Energy Evolution

With the world's renewable energy capacity reaching record levels, attention has shifted to the risks involved in sourcing critical minerals such as lithium, cobalt, nickel, and graphite, essential for sustaining these industries. China's dominance over global critical minerals supply chains has led the US, EU, and other major consumers to diversify their foreign sources while also developing dome...

For this week's episode, Energy Evolution presents an episode of the Platts Commodities Focus podcast, another show in the network of S&P Global Commodity Insights' podcasts. Political experts say Nov. 5 will likely become known as one of the most pivotal elections in US history. Whether Donald Trump or Kamala Harris wins the presidency, and whether Republicans or Democrats control Congress, the e...

In this episode of the Energy Evolution podcast, the focus is on the rise and fall of California solar pioneer SunPower, as well as its potential for a rebirth following a recent asset sale in its ongoing bankruptcy process. S&P Global Commodity Insights senior reporter Garrett Hering shares an interview with T.J. Rodgers, the former chairman of SunPower and founding CEO of Cypress Semiconductor,...

This is episode 3 of All Things Aviation, a special six-part series focussing on the dynamics, trends and outlooks in the aviation sector . In this episode, Sophie Byron, global director of biofuels pricing at S&P Global Commodity Insights, and Tom Washington, senior news writer covering biofuels in the EMEA region, are joined by Ina Chirita and Jamie Dorner, Europe and America leads in the biofue...

This episode of Energy Evolution features an interview with Corrado De Gasperis, Chairman and CEO of Comstock Inc., who explains the company's shift from a focus on precious metals mining to new business lines as well, including urban mining and recycling materials from end-of-life electrification products and solar panels. Comstock aims to commercialize decarbonization technologies while addressi...

As airlines look to decarbonize and governments crack down on heavy industry carbon emissions, some in the aviation industry are turning to sustainable aviation fuel (SAF). In this episode, correspondents Camellia Moors and Camilla Naschert speak with experts from across the SAF industry about what SAF is, how it's being used, its potential to curb carbon emissions and the biggest challenges and o...

The US Department of Energy is on a roll when it comes to backing the US domestic battery industry.  In July, the agency's Loan Programs Office announced a conditional commitment of up to $1.2 billion for a direct loan to battery separator, extruder, and engineering services company ENTEK to finance a lithium-ion battery separator facility in Indiana.  In June, the DOE's Advanced Research Projects...

On this week's episode of Energy Evolution, S&P Global Commodity Insights hydrogen specialists Shankari Srinivasan and Catherine Robinson discuss their research on the current state of the hydrogen industry just a few weeks before World Hydrogen Week, which will take place Sept. 30- Oct. 4 in Copenhagen.  While the mood has been dampened by project cancellations, the industry is now moving from pl...

This is episode 2 of All Things Aviation, a special six-part series focusing on the dynamics, trends, and outlooks in the aviation sector. In this episode, Marie-Louise Du Bois, head of the global carbon pricing team is joined by S&P Global Commodity Insights experts Dana Agrotti, low carbon market lead analyst, Agamoni Ghosh, managing editor, global compliance carbon pricing and Eklavya Gupte, ed...

Today's episode of Energy Evolution is all about the Advanced Clean Energy Storage project in Delta, Utah. ACES will use electrolysis to convert renewable energy into hydrogen and store it so that the otherwise intermittent resources will be dispatchable on demand from storage in large salt caverns underground. The first project will convert and store up to 100 metric tons per day of hydrogen and...

This week's episode of Energy Evolution features a conversation with Deise Yumi Asami, the founder of Maximo, an AI-powered robot that automates the heavy lifting for placing and attaching solar modules. The project is being run by AES Corp., a Virginia-based utility and power generation company.  In the episode, Asami explains how the robot uses AI to improve its own performance, how it is changi...

This is episode 1 of All Things Aviation, a special six-part series focusing on the dynamics, trends and outlooks in the aviation sector .  In the first episode of this Future Energy miniseries, S&P Global Commodity Insights scenarios and aviation experts Roman Kramarchuk, Paul McConnell and James Simpson set the stage, discussing the global state of aviation demand, fuel supply and Commodity Insi...

