Energy Evolution

Renewables enjoy unprecedented momentum, but the makers of wind turbines have suffered major losses due to supply chain disruption and high commodity prices in recent years. A voracious race for ever-larger turbines may have also played a role, argues Hans Martin Smith, chief financial officer of the world's largest turbine maker Vestas Wind Systems, in an interview with energy correspondent Camil...

Global commodities trader Trafigura released a report in May showing that shipping is responsible for around 3% of the world's greenhouse gas emissions. The report also found a lot of opportunities to reduce those emissions while increasing economic opportunities for countries that step up to supply low-emission fuels to the industry. In this bonus episode, in addition to our typical weekly progra...

Large energy buyers, including governments and corporations, are embracing a concept known as hourly matching, or 24/7 carbon-free energy. In this episode, Energy Evolution is joined by Nate Hausman, clean energy markets manager for World Resources Institute, for an update on the concept and challenges ahead. Energy Evolution co-hosts Dan Testa and Taylor Kuykendall are veteran journalists with br...

As electric vehicle manufacturers prepare for a demand surge, many are looking to novel battery chemistries that cut back on materials that may be costly, difficult to access, or that come with labor and environmental concerns. Energy Evolution correspondent Camellia Moors spoke with Reed Blakemore, deputy director with the Atlantic Council Global Energy Center, and Mujeeb Ijaz, CEO at battery dev...

As U.S. utilities and power providers explore numerous new technologies in their pursuit of a cleaner energy future, industry experts believe it is important not to lose sight of the evolution of an existing carbon-free resource. Darren Sweeney, a senior reporter at S&P Global Commodity Insights, joined Energy Evolution for this episode to share interviews about nuclear energy with Xcel Energy Cha...

This episode takes you into the German Solar Valley, which was once the world's largest production hub but was abandoned in the 2010s as China became solar powerhouse Number One. Now, companies like Meyer Burger Technology are ramping up the old factories, gunning for a revival of European production. But, CEO Gunter Erfurt tells the podcast, panels have evolved from commodity to geopolitical poke...

Power Purchase Agreements (PPAs) were born out of Europe's desire to wean itself off renewable energy subsidies.  PPAs are now becoming more common across the region as more companies use them as a key risk hedging and decarbonisation tool.  From a very niche industry, PPAs are becoming mainstream, with companies now having entire PPA departments, which would have been unthinkable a few years ago....

This Energy Evolution episode features three guests from across the electric vehicle supply chain. Our first guest is David Slutzky, the founder and CEO of Fermata Energy. The company hopes to accelerate the adoption of electric vehicles and the transition to renewable energy. Fermata's bidirectional charging technology enables customers to earn revenue from their electric vehicles while combattin...

With investors, importers, and the public paying more attention to greenhouse gas emissions from fossil fuel production, US natural gas producers have increasingly turned to third-party certifiers to attest that they are responsible operators. Wyoming gas producer PureWest Energy has been on the forefront of the emerging certified gas market, having certified 100% of its production through Project...

Last year, Duke Energy and Amazon Web Services announced they would be collaborating to build out cloud technologies to support Duke's Intelligent Grid Services. The technology is aimed at helping the utility anticipate energy demand and identify where and how it should update its power grid. The use of the cloud opens up a wealth of opportunities for data collection and analysis and is essential...

Transitioning the world to cleaner forms of energy will require a significant infrastructure transformation. World Bank released a new framework on April 20 for overcoming the challenges created, particularly in developing countries, as renewable energy scales up and fossil fuel generation is phased down. For this episode, Energy Evolution spoke with Demetrios Papathanasiou, the organization's glo...

Some members of the steel industry, which is known for being carbon-intensive, are looking toward cleaner primary steel production pathways to cut down on carbon emissions. One avenue is the production of "green steel," which uses hydrogen instead of fossil fuels in the iron ore smelting process. Energy Evolution correspondents Camellia Moors and Camilla Naschert spoke with Chathu Gamage, a manage...

Energy Evolution co-host Taylor Kuykendall shares one last interview from this year's CERAWeek by S&P Global conference. Sunny Elebua, the senior vice president and chief strategy and sustainability officer at Exelon Corp., joined the show to talk about some of the problems and solutions associated with the rapid rise of electric vehicles. Energy Evolution co-hosts Dan Testa and Taylor Kuykendall...

