Podcasts about alternative energy

The conflict in the Middle East has created severe disruption to shipping traffic through the Strait of Hormuz, taking roughly 20% of global supplies of liquefied natural gas (LNG) off the market. It has been a reminder that hundreds of millions of people rely on the international gas trade to heat our homes, fuel our industries and keep our lights on. And that trade is highly vulnerable to sudden shocks. In this special episode, recorded at Wood Mackenzie's Gas, LNG and the Future of Energy Conference in London, host Ed Crooks speaks with industry leaders and experts about the forces that are changing the gas business. Security of supply and affordability are now the top priorities for policymakers and business leaders around the world. But climate change has not gone away, and greenhouse gas emissions are going to be an increasingly significant issue in the future. Balancing those three imperatives is the trilemma that the energy industry has to solve.First, Ed talks to Anita Odedra, of the LNG platform MidOcean Energy, to discuss the critical role of geography. When energy supplies from the Middle East are disrupted, assets elsewhere in the world take on a greater importance. Joining Anita is Dr Valentina Kretzschmar, of Wood Mackenzie, who puts the shock from the Iran war into the context of a decelerating energy transition in the West. She walks through the EU Methane Emissions Regulation and why it is so hard to work out exactly how much escaped methane is associated with a cargo of imported LNG. And she talks about how the real threat to fossil fuels is cheap Chinese clean energy technology. Arturo Gallego, of Centrica Energy, is another industry leader who is attempting to balance consumers' immediate demands for reliable, affordable energy with long-term climate goals. He warns that if the Strait of Hormuz stays closed, Europe will struggle to find the gas it needs next winter, and high prices may be necessary to destroy demand. He makes the case for LNG as a transition fuel and for tackling greenhouse gas emissions step by step.TJ Conway, of the think-tank RMI, closes on a practical note. His work has focused on the technical solutions that make the EU methane regulation workable. He argues that his proposed framework could allow the EU to continue importing US gas, while still sending a signal that methane performance matters.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Gas prices are up, but what happens when gas supply is critically limited? In this next interview we get some insight from the gas crisis of the 1970s from Dr. David Borton. He remembers that time, and it influenced his directions towards solar energy. He spoke with Sina Basila Hickey.

The energy transition conversation focuses on what connects to the grid. Far less attention goes to whether anyone is coordinating what those assets do once connected. AI training runs swing hundreds of megawatts in seconds as GPUs checkpoint and restart a profile that looks like a generator tripping offline. At distribution level, millions of inverter-based resources create localised variability that overwhelms individual circuits even when aggregate models look healthy. The planning tools in use today were designed for neither problem.Host Bridget van Dorsten is joined by Kay Aikin, CEO and Founder of Dynamic Grid, energy engineer, grid architecture advisor to the DOE-supported GridWise Architecture Council, and contributor to the UN Environmental Program's building decarbonisation work. Kay unpacks what an AI training facility actually does to the grid with full GPU load for hours or days, then a drop to ten percent in seconds during checkpointing. She talks about how at the scale now planned, the Stargate project in Texas alone could represent ten percent of ERCOT disappearing in four seconds. The behaviour is stochastic and cannot be modelled with traditional statistical tools. At distribution level, virtual power plants responding to wholesale signals without circuit-level visibility can create competing oscillations, the kind of emergent dynamics that contributed to the Spanish grid failure.The proposed fix is an AI controller at the substation, sending price-based signals and flexible operating envelopes to large assets and VPP operators, giving them twenty-four-hour forecasts and real-time circuit visibility. Total cost: under a hundred thousand dollars installed. The reason it isn't everywhere is cost-of-service regulation. Utilities earn returns on deployed capital, so a million-dollar transformer replacement is more profitable than software that eliminates the need for it.Without new approaches, rebuilding the US distribution grid could cost up to ten trillion dollars by 2040. Kay is developing grid utilisation metrics with regulators in Maine, Virginia, and Maryland to incentivise extracting more from existing infrastructure. The episode closes on the need for distribution system operators and the affordability death spiral that looms if the structural incentives don't shift. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

The price of oil has gone up significantly since late February, when the US invaded Iran. And when oil prices see a crazy rise, it makes other sources of energy look more attractive. But we've been here before - back in the 1970s, oil prices skyrocketed, and people started to turn to alternative or renewable energy sources. But, for a few reasons, it didn't stick. Marketplace's Stephanie Hughes explores why.

The price of oil has gone up significantly since late February, when the US invaded Iran. And when oil prices see a crazy rise, it makes other sources of energy look more attractive. But we've been here before - back in the 1970s, oil prices skyrocketed, and people started to turn to alternative or renewable energy sources. But, for a few reasons, it didn't stick. Marketplace's Stephanie Hughes explores why.

America is facing an energy supply crisis created by surging demand for electricity from data centres. A transition to a lower-carbon system requires massive investment in new clean energy infrastructure. But legal and regulatory structures mean that developing projects in the US is often an uncertain, drawn-out and expensive process.To take just one example, new transmission infrastructure is vital for connecting renewable generation to concentrations of electricity demand. But the last time the US added more than 1,000 miles of high-voltage transmission lines in a year was 2016.In this episode, host Ed Crooks is joined by Representative Scott Peters to discuss what Congress can do to help fix that. Scott is a Democratic member of the House of Representatives and a co-sponsor of the bipartisan CERTAIN Act, a new bill that attempts to take some of the risk and unpredictability out of the legal procedures for project development.Along with regular contributor Melissa Lott, Partner for Energy Technologies at Microsoft, they discuss whether reform of the permitting system can really help expedite investment in new energy projects. And they assess how likely it is that Congress will be able to make a deal and get a more streamlined system passed into law. The conversation starts with NEPA, the National Environmental Policy Act. Passed in 1970, it is the bedrock for environmental permitting for infrastructure projects. It is also the most litigated environmental statute in the US. A major project can take four years to prepare an environmental impact statement, with another four years of litigation to follow. As Scott points out, when NEPA was written there were few other environmental protections. Now there are dozens, yet the review process has only grown more burdensome.Melissa frames the core tension: NEPA was designed to inform decisions, not make them. But open-ended review processes have effectively become the decision, determining which projects live or die.Scott explains the current state of the legislative landscape. There are three key elements of a potential bipartisan agreement on reform. The CERTAIN act sets regular permitting milestones and protects issued permits from arbitrary revocation. The SPEED Act, which has already passed in the House, limits the need for environmental reviews, shortens timetables, and restricts the scope for subsequent challenges in the courts. And there are moves for new legislation specifically to support development of electricity transmission. A final deal in Congress is likely to include all three elements. Melissa discusses whether federal reform alone can transform the pace of delivery. Ed raises the question of whether the legal rights and political authorities enshrined in the US system mean that infrastructure development must always be a costly and protracted business. He cites Wood Mackenzie data showing US solar costs are more than double those in China. Scott counters with Texas, where a free-market approach has driven rapid renewable deployment, not because of climate concerns but because the market demanded it.The politics of permitting reform have shifted. Republicans wanted to limit the federal government's ability to block oil and gas projects. Now many Democrats support curbs on the executive's power to obstruct renewable energy development. The issue has risen up the political agenda after the Trump administration moved to block offshore wind projects already under construction, and delayed permits for onshore wind.Scott closes by arguing that this is the best opportunity for lasting permitting reform that he has seen in his 14 years in Congress. This episode is sponsored by Bechtel.Nuclear is back — and Bechtel is helping build what comes next. For more than 70 years, Bechtel has helped shape the nuclear industry, from work on the world's first commercial nuclear reactor to designing, constructing, and servicing more than 150 nuclear plants worldwide. Bechtel has helped bring more than 76,000 megawatts of nuclear power online globally. Today, Bechtel is helping deliver the next generation of nuclear energy — from large-scale plants to small modular and advanced reactors — using the company's decades of mega-project delivery experience to bring new nuclear online safely, reliably, and at scale. Learn more at bechtel.com/nuclear See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

The era of stagnant electricity demand in the US is over. Data centres, electrification, and reshoring of manufacturing are driving a surge in demand that is stronger that anything that anyone currently working in the industry has yet seen in their professional lifetimes. The question of which market and regulatory structures are needed to respond to this new and fast-changing world is now at the centre of the policy debate.Host Ed Crooks is joined by Drew Maloney, President and CEO of the Edison Electric Institute, the trade body representing America's investor-owned utilities, which together serve more than 70 per cent of the US population. Drew argues that the current moment is exposing a fundamental divide in the US power system: vertically integrated, regulated utilities can plan generation, transmission, and distribution over 20-year horizons, while competitive markets like PJM are struggling to send the investment signals needed to get new power plants built.The conversation starts with one of the hottest topics in US politics: affordability and household electricity bills. There are some misconceptions about electricity bills that have gained traction with the American public. Drew points to EEI research showing that 34 states have kept increases in electricity rates below general consumer price inflation over the past five years. And he adds that the states where prices are rising fastest tend to be in deregulated markets, where capacity costs are climbing but no new generation is being built.Ed draws on the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory's 2025 study of electricity bills and data centres (You can read that study here.). That study found that demand growth alone did not explain rising bills, and that the drivers vary significantly by region, from wildfire mitigation costs in California to capacity market dynamics in PJM and New England.They move on to another hot topic in the industry today: whether data centres and other large loads should go “off grid” and rely entirely on local on-site generation. Drew pushes back against the narrative that this model is now becoming widespread, arguing there is more talk than action. Building duplicative generation to create “five nines” reliability for a data centre is expensive, and can still be unreliable without grid backup. It also pulls investment and workforce away from the shared infrastructure that benefits all customers. Most data centres want grid access, even if some are pursuing hybrid approaches in the interim until their hook-ups to the network can be connected.The episode also covers FERC Chairman Laura Swett's emerging approach to market intervention, the prospects for bipartisan permitting reform in Congress, and the ratepayer protection plan brokered between the White House and the major hyperscalers. Drew closes with an optimistic long view: the current moment, though it needs careful management, could be an opportunity to transform the US grid for the better.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

As coal and gas plants retire, the energy transition conversation focuses on replacing their generation capacity. What gets far less attention is the loss of the physical properties those machines provided for free: inertia that stabilises frequency, fault current that supports voltage during disturbances, and reactive power that regulates voltage across the network. These services come from the physics of enormous spinning rotors synchronised to the grid, responding instantaneously, without sensors, software or control loops. As inverter-based resources replace them, that mechanical immune system disappears, and a new, extreme stress test is arriving at the same time in the form of AI data centres whose loads can swing by hundreds of megawatts in a fraction of a second.Host Bridget van Dorsten is joined by Kristina Carlquist, General Manager of Synchronous Condensers at ABB, and Christian Payerl, Sales Manager of Synchronous Condensers at ABB, to unpack why a technology that has existed for as long as the grid itself is now experiencing a revival.Christian explains the three ancillary services the grid is losing, inertia, short-circuit current and reactive power, and why inverter-based generation does not replace them. Grid-forming batteries can be programmed to simulate inertia, but each charge-discharge cycle degrades lifetime, overload capacity is limited to microseconds, and the models needed for accurate grid simulation are often tied up in manufacturer IP. Synchronous condensers respond on physics alone, in both directions, with no degradation and no modelling uncertainty. The recent blackout in Spain illustrates what happens when that gap is left unfilled.Kristina walks through the commercial traction. ABB's partnership with VoltaGrid on isolated data center microgrids has grown from an unexpected inbound enquiry in late 2024 to dozens of synchronous condensers delivered. On the grid-connected side, the Faroe Islands have deployed four units with a fifth on the way as part of their push toward 100% renewables, already achieving multi-day periods of fully renewable operation. ABB is also working with Korea's Jeju Island on its first flywheel-equipped deployment. The demand pattern is widening: islands integrating renewables, TSOs managing weak grid regions, mines electrifying operations, and now data centre developers who had never considered grid stability equipment before.The episode closes on regulation and standards. Christian, who participates in international standards work through CIGRE, notes that there is still no international standard for flywheel safety and that the treatment of inertia as a paid service varies dramatically by country. While inertia is compensated as a paid service in the UK, in Sweden it is treated as free – rotating machines providing it receive no income stream for doing so. As data center load grows faster than regulation can respond, both guests argue that the answer is not one technology but a combination, provided the industry, utilities and policymakers can align on what the grid actually needs to remain stable.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Stay informed on current events, visit www.NaturalNews.com  - Fossil Water Depletion and Its Impact on Central Texas (0:11) - Ogallala Aquifer and Its Significance (2:41) - Water Usage Statistics and Depletion Rates (6:27) - Impact on Agriculture and Future Projections (9:13) - Data Centers and Increased Water Demand (13:04) - Challenges in Water Management and Future Scenarios (17:37) - Environmental and Economic Implications (47:58) - Alternative Energy and Water Solutions (48:17) - Data Centers and Advanced Technologies (48:38) - Conclusion and Future Outlook (1:17:26) - Anti-Human Agenda and Energy Crisis (1:17:41) - Social Engineering and AI Manipulation (1:29:06) - Data Centers and Environmental Impact (1:30:41) - Simulation Theory and AI Superintelligence (1:33:15) - Global Famine and Energy Crisis (1:37:32) - AI Control and Human Extermination (1:42:00) - Technological Weaponization and Surveillance (1:48:33) - Food Supply and Economic Impact (1:53:17) - AI Automation and Job Displacement (2:18:40) - Preparedness and Future Outlook (2:26:04) Watch more independent videos at http://www.brighteon.com/channel/hrreport  ▶️ Support our mission by shopping at the Health Ranger Store - https://www.healthrangerstore.com ▶️ Check out exclusive deals and special offers at https://rangerdeals.com ▶️ Sign up for our newsletter to stay informed: https://www.naturalnews.com/Readerregistration.html Watch more exclusive videos here:

