The Interchange: Recharged

Wood Mackenzie
  • 4.8 (21)
  • BUSINESS
  • UPDATED MONTHLY
The Interchange: Recharged Podcast

The Interchange: Recharged podcast is a leading global clean tech podcast that has been running since 2017. Every two weeks experts and industry leaders from the world of clean tech and energy join host David Banmiller for a deep dive into their technology, the future of their sector, funding and policy impacts. We aim to provide a platform for start-ups, new companies and organisations who are innovating and solving real world problems in the energy transition. Our listeners are energy experts, industry evangelists who’re interested in companies that do pioneering work to accelerate the transition.

  1. 27 AUG

    Is the industry taking the wrong approach to Scope 3 emissions reporting?

    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 David Banmiller is 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 David and Jenny 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 to David 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. Subscribe to the Interchange Recharged so you don’t miss an episode on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. Find us on X – we’re @interchangeshow. 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 See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

    36 min

  2. 13 AUG

    Green hydrogen may be less clean than we think

    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 David 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. Subscribe to the Interchange Recharged so you don’t miss an episode. Find us on X – we’re @interchangeshow. 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.  See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

    33 min

  3. 30 JULY

    Renewable propane is scaling up, but how far can we take it?

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

    39 min

  4. 16 JULY

    To strengthen American competitiveness in energy, the DOE’s ARPA-E department is focusing on advanced nuclear

    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 David 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 and David 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.   To keep up to date with everything we talk about on the show, sign up for the newsletter. You’ll get extra analysis from Wood Mackenzie and be notified when a new episode of the podcast is out.  https://www.woodmac.com/nslp/the-inside-track/sign-up/ See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

    43 min

  5. 2 JULY

    Out with lithium and nickel, in with salt and bricks?

    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, David Banmiller explores 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 David 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? David talks 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 David to explore the Heatcube and the trends in demand for heat across global industry. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

    59 min

  6. 19 JUNE

    Distributed energy storage is taking off

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

    19 min

  7. 18 JUNE

    The evolution of the solar industry in the US since 2021

    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.  David is 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.  Subscribe to the show so you don’t miss any of the analysis from the Solar and Energy Storage Summit on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. Find us on X – we’re @interchangeshow.   For more information from our sponsor Convergent Energy and Power on their industry-leading battery storage and solar solutions, please go to convergentep.com See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

    29 min

  8. 14 JUNE

    Demand for solar power and energy storage is only going to increase. What’s the plan for meeting it?

    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. David Banmiller was 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 David 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 David 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. Subscribe to the show so you don’t miss any of the analysis from the Solar and Energy Storage Summit. Find us on X – we’re @interchangeshow. For more information from our sponsor Convergent Energy and Power on their industry-leading battery storage and solar solutions, please go to convergentep.com See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

    60 min
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4.8
out of 5
21 Ratings

About

The Interchange: Recharged podcast is a leading global clean tech podcast that has been running since 2017. Every two weeks experts and industry leaders from the world of clean tech and energy join host David Banmiller for a deep dive into their technology, the future of their sector, funding and policy impacts. We aim to provide a platform for start-ups, new companies and organisations who are innovating and solving real world problems in the energy transition. Our listeners are energy experts, industry evangelists who’re interested in companies that do pioneering work to accelerate the transition.

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