Battery production offcuts and end-of-life batteries are collected, dismantled and shredded to produce black mass from which critical materials such as lithium, nickel, cobalt and manganese can be extracted. The recycling of black mass has become increasingly important as a supplement to virgin material supply and to reduce the carbon footprint of the battery supply chain. Platts, part of S&P Comm...

Sunnova Energy President and CEO John Berger joined the podcast from the CERAWeek by S&P Global conference to discuss solar energy deployment in the U.S. Sunnova Energy is an American residential and commercial solar energy company based in Houston, Texas. Also joining from the sidelines of the energy conference is former U.S. Department of Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz. Moniz, the founder of the...

In a time of geopolitical strife, economic uncertainty, and energy transition, nuclear power is edging more and more into the spotlight. Countries are looking to decarbonize, boost their energy security and adjust to shifting trade flows.  In the second episode of this special two-part series, S&P Global nuclear news and analytics experts Bill Freebairn, Morris Greenberg, Dr. Jone-Lin Wang, and Ma...

During CERAWeek by S&P Global in Houston, Energy Evolution co-host Taylor Kuykendall spoke with Raphael Declercq, the CEO of PowerFlex. Declercq's company is a solar-powered electric vehicle microgrid developer. Kuykendall also spent a few moments with Mark Danzenbaker, the CEO of GridPoint. GridPoint is an energy management platform for commercial buildings. The company's technology is already in...

In a time of geopolitical strife, economic uncertainty, and energy transition, nuclear power is edging more and more into the spotlight. Countries are looking to decarbonize, boost their energy security and adjust to shifting trade flows, with nuclear power seen by some as a way to advance on all these fronts. Policymakers are dangling attractive incentives in many countries for the energy source....

Plug Power is a company providing hydrogen fuel cell systems to power electric motors in place of conventional batteries. Energy Evolution co-host Taylor Kuykendall spoke with Plug Power General Manager of Energy Solutions and Chief Strategy Officer Sanjay Shrestha during the CERAWeek by S&P Global conference in Houston in early March. Tune in to their conversation about challenges in the hydrogen...

8 Rivers is a company providing net-zero solutions across a wide range of sectors, including the oil industry, the renewable sector and so-called hard-to-abate sectors such as cement and steel makers. Energy Evolution co-host Taylor Kuykendall spoke with 8 Rivers President and Chief Development Officer Damian Beauchamp at the company's booth during the CERAWeek by S&P Global conference in Houston...

An influx of public funding for energy transition technologies via the U.S. Inflation Reduction Act is keeping the U.S. Department of Energy quite busy.  S&P Global Commodity Insights' Energy Evolution caught up with Jigar Shah, director of the DOE's loan programs office. In this exclusive interview, Shah talks about the large-scale, all-of-the-above energy infrastructure projects his office is fu...

Pressure to improve metals supply chain transparency is growing, spurred by legislation as well as requirements set by end users like electric vehicle battery makers as they sign supply agreements with miners. At the same time, commodity producers are looking for ways to lure a new investor base to the industry. Supply chain participants are now turning to blockchain to help solve both problems. E...

Li-Metal Corp. is a company working with lithium metal and anode technology to be used in next-generation lithium batteries.  The company's newly appointed president, Kunal Phalpher, said it is an exciting time to be involved in lithium. The development of battery technologies is moving along faster than he anticipated. As vehicle makers increasingly embrace electric vehicles, a race for different...

Russia's invasion of Ukraine sapped its dominance as an energy and battery metals superpower, putting the energy transition at risk as countries scramble to source key resources elsewhere. While traders are still moving Russia's gas, nickel, and aluminum around the globe, prices for energy and key metals have jumped, wreaking havoc on the energy and mining industries in Europe and raising question...

The European Union's implementation of a Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) to support its industry's efforts to decarbonize and prevent carbon leakage is likely to have far-reaching effects on global trade and the wider energy transition. S&P Global Commodity Insights' experts Eklavya Gupte, Coralie Laurencin, Michael Evans and Paula VanLaningham take a deep dive on CBAM, examining its pot...