Catalyst with Shayle Kann Latitude Media

For those of us in the U.S., Europe's strong electric vehicle market might offer a glimpse into the future of EV charging. In 2022 the electrification haven of Norway had a whopping 166 plugin-in electric vehicles per 1,000 residents. Germany had 20 per 1,000 residents and Europe’s largest fleet, based on reporting by Euronews. That’s far ahead of the U.S., which averaged 8.6 in 2022, according to Argonne National Laboratory.
So, it stands to reason that these countries must have insights into how to get all these vehicles charged. And Europe does indeed have a lot to teach the U.S. — but it turns out the lessons might actually go both ways. 
In this episode, Shayle talks to Nick Woolley, CEO and co-founder of charging management company ev.energy, which operates in both the U.S. and Europe. (Shayle’s firm Energy Impact Partners is also an investor in ev.energy.)
They discuss topics like:

EV adoption rates and charging patterns by region

The fragmented European charging networks and Europe’s unique roaming programs that facilitate interoperability

The difference between customers who have off-street parking and their own charging infrastructure, and those who instead have to scavenge for charging

The pros and cons of Europe’s unbundled electricity markets, as compared with vertically integrated markets in the U.S. 

Carrots, sticks, and compliance for managed charging, also known as V1G

The challenges of implementing vehicle-to-grid charging, or V2G


Recommended Resources:


Catalyst: Can the V2X dream become reality?


Catalyst: The journey to monetizing distributed energy resources


If you want more news and analysis like this in your inbox, subscribe to Latitude Media's newsletter and Canary Media's newsletter.
Catalyst is a co-production of Latitude Media and Canary Media.
Catalyst is brought to you by BayWa r.e., a leading global renewable energy developer, service supplier, and distributor. With over 22GW in their project pipeline, BayWa r.e. is rethinking energy every day and at every level. Committed to being a solid partner for the long run, BayWa r.e. wants to work with you to help shape the future of energy. Learn more at bay.wa-re.com.
Catalyst is brought to you by Sungrow. Now in more than 150 countries, Sungrow’s solutions include inverters for utility-scale, commercial, and industrial solar, plus energy storage systems. Learn more at us.sungrowpower.com.

Nuclear construction costs in the U.S. are some of the highest in the world. Recent estimates put it at more than $6,000 per kilowatt, as measured by overnight capital cost. But high costs are a problem for new small modular reactors (SMRs) too, killing what was going to be the country’s first small modular reactor before it got built.
On the other hand, South Korea has some of the lowest costs in the world. Estimated overnight capital costs for reactors in South Korea are closer to $2,200 per kilowatt. And then there are countries like China, France, and the United Arab Emirates that fall between those extremes.
So why the wide range in costs? 
In this episode, Shayle talks to Dr. Jessica Lovering, co-founder and executive director at the Good Energy Collective, a non-profit that researches and promotes policies that support nuclear power. A former director of energy at the Breakthrough Institute, she also authored a comprehensive study of nuclear construction costs in 2016. 
Shayle and Jessica talk about things like:

What goes into the cost of construction and South Korea’s secret sauce for low-cost nuclear reactors

Why Jessica thinks we should manufacture and regulate reactors like large aircraft

Driving down costs with modularity, small reactors, passive safety features, and more construction 

Why changing regulations might be necessary, but not a silver bullet 

Why the pro- and anti-nuclear camps talk past each other — and why Jessica says she’s somewhere in between 


Recommended Resources:


Energy Policy: Historical construction costs of global nuclear power reactors


National Academy of Engineering: Chasing Cheap Nuclear: Economic Trade-Offs for Small Modular Reactors


Joule: Evaluating the Role of Unit Size in Learning-by-Doing of Energy Technologies


Science: Granular technologies to accelerate decarbonization


Canary: Future of small reactors at stake as NuScale deal flops


If you want more news and analysis like this in your inbox, subscribe to Latitude Media's newsletter and Canary Media's newsletter.
Catalyst is a co-production of Latitude Media and Canary Media.
Catalyst is brought to you by BayWa r.e., a leading global renewable energy developer, service supplier, and distributor. With over 22GW in their project pipeline, BayWa r.e. is rethinking energy every day and at every level. Committed to being a solid partner for the long run, BayWa r.e. wants to work with you to help shape the future of energy. Learn more at bay.wa-re.com.
Catalyst is brought to you by Sungrow. Now in more than 150 countries, Sungrow’s solutions include inverters for utility-scale, commercial, and industrial solar, plus energy storage systems. Learn more at us.sungrowpower.com.