The war with Iran has put a spotlight on the security and resilience of energy and supply chains around the world. In this second special episode from the ACORE Finance Forum in New York, host Ed Crooks explores what that means for the US power industry, at a moment when rising electricity demand was already putting the grid under strain.Lori Ann LaRocco, a trade and supply chain expert and author of Trade War: Containers Don't Lie, explains the global impacts from the closure of the Strait of Hormuz. She tells us that there are 70,000 products made from petrochemicals, including the components that go into solar panels, the chips for data centers, and your cell phone. Supplies of those products are being crunched because of the disruption to exports from the Gulf. Some are already in short supply. Even if the strait reopened tomorrow, the physical realities of repositioning tankers, clearing mines and restoring export infrastructure would mean supply chains would take at least a year to normalise. Her advice: know your supply chain not just to the first tier, but to the fifth, sixth and seventh.José Antonio Miranda, chief executive of Avangrid, talks about the opportunities and challenges created by rising electricity demand. He says investment needs to start now and keep going. His one word advice for policymakers: certainty. Investors have the capital and the expertise to deliver the new grid and generation capacity that policymakers want, he says. What the private sector cannot work with is retroactive rule changes and unpredictable permitting outcomes.Harry Krejsa, director of studies at the Carnegie Mellon Institute for Strategy and Technology, is a former official in both the Trump and Biden administrations who is focused on the relationship between energy and national security. He argues that worries about depending on China for clean energy technology often conflate two issues: cybersecurity risk, and supply chain dependency. His principle is guard the smart stuff, buy the dumb stuff, and build the future.Kara McNutt, Wood Mackenzie's head of power and renewables consulting for the Americas, shares her concerns about grid reliability. The share of dispatchable generation on the US grid is declining as coal-fired power plants shut down and new wind and solar capacity is added. Nuclear is genuinely exciting, with the global SMR pipeline nearly doubling in the past year, but it is a 2030s story rather than a solution for today.Benoy Thanjan, founder of Reneu Energy and host of the Solar Maverick podcast, is a solar developer. He is seeing surging interest in behind-the-meter storage, driven in part by concerns about energy security and resilience brought to the surface by the Iran war. The FEOC (Foreign Entities of Concern) rules, intended to stop unfriendly countries benefiting from US tax credits, remain a real point of friction. Customers want US-manufactured equipment, but the price gap between compliant and non-compliant products is still very large.Ray Long, president and chief executive of ACORE, closes by sharing his key takeaways from the forum. He says three things need to change to remove obstacles to investment: federal permitting reform, clear FEOC guidance from the Treasury, and faster approvals from the Departments of Interior, War and Energy for new projects. Follow the show wherever you're listening so you don't miss an episode. Let us know what you think. We're on X, at @theenergygang.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

The numbers are staggering. The “magnificent seven” Big Tech companies are expected to have combined capital spending of about $800 billion this year. Data centres' electricity demand is soaring, and hundreds of billions of dollars more are being mobilised to invest in power infrastructure to meet that demand. In this special episode, recorded at the ACORE Finance Forum in New York, host Ed Crooks speaks with five guests at the heart of the revolution in energy finance: bankers, a deal lawyer, a data centre operator and a head of policy. James Wright, Managing Director and Head of US Corporate Banking at CIBC Capital Markets, explains the connection between power, data centres and AI with an analogy borrowed from Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang. Think of AI as a layer cake, with power as the base, data centre infrastructure above it, then hardware, then AI models, and the applications as the icing on top. For banks like CIBC, it is those bottom two layers that matter most. James explains how power developers and data centre builders are increasingly converging. Gas, solar and battery storage are driving the bulk of activity in new power generation, though gas turbine supply chains remain severely stretched. “Powered land” projects, created as sites to attract data centre developers, are a popular idea at the moment. But many of them are highly speculative. James estimates that for every twenty conversations, perhaps a couple result in a financeable transaction. Another hot topic is of behind-the-meter generation and co-located power. James sees it happening, but only at the margin. Grid connections are still the ultimate goal.  Adam Altenhofen, Senior Vice President for Impact Finance at US Bank, brings a different perspective on energy finance. US Bank has deployed more than $33 billion in renewable energy since 2008, primarily through the tax credit programmes for solar, wind and battery storage. The wind and solar tax credits are winding down, but projects that start construction before 4 July this year can still be placed in service through to the end of 2030. The storage tax credit was preserved through to 2036. Behind-the-meter generation, Adam argues, presents a fundamental challenge to the project finance model. If the load disappears, so does the revenue. And unlike for a grid-connected project, there will be no readily available alternative revenue streams to fall back on. Guarantees covering the full duration of the power supply contract are the floor, not the ceiling, for what lenders would need to get comfortable, Adam says.  Mona Dajani, Global Co-Chair of Infrastructure, Energy and Real Estate at the law firm Cooley, sees something structural changing. Hyperscalers are now behaving like utilities, she says. They assess data centre locations based on access to power, reliability and duration of supply. Meanwhile, some utilities are becoming more like infrastructure platforms, building unregulated arms and investing in new technologies to serve growing demand. A cultural gulf used to separate the tech and energy industries. But as they have come to understand their mutual interdependence over the past few years, more constructive collaborations have emerged. Jon Edwards, Executive Vice President and Head of Capital Markets at the data centre developer Switch, offers the operator's perspective. Switch currently consumes roughly one third of Nevada's total power supply and operates at 100% green power. Jon explains how the company decoupled from the utility grid for generation purposes back in 2015, buying its own generation while still using the utility for transmission and distribution, and how that model helped reduce Nevada consumer electricity prices by double digits in 2025. He is another sceptic about behind-the-meter power: it is useful as a bridge in some circumstances, but grid-connected utility power remains the primary and preferred solution for serious, long-duration data centre operations. On the financing side, Jon discusses Switch's recent $2.6 billion letter of credit facility, designed to give utilities the financial certainty they need to invest in new infrastructure, knowing they can be confident the data centre load will be there.  The episode closes with Lesley Hunter, Senior Vice President for Policy at ACORE, who sets the policy backdrop against which all of this activity is playing out. ACORE's latest investor survey makes for sobering reading: 69% of capital providers who replied to the survey said they thought the US industry had in the past year lost attractiveness compared to clean energy sectors in other countries. The same proportion, 69%, expect a further relative decline over the next three years. Lesley identifies two main pain points: the still-unresolved foreign entity of concern rules (FEOC) for tax credit eligibility, and the Department of Defense slow-walking agreements needed for wind development that has held up more than 160 projects. Her message for policy-makers is that regulatory stability is vital. “The core ask of the industry right now is to ensure that players have the rules of the road,” she says. “That those rules won't change mid-stream, and they are able to deploy capital, and trust the federal government when making these long-term investments in US infrastructure.”  Follow the show wherever you're listening so you don't miss an episode. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Ten weeks into the war with Iran, the Strait of Hormuz remains largely closed. The ceasefire is officially holding, but occasional attacks on ships and installations continue. A difficult question is coming into focus: what if the strait never fully reopens?Host Ed Crooks is joined by regular contributor Amy Myers Jaffe, Director of the Global Energy, Climate, and Sustainability Lab at NYU, alongside two guests. Edward (Eddie) Fishman is a Senior Fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations and author of Choke Points, a history of economic warfare. Christopher Aversano is Wood Mackenzie's Director of Maritime Partnerships, returning to give the view from the shipping industry.Chris reports that the number of ships passing through the Strait of Hormuz had risen from around 10 a day at the low point to roughly 25 a day, but then dropped off again as tensions escalated and the threat of renewed fighting rose. Even at their best, the number of transits has been just a fraction of the 150-170 a day that was normal before the war began at the end of February.Some ships are still making it through the strait. Some LNG carriers have “gone dark”, shutting off their transponders, later reappearing weeks later on the other side of the world. Ship owners are pragmatic, Chris says, and high commodity prices create a strong financial incentive for tankers to pass through the strait when they can. But questions of insurance, crew safety, and freedom of navigation through the strait remain unresolved.Eddie says the US decision on what to do next is like a choice between two doors . Door one would be a negotiated deal that leaves Iran as gatekeeper of the Strait of Hormuz. Door two would be full-scale military intervention, which seems politically impossible. With neither option palatable, the result is drift. His base case is that Iran retains permanent control. A toll of $2 million per ship passing through the strait could generate $30-100 billion a year for Tehran, potentially exceeding its oil export earnings. The drones needed to enforce the closure can cost as little as $20,000 each.Amy argues the full impact of closing the strait has not yet hit. Emergency releases of oil from reserves, shadow cargoes from sanction ed countries that were already on the water, and seasonal refinery maintenance have all cushioned the blow. The real test comes in the weeks ahead, as those buffers run out. Ed argues that if the strait stays closed for six more months, oil at $150-$200 a barrel may be needed to balance the market, with a global recession as the likely consequence.The conversation broadens into the geopolitics of the dollar. Eddie explains why the US currency remains the backbone of global trade, involved in 90 per cent of all foreign exchange transactions, and why that gives the US government powerful strategic leverage. Amy suggests that China may see US entanglement in the strait as strategically useful, draining American resources without it lifting a finger.The episode closes with a warning. Eddie argues the weaponisation of American economic power against allies as well as adversaries risks fragmenting the global trading system further, with potentially disastrous consequences. History shows that when states cannot secure resources through open exchange, they tend to be tempted into conquest.‘Chokepoints : American Power in the Age of Economic Warfare' by Edward Fishman, published by Penguin, is available from bookstores now. This episode is sponsored by Bechtel. Nuclear is back — and Bechtel is helping build what comes next.For more than 70 years, Bechtel has helped shape the nuclear industry, from work on the world's first commercial nuclear reactor to designing, constructing, and servicing more than 150 nuclear plants worldwide. Bechtel has helped bring more than 76,000 megawatts of nuclear power online globally. Today, Bechtel is helping deliver the next generation of nuclear energy — from large-scale plants to small modular and advanced reactors — using the company's decades of mega-project delivery experience to bring new nuclear online safely, reliably, and at scale.Learn more at bechtel.com/nuclear See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In this episode of The SAF Podcast, Oscar is joined by Shubhda Kaushik, managing director & chief executive officer, Alternative Energy Company, to explore what it really takes to move sustainable aviation fuel projects from ambition to final investment decision. Drawing on experience at Standard Chartered, Bain and McKinsey and Maersk, giving her a rounded perspective across finance, strategy and commercial practicality. Shubhda explains why capital for energy transition projects is not scarce, but selective — and why bankability must be built in from day zero.The conversation also dives into Shubhda's new book, The Decisive Decade - 2026 Volume I: A Practitioner's Manual - What will it take to win on bankability in the next phase of energy transition.We explore the core bankability framework behind it: revenue certainty, infrastructure access, execution capability and risk allocation. This is just volume I, so if you enjoyed this stay tuned for volume II for a check in on the energy transition's progress.This is a practical discussion for SAF producers, airlines, investors, lenders and anyone trying to understand why so many projects look promising on paper but struggle to reach financial close.This episode gives you a great introduction to what is explain at length in the book, which you can find here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Decisive-Decade-Practitioners-bankability-transition/dp/B0GZHQR25T/ref=sr_1_1?crid=3MEKZBXCEA3ZB&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.ikEBk10suF88vWdw1KH_CcBNnz9j6PniHNHHDWsie_fENicXTm3b2WClyMPMQ4pLvgKL6EJah0NMTppyB8GMRvqW_nJ3SG99vgYueNEUz1I.rZjcjiPvwirmc57l23MD1XG5HYaUI2osS2EXQErFT6I&dib_tag=se&keywords=the+decisive+decade&qid=1778142508&sprefix=the+decisive+decad%2Caps%2C293&sr=8-1

