Energy Gang

This week, we present a special episode from our new podcast series, called "The Interchange." The Interchange is a brand-new podcast available to GTM Squared subscribers. For one month, we’re giving away the show for free. Visit gtmsquared.com to find out more about our premium content. Solar costs are on a strong downward trajectory. But competitiveness is a moving target. High levels of PV on t...

In the mid 1970s, Exxon invested millions of dollars into sophisticated climate research and determined that greenhouse gas emissions would warm the planet to dangerous levels if left unchecked. But then something changed. In the mid 1980s and into the 90s, Exxon curtailed much of that research and started sowing doubt about the reality of the problem. By one tally, Exxon has spent $30 million sup...

In 2012, Shell ventured up to the Arctic to drill exploratory offshore oil wells. A lot went wrong. Its containment dome failed, a ship ran aground, another vessel was threatened by ice, one of its contractors was fined for safety violations -- and after all that, Shell never completed its exploratory drilling operation. The company has spent $7 billion to explore for oil in Arctic waters. And wit...

Behind-the meter battery storage is experiencing strong growth in the U.S. But with only 6.4 megawatts of capacity installed in 2014, companies have barely touched the market’s potential. Stem is one of a handful of companies leading the deployment of distributed batteries in commercial and industrial buildings. The company has since raised $75 million from a range of high-profile investors, and i...

Until this week, most people thought Exelon's planned $6.9 billion acquisition of Pepco was a sure bet. But in a blow to both companies, regulators in the District of Columbia rejected the deal. What happened? The story is not just about a business deal gone awry. It’s a story about local empowerment, how utilities are dealing with the dramatic swing in America’s electricity market, and the tough...

If there’s any concept that can cut through politics of distributed energy, it’s “personal energy independence.” Some utilities may not like the idea, but many supporters believe it’s a helpful way to frame policies supporting solar, storage and microgrids, both nationally and locally. That is what encouraged Senator Angus King (I-ME) to introduce a bill in Congress that would establish a nationwi...

The Obama Administration finally completed its landmark climate rule that will require states to cut power plant carbon emissions. It's been hailed by supporters as historic, and demonized by opponents as an economic threat. But is it really all that big of a deal? That depends on how you look at it. In this week's show, we'll talk with Michael Grunwald, a senior reporter at Politico, who argues t...

Pretty much everything bad that could happen to the coal industry is happening. Global coal demand is slumping; low natural gas prices and competitive renewables are shifting the energy mix in America; and a slew of regulations are causing plants to close at an unprecedented rate. Since 2012, more than 40 U.S. coal companies have filed for bankruptcy. And just this week, Peabody Energy, one of the...

SunEdison is on a mission to become one of the biggest energy companies in the world – built entirely on renewables. It still has a ways to go. SunEdison has a $9 billion market capitalization. The two biggest oil companies, PetroChina and ExxonMobil, are worth $376 billion and $342 billion respectively. And Duke Energy, America’s largest utility, has a market cap of $50 billion. But with a slew o...

Two countries with some of the richest renewable energy resources in the world – Australia and Spain – are also two of the most hostile to the industry’s growth. Last week, Australia abruptly changed its national policies for renewables, upsetting project development plans. And in June, Spain proposed yet another tax on storage systems to discourage self-consumption. In this episode, we’ll talk ab...

By the end of the decade, the solar industry could be installing 135 gigawatts yearly – more capacity in 12 months than all cumulative installations over the last four decades. The 2020 solar market will look much different today. It will be defined by fewer subsidies, greater geographic diversity and more sophisticated business models. This week, we’ll talk with Adam James, a senior solar analyst...

This week, we have a taping of the Energy Gang from GTM’s Grid Edge Live conference in San Diego. We’ll talk with Tom Bialek, the chief engineer at San Diego Gas & Electric, about the utility’s landmark microgrid project, its new distributed resource management system, and how to improve the utility-customer relationship. And we’ll wrap up with a look at how California’s pro-distributed energy pol...

After Pope Francis issued his strongly worded encyclical on climate change and the environment, many wondered how it would influence skeptical conservatives. It didn’t take long to get an answer. “I don’t think we should politicize our faith,” said Republican presidential hopeful Jeb Bush, who brushed off climate change as an inherently political issue. So what would it take to get Republicans mor...