This week on Energy Evolution we hear from Lord Adair Turner, British businessman and former chairman of the UK Financial Services Authority. Turner is now heading up the Energy Transitions Commission, an industrial collective. He tells Taylor Kuykendall and Camilla Naschert about the risks he sees for America's climate goals if Donald Trump is re-elected, the challenges of deindustrialization in...

Solar power is the fastest growing source of electricity in the US. But as adoption of solar and other renewable power generation grows, developers are facing new realities when it comes to financing projects and setting expectations about their returns.   In this episode, guest Sheldon Kimber, founder and CEO of independent power producer Intersect Power, speaks with correspondent Camellia Moors...

Global installed capacity of solar photovoltaics has grown at an extraordinary pace in recent years as countries strive to meet approaching decarbonisation targets, meaning that the technology is having an ever-increasing part in electricity mixes worldwide.  In this episode of the Platts Future Energy Podcast, solar market reporter Lena Dias Martins is joined by associate director for solar resea...

"Green steel" is becoming an increasingly desirable product around the world as more end users establish decarbonization goals and legislation like the EU's carbon border adjustment mechanism (CBAM) goes into effect. But with no single definition, steel market participants are having to come up with their own standards as they pursue lower-carbon steelmaking.    In this episode, Laura Varriale, ma...

Vacuuming CO2 out of the atmosphere may be possible, but at a cost of nearly $1,000 per metric ton of carbon captured and stored. Nevertheless, direct air capture is attracting serious investment from the US government, oil and gas companies and Microsoft. In this episode of Energy Evolution, hosts Taylor Kuykendall and Dan Testa and reporter Siri Hedreen discuss what the public and private sector...

In this episode of Energy Evolution, host Taylor Kuykendall and S&P Global Commodity Insights climate and energy reporter Karin Rives discuss the increasing involvement of state lawmakers in electric utility regulations and their impact on the power industry and ratepayers. Guests on today's show are Lillian Federico, a research director with Commodity Insights, California state Senator Josh Becke...

In this episode of the Energy Evolution podcast, host Taylor Kuykendall interviews William "Bill" Daley, who was White House Chief of Staff under President Barack Obama and Commerce Secretary during the administration of President Bill Clinton. Daley joined Taylor to discuss the role of climate technologies in driving economic growth and job creation. Daley explained the work of Crux Climate, a su...

In this episode of Energy Evolution, host Taylor Kuykendall is joined by Tom Dichristopher, senior reporter at S&P Global Commodity Insights, to discuss the movement to ban new gas hookups and require all-electric construction for new buildings. In 2023, a court struck down a gas ban in Berkeley, California, which was the first of its kind in the nation. The decision came as part of a legal settle...

Electric vehicles are growing in popularity in the US, but purchasing one can come with a host of hurdles to navigate, from tax credits to charger availability.   In this episode of Energy Evolution, correspondent Camellia Moors interviews Bryan Birsic, CEO of Motor, about the challenges faced by EV drivers and headwinds to wider EV adoption. Backed by The AES Corp. and Mitsubishi Corp., Motor pro...

Also known as 'forever chemicals', PFAS materials can be found in frying pans and rain coats, but also in hydrogen electrolyzers and batteries. After a group of countries proposed a ban on PFAS chemicals in the EU in 2023, legislators are expected to restrict their use. On this episode, correspondent Camilla Naschert hears from scientists Christina Jönsson (Research Institutes of Sweden) and Karst...

A first wave of subsidy auctions for green hydrogen production in Europe has revealed early price signals and could kick-start the market after a long period of policy and investment delays. The recent European Hydrogen Bank auction results were much lower than expected, but will renewable hydrogen be much cheaper than previously thought, or will consumers have to pay a large premium to secure off...

In this episode of Energy Evolution, the teams is joined by two special guests: Jigar Shah, the director of the Loan Programs Office of the US Department of Energy, and Jonathan Evans, the President and CEO of Lithium Americas. The US Department of Energy has shown interest in the metals and mining space, particularly in critical mineral mining and extraction projects. Additionally, the DOE's Loan...

Hydrogen fuel is gaining traction as a promising solution for decarbonizing the transport sector, particularly in challenging areas like aviation where electrification is limited. US government subsidies for low-carbon hydrogen production and the establishment of the Department of Energy's seven hydrogen hubs are expected to drive low-carbon hydrogen production at scale. However, the aviation indu...