Utilities are under pressure to deliver generation that is dispatchable, affordable, and clean enough to satisfy increasingly stringent environmental rules, notoriously hard to do in one asset. As renewables grow, the gas turbines and engines that have historically filled the gap come with a NOx problem, a CO2 problem, or both. Hydrogen offers a path through, but the supply isn't there yet. So what do you build today?Host Bridget van Dorsten is joined by Shannon Miller, CEO of Mainspring Energy, and Will Hazelip of National Grid Ventures, to dig into a technology most listeners haven't heard of and the first commercial hydrogen-powered deployment of it. Mainspring's 250-kilowatt linear generator is being installed at National Grid's 1,500 MW North Port facility on Long Island, in partnership with NYSERDA, the Long Island Power Authority, and Stony Brook University.Shannon explains how Mainspring redesigned the generator using the power electronics that drive solar inverters, batteries and EVs, replacing mechanical systems with software, eliminating the flame, and operating at temperatures low enough to take NOx out of the equation. An adaptive pressure cycle, software-controlled in real time, runs the same hardware on hydrogen, compressed natural gas, biogas, propane or blends, with no hardware change. The 250 kW form factor matters too: efficiency holds across the full load range, fleet redundancy replaces single-asset reliability risk, and deployment is a concrete pad plus electrical and fuel hookups rather than a multi-year build.Will frames the project against the regulatory backdrop. Long Island sits in a non-attainment zone for NOx, and New York's path to a carbon-free grid requires what the state calls a dispatchable emissions-free resource. The unit will run for 12 months on green hydrogen and on compressed natural gas, with Stony Brook measuring emissions and efficiency, NYSERDA watching for regulatory design, and National Grid building operational experience for the rest of its ageing fleet.The economic case rests on the alternative. New-build hydrogen-capable gas turbines run $3,500–$4,000/kW on capex (per Wood Mackenzie), with delivered power costs reaching $300–$900/MWh once hydrogen is layered in. Shannon's point is that committing to a single-fuel turbine only pays off if the fuel actually arrives at the scale and price you assumed. With hydrogen supply uncertain, that's a stranded-asset risk linear generators avoid by running on whatever fuel is available today. Will adds the carbon-market angle saying that as carbon pricing develops, real-time fuel switching becomes an optimisation lever, not just a hedge.Then there's the supply reality. Total US hydrogen production today isn't enough to fuel a single 500 MW power plant, and with 45V tax credit requirements tightening and federal climate policy in flux, the gap between hydrogen ambition and supply isn't closing fast. Will's suggests starting with the fuels that exist today and scale into hydrogen as supply grows.The episode closes on demand. Mainspring's factory produces 325 MW a year today and can roughly double in 12–15 months, with pull from industrial customers, data centres and AI infrastructure, and utilities at once, driven by the same problem: nobody can get power fast enough.This episode is sponsored by GridBeyond. Energy asset owners face a critical challenge: how to optimize performance and drive new revenue in competitive, fast-moving markets. GridBeyond solves this through AI-powered forecasting, energy trading and optimization. GridBeyond's platform delivers: Precision forecasting to anticipate market opportunities Intelligent market access across multiple revenue streams Real-time control that responds instantly to market conditions Optimization that combines AI insights with expert oversight Whether you're managing batteries, gas peakers, hybrid sites, or complex multi-asset portfolios, GridBeyond helps you turn assets into high-performance revenue machines. The proven platform has helped businesses across the energy sector maximize returns and accelerate their energy transition. Want to learn more? Visit go.gridbeyond.com/recharged https://go.gridbeyond.com/recharged See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

The past year has been challenging for electric vehicles. In the first quarter of 2026, US EV sales were about 27 per cent below their level in the first quarter of last year. But the ride-hailing industry still sees a future that is electric, autonomous, and shared, and is placing a multi-billion dollar bet on it. Ride-hailing services such as Uber could be one of the key sectors supporting the electrification of road transport in the years to come.In this episode, host Ed Crooks is joined by Amy Myers Jaffe, director of NYU's Energy, Climate Justice and Sustainability Lab, and two guests from Uber. Andrew Cornelia is the company's global head of electrification and sustainability, and Samarth Kedrawal is its global head of fleet and autonomous vehicles. Andrew and Samarth make the case for why the shift away from the internal combustion engine as the dominant technology for road transport is a question of when, not if. And the fuel price shock resulting from the conflict in the Middle East may be shortening the timeline.Uber's EV strategy is about more than just going green, Andrew says. In markets where the economics work, including London, Paris, and São Paulo, EV drivers are earning more and spending less, and riders are consistently rating the electric experience among the best of Uber's services. Charging remains the biggest barrier, partly because the infrastructure has been chronically underbuilt. Finding a free public charger can be a problem, especially for the drivers who need them most because they live in urban centres without access to home charging. It can also be expensive: public charging can account for up to 40% of the total cost of ownership of an EV.Uber is now signing agreements with charging network operators to underwrite new infrastructure in exchange for preferential pricing for its drivers. The company is also helping drivers spread the upfront cost of home charger installation, and reports that the switch is saving some drivers close to $8,000 a year.Autonomous vehicles (Avs) are even more capital-intensive. Samarth describes an AV operation that in power demand terms looks like a series of small data centres: sites drawing three to eight megawatts, using tightly sequenced charging algorithms to maximise utilisation.Like hyperscalers waiting on grid connections for their data centres, Uber is in some markets using gas to provide a temporary power supply, bridging the gap while it waits for the utility to wire it up. The utilities have been willing partners, Samarth says, but the demand for charging infrastructure is significant. The conversations are becoming more complex, as EV charging lines up alongside data centres to queue for connections to the same distribution networks.The conversation also opens up a longer-term question: could a large enough fleet of parked autonomous vehicles one day act as a virtual power plant, selling stored energy back to the grid during peak demand? The answer is yes, eventually. But the immediate priority is more basic: making sure there are enough chargers available so the cars can actually turn a profit today.The episode closes with a discussion of Chinese EVs and what trade barriers are really costing consumers. Andrew says that EV adoption among Uber drivers is moving fastest in markets where low-cost Chinese vehicles are available. Latin America, Brazil in particular, is the next major frontier. In the US, the lack of those low-cost EVs is a barrier to making the economics work for Uber drivers.Both guests believe the industry will be bigger, the cost per mile lower, and the share of electric miles far higher. The direction is not in doubt, they say. The question is how fast the infrastructure, the policy environment, and the economics can move to meet it.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

What if clean, abundant energy is not just a future goal—but something that has been explored, discovered, or even overlooked in the past? In this intriguing and forward-thinking episode, Patrick J. Sullivan explores Free Energy: Here, Now, and Then, examining ideas around alternative energy, innovation, and the possibility of untapped power sources. Drawing from historical references, emerging concepts, and speculative technologies, Patrick discusses how the pursuit of free or low-cost energy has captured the imagination of inventors and researchers for generations. He explores the challenges of bringing unconventional energy ideas into the mainstream, as well as the debates surrounding feasibility, practicality, and acceptance. This episode invites listeners to think beyond current systems. Are there energy solutions that remain unexplored or underdeveloped? What barriers exist to innovation in this space? And how might breakthroughs in energy reshape the way we live, work, and interact with the world? Join us for a thought-provoking conversation that looks at the possibilities of energy beyond conventional limits—where curiosity meets innovation, and where the future of power may be more dynamic than we imagine.Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-x-zone-radio-tv-show--1078348/support.Please note that all XZBN radio and/or television shows are Copyright © REL-MAR McConnell Meda Company, Niagara, Ontario, Canada – www.rel-mar.com. For more Episodes of this show and all shows produced, broadcasted and syndicated from REL-MAR McConell Media Company and The 'X' Zone Broadcast Network and the 'X' Zone TV Channell, visit www.xzbn.net. For programming, distribution, and syndication inquiries, email programming@xzbn.net.We are proud to announce the we have launched TWATNews.com, launched in August 2025.TWATNews.com is an independent online news platform dedicated to uncovering the truth about Donald Trump and his ongoing influence in politics, business, and society. Unlike mainstream outlets that often sanitize, soften, or ignore stories that challenge Trump and his allies, TWATNews digs deeper to deliver hard-hitting articles, investigative features, and sharp commentary that mainstream media won't touch.These are stories and articles that you will not read anywhere else.Our mission is simple: to expose corruption, lies, and authoritarian tendencies while giving voice to the perspectives and evidence that are often marginalized or buried by corporate-controlled media

Empty gigawatt factories, product recalls, participation rates that never materialised, and a policy environment that has now stripped the green premium entirely. The electrolyzer industry has had a brutal few years and most of the companies that raised hundreds of millions on the back of the hydrogen hype cycle are now sitting with fixed costs they cannot sustain and field deployments they are not proud of. Host Bridget van Dorsten speaks with Raveel Afzaal, CEO of Next Hydrogen, one of the few electrolyzer manufacturers that chose to watch from the sidelines while competitors scaled into the storm. Raveel describes the decision in blunt terms: in 2021, when cost of capital went to near zero and capital discipline evaporated, Next Hydrogen looked at the macro signals; rising inflation, rising interest rates, a market telling them their Hyundai partnership was worth a 5% share price drop, and chose to extend their runway from 18 months to five years. That meant hard capital allocation decisions, and the answer was to invest in the product, not the factory. The conversation goes deep into a problem that rarely gets discussed publicly: the commercialisation valley of death. Getting to a working prototype is celebrated, but the productisation phase, technology readiness levels five through seven, is where the funding gap is most severe and the cost shock is greatest. Costs typically rise three to five times from prototype stage, revenues do not yet exist, and neither government programmes nor conventional investors are structured to bridge it. Raveel explains why so many companies that made it to prototype stage never made it to commercial deployment and what surviving that valley actually required. Raveel also pushes back on a common framing around Chinese versus Western electrolyzers. His argument is that the quality question is not a national origin question , it is a materials question. What membranes, what bipolar plates, what catalyst, what functional safety architecture? Next Hydrogen's own answer to those questions is unusual: replacing nickel bipolar plates with large injection-moulded specialty engineered plastics, eliminating corrosion risk entirely and reducing cost through higher material utilisation rather than lower-grade materials. The company holds 40 patents on a cell architecture designed from the outset for direct connection to variable renewables, a design decision made in 2008, when the rest of the industry was still building for baseload. The episode closes on what the next two to three years look like for electrolyzer manufacturers. Raveel's view is that consolidation is coming, but many companies won't survive long enough to be part of it, their fixed costs are too high and their runway too short. The companies that survive will be those with variable cost models, disciplined project selection, and a genuine answer to three questions: Can you access excess electrons? Can you deliver containerised, plug-and-play solutions that control total installed cost? Can you reliably handle the intermittent operations that direct renewable connection demands? Next Hydrogen is betting the answer starts with getting the cell design right first. Today's episode is sponsored by GridBeyond. Energy asset owners face a critical challenge: how to optimize performance and drive new revenue in competitive, fast-moving markets. GridBeyond solves this through AI-powered forecasting, energy trading and optimization. GridBeyond's platform delivers: Precision forecasting to anticipate market opportunities Intelligent market access across multiple revenue streams Real-time control that responds instantly to market conditions Optimization that combines AI insights with expert oversight Whether you're managing batteries, gas peakers, hybrid sites, or complex multi-asset portfolios, GridBeyond helps you turn assets into high-performance revenue machines. The proven platform has helped businesses across the energy sector maximize returns and accelerate their energy transition. Want to learn more? Visit go.gridbeyond.com/recharged https://go.gridbeyond.com/recharged See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

