Interchange Recharged

This special wrap-up episode of Interchange Recharged takes listeners on a fast tour of the entire carbon capture value chain, from industrial emitters and LNG developers to UK transport and storage pioneers. Host Sylvia Leyva Martinez, Research Director at Wood Mackenzie, brings together three leaders shaping how CCUS moves from theory to reality. First, James Lopez, Subsurface CO₂ Stor...

Recorded live on day two of Wood Mackenzie’s CCUS Conference in Houston, this episode of Interchange Recharged explores how carbon capture is advancing from state-level regulation to real-world innovation and global market trends. Host Sylvia Leyva Martinez begins with Lily Barkau, Groundwater Section Manager at the Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality, who explains how...

This special episode of Interchange Recharged brings together finance, law, and technology leaders shaping the path to commercial carbon capture. Host Sylvia Leyva Martinez explores how capital, regulation, and innovation are converging to turn early-stage CCUS projects into bankable reality. The conversation opens with Omer Farooq, Head of Sustainable Asset Finance at Bank of America, on how one...

As RE+ 2025 wrapped up in Las Vegas, the mood across the show floor was one of contradiction: anxiety, anger, optimism, and opportunity all rolled into one. In this episode, Sylvia Leyva Martinez – Research Director and analyst covering global solar markets - sits down with Chris Seiple, Vice Chair of Power & Renewables, and Kasim Khan, Senior Analyst at Wood Mackenzie, to unpack the forces sh...

Recorded live at RE+, Sylvia Leyva Martinez, Research Director at Wood Mackenzie, hosts Ryan Chen and Neil Bradshaw from Hithium to unpack the true costs of OB3, the constraints on innovation and fire safety as result of the bill, and the future possibilities for AIDC. Neil Bradshaw is Director of Global Applications Engineering, and takes the view that even US manufacturers aren’t immune fro...

Despite the US adding 4.3 gigawatts of solar manufacturing capacity in Q2, there were no additions to the upstream components of polysilicon wafer and cell manufacturing. As gas prices continue to rise and the demand for alternative power supplies grows, get a detailed look at what big names in energy are doing to get over the hurdles.  On her second day at RE+ in Las Vegas, Sylvia Leyva Mart...

In a year defined by uncertainty, this RE+ special episode of Interchange Recharged flips the script from “build more” to “get more from what you’ve got.” Sylvia Leyva Martinez, Research Director at Wood Mackenzie, is joined by Alex Bamberger, VP of Digital Solutions at RES, to look at how owners are squeezing extra megawatt-hours from operating wind, solar and storage, opening OEM-level data, pai...

The policy environment in the US at the moment is challenging, but developers, utilities, and investors are still moving forward with decarbonisation goals and climate action; they’re just talking about it and approaching it in a different way. As RE+ (North America’s biggest clean energy event) kicks off, Sylvia Leyva Martinez talks to veteran climate journalist and cleantech investor Molly Wood,...

EV growth is moving, but is it moving quickly enough? Wood Mackenzie research projects battery electric vehicles to account for 58% of light vehicle sales globally by 2050. It won’t be until 2045 that EVs surpass ICE vehicles on the roads globally. So how can consumers be incentivized to get an EV? Manufacturers are addressing concerns around range anxiety and price, so what else is there to tempt...

Way back in 2016, US energy storage capacity had just hit 336MWh, a 100% year-on-year increase. The growth forecast for storage was for 7.3GWh by 2022 – a US$3.3 billion market. It’s just one example of how far we’ve come; the IRA’s tax credits and incentives created a bullish environment for developers, and the renewable project pipeline grew and grew. Then came OB3, and the uncertainty arou...

The uncertainty rippling through the energy industry in the first half of 2025 hasn’t gone away. Utilities, developers, and manufacturers are still grappling with the fallout from the "One Big Beautiful Bill," the Trump administration’s reversal of parts of the Inflation Reduction Act, and the evolving tangle of trade tariffs. Sylvia Leyva Martinez, host and principal analyst at Wood Mackenzie, is...

Despite uncertainty for US clean energy investors, things are looking good for the geothermal sector. US$1.7 billion in public funding was pumped into geothermal projects in Q1 this year - 85% of 2024's entire annual allocation – as breakthrough technologies promise to transform untapped resources into commercially viable clean energy projects. Enhanced geothermal and advanced geothermal technolog...