It’s about that time again. You sent in great questions for Shayle, and in this episode we’re tackling them with the help of Sarah Golden, vice president of energy at GreenBiz. Together Shayle and Sarah cover topics like:

Load growth and whether data-center demand is good or bad for decarbonization.

The crash in photovoltaic module prices and what it means for the solar industry.

The impact of interest rates on climatetech.

The challenges of siting carbon dioxide pipelines.

Why there’s no clear winning technology for carbon dioxide removal.

European energy companies acquiring U.S. companies.

Why Shayle is bullish on the macro grid, despite the slow pace of interconnection and transmission buildout.

Plus: volcanoes, Frankenstein, and Shayle’s childhood with geodes.

Recommended Resources:


Catalyst: Navigating the electrification gauntlet


Canary: The US offshore wind industry faces a moment of reckoning


S&P Global: Cancellation of Navigator CO2 pipeline raises critical issues for several industries


Catalyst: Growing the carbon dioxide removal market


If you want more news and analysis like this in your inbox, subscribe to Latitude Media's newsletter and Canary Media's newsletter.
Catalyst is a co-production of Latitude Media and Canary Media.
Catalyst is brought to you by BayWa r.e., a leading global renewable energy developer, service supplier, and distributor. With over 22GW in their project pipeline, BayWa r.e. is rethinking energy every day and at every level. Committed to being a solid partner for the long run, BayWa r.e. wants to work with you to help shape the future of energy. Learn more at bay.wa-re.com.
Catalyst is brought to you by Sungrow. Now in more than 150 countries, Sungrow’s solutions include inverters for utility-scale, commercial, and industrial solar, plus energy storage systems. Learn more at us.sungrowpower.com.

Some technologies grab the spotlight even beyond #energytwitter, and some fly under the radar. Which ones are getting more attention than they deserve, and which aren’t getting enough?
This is the episode you never knew you needed: Shayle talks to Volts host David Roberts about the most underhyped and overhyped trends in climatetech right now. David has written about clean technology for the past two decades, first at Grist and then at Vox. He now writes a newsletter and hosts a podcast of the same.
Together, Shayle and David cover topics like:

Why this new wave of thermal storage technology is different.

Small modular reactors and why David and Shayle disagree on how much hype they deserve

Why rising interest rates are starting to become a big problem for climatetech.

The Inflation Reduction Act and how people still don’t grasp how big of a deal it is.

Plus: electric stovetops, mineral bottlenecks, and networked geothermal.


We want your climatetech questions for Shayle’s Ask Me Anything episode! Email questions to us at catalyst@latitudemedia.com. You can also tag us on Twitter or LinkedIn with the hashtag #AskCatalyst. Or you can leave us a voicemail at 919-808-5832.

Recommended Resources:


Volts: What's the deal with district energy?


Volts: Fine, we're doing gas stoves


Catalyst: Solving the conundrum of industrial heat


Catalyst: Strong opinions on small modular reactors


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Catalyst is a co-production of Latitude Media and Canary Media.
Catalyst is brought to you by BayWa r.e., a leading global renewable energy developer, service supplier, and distributor. With over 22GW in their project pipeline, BayWa r.e. is rethinking energy every day and at every level. Committed to being a solid partner for the long run, BayWa r.e. wants to work with you to help shape the future of energy. Learn more at bay.wa-re.com.
Catalyst is brought to you by Sungrow. Now in more than 150 countries, Sungrow’s solutions include inverters for utility-scale, commercial, and industrial solar, plus energy storage systems. Learn more at us.sungrowpower.com.