When the workings of an electricity market come to the attention of the White House, it's usually a sign that something's wrong. Back in January, 13 state governors went to the White House to agree plans for PJM, the largest electricity market in the US. The market is scrambling to find more energy supply to keep up with the boom in data centers, while holding down ratepayers' bills. Managing the PJM grid is one of the toughest jobs in the US power industry. And these days it is being carried out in the full glare of political and public scrutiny.If you want to understand the pressures bearing down on the US electricity, PJM is the place to look. It is the largest grid in the country, serving 67 million people across 13 states and the District of Columbia. And it is some of the world's most intense hotspots for new data center development, including the famous “data center alley” of northern Virginia, which takes roughly 90% of the country's internet traffic . When things get complicated for PJM, they get complicated for everyone.On this episode, host Ed Crooks is joined by Asim Haque, Senior Vice President for Governmental and Member Services at PJM, and by regular guest Amy Myers Jaffe, Director of the Energy, Climate Justice and Sustainability Lab at New York University. Together, they unpack how PJM got itself noticed by the White House, and how its problems can be tackled.Asim explains the organization he works for. PJM is a nonprofit that operates the grid, runs the electricity market, and plans the transmission system. It is regulated by FERC, but also accountable to a thousand-plus members across 13 states, each with its own energy policies, its own governor, and its own politics. That structural complexity is central to why running PJM is so challenging.Those problems converged from two directions: decarbonization and data centers. The result has been soaring prices in the PJM capacity market. And when those prices were capped, the alarms about a future reliability crisis started flashing red.The White House responded by convening all 13 governors of the states covered by PJM, and produced a statement of principles for bringing new generation capacity into the market. As Asim explains, these principles lie behind the plan for a backstop reliability procurement, designed as a one-time mechanism to bring new electricity supply onto the system quickly.There is also an expectation that data centres will bring their own generation; and a "connect and manage" framework for those that don't. The key feature of that: data centers can have their supply curtailed before residential customers lose power. The White House and the governors agreed that the bill for grid and generation improvements to meet rising demand should be paid by the data centers. It sounds straightforward, but is it really? Asim explains his perspective.The episode also examines the deeper design questions about PJM's capacity market: whether a three-year forward procurement window can send the right signals for the long-term investment the grid now needs. Amy brings the consumer and policy lens throughout. Are the complexities of cost allocation and market design inherent to the electricity system, or are they manufactured and even sometimes exaggerated? And can they sometimes militate against lower-cost solutions such as renewables and batteries?Asim ends by offering some advice for other grid operators. If you are not going to gate demand, you need a connect-and-manage approach; if you are not going to gate demand, it will get expensive; and if it is going to get expensive, you need to decide who pays. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Millions of enrolled devices, 60 utilities, and the participation rate gap that's been embarrassing the US market for a decade. US residential virtual power plants have been a promising idea that's consistently underdelivered — participation rates below 5%, fragmented apps, siloed programmes, and utilities that have simply never had to compete for a customer's attention. Meanwhile, Octopus Energy has built the world's largest residential VPP in the UK, with EV driver participation rates of 50 to 70%. The question has always been whether that model can travel to a market where most customers have no supplier choice at all. Bridget van Dorsten speaks with Nick Chaset, CEO of Octopus Energy US, about the acquisition that represents Octopus's biggest bet on answering that question: a majority stake in Uplight alongside Schneider Electric, giving Octopus access to established relationships with more than 60 US utilities — including eight of the ten largest. Nick argues the participation gap isn't really a cultural problem or a technology problem. It's a regulatory design problem. US flexibility programmes have been built device by device, forcing consumers to juggle multiple apps and enrolments — and in some cases prohibiting them from combining assets across programmes. Octopus's answer is one app, a 30-second sign-up, and a value proposition framed entirely around what consumers actually care about: lower bills. Can that translate through a utility partnership channel rather than a direct retail relationship?The conversation also tackles the data centre dimension. Nick makes the case that residential flexibility isn't a separate story from the large load interconnection challenge — it's part of the solution. If utilities can statistically guarantee load reductions from tens of thousands of enrolled homes during peak hours, they may be able to connect larger data centre loads at smaller interconnection points. And in many hours when a data centre might otherwise ramp down, it could simply be cheaper to pay consumers to flex instead. Octopus's model is built on trust earned through direct consumer relationships. Can that translate through a utility intermediary at scale, across 60 different utility cultures without losing what makes it work?See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

The world changed forever on February 28th, 2026. The consequences of the Iran war will take many years to play out. But one fact already seems clear: we are not going back to the world that existed before the conflict began.To assess what the war means for the future of oil, gas and power, host Ed Crooks is joined by three of the most experienced voices in the geopolitics of energy. Regular guest Amy Myers Jaffe is the Director of NYU's Energy, Climate Justice and Sustainability Lab. Samantha Gross, returning to the show, is the Director of the Energy Security and Climate Initiative at the Brookings Institution. And Amos Hochstein, appearing for the first time, is a Managing Partner at TWG Global and former senior energy advisor to President Biden and the US State Department.Their conclusion is stark: this is the worst energy crisis the world has ever seen. The shared view is that the disruption we are seeing now is more serious than the oil shocks of the 1970s, and broader in its reach than anything markets have had to price in living memory. The loss of global oil supply from the near-complete closure of the Strait of Hormuz is bad enough, but the effects do not end there. As well as 10-12 million barrels a day of crude supply, the world has lost 20% of its LNG supply and about 30% of its urea, used for fertilizer. We are seeing cascading shortages of products that you might never have connected to the Gulf region, from hospital gloves to semiconductor-grade helium.So why haven't prices yet reflected the full scale of the shock? Amos Hochstein draws a distinction between a risk environment and a disruption environment. Markets know how to price risk, he says, but they do not know how to price physical shortages. Meanwhile, the belief that President Trump can end the war on his own timeline is creating a dangerous feedback loop: markets stay calm because they think the president will intervene; the president sees calm markets and feels no urgency to act. But Samantha Gross argues that President Trump doesn't get to decide when this ends. The Iranians do.The disruption is already hitting unevenly. Sri Lanka has moved to a four-day working week. Thailand has asked workers to stay home. Airports across Asia are shutting down, not because jet fuel is expensive, but because they don't have any. As Amos Hochstein warns, the impact isn't growing in a straight line: it's exponential. Poorer nations are absorbing it first, but the consequences will continue to spread.The episode also looks beyond the immediate crisis to the longer-term implications. Amy Myers Jaffe predicts an acceleration of investment in new energy technologies, including nuclear fusion. Amos Hochstein maps out the infrastructure changes that he thinks will be needed, including investment in new pipelines so that oil and gas exports from the Gulf can bypass the Strait of Hormuz completely. Building all that new infrastructure would be a massive undertaking, but he thinks the world will come together to back it, because it relies on energy from the Gulf for so much. A fundamental rethinking of supply security is under way.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Why nuclear has never been project financed and how that might finally be about to change.Every nuclear plant ever built has ultimately been backstopped by taxpayers or ratepayers. Not because the technology doesn't work, but because nobody has ever cracked the construction cost and schedule problem well enough to convince a bank to finance it without government support. Bridget van Dorsten is joined by Jake Jurewicz, Co-founder and CEO of Blue Energy, to explore why that has been so hard and what a credible path to fixing it might actually look like.Jake walks through the root cause of nuclear's cost overrun problem and it is not the reactor. The reactor equipment itself represents around 7% of total project costs. The real problem is what Jake calls nuclear construction overhead: the cost of mobilizing, training, and retaining the 10,000 or so skilled workers needed to build these plants in the field, the way we have been building them for 70 years, essentially the same way you would build a castle.The episode then turns to what Blue Energy is doing differently. By intentionally selecting sites accessible by barge and contracting existing oil and gas fabrication yards and shipyards to build large pre-assembled modules offsite, Blue Energy aims to bring fixed-price contracts into nuclear for the first time, the same contracting structure that made offshore wind and LNG bankable. Jake explains why that single shift changes everything for project financing.Bridget and Jake also work through the demand side of the equation: why hyperscalers are becoming the crucial beachhead market for new nuclear, what binding PPAs from investment-grade counterparties actually signal versus announcements, and why the restarts and uprates, while valuable, only go so far.The conversation also covers Blue Energy's first announced project at the Port of Victoria in Texas, a 1.5 gigawatt nuclear-powered AI data centre co-located with a gas-to-nuclear conversion, designed to accelerate commercial operation and reduce cost of capital even without government loan support. Jake explains the mechanics of why firing the balance of plant with gas first before switching to nuclear steam is not a compromise but a genuine financing innovation.Finally, Jake offers a view of what signals actually matter when separating the nuclear renaissance from the noise: binding PPAs, large balance sheets standing behind fixed-price contracts, and projects moving through the Nuclear Regulatory Commission rather than staying at the prototype stage.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Energy bills are rising, data centers are multiplying, and the grid is straining to keep up. What happens next? For two decades, electricity prices in the United States barely moved. Demand was flat, natural gas was cheap, and the system was largely stable. That era is over. A surge in data center construction, accelerating electrification, and the legacy of years of underinvestment in energy infrastructure have collided to create a system under strain.Nowhere is that more visible than in PJM, the largest wholesale power market in the US, stretching from Illinois to North Carolina, and home to some of the world's most active hot spots for data center development. Host Ed Crooks is joined by Paul Segal, CEO of LS Power, and Melissa Lott, Partner for Energy Technologies at Microsoft, to assess how the system can meet the new challenges it faces.LS Power is a leading developer and operator of electricity generation and transmission, so Paul is right at the heart of these questions. He is making multi-billion dollar decisions that shape the ways that America's electricity gets supplied.He makes the case that competitive markets, given the right rules and durable signals, can deliver the solutions the grid needs. LS Power is pursuing demand response, battery storage, renewable projects, and gas generation simultaneously. And he warns that political interventions, such as price caps, risk weakening the signals that drive investment. The question of who pays is at the heart of the debate. A bipartisan group of state governors got together with the Trump administration to call for emergency procurement of new generation capacity in PJM, with data centers expected to bear the cost. Paul argues this is inevitable. For hyperscalers to maintain a social license to keep building, he says, households cannot be left to pick up the bill for load growth created by data centers. Melissa brings the consumer perspective, noting that US household electricity prices rose 26% between 2019 and 2024, outpacing income growth and falling hardest on the most energy-vulnerable families. The episode also looks at longer-term structural solutions, including the case for more competition in transmission planning and the lessons from Texas's wildly successful CREZ program to build out grid infrastructure.It closes with a discussion of another issue that is high on Paul's agenda: mentorship and training. He believes industry leaders have a responsibility to create opportunities for the next generation, despite the threat to entry-level roles created by AI. There is a huge task in front of us to build the grid of the future, and we need skilled and experienced people to do it.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Tanker traffic dries up, oil, gas and fertilizer prices soar, and the world holds its breathThe Strait of Hormuz has long been discussed as one of the single greatest vulnerabilities in global energy supply. Now the risk has become reality. Host Ed Crooks is joined by Amy Myers Jaffe, Director of NYU's Energy, Climate Justice and Sustainability Lab, and Chris Aversano, Director of Maritime Partnerships at Wood Mackenzie, to assess what the disruption means for energy markets, supply chains, and the people at the centre of it all.Oil prices briefly spiked to around $119 a barrel before falling back. European natural gas prices have nearly doubled. But those numbers only tell part of the story. In normal times, between 150 and 175 ships would pass through the Strait of Hormuz every day. Since the war began, that has fallen to perhaps 10 to 12 a day. The Strait is a vital artery for the world's energy and fertilizer supplies. If it is blocked for long, the results could be catastrophic.Amy puts the market's reaction in context. She has been studying the Strait of Hormuz since the 1990s, and says that although the geography is still the same, the technology is different. The threat from drones, drone boats, and other weapons of asymmetric warfare may be harder to neutralise than the weapons that shaped earlier thinking. As she puts it, modern threats to shipping are “not your father's Oldsmobile”.Chris highlights the human dimension of the conflict. An estimated 20,000 seafarers are currently trapped inside the war zone, alongside a further 15,000 people on cruise ships and ferries. Seven merchant mariners have been killed so far, in 13 confirmed or suspected attacks. These are civilians, Chris reminds us: workers sending money home to countries such as the Philippines, Bangladesh and India, or in Eastern Europe, who never expected to find themselves victims of an armed conflict.The discussion also gets into the practicalities of what it would take to restore flows through the Strait. The US government has announced a $20 billion insurance facility to cover hull, machinery and cargo for ships in the Gulf. As Chris explains, that still leaves indemnity insurance, covering liability for spills and other damage, entirely unaddressed. A fully-laden VLCC (Very Large Crude Carrier) tanker and its cargo is worth upwards of $300 million. Cleaning up a spill of its cargo of 2 million barrels of oil could cost multiples of that.Routes to bypass the Strait of Hormuz are already being activated. Saudi Arabia's East-West pipeline to Yanbu, on the Red Sea coast, has seen throughput surge from around 730,000 barrels a day to as much as 2.5 million b/d. The UAE pipeline to Fujairah offers additional relief. But as Amy makes clear, these routes cannot come close to replacing the Strait of Hormuz in full. They do not help Iraq or Kuwait. They carry no LNG. And for refined products, there is no pipeline alternative at all.The episode closes with a broader look at what this crisis means for the future of energy. Amy argues that it reinforces the case for clean technology: when an oil price shock arrives, investment in renewables, EVs, and energy storage tends to follow. Ed points to Europe, now seeing its gas prices spike for the second time in four years, as a place where the arguments for renewables, nuclear, transmission, and demand response are becoming even harder to ignore. Green hydrogen could also benefit, thanks to potential for replacing natural gas in fertilizer supply chains. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