In February this year BP announced it was cutting its investment in green energy ventures from $5B to $2B while reallocating $10B to fossil fuels, and abandoning its 2030 oil output reduction target. Shell has also scrapped its planned 20% carbon reduction cut for 2030. It’s not a good display of intent from the perspective of the energy transition. In a highly volatile and uncertain policy enviro...

The Greenhouse Gas Protocol – the global gold standard for measuring corporate emissions – is under review, and the proposed changes could dramatically reshape how clean energy is bought, sold, and reported. New draft rules are expected by the end of the year. What changes could we see? And how will they impact the energy transition? To find out, Sylvia Leyva Martinez, principal analyst at Wood Ma...

Nearly 150 days into President Trump’s second term, the outlook for wind energy in the United States - particularly offshore wind - is increasingly bleak. Trump had pledged to end offshore wind development, and now the House Ways and Means Committee is proposing a phase-out of tax credits for renewables by 2031 - a move that would severely impact an already struggling wind sector (over on our sist...

The US is risking ceding global market share of clean energy to China, permanently. New tariffs, put in place one day then removed the next. Rising costs for everything along the supply chain. The US clean energy sector is navigating one of its most unpredictable phases yet. From solar to storage, how are developers and policymakers reacting to renewed trade tensions and their impact on the energy...

Tax equity plays a significant role in clean energy finance, but are developers using it effectively, or are they stumbling over complexities and recent changes?  Sylvia Leyva Martinez is joined by Bryen Alperin, Partner and Managing Director at Foss and Company, a leading firm in renewable energy investment, to debate it.  They explore how tax credits and incentives are reshaping clean...

They called the film Avengers: Infinity War the most ambitious crossover event in history. We can’t quite make the same claim, but at Wood Mackenzie’s 2025 Solar and Energy Storage Summit, we did record a crossover episode. Sylvia Leyva Martinez, Wood Mackenz’s principal analyst for solar power and host of Interchange Recharged, is joined by Ed Crooks, host of Energy Gang,...

Wood Mackenzie’s 18th Solar and Energy Storage summit is back, in Denver this week. If you can’t make it, don’t worry – we have all the debate and key insight you need to know here on the podcast. Recorded live on day 2 of the summit, host Sylvia Leyva Martinez talks to key industry leaders in solar and storage to answer these questions: What’s best practice for battery asset management? To answer...

Wood Mackenzie’s 18th Solar and Energy Storage summit is back, in Denver this week. If you can’t make it, don’t worry – we have all the debate and key insight you need to know here on the podcast. Recorded live on day 1 of the summit, host Sylvia Leyva Martinez talks to four industry leaders in solar and storage to answer these questions: Can the U.S. solar industry keep up with demand amid trade...

Over the past couple of years unprecedented low prices for solar panels have spurred incredible growth. But there’s a big shift underway.  In this special episode of the show, recorded live from the stage at Wood Mackenzie’s Solar & Energy Storage Summit 2025, host Sylvia Leyva Martinez, Principal Analyst at Wood Mackenzie, sits down with Ben Sigrin, Senior Product Manager at GridBeyond,...

“If you don't think in 15 years that we're going to value decarbonisation, or if you're worried about the 45Q, it's pretty tough to write that multi-billion dollar cheque,” says Peter Findlay, Director of CCUS Economics at Wood Mackenzie. In this week’s Interchange Recharged, Peter sits down again with host Sylvia Leyva Martinez to look at the challenges for new CCUS projects. It’s tough, as Peter...

The US is projected to add an additional 26 GW of solar capacity in 2025. Solar has been one of the energy transition’s biggest success stories, but there are dark clouds gathering. Uncertainty is the biggest barrier to deployment at the moment: there’s potential changes coming with federal tax credits and trade policies (some of which are already having an impact), and the perceived risks are hig...

In 2025, the US will consolidate its position as a blue-focused hydrogen market, driven by policy developments under a second Trump administration. A surge in blue hydrogen investment – with at least three large-scale blue hydrogen projects reaching FID – will see the US emerge as the world's leading blue hydrogen producer. So what about the much-hyped green hydrogen? Has the industry given up on...

Former President Biden's final days in office involved signing an US$840 million energy contract with Constellation - a statement of intent for the US’s largest nuclear supplier. Since then, what’s changed with nuclear policy?  To find out, host Sylvia Leyva Martinez – a principal analyst at Wood Mackenzie – welcomes Maria Korsnick, President and CEO of the Nuclear Energy Institute to the sho...