The Interchange: Recharged Wood Mackenzie

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

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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

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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.

Insight and analysis from Day 1 of the Solar & Energy Storage Summit 2024

The 2024 Solar and Energy Storage Summit from Wood Mackenzie kicked off in San Francisco this week. David Banmiller was there to capture all the debate and discussion on the future of the solar energy sector. If you couldn’t be there in person, we’ve got you covered. David is joined by a roster of expert analysts and industry leaders to explore the key topics. It’s a packed show, with conversation around the technology, policy and financing of the solar industry. 

There’s over a terawatt of solar, and gigawatts of storage in interconnection queues around the US. If all of that was built today, we’d have all the solar and storage we need to decarbonise the grid. How are these bottlenecks being eased? Why are projects taking years to complete? Becca Jones-Albertus, from US Department of Energy, joins David first on the show to discuss it, and analyse the latest advanced solar tech. 

 Plus, what impact has the IRA had on the industry? Cassidy DeLine is CEO of Linea Energy, and she argues that there are three clear wins from the historic bill. David gets a new perspective on financing for projects from Kelsey Clair, Director at NY Green Bank, and a look at storage technology and government policy with Mike Graveley from the California Energy Commission.

 Finally, it wouldn’t be an energy podcast in 2024 without a look at the integration of AI. Kendra Williamson is Senior Principal at Key Capture Energy, and she talks with David about the nuances of storage optimisation. 

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.

Increased energy demand is inevitable. How do make sure the grid can cope?

We’ll likely need a grid twice the size it is today. And balancing supply and demand in the years ahead will require a smart approach.

Transmission capacity is one of the most important things to address as we accelerate the energy transition. Achieving net zero by 2050 will require an upgrade and expansion of the grid, in the UK and US. So how do we do it?

David Banmiller is joined by Ben Wilson, Chief Strategy and Regulation Officer at National Grid, to analyze the grid-enhancing technology and investment we need to see deployed. Together they discuss the path to a smarter, more advanced grid.

Ben highlights the need for policy support as well; streamlining permitting processes is crucial.

In this episode, find out how National Grid is planning and investing in new infrastructure, the approach to finding and investing in the latest tech, and the importance of dynamic line ratings in managing energy demand.

About National Grid

National Grid is an electricity, natural gas, and clean energy delivery company serving more than 20 million people through our networks in New York and Massachusetts. National Grid is focused on building a smarter, stronger, cleaner energy future — transforming our networks with more reliable and resilient energy solutions to meet state climate goals and reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

Catch up on the latest episodes of National Grid’s podcast, The Clean Energy Revolution, which explores the people, policies, and projects that are leading the transition to clean energy.

For more information, please visit nationalgrid.com

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Can innovative new lithium extraction methods prevent a supply chain crisis?

New lithium extraction methods are essential to meet the rising demand driven by EVs and grid storage. Traditional methods are time-consuming, geographically limited, and in some cases environmentally damaging. The concentration of lithium mines worldwide has implications for the supply chain; the fewer producers there are, the higher the likelihood of disruption. Lithium often travels tens of thousands of miles, so reducing these scope 3 emissions is critical.

Xerion is a company who are trying to address this issue. John Busbee is Founder and CEO, and he chats to David about Xerion’s development of new lithium extraction techniques.

Xerion are also developing methods to create newer, more efficient batteries with the lithium they extract. Paul Braun is the Director of the Materials Research Laboratory, and Professor of Materials Science and Engineering at the University of Illinois. He also joins the show, and says there’s no escaping lithium as a key component for EVs and batteries, so the question is how to mine it efficiently and with minimal environmental impact.

New techniques in extraction and battery production promise to reduce CAPex by two-thirds and emissions by 40%. How do they do it? Can these technologies make clean energy more accessible and affordable? David finds out. 

The Interchange will be at the annual Solar & Energy Storage Summit in San Francisco from the 12th of June. We’ll be recording some special shows from the event, with all the conversation and analysis on the solar sector in the US and beyond. Get your ticket at woodmac.com/events/solar-energy-storage-summit

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