What two decades of flat demand means for a grid now expected to double in sizeThe US went from essentially zero load growth for twenty years to 3% national growth almost overnight. The supply chains, permitting pipelines, engineering workforce and regulatory processes were all calibrated for a different world. Bridget van Dorsten is joined by Tom Falcone, President of the Large Public Power Council, representing the 30 largest publicly owned utilities in the United States, collectively owning around 85% of public power assets and currently serving roughly 18% of all US data centre load. Tom explains what makes public power structurally different from investor-owned utilities: locally governed, not-for-profit, and built to minimise cost rather than earn a return on equity. That governance model turns out to matter a great deal when trillion-dollar hyperscalers come looking for power. Public power utilities have no financial incentive to favour their own assets over a customer's, and their local accountability makes deal-making faster and more direct. Bridget and Tom also work through the mechanics of how the industry is actually responding. Large-load tariffs are reshaping the interconnection queue, forcing hyperscalers to make long-term financial commitments rather than reserving capacity for free. About two thirds of speculative requests disappear once real commitments are required, which tells you something about the gap between announced demand and real demand. LPPC members are nonetheless planning to add around 60GW of new generation over the next ten years to meet load that is forecast to grow from 4GW to 18GW of data centres in their territories alone, in just five years. The episode also tackles private use rules, a Treasury regulation from 25 years ago that nobody expected to become a bottleneck for the AI era, the capacity factor realities that make peak-day power so much harder to deliver than annual energy, the nuclear question and why federal involvement is probably unavoidable if the US wants to build at scale, and where CCS can and cannot realistically be deployed.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

VPPs – virtual power plants – continue to spark heated debate. Are they genuinely a fast, affordable way to add capacity to the grid? Or are they an overhyped concept that falls apart when electricity systems are under stress? To find out, host Ed Crooks welcomes Colby Hastings, the senior director for residential energy at Tesla, to unpack what VPPs can and can't do for the grid.Colby explains how storage-based VPPs can behave very differently from the classic demand response that relies on consumers changing their behaviour. She sets out Tesla's thinking on VPPs, including its strategies for customer participation, reliability, and pay-for-performance. Tesla's model includes opt-outs, backup reserve settings, and transparency via an app. Customer choice is an important principle.Regular guest Amy Myers Jaffy also joins the show, and she debates what's holding VPPs back from scaling everywhere. Electricity market design can be critical for determining how fast VPPs are adopted. Other issues, including concerns about “double compensation” under net metering systems, are also important. Some regions are moving faster than others.Finally, Colby tells us what's coming next from Tesla and in the industry. Tesla's vehicle-to-grid plans are starting to take shape. A pilot, starting with the Cybertruck, was launched last month. And she explains why Puerto Rico is one of the clearest case studies for demonstrating the value of VPPs as critical infrastructure.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

New analysis from Wood Mackenzie shows that 220 gigawatts of additional power demand from data centers is in the pipeline in the US, and 183 GW of that is already backed by firm commercial commitments. That is a huge amount to add in just a few years: it's equal to about 22% of US peak demand in 2025. The big question is whether the US electricity industry going to be able to meet that additional demand. And if so, how?On the second day of ACORE's 2026 Policy Forum in Washington, host Ed Crooks talks to industry leaders and experts about the answers to those questions. First he talks to Wood Mackenzie's Anna Shpitsberg, who is global head of power and renewables research. She breaks down the numbers on electricity demand from new data centers, and discusses some of the implications for the industry.Next up is someone whose role is right at the heart of the data center boom. Arthur Haubenstock is senior counsel at Equinix, which is one of the world's largest developers, owners and operators. He talks about what data centers actually need in terms of electricity supply, and gives his perspective on some of the controversies currently raging around the industry.A key issue for him is how data center developers can benefit local communities by cutting their electricity bills and strengthening the stability of the grid. He talks about the reality behind popular ideas such as BYOP (bring your own power) and BYONCE (bring your own new clean energy). And he explains why data centers often cannot be flexible loads on the grid, the constraints on backup generation, and why power grids matter.Ray Long, President and CEO of ACORE, then joins the show to talk about his key takeaways from the event. He says the AI-driven data center boom is creating great opportunities for all kinds of energy, including renewables and other low-carbon technologies. But progress is being slowed by three critical challenges: permitting delays, trade policy uncertainty, and regulatory bottlenecks.With electricity demand surging, he says, tackling those policy barriers is essential. Governments and the power industry need to find ways to stop electricity bills soaring and the grid becoming unstable, while enabling the infrastructure buildout required for AI. Finally, Ed talks to three entrepreneurs who are leading startup companies that aim to build the energy industry of the future. Kimberly Johnston of NextGen Energy, Saxon Metzger of Polaris Ecosystems, and Ebony Seymour of Ellement Group, explain the problems in energy that they are taking on, and talk about what they need to accelerate their growth.This episode is brought to you by ACORE, the nonpartisan nonprofit organization uniquely operating at the intersection of energy affordability, reliability, and clean energy deployment. ACORE is focused on strengthening the electric grid and driving clean energy investment that delivers for the American people. ACORE's membership includes industry leaders across the clean energy economy. Nearly 80% of the booming utility-scale domestic clean energy growth was financed, developed, owned, equipped, or contracted by ACORE members.  Visit www.acore.org to learn more about ACORE's work and upcoming events, like the ACORE Finance Forum on May 12-13 in New York City. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

ACORE, the power and renewables industry group, is this week hosting its annual Policy Forum in Washinton DC. It's an event where industry leaders and experts discuss how the changing landscape of US energy policy is shaping infrastructure investment, the growth of electricity supply, and the affordability of power. Host Ed Crooks is recording two special episodes from the forum. This first show is focused on the US government's attempts to build up a domestic supply chain for renewables and other energy equipment. Ed speaks with Dr Sarah Kapnick, who is the global head of Climate Advisory at JP Morgan, and Peter Toomey, the Chief Development Officer at Cypress Creek Renewables, which is one of the country's leading energy developers. They discuss how supply chains and infrastructure for renewable energy are evolving. Demand for electricity is booming, but supply chains are under pressure. Volatile government support creates uncertainty for developers and suppliers. The “one big beautiful bill” (OB3) last year, which scrapped tax credits for wind and solar power, created “cliffs” in support for projects as the deadlines for eligibility are passed. That creates challenges for equipment manufacturers thinking about investing in new production capacity in the US. The Trump administration, like the Biden administration before it, faces a tension between its objectives of building up US manufacturing, accelerating US electricity supply growth, and making consumers' power bills more affordable. The ultimate question is whether the US can build resilient, competitive, domestic energy supply chains while balancing affordability, energy security, and surging demand from AI. Plus, Ed talks to Alice Lin, a senior tax advisor at the Natural Resource Defense council who worked on the Biden administration's move to increase tax credits for low-carbon energy with the Inflation Reduction Act. They debate the realities of clean energy tax incentives, and in particular the latest changes to the FEOC (Foreign Entities of Concern) rules. The aim is to stop companies from China, Russia, North Korea and Iran from benefiting from US tax credits. But even though the US Treasury recently published guidance on how it will apply the rules from the legislation last year, it is still not entirely clear what effect they will have. Developers, manufacturers and investors are still cautiously feeling their way. Follow the show wherever you're listening to it so you don't miss an episode: there's more from the Policy Forum coming tomorrowSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

How do we generate the energy we need to meet the demands of consumption for the future? Any plans to meet future climate challenges and technological advancement will require not only sustainable sources of energy, but must also include the grid: our national transmission system that delivers energy to homes, businesses, data centers, and manufacturing. This week we're discussing the energy transmission network in the USA, including policy decisions, environmental impacts, land ownership, mineral demand, and the realities of an already overwhelmed grid. About World Ocean Radio World Ocean Radio is a weekly series of five-minute audio essays available for syndicated use at no cost by college and community radio stations worldwide. Celebrating 16 years in 2026, providing coverage of a broad spectrum of ocean issues from science and education to advocacy and exemplary projects. Episodes of World Ocean Radio offer perspectives on global ocean issues and viable solutions, and celebrate exemplary projects.World Ocean Radio: 5-minute weekly insights in ocean science, advocacy, education, global ocean issues, marine science, policy, challenges, and solutions. Hosted by Peter Neill, Founder of W2O. Learn more at worldoceanobservatory.org