We want your climatetech questions for Shayle’s Ask Me Anything episode! Email questions to us at catalyst@latitudemedia.com. You can also tag us on Twitter or LinkedIn with the hashtag #AskCatalyst. Or you can leave us a voicemail at 919-808-5832.
The electrification gauntlet is this: The more we electrify, the more we ask of the grid. New demands on the grid are coming right as it’s facing some of its biggest challenges, like interconnection delays, transmission congestion, and extreme weather.
But there’s a way to take some of the strain off the grid when it doesn’t deliver what you need – Build your own! Microgrids, as they’re called, are electrical networks that can function independent of the larger grid.
So how do they scale? And what counts as a microgrid, anyway?
In this episode, Shayle talks to Tim Hade, co-founder and chief development officer at Scale Microgrids. (Scale was a launch sponsor of Latitude Media, which co-produces this show. This interview is independent of that sponsorship and was scheduled prior to Scale becoming a sponsor). 
Tim and Shayle talk about the state of the microgrid market. They discuss topics like:

Why microgrid switchgear is a major bottleneck right now

Whether the Chinese supply chain for microgrid parts will bounce back, or new manufacturing will spring up in Europe and the U.S. to replace it

The effort to standardize microgrids to increase adoption


Recommended Resources:


Canary: Puerto Rico’s first community-led microgrid is ready to launch


Canary: A giant solar microgrid is coming to New York City’s JFK airport


Catalyst is a co-production of Latitude Media and Canary Media.
Catalyst is brought to you by BayWa r.e., a leading global renewable energy developer, service supplier, and distributor. With over 22GW in their project pipeline, BayWa r.e. is rethinking energy every day and at every level. Committed to being a solid partner for the long run, BayWa r.e. wants to work with you to help shape the future of energy. Learn more at bay.wa-re.com.
Catalyst is brought to you by Sungrow. Now in more than 150 countries, Sungrow’s solutions include inverters for utility-scale, commercial and industrial solar, plus energy storage systems. Learn more at us.sungrowpower.com.

Heat pumps in 140 million U.S. homes by 2050 — that’s the goal laid out in Rewiring America’s recent report on the pace of home electrification. It’s a daunting target for a country that had heat pumps in only 17 million homes in 2020.
But we’re not that far off. According to Rewiring America, the U.S. is currently on track to install about five million heat pumps by 2025, only about two and a half million short of the pace we need to reach 140 million homes by midcentury.
So what can we do to close the gap? What about other major categories of home electrification like water heaters and induction stoves — are we on pace to reach net-zero targets there?
In this episode, Shayle talks to Stephen Pantano, head of market transformation at Rewiring America, about the organization’s Pace of Progress report. They cover topics like:

The adoption targets for water heaters, induction stoves, and other efficient home appliances

The roughly $9 billion in incentives in the Inflation Reduction Act that could accelerate adoption

The need for more data to get a better understanding of where and how to speed up adoption

Why heat pumps are a growing share of a shrinking heating and cooling market, and how that’s impacting slumping heat pump sales


Recommended Resources:


Rewiring America: Pace of Progress


Canary: New plan aims to quadruple heat-pump adoption in 25 states


Canary: Heat pumps outperform boilers and furnaces — even in the cold


Catalyst: How has US industrial policy impacted climatetech investment?


Catalyst is a co-production of Latitude Media and Canary Media.
Catalyst is brought to you by BayWa r.e., a leading global renewable energy developer, service supplier, and distributor. With over 22GW in their project pipeline, BayWa r.e. is rethinking energy every day and at every level. Committed to being a solid partner for the long run, BayWa r.e. wants to work with you to help shape the future of energy. Learn more at bay.wa-re.com.
Catalyst is brought to you by Sungrow. Now in more than 150 countries, Sungrow’s solutions include inverters for utility-scale, commercial and industrial solar, plus energy storage systems. Learn more at us.sungrowpower.com.