Richard Kauffman has a lot of responsibilities as New York's "energy czar." He oversees multiple agencies and utilities, advises the governor on energy issues, and works closely with regulators in their attempt to build a new electricity market based on distributed resources. "Often the entities are diffuse and everyone is in their own silo. The benefit we have [in New York] is to develop and impl...

We measure energy use with a commodity-based approach -- monitoring electrons, therms and gallons. But is there a better way to gauge the efficiency of the economy? Energy Economist Skip Laitner has been exploring a new method based on measuring "exergy," which shows that America's economy is only 14 percent efficient. And he says it's getting less efficient every year. In this week's show, we'll...

Whether the solar industry likes it or not, more regulated utilities in America are going to propose owning residential PV systems themselves. It's a controversial development. At our recent Solar Summit in Phoenix, GTM's Stephen Lacey and Shayle Kann hosted a debate on the following motion: "Regulated utilities should be allowed to own and rate-base residential solar." Lon Huber, a former advisor...

Discussion about changing utility business models has always been abstract. But with large utilities now getting hit financially by distributed energy, “Utility 2.0” is starting to seem much more real. This week, we’ll look at the progress that’s been made in New York, California and Massachusetts, where reformation of the power sector is currently underway in different stages. Lisa Frantzis, seni...

Over the last few years, analysts and academics worried about peak oil have been on the defensive. The fracking revolution has brought an abundance of oil and gas that no one thought possible a decade ago. So we can declare peak oil dead, right? Chris Nelder, an energy analyst who’s written extensively on the subject has a simple answer: no. In this week’s show, we’ll talk with Nelder about predic...

Tesla’s new storage unit has everyone talking about distributed batteries. But is the U.S. market ready for them? This week, we’ll talk about what needs to happen on a regulatory level to take distributed storage beyond limited applications. Sky Stanfield, an attorney representing the Interstate Renewable Energy Council, joins us to chat about proactive approaches to storage integration. We’ll als...

Ahmad Chatila worked in the chip industry for 18 years before taking over as CEO of the semiconductor manufacturer MEMC in 2009. As a veteran of the industry, Chatila well understood the difficulties of the silicon wafer business. Semiconductors are a commodity, and the company was facing intense pricing pressure from Chinese competitors. So he decided to make MEMC an energy company -- zeroing in...

Wind has become a favorite target for politicians and conservative action groups looking end energy subsidies. But industry leaders are hitting back, saying they’ll only consider dropping the production tax credit when oil and gas lose their tax benefits. But does it need the subsidy? The average price for U.S. wind contracts is now 2.5 cents per kilowatt-hour. Some argue that the industry would r...

In 2014, after a two-year dip in global clean energy spending, investors poured $310 billion into solar, wind, storage and energy efficiency. Although yearly investment levels are below what IEA estimates are needed to address climate change, the increase shows that appetite for funding companies and projects is increasing. Some believe the investment figures prove that fossil fuels have already l...

In 2008, when Al Gore called for America to get 100 percent from its electricity from renewables in 10 years, he was widely mocked by opponents. Even supporters who understood it was a rhetorical point quietly knew how difficult it would be to achieve. But suppose the timeframe were stretched out to 2050. Would it really be that crazy? Some models show it’s possible; skeptics say the models are wi...

Last March, NRG CEO David Crane wrote a passionate letter to investors. “There is no Amazon, Apple, Facebook or Google in the American energy industry today,” lamented Crane. His plan, he said, was to make NRG the company “that enables the consumer to make their own energy choices.” Months later, Crane broke the electricity supplier up into three parts: NRG Business, NRG Home and NRG Renew. The Ho...

Small modular nuclear reactors are hailed as the savior of the struggling nuclear industry. They’re cheaper, safer and more flexible than traditional light-water reactors. But many small modular reactor designs are also not fully proven on a commercial scale – and they’ll likely not achieve scale for another decade. In this week’s show, we’ll talk with Leslie Dewan, the co-founder and CEO of Trans...