Carbon capture and storage has long been framed as a clean technology that's forever five years away. Bridget van Dorsten speaks with Tim Vail, CEO of ION Clean Energy, to explore why a surge in AI data-centre demand is reshaping the market for decarbonised gas – and how viable a solution it really is.Tim argues we've entered a buyer-led era for carbon capture, driven by hyperscalers like Amazon, Google and Microsoft who need 24/7 power fast - but are still committed to climate and decarbonization goals. That creates a new question for the energy transition: can natural gas + CCS deliver competitive renewable energy-level carbon intensity, while supporting grid resilience and scaling quickly enough for near-term energy projects?A big part of the conversation is about measurement and credibility. Tim explains how “carbon intensity” has to be assessed across the full value chain - from wellhead to electrons - including methane leakage. The rise of methane monitoring (ground, aircraft and satellite) and verification systems are helping utilities and buyers prove emissions performance, which is increasingly essential for energy finance, green finance, and corporate reporting. How does it work? Plus, Tim and Bridget debate the economics. Hyperscalers don't buy “dollars per ton of CO₂ captured” - they buy power. Tim breaks down what CCS can add on a $/MWh basis, how incentives like the US 45Q tax credit can influence the cost, and why execution (getting projects financed and to final investment decision) is now the real bottleneck. Along the way, Bridget and Tim place CCS in the broader clean firm competition set, including nuclear, hydrogen, geothermal, and solar energy plus batteries, and what this means for future energy predictions and energy policy.The big question: is CCS at last moving from concept to commercial scale - not because the chemistry suddenly changed, but because demand, verification, and project finance finally might be aligning? About Interchange RechargedInterchange Recharged is the Wood Mackenzie podcast exploring the technologies, markets and energy policy decisions shaping the future of energy - from clean tech and clean technology to infrastructure, grid resilience, and the financing models behind the next wave of decarbonisation.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Data centres have become one of the most contentious issue in US power markets. The question of who will pay for the new generation and grid upgrades needed to keep them running has been soaring up the political agenda, and attracting attention in the White House.Host Ed Crooks is joined on this episode by Brandon Oyer, Head of Americas Power & Water at Amazon Web Services (AWS), and Vince Parisi, President & COO at NIPSCO, the Northern Indiana Public Service Company, to discuss a solution.Together, they unpack their new agreement to develop power capacity in northern Indiana, which they say will enable AWS to add 2.4 gigawatts of data centre capacity without sticking everyone else with the bill. Data centres are not just for AI: they are the “invisible digital backbone” behind everything from banking to healthcare to emergency services, Brandon says. But he also acknowledges that local communities around data centre developments are right to ask hard questions about costs. NIPSCO and other utilities agree. Vince says they welcome the economic activity and tax revenues that new data centres bring, but the goal for the electricity system is to ensure customers “aren't paying for it.” AWS and NIPSCO say their agreement, which they announced last November, will achieve that goal. In fact, they expect to save customers money, unlocking $1 billion in customer savings over 15 years.So what actually makes this deal different, and is it a template others can copy? Brandon and Vince walk through the ring-fenced structure (a separate GenCo that funds and builds generation), the performance incentives, and why both sides landed on a 15-year commitment even as data-centre hardware cycles every few years. You'll also hear why AWS doesn't see its data centres as truly flexible loads, how the GenCo model let NIPSCO lock in long-lead equipment early, and what plugging this capacity into the MISO power market means for the reliability of electricity supplies.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

It's the hottest sector in the global energy industry right now, driven by rising power demand, the need to back up variable renewable generation, and escalating threats to grid resilience. It is of course, battery storage. Host Ed Crooks and regular guest Amy Myers Jaffe speak with Julian Nebreda, CEO of energy storage systems company Fluence, about why batteries are becoming essential grid infrastructure. At peak hours during the bitterly cold weather that has covered much of North America in recent weeks, batteries accounted for about 1% of US power supply. But even a relatively small share of battery capacity can play an outsized role in preventing outages, Julian says. He argues that batteries are best understood not as replacements for fossil fuels, but as system optimizers: delivering fast-response capacity, stabilizing grids, and allowing generation assets to run more efficiently. With Amy and Ed, he addresses some of the common myths around batteries' cold-weather performance, multi-peak demand days and reliability compared with traditional generation.The gang explores the next wave of demand growth for batteries, particularly from new data centres for AI. Julian points to “speed to power” as a major new driver for storage deployment, as the hyperscalers and other tech companie try to bring new data centre capacity online as quickly as they can. There discussion also covers the geopolitical significance of storage, the attempt to build a battery supply chain in the US, the strngths of distributed versus centralised system designs, and examples of operations from Texas to Ukraine. As Amy notes, the industry is still catching up to the full potential of storage, but the potential is enormous.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

After more than a decade of flat demand, the US power sector is now facing explosive growth, arriving faster than grids, generation, and transmission can be built. In this episode, Interim host of Interchange Recharged Bridget van Dorsten is joined by Chris Seiple, Vice Chairman of Power & Renewables at Wood Mackenzie, to unpack one of the defining challenges facing the modern energy system: how utilities, developers, and policymakers are responding to an unprecedented surge in electricity demand driven by data centres, AI, and reshoring manufacturing. Bridget and Chris explore what makes this moment different, why planning cycles are colliding with short technology investment horizons, and how this mismatch is forcing a fundamental rethink of how the power business works, from energy policy to energy finance. The main point is that the difference between regulated and deregulated markets is widening, as vertically integrated utilities strengthen their advantage in managing large loads.New mechanisms like large-load tariffs are reshaping rate design, investment risk, and affordability - Chris explains how. Plus, deregulated markets may be approaching a tipping point, as traditional price signals struggle to accommodate demand arriving at this scale and speed. What does it all mean for energy?Crucially, the episode looks beyond the immediate crunch to the longer-term implications for the energy transition. From renewable energy and solar energy pipelines to grid resilience, transmission innovation, and behind-the-meter solutions, this demand boom could become a powerful catalyst for clean tech, clean technology, and energy innovation, even as subsidy regimes change and capital costs rise.The discussion also touches on the role of hydrogen, nuclear, and emerging grid technologies in supporting future energy projects, and why this period of rapid load growth may ultimately accelerate decarbonisation rather than slow it. If you're tracking climate policy, climate change, green finance, and long-term energy predictions, this episode is for you; hear why today's data centre boom could shape the next several decades of the power system.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

As Texas battles another bout of bitterly cold weather, Energy Gang looks at the lessons that one generation and transmission electric co-operative learned from Winter Storm Uri in 2021. The freeze and subsequent shock to energy prices showed providers how dangerous it can be to rely on the market alone.For Rayburn Electric, a not-for-profit, member-owned cooperative, incurring years of power costs in just days was a catalyst for a fundamental reset of its approach to risk and resilience.Host Ed Crooks is joined by Rayburn's President & CEO David Naylor, and General Counsel Chris Anderson, to hear the story of how they rethought how the co-op could best serve its members, and implemented its new strategy. The crucial steps included a first-of-its-kind securitization for a co-op, to spread costs over decades, and a strategic pivot toward owning generation as a natural hedge for its electricity sales. The co-op bought a power plant, now called the Rayburn Energy Station, and has RES 2 in the works, to meet reliability needs amid rapid load growth. David and Chris share what changedinside the organization too, driven by the principle that ‘status quo is not company policy.' Operating exclusively within ERCOT, Rayburn provides power to approximately 625,000 Texans across sixteen counties, working collaboratively with four local distribution co-ops. Its infrastructure includes more than 265 miles of transmission lines and more than 1,000 MW of owned generation capacity, including the Rayburn Energy Station, a combined-cycle natural gas plant added to strengthen reliability after Winter Storm Uri.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

US data centre announcements are averaging 435MW a month, and there's around 175GW of large-load capacity already committed or under construction. AI hyperscalers are looking for innovative ways to meet their energy demands. It's one of the biggest infrastructure challenges in energy right now: how to deliver reliable, fast power without derailing climate and decarbonisation goals. Joining interim host Bridget van Dorsten is Akhil Batheja, Director of Technology Strategy at Bloom Energy, to unpack why fuel cells have moved from “interesting clean technology” to the epicentre of the data-centre power conversation - and what that shift means for utilities, energy projects, and energy policy.Together they discuss how solid oxide fuel cells differ from turbines, engines and batteries - from efficiency and permitting advantages to “Lego block” scalability - and why “time to power” is becoming the defining metric for data center owners. Bridget and Akhil explore grid resilience and the realities of operating off-grid campuses, how fuel cells can handle spiky AI workloads using supercapacitors, and why a future high-voltage DC architecture could reshape data-centre efficiency. Finally, they look at pathways to cleaner fuels, including hydrogen, renewable energy-linked fuels like biogas/RNG, and carbon capture, plus the role of energy finance and green finance in accelerating climate change solutions across the energy transition.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

AI is changing the energy system faster than almost anything we've seen in decades. Interim host, engineer and energy analyst Bridget Van Dorsten is joined by Ed Crooks, host of Energy Gang and Vice-chair of the Americas at Wood Mackenzie, for a wide-ranging conversation about what's really driving energy decisions in 2026. From data centres and “speed to power” to energy affordability and US energy dominance, they unpack why reliability, cost and scale are now front of mind for governments, utilities and technology companies.Bridget and Ed discuss which technologies could step up to meet the demand, from long-duration storage and advanced nuclear to geothermal and grid-enhancing technologies, and whether AI itself could help accelerate innovation across the energy system. Then they debate the costs; how much does AI really cost us in emissions and capital that could arguably be better spent elsewhere. Are data centres out-competing the energy transition for capital and grid access? And what happens if today's AI investment boom starts to cool, or the bubble bursts?See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Check out the TIES Sales Showdown at www.tx.ag/TIESVisit The Sales Lab at https://thesaleslab.org and check out all our guests' recommended readings at https://thesaleslab.org/reading-listTo listen to The Sales Lab Podcast on your favorite apps, visit https://thesaleslab.simplecast.com/ and select your preferred method of listening.Connect with us on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/saleslabpodcastConnect with us on Linkedin at https://www.linkedin.com/company/thesaleslabSubscribe to The Sales Lab channel on YouTube at  https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCp703YWbD3-KO73NXUTBI-Q

The new year has only just begun, and already we have seen an event with massive significance for the world of energy. The US operation to remove Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro opens a new era for a country that holds – according to some definitions – the world's largest oil reserves.So far there has been little impact on oil markets. But what are the implications going to be for energy in the months and years to come? To discuss how this volatile situation might evolve, host Ed Crooks is joined by regular guest Amy Myers Jaffe, Director of NYU's Energy, Climate Justice and Sustainability Lab, and an expert on oil earlier in her career. History never repeats itself, the saying goes, but sometimes it rhymes. Amy draws a parallel between Venezuela today, and Iraq after the US-led invasion and the overthrow of Saddam Hussein in 2003. There are some similarities in the position of the two oil-rich countries, which were both dragged down by mismanagement and sanctions. But Amy argues that Venezuela's oil system is in far worse shape, with looted equipment, chronic power and fuel shortages, and damage that may not be reversible.Melissa Lott, another Energy Gang regular, also joins the show, and raises the question of what regime change in Venezuela might mean for the energy transition. Melissa is a partner at Microsoft, but appearing on the show in her usual role as an independent commentator and energy expert. Then it's on to the other places, people and technologies that are likely to make a big impact on energy this year. Ed is watching the Gulf Coast buildout of new liquefied natural gas (LNG) plants. It is a boom so big that Wood Mackenzie expects US LNG exports to roughly double from 2023 levels by around 2030, with more growth beyond.The gang assesses the likely consequences of surging LNG supplies: downward pressure on global gas prices, and potential financial strain for exporters. There is also the possibility that a peace deal in Ukraine could make the oversupply even worse, by allowing more Russian gas to flow west into European markets. Next up, it's people to watch in 2026. Melissa names the US energy secretary Chris Wright, and Ed picks new FERC chairman Laura Swett. As the US power grid, and its energy system more generally, face mounting challenges because of the growth in data centers needed for AI, effective policy and regulation will be critical. Amy chooses China's President Xi Jinping: the country's next five-year plan could reshape the global competition for energy dominance.On technologies to watch, battery storage is a hot topic. Melissa and Ed discuss the supply chains needed to meet growing demand, and innovative products such as Form Energy's iron-air batteries, which are being deployed in a first-ever commercial project that will be fully operational this year. Amy's choice is humanoid robots. They're expensive and still imperfect, but are they going to rule the future? They are already being trialled for repetitive factory tasks. Amy says her Roomba can't cope with a spilt bowl of cereal. But will new flexible AI-guided robots be able to do the job properly?Follow the show so you don't miss an episode this year – it's going to be a busy one.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

