Redefining Energy Laurent Segalen and Gerard Reid

Laurent interviews Georgios Stassis, PPC’S CEO, during Eurelectric Power Summit 24.

PPC, the Greek Utility, is a remarkable turnaround story: from a soviet-style dinosaur a few years ago, PPC has become a thriving forward-looking profitable modern Utility.
With Georgios, we discuss the investment in renewables, the phase out of lignite, digitisation, the investment in new segments (Datacenters, E Mobility, Demand Response…) and share an overview of regional integration with interconnectors and the successful acquisition of Enel Romania.

And, to crown it all, a Quiz: Eurelectric or AC/DC?

In April, we did Ep129 Minutes about China and announced the interview with a real expert. Here it is.
With David Fishman, an American based in Shanghai, we dig deep into China’s Energy Transition. We try to reconcile the rise of renewables and the rise of coal use. We try to decipher what is decided locally and nationally. We investigate what is the result of command-and-control measures vs market forces. We cover wind, solar, batteries, EVs. Our goal is not to give good points or bad points, our mission is to share with our listeners the fascinating but complex picture of what is happening in China. And we debunk a lot of the cliches that we read in the Western media.
To paraphrase Churchill: “A riddle wrapped in mystery inside an enigma”.
As the US and the EU are becoming more and more wary and protectionist in relation to China’s progresses in clean technologies, we try to stay neutral when it comes to subsidies, “overcapacity” and real advances made by China Inc.
Beyond those cliches, we talk about human capital and the fundamental concern about energy security which are powerful drivers boosting the Chinese energy transition. In David’s opinion, China is turning the corner on Coal and Fuels, and we might already have seen peak emissions. And we like that!  

For institutions which would like to partner with our show, please ask for our media kit.  

We thank Amundi for suppiorting our show. 

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David Fishman is an economic consultant at the Lantau Group specializing in the Chinese power sector. His work includes regulatory and commercial intelligence for Chinese nuclear power, solar, wind, and distributed energy markets. His specific experience includes Chinese power market and policy intelligence and forecasting, solar and wind pricing forecasts, renewable asset transactional due diligence, China business matchmaking, and green power procurement planning and execution for multinationals with factories in China.   Check David Fishman on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/china-electricity-2023-statistics-summary-david-fishman-mknic?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_ios&utm_campaign=share_via  

Last week, Laurent was in Athens for the spectacular Eurelectric Summit (we will talk more about it in 2 weeks’ time, with a special Episode) meanwhile, we bring in our friend Jan-Michael Hess, organiser of the Berlin EcoSummit 4-5 June to discuss Clean Tech and his annual gathering of more than 100 Start-Ups and hundreds of investors.
If you don’t have your tickets (yet) https://ecosummit.net/  

"McKinsey, BCG and S&P Global Commodity Insights project electricity demand tied to data centers to increase at a CAGR of 15% through 2030." “Booming AI demand threatens global electricity supply (FT)”. Media and consultants have recently raised the alarm about the unquenchable energy thirst of AI and datacentres.  Can we believe those predictions or is it another scaremongering wave like we saw 15 years ago, when prophets predicted that the internet would soon consume 50% of the world power?

Laurent and Gerard prefer to go directly to the source. So, we have invited Michael Terrell, Senior Director Energy and Climate at Google. Google is one of the Top 5 purchasers of Green Electricity in the world, and Michael is one of the key architects for providing 24/7 green power to their 28 datacenters around the world.

With Michael, we analyse why datacenters consume so much energy. We also discuss why the overall grid has not melted down despite ominous predictions a decade ago, as energy efficiency improvements have been spectacular. We talk about fostering the purchase of green energy and especially 24/7. We discuss new tech, whether software (Tapestry) or hardtech (geothermal, nuclear, LDES) and why Google and others BigTech are fostering them. Finally, we discuss the development of AI and its impact on the future demand.

All in all, a great discussion but more importantly a very optimistic dialogue, where we see that we – the Energy Transition Brotherhood – are a force for good and we will defeat – easily – the old guard of fossil fuel lobbyists and scaremongers.   

We thank Amundi for supporting our show

We bring in the star of the week, Ember’s Dave Jones, to discuss the Global Electricity Review 2024, published last week.
Main take aways (thank you Nat Bullard): 
Renewable sources (hydro, wind, solar, geothermal, biomass) are now 30% of global electricity supply.Solar generation increased 23% yoy; wind 10%.Fossil fuel generation increased 0.8%.If not for a decline in hydro production, renewables would have met almost the entirety of the global increase in electricity demand.
We are entering a new era of electricity with three great flexors acting on a complex and growing supply mix:
Continued growth of wind+solar increasing global clean electron supplyVariations in hydro and nuclear productionDemand driven by electrification, data, and global wealth https://ember-climate.org/insights/research/global-electricity-review-2024/

 
We partner with EcoSummit Berlin, the annual unique gathering for startups and investors to discuss to decarbonise our economy and save our climate. Berlin 4-5 June. If you don’t have your tickets (yet) https://ecosummit.net/

Finally Happy Anniversary to Paul Chapman and his excellent podcast HC Insider who is about to change name to HC Commodities podcast. 200th episode. Really if you are interested in Commodities markets, from Oil to Power to Metals to Ags, Trading , they are the best.

Distribution grids are facing new challenges. On the one hand, they experience a growth of local demand, with EV charging, heat pumps and datacenters. On the other, they must accommodate with the fast deployment of decentralised energy such as rooftop solar and batteries. 
How to reconcile those challenges while maintaining grid stability? And how can Utilities, hooked up on rates and CAPEX start thinking differently and adopt new technologies? Beyond the regulatory changes and technical investments, some cultural shifts need to be implemented. And a lot of solutions are digital.
That’s the job of our guest, Robert Denda. Robert is CEO of Gridspertise, a new company carved out two years ago out of ENEL. Previously, he was Head of Innovation & Industrialization (since June 2021) at the Enel Global Infrastructure and Networks and Head of Network Technology and Innovation (since June 2015) at the same business line of the Enel Group, leading the development of and application of digital grid technologies at the largest privately-owned international operator of power distribution grids, serving 74 million customers.  

Gridspertise today is an independent company jointly controlled by is a 50/50 JV between Enel and investment fund CVC Capital Partners, valued almost 1bnEUR, headquartered in Italy but also present in Spain, Brazil, USA, Germany and Scandinavia the Nordics. Its Enterprise Value was valued 625M EUR at the time of the transaction, with potential deferred payments that could bring the enterprise value up to 1bn EUR.

Our conversation encompasses several themes, from smart meters to sensors, from cyber security to AI, from performance to business trends. Solutions are being implemented daily to speed up the Energy Transition.   

We thank Amundi, EU largest Asset Manager, for supporting the show