisis. Energy markets were also transformed as a result — often in surprisingly positive ways.In this episode of The Energy Gang, we’ll discussing the impact of the 2008 market meltdown a decade on. Would clean energy have received the same kind of government support without the crisis?Then, we’ll turn to biomass. Biomass is one of the world’s top renewable resources for heat and electricity, but it’s facing some serious challenges, particularly here in the U.S. We’ll detail some of those problems.Finally, Canada is putting a national carbon tax in place. How will it work? And can Prime Minister Trudeau rally Canadians in conservative-leaning provinces behind it?The Energy Gang is brought to you by GE's Reservoi