As we head into 2026, electricity grids aren't just under strain; they are facing transformational change because of the shifts in the ways that we work, entertain ourselves, and get around. EVs are one of the fastest-growing new loads on the grid in many parts of the world, but are also one of the least well-understood. They can exhibit flexibility that's mostly going unused today. Millions of EVs are already connected to the grid, and they're being treated as a problem instead of a solution. So how could they be used to ease that strain on electricity grids? What would it look like if we could turn EVs into really useful distributed energy resources (DERs)? Host Ed Crooks welcomes Apoorv Bhargava to the show for the first time. Apoorv is the CEO and co-founder of WeaveGrid, a company aiming to make EVs and other DERs function like dependable infrastructure for distribution grids. It wants provide utilities with trusted, repeatable, edge-level control of assets, rather than occasional, system-level demand response. Apoorv explains how it all works.Apoorv is a former student of regular guest Amy Myers Jaffe, who now teaches at New York University. She joins the show to argue that there is still a great deal of uncertainty around claims of using flexibility to reinforce. It isn't a black-and-white question, she says: flexibility only works when it's engineered, trusted and planned for at the distribution level, not improvised through emergency demand response. Together Ed, Apoorv and Amy debate how EVs and grids might be able to work together in the future, instead of against each other. They discuss consumer behaviour, politics and concerns over rising power bills as factors that will matter just as much as the evolution of the technology. The biggest grid upgrade opportunity may not be new wires, transformers or even power plants: it could be the Tesla, VW or BYD in your driveway.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

It's the final Energy Gang of the year, and host Ed Crooks is joined by regulars Amy Myers Jaffe, Director of NYU's Energy, Climate Justice and Sustainability Lab, Shanu Mathew, a portfolio investor and manager, and Melissa Lott, a systems engineer and energy analyst, to take stock of an exciting year for energy.The buzzword of 2025 was undoubtedly AI. Data centres transformed the outlook for power demand, and rising electricity prices put pressure on a new US administration that is determined to focus on affordability. As the shockwaves from advances in AI spread out across the industry, everyone started talking about “bring your own power” and flexible loads on the grid. Meanwhile battery deployment soared, as businesses looked for solutions to the challenges raised by variable renewable generation and rising demand.The crew discuss permitting reform in the US, congestion pricing for cars in New York – one of the more positive stories of the year – and exciting times for nuclear power. The reality of new nuclear technologies was the subject of intense debate in 2025. Does the future of nuclear power really lie in small modular reactors, or do more established proven designs actually have a better chance to accelerate deployment? Join us for the hot topics that shaped energy in 2025, and will keep on making headlines in 2026.The article on air pollution reduction referenced by Ed and Melissa you can find here: https://news.cornell.edu/stories/2025/12/congestion-pricing-improved-air-quality-nyc-and-suburbsBooks mentioned on the show include: Breakneck: China's quest to engineer the future by Dan WangHouse of Huawei: The secret history of China's most powerful companyby Eva DouConsumed: How big brands got us hooked on plastic by Saabira ChaudhuriWe hope you have a great holiday season and a very happy New Year. The gang will be back on January 6th. Follow the show wherever you listen to podcasts. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

California is often described as the state where you can see the future of the US, and of the world. That has certainly been true in terms of some of the problems faced by the electricity grid. California has been grappling with the impact of wildfires and a big shift to renewable generation, and now faces the prospect of rising power demand from electrification and data centers.In this episode, host Ed Crooks and regular guest Amy Myers Jaffe of NYU talk to Elliot Mainzer, President and CEO of the California Independent System Operator (CAISO), to dig into how the state is tackling those challenges.California's electricity prices have nearly doubled in eight years, rising to about 32 cents per kilowatt hour for residential customers. Affordability has become a political flashpoint, as it has in many other parts of the US, and other countries around the world. Elliot explains how CAISO is using reforms of transmission planning and interconnection queues to help “bend the cost curve” downwards.The discussion also covers an important shift that is now under way in western power markets. Governor Gavin Newsom of California recently signed AB 825, advancing an independent regional governance structure for the emerging extended day-ahead market. Elliot outlines how implementing the new law could change reliability, capacity planning, and resource adequacy across 11 states.Another pressure point is AI, and the data centers needed to support it. While large load growth in California is more modest than in some other states such as Texas or Virginia, the state still expects 2.3 gigawatts of new data center demand by 2030. Ed and Amy question how much flexibility these data centers can provide, whether price pressure is pushing hyperscalers elsewhere in the US, and how CAISO will manage the all-important issues around siting and grid integration.The episode also dives into one of California's most contentious debates: the role for distributed energy resources and virtual power plants. Elliot discusses what CAISO can see, what it can't, and what needs to change for DERs to support affordability and reliability—while highlighting the remarkable performance of the state's battery fleet in avoiding Flex Alerts for the past three summers.Finally, the conversation looks ahead to California's longer-term energy future. The state has set an ambitious energy goals, including sourcing all its electricity from zero-ccarbon generation by 2045. To achieve that, many gigawatts of new renewables are still required, and wide-area coordination across the western US will have to live up to its full potential. As Elliot puts it, managing this grid is challenging, but “the challenge is energizing.”Stay tuned to The Energy Gang as we continue tracking the forces that are reshaping the power industry, from technology and finance to policy and climate.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

At the start of the year things were looking uncertain for nascent renewables like hydrogen and geothermal. With policy support from the previous US administration they had boomed with the IRA, then came July 2025 and the Trump administration's One Big Beautiful Bill, which tore up tax credits and removed incentives for those renewable technologies. As we approach the end of the year, has anything changed for the better? How are hydrogen, wind and geothermal looking as we prepare for 2026?Regular host Sylvia Leyva Martinez is on maternity leave until the middle of next year, so her fellow energy analyst Bridget Van Dorsten is stepping up to keep the mic warm. Bridget is an analyst researching hydrogen, but she has an engineer's understanding of technologies across the energy spectrum. She doesn't just cover that ‘frustrating, inefficient, expensive-to-move-around molecule' (as she calls it); she knows what's real in the energy world and what's just hype. To kick off her tenure as host she's picked out a few highlights from the year relating to those important renewables – geothermal, hydrogen and wind. Looking back on those conversations Sylvia had with experts on those fields, Bridget then gives the energy analyst's view on how things are progressing in the current policy environment. Expect in-depth analysis on what's changed, and the key stats and forecasts you need to know as 2026 approaches. Plus, Bridget looks back on the conversation Sylvia had with energy investors back in July, when we saw the oil and gas majors like Shell and Equinor announce they were scaling back their climate ambitions under pressure from investors. Bridget explores why the energy transition is unfolding slower than expected, how shareholder pressure is reshaping low-carbon strategies, and why companies like TotalEnergies and Shell have retreated from their plans to phase down fossil fuels. Bridget will be hosting until mid-next-year, and she wants to know what topics you want explored.Connect with the show and let us know what you want to hear, on LinkedIn, X or Bluesky at @interchangeshow, and follow the podcast so you don't miss the episodes coming in the new year.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

The COP30 climate talks in Belem wrapped up over the weekend, and reactions to the outcome were sharply divided. Simon Stiell, Executive Secretary of the UNFCCC, said “climate cooperation is still alive…we're undeniably still in it and we are fighting back.” Others said the COP had been another failure, with a final statement that amounted to “a form of climate denial”.To make sense of what really happened at COP30, and where the talks leave the global effort on climate change, host Ed Crooks is joined by three regular Energy Gang contributors who have been following the negotiations closely. Amy Harder is the national energy correspondent at the news service Axios, Lisa Jacobson is the president of the Business Council for Sustainable Energy, and Simon Evans is deputy editor of the website Carbon Brief. Together they discuss the arguments over COP30's statement on fossil fuels, the rise of climate adaptation as a key priority, and hopes for increasing flows of capital to lower-income countries.A pledge to triple adaptation finance for developing countries by 2035 is attracting a lot of scrutiny. Lower-income countries are pushing for clear plans for delivery, not just vague aspirations. What could those plans look like? Another key issue is China's complicated role in the energy transition. It is leading the way in manufacturing and deploying low-carbon energy technologies. But it is still adding coal-fired generation capacity at a rapid pace. Does it make sense to see China as a climate leader?It is a complex picture. The world is still off track for the Paris Agreement's climate goals, even after the latest round of country pledges on emissions, known as Nationally Determined Contributions. But solar, wind and storage are still on declining cost trends, and are making significant progress in many countries.Finally, Ed speaks with Gianpiero Nacci, who's Managing Director for Climate Strategy and Delivery at the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, for a focused discussion on climate finance. Gianpiero explains why multilateral development banks such as the EBRD are being asked to do more, what makes adaptation harder to fund than mitigation, and what the new COP30 to COP31 roadmap means for climate finance, as focus shifts to next year's meeting, which will be held in Turkey a year from now.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Negotiations in the COP 30 climate talks are continuing in Belem, Brazil. The headlines are focusing on the divisions between countries that are shaping this year's climate talks. But despite the doom and gloom, there are some practical steps being taken to support the transition towards lower-carbon energy. There may be a notable lack of significant new pledges. But making a pledge is the easy part. Implementation is always harder, and that is the focus for COP30.At COP28 in Dubai two years ago, a goal was set to double the pace of global energy efficiency gains, from 2% a year to over 4% a year. Can we hit that goal, and what will it mean if we do?To debate those questions, Ed Crooks and regular guest Amy Myers Jaffe are joined by Bob Hinkle, whose company Metrus Energy develops and finances efficiency and building energy upgrades across the US. Bob is there at the talks in Belem, and gives his perspective on the mood at the meeting. The presence of American businesses at the conference this year is definitely reduced compared to other recent COPs. But Bob still thinks it was well worth him going. He explains what he gets out of attending the COP, why energy efficiency has a vital role to play in cutting emissions, and why he is still optimistic about climate action.Another initiative that came out of COP28 was the Oil and Gas Decarbonization Charter (ODGC): a group of more than 50 of the world's largest oil and gas companies, which aim to reach near-zero methane emissions and end routine flaring by 2030. Bjorn Otto Sverdrup is head of the secretariat for the OGDC, and he joins us having just returned from Belem.Bjorn Otto tells Amy and Ed that there has been some real progress in the industry. The 12 leading international companies that are members of the Oil and Gas Climate Initiative have reported some positive numbers: their methane emissions are down 62%, routine flaring is down 72%, and there's been a 24% reduction in total greenhouse gas emissions.There is still huge potential for cutting in total greenhouse gas emissions by curbing methane leakage and routine flaring worldwide. How can we make more progress? Bjorn explains the scale of the opportunity, the real-world constraints, and the growing role of new technology including satellites and AI in detecting leaks. Keep following the Energy Gang for more news and insight as COP30 wraps. Next week we'll talk about what happed, what was promised, what didn't happen, and what to expect on climate action in 2026.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Utility-scale clean energy projects in development are still facing connection queues and regulatory barriers. RE+ may be done for 2025, but the debate is still going. Host Sylvia Leyva Martinez, Research Director at Wood Mackenzie, sits down with three leaders who are driving progress from different corners of the energy transition, from utility-scale project development to digital grid optimisation and solar system reliability. Sylvia Leyva Martinez and her guests discuss how federal and state regulations shape project timelines and financing, the latest innovations in the grid and the future of interconnection studies, the supply chain outlook for developers and technology providers, and how policy and software are converging to accelerate the energy transition. In this episode you'll hear from: Angela Amos from AES Clean Energy - As Director of Commercial Strategy & Innovation, Angela brings a unique vantage point that bridges policy, finance, and market execution. Drawing on her experience at AES, Uplight, and FERC, Angela shares how developers are navigating an evolving regulatory landscape, adapting to federal and state policy shifts, and rethinking how technology integration shapes long-term strategy. She also discusses how AES is approaching supply chain partnerships and what “innovation” really looks like at a global energy developer. Lindsey Williams from Shoals Technologies Group - Lindsey is VP of Marketing & Communications at Shoals, and she joins Sylvia to unpack the latest in solar and storage performance. Building on Shoals' recent focus on EBOS (Electrical Balance of System), Lindsey reflects on how component design, reliability, and digital monitoring are redefining project outcomes. She also shares what she heard from the floor at RE+, including the big industry talking points shaping developer confidence and long-term investment certainty in clean energy infrastructure. Inalvis Alvarez Fernandez from Simple Thread - Inalvis is a Senior Energy Technology Engineer at Simple Thread, and she explains how digital tools like Minerva are helping reduce project backlogs, streamline utility processes, and unlock grid capacity faster. Inalvis also discusses the challenges clean energy companies face scaling renewables and how regulatory clarity can enable more efficient technology deployment. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

COP30, which began this week in Belém, Brazil, marks a decade since the Paris Agreement was adopted at COP21 in 2015. It's being billed as the “implementation COP”: instead of grand new announcements of international agreements, governments are supposed to be focused on delivering on the commitments they have already made. Host Ed Crooks and regular guest Amy Myers Jaffe welcome back Amy Harder, National Energy Correspondent at Axios. She says not every COP is created equally, and “this is definitely one of those COPs that are more of an ebb than a flow.”But that said, it doesn't mean COP30 will inevitably be unproductive. Amy Myers Jaffe, who is the Director of NYU's Energy, Climate Justice and Sustainability Lab, argues that COP30 “could wind up over time being seen as a more successful meeting than people are currently thinking it will be.”Instead of a new comprehensive global framework, the objectives for this year's talks will be a series of smaller-scale sectoral initiatives: scaling sustainable fuels, tackling industrial emissions, protecting forests, and aligning private capital with policy goals. The Energy Gang also welcomes to the show for the first time Lisa Jacobson, who is President of the Business Council for Sustainable Energy. She joins the show from Brazil to give the boots on the ground view as the conference begins. Previous COPs have generally put the mosh emphasis on government action. Lisa says that a focus on what's good for business might be a better way to spur change. Clean energy technologies are winning in many markets around the world because they make commercial sense. Policy can be helpful, but is it ultimately the business case that has to be what pushes the energy transition forward? Ed, Amy, Amy and Lisa debate the changes to US energy and climate policy, China's emissions trajectory, the global impact of EU measures, and how much of the clean energy build-out is now driven by economics rather than politics. And they wonder whether there is a central paradox in global climate policy. If the future of energy will be decided by market forces and national interests, not by anything that happens at COP30, is that a sign that the series of past COPs has been a success? We've got more coverage of COP30 coming soon, so make sure you're following us for all the key news and insight from Brazil. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

COP30, now getting under way in Belem, Brazil, has been billed as “the implementation COP”, which means a focus on governments taking real steps to achieve the goals of the Paris Agreement. We will be examining all the key issues for government negotiators in the talks very soon. But for this show, we are looking at the role of business. At New York Climate Week in September, the discussion was all about how businesses are facing up to the challenges of meeting growing demand for energy while also curbing emissions. With the rise of AI and broader electrification trends driving up power demand in some places at rates not seen for decades, sustainability goals are under pressure. Will companies abandon them? Or are they just finding new ways to decarbonise while keeping things going? Two companies in very different industries but both focused on similar goals, are Prologis and Trane. First up, host Ed Crooks speaks to Susan Uthayakumar, Chief Energy and Sustainability Officer at Prologis. She explains how the world's largest logistics real estate company is turning its vast rooftop space into a decentralized power network. It is building on-site solar, storage, and microgrids to keep global supply chains resilient, while generating new revenue streams.Then, Holly Paeper, President of Commercial HVAC for the Americas at Trane, describes how cooling systems are becoming a cornerstone of sustainable infrastructure. From AI-driven optimisation to data centres that can heat Olympic swimming pools, Holly talks about ways to reinvent thermal systems to reduce energy waste, enable grid flexibility, and turn buildings into active contributors to their communities.For all the breaking news and insight from COP30, follow Energy Gang wherever you get your podcasts. Expect our top team of energy experts, plus leaders from the worlds of business, finance and policy, as we break down what you need to know from the opening week of the talks.Got power? At HiTHIUM, we make sure the answer is always YES. Ranked Top 2 globally in battery shipments for 2025.HiTHIUM delivers safe, reliable, and profitable energy solutions that keep the clean energy transition powering forward. Let green energy benefit all. Trusted worldwide. Built to last.Reach out and let's talk energy that works - for good!See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

As world leaders, businesses and NGOs start their journeys to Brazil for the COP30 climate talks, more than 200,000 people attended ADIPEC in Abu Dhabi, the world's biggest energy event. Energy Gang was there to bring you the highlights from the week's discussions. One of the key talking points was the theme of energy addition, rather than transition. In other words, the idea that new renewables and other low-carbon sources are adding to global energy supplies, rather than replacing fossil fuels. With forecasts showing an acceleration in power demand growth driven by AI, and the continuing need for increased energy supply to raise living standards in low and middle-income countries, calls for a rapid transition away from oil, gas and coal seem to many to be unrealistic. At ADIPEC, the conversation centred around the vision of new low-carbon supplies stacking on top of hydrocarbons, to reduce costs, increase access and cut emissions intensity. But there was confidence in the prospect of robust global demand for oil and gas, in particular, for decades to come. To debate that vision and assess what it means for the world, host Ed Crooks is joined by energy executives and analysts who have been part of the conversation. Dr Carole Nakhle is the founder and CEO of Crystol Energy, an independent advisory firm. She was first up to discuss whether decarbonisation targets are being pushed further into the future, and how they can be met if clean energy is complementing fossil fuels rather than replacing them. “Complementarity beats substitution,” Carole says. What does that mean for energy security, access and emissions? Next, Ed spoke with John Gilley, CEO of Kent, which designs and engineers assets for the energy industry, including both oil and gas and low-carbon technologies. John isn't worried about a slowdown in clean energy deployment. When energy is cheaper, it gets used, he says, and solar and wind keep winning on cost. He believes climate change is the greatest challenge of our times, and his purpose at Kent is to support ways to tackle it, while meeting the world's demand for energy. John and Ed talk it all through.Sascha Sissiou is sales director for the Middle East and Africa at Aerzen, a German manufacturer of equipment for oil and gas and other industries. Sascha argues that, far from the momentum towards decarbonisation slowing, it is actually speeding up, as reflected in demand from Aerzen's customers. Demand for flare-gas recovery and other emissions reduction technologies has grown, and Aerzen is rolling out new large compressors for the hydrogen industry. Sustainability standards now influence sourcing, logistics and manufacturing across industries from wastewater to petrochemicals. Next, Clay Seigle, senior fellow at the thinktank CSIS, talks about the implications of sustained oil demand for energy security. On climate, he highlights the importance of industry-led investments in methane controls and carbon capture. Looking ahead, permitting reform could emerge as the next big US energy story; Clay explains why. Finally, as the Energy Gang prepares to switch focus to COP30, Ed sat down with Bjorn Otto Sverdrup, who's the head of the secretariat for the Oil & Gas Decarbonization Charter. They bring together more than 50 leading oil and gas companies from around the world to work together to cut their emissions. Bjorn says the industry's top CEOs are staying the course on near-term decarbonisation goals with high impact - cutting methane and eliminating routine flaring by 2030 – because they make operational and reputational sense. There will be more to come on this issue at COP30. We will be bringing you all the big stories and exclusive commentary and analysis on COP30 from our energy expert friends, as well as some new voices. So don't forget to follow the show wherever you get your podcasts, to keep up with all our coverage of the climate talks over the next two weeks. This episode was recorded live at ADIPEC 2025, the world's largest energy event, held in Abu Dhabi from 3–6 November. With more than 205,000 attendees and 1,800 speakers, this year's theme - Energy Intelligence Impact - sparked vital conversations about the future of energy. Learn more about the event at adipec.comSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Electricity demand in the US is rising faster than it has in decades, driven by AI and a wave of investment in domestic manufacturing. But with transmission lines and other electricity infrastructure taking years to permit and build, how can America secure the power it needs fast enough to remain competitive?In this special episode of The Energy Gang, recorded at the ACORE Grid Forum in Washington DC, host Ed Crooks speaks with industry leaders, innovators, and policymakers tackling the challenge of “speed to power”, and asks them for their ideas on how to accelerate the build-out of the next grid.Ed begins the episode with Heather Reams, President of Citizens for Responsible Energy Solutions, who explains why bipartisan consensus on permitting reform is finally within reach, and what it will take to sustain political will through an election year.Next, Richard Kauffman, Chair of the Coalition for Green Capital, shares his perspective on how creative financing models and public-private partnerships can unlock investment for distributed and community-scale energy projects that strengthen the grid from the ground up.Ed then speaks with Rob Gramlich, Founder and President of Grid Strategies LLC, who breaks down the regulatory and planning challenges slowing progress on transmission and offers insight into the reforms needed to modernise America's grid for a new era of demand.Technology can help find solutions faster. Theodore Paradise, Chief Policy and Grid Strategy Officer at CTC Global, discusses how advanced conductors with carbon fibre cores can double transmission capacity without building a single new line. He also explains how CTC's new partnership with Google is accelerating the deployment of new transmission technology.Finally, Ray Long, President and CEO of ACORE, joins Ed to bring all the threads together, highlighting how political leadership, technology, and finance must converge if the US is to meet its rising power needs and remain globally competitive.This episode was recorded at the ACORE Grid Forum in Washington DC.You can also watch the full conversation in video format on YouTube - just search Energy Gang.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

What happens when the surge in electricity demand comes faster than we can build the infrastructure to support it? Live in front of an audience at the Council on Foreign Relations in New York, host Ed Crooks leads a conversation on the future of the US energy grid, skyrocketing load from data centers and electrification, and why politics keeps getting in the way of practical solutions. Neil Chatterjee, the former Chairman of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), has spent a long time working on the interaction of markets and policy in energy. He says: “America needs to take the politics out – or the lights go out.” Is overzealous federal regulation really undermining the reliability of the grid? How can we win support for realistic solutions that will keep the lights on and ChatGPT on line. Joining Ed and Neil to discuss these questions is regular guest Amy Myers Jaffe, who is director of the Energy, Climate Justice & Sustainability Lab at NYU. She proposes that AI might not be the cause of both blackouts and a climate catastrophe. She argues that we might actually save more energy from using AI than we consume in powering the data centers that support it.Debating the issues with Amy, Ed and Neil is Cecilio Velasco, managing director in infrastructure at KKR, a global investment firm that deploys capital in infrastructure. Cecilio brings the investor view on what it will take to unlock the trillions in capital needed for a reliable and resilient energy system in the age of AI. The panel address the uncomfortable truth that the US may need every available electron – from wind and solar to batteries to nuclear power and gas – to meet its goals.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

As global energy systems evolve, emerging economies face a defining challenge: how to secure affordable power for today while investing in the low-carbon solutions that will drive tomorrow's growth. Can energy diversification unlock a new era of industrial development, resilience, and inclusive prosperity?In the third and final episode of our special series ahead of ADIPEC 2025, host Ed Crooks is joined by Charlotte Wolff-Bye, Group Chief Sustainability Officer at PETRONAS, and Andrew Smart, Senior Managing Director at Accenture. Together, they explore how countries in Asia, the Middle East and beyond are using integrated energy strategies to build stronger, fairer economies.Charlotte explains how PETRONAS is redefining its role as a national energy company: supporting Malaysia's growth through lower-carbon development, capacity-building, and nature-based solutions. She outlines how the company's investments in renewables, hydrogen, and carbon capture are creating skilled jobs, building local supply chains, and delivering a “just transition” that lifts communities.Andrew shares Accenture's perspective from the Middle East, where nations are emerging as pivotal connectors between the Global North and South-linking capital, technology, and opportunity. He discusses how digital innovation, AI, and regional interconnection are reshaping resilience and competitiveness, while new financing and regulatory models aim to make clean-energy investment bankable at scale.The message from emerging economies is clear: energy transition and economic development can must advance hand-in-hand. Finally, the group considers what a decade of progress might bring us, including more collaborations across borders and across sectors. They explain why new connections such as regional power grids, diversified supplies, and joined-up policies and corporate strategies point to brighter futures for energy and human development.This is the third and final special episode sponsored by ADIPEC 2025, where the theme is Energy Intelligence Impact. The event brings together 205,000+ attendees and 1,800+ speakers in Abu Dhabi from 3–6 November 2025. The Energy Gang will be recording live at the event. Join us there to be part of the conversation.Learn more and register at adipec.com.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.