Redefining Energy

Laurent interviews Georgios Stassis, PPC’S CEO, during Eurelectric Power Summit 24. PPC, the Greek Utility, is a remarkable turnaround story: from a soviet-style dinosaur a few years ago, PPC has become a thriving forward-looking profitable modern Utility. With Georgios, we discuss the investment in renewables, the phase out of lignite, digitisation, the investment in new segments (Datacenters, E...

In April, we did Ep129 Minutes about China and announced the interview with a real expert. Here it is. With David Fishman, an American based in Shanghai, we dig deep into China’s Energy Transition. We try to reconcile the rise of renewables and the rise of coal use. We try to decipher what is decided locally and nationally. We investigate what is the result of command-and-control measures vs marke...

Last week, Laurent was in Athens for the spectacular Eurelectric Summit (we will talk more about it in 2 weeks’ time, with a special Episode) meanwhile, we bring in our friend Jan-Michael Hess, organiser of the Berlin EcoSummit 4-5 June to discuss Clean Tech and his annual gathering of more than 100 Start-Ups and hundreds of investors. If you don’t have your tickets (yet)  https://ecosummit.net/  

"McKinsey, BCG and S&P Global Commodity Insights project electricity demand tied to data centers to increase at a CAGR of 15% through 2030." “Booming AI demand threatens global electricity supply (FT)”. Media and consultants have recently raised the alarm about the unquenchable energy thirst of AI and datacentres.  Can we believe those predictions or is it another scaremongering wave like we s...

We bring in the star of the week, Ember’s Dave Jones, to discuss the Global Electricity Review 2024, published last week. Main take aways (thank you Nat Bullard):  Renewable sources (hydro, wind, solar, geothermal, biomass) are now 30% of global electricity supply. Solar generation increased 23% yoy; wind 10%. Fossil fuel generation increased 0.8%. If not for a decline in hydro production, renewab...

Distribution grids are facing new challenges. On the one hand, they experience a growth of local demand, with EV charging, heat pumps and datacenters. On the other, they must accommodate with the fast deployment of decentralised energy such as rooftop solar and batteries.  How to reconcile those challenges while maintaining grid stability? And how can Utilities, hooked up on rates and CAPEX start...

We hear conflicting messages regarding the status of the EV market. On the bright side, IEA predicts 17mEV to be sold this year, EV and Hybrids reach 50% market share in China for Q1, more than 500 EV models are currently on the market. On the dark side, Tesla and BYD deliveries were down in Q1_24, Tesla revenues were down 9% compared to Q1_23 and the price war has cut the EPS in 2. Has Tesla lost...

Laurent and Gerard have a rapid overview of what’s going on regarding the Energy Transition in China and its political implication in the West. Record production of this, record production of that, overcapacity everywhere… We babble a lot, rant a bit, and conclude that we need to invite a real expert on the show.  

What is the value of green electrons? Hard to say. Depends where, depends when. What is sure is that, in view of recent regulations and corporate commitments, they must be tracked. From an annual basis, we are now moving to an hourly basis, under the thrust of corporate initiatives like the GhGProtocol, RE-100 and EnergyTag. Behind this movement, BigTech such as Microsoft and Google see a need to...

This week, Gerard and Laurent have been invited to a private event organized by Aquila Capital in March 2024, during the Global Infrastructure Conference, where they debate with Markus Wandt, CIO Aquila if “Renewables are still an Infrastructure play?”

The main hindrance to the development of renewables is the connection queue. Basically, grid operators tell developers “Sorry guys, we’re full”. A recent study by RMI has proven that this is simply not true. Grid operators are either too conservative or not incentivized to take more load. Old solutions. Old thinking. Grid Enhancing Technologies (GETs) are hardware and software solutions that are d...

This week, Gerard and Laurent talk about the 3 big energy gatherings that happened this week. Houston (CERAweek), Bilbao (WindEurope) and Berlin (Global Infrastructure Summit). Laurent and Gerard were in Berlin and report what they saw and heard. In a simple sentence à la John Wick “Yes, I think I’m back”  

“It’s hard to play a good game when you have been served weak cards”. This is the perennial challenge of Japan when it comes to the Energy Transition. And the game is getting harder when your two main choices, nuclear and hydrogen, are proving extremely costly in a world of cheap renewables. How robust is a business model based on a protected internal market with high margins and limited competiti...

This week, Gerard and Laurent talk about Conferences / Exhibition that they recently attended and what they have learned there. Gerard was in Germany’s E-World while Laurent was in London’s Energy Storage Summit. And they act as mirror opposites: "back in business" in Germany while the storage in London realises that the Champagne year of 2022 cannot easily be repeated. The storage industry nevert...

The two limiting factors for a faster deployment of EVs are the price of vehicles and “range anxiety”. While the former is being addressed by an ever-growing number of cheaper models available on the market, the latter is also experiencing a revolution. You would believe that such an opportunity would be grasped by Utilities. Surprise! They didn’t move. Oil companies have started investing, but at...

This week, Gerard and Laurent talk about three great reports that have recently been published and deliver some world-class data about past achievements, current status and the direction of travel. As a sign of things to come, European Carbon has lost 36% since the beginning of the year. We are here saluting Ember and their power/emission statistics – European Electricity review https://ember-clim...

To discuss everything that’s going on in the PPA market (and a lot of things are happening), Gerard and Laurent bring back the excellent Luca Pedretti, CEO and co-founder Pexapark. Pexapark is the leading swiss-based intelligence platform on PPA in Europe. With Luca, we have an extensive conversation about the recent evolutions in the PPA market. Trends, duration, size, shapes, types of contracts,...

This week, Gerard is out, so Laurent does the Minutes with Michael Barnard, host of our sister show Redefining Energy – Tech. On the menu this week, an overview of the decarbonisation of shipping. What will be electrified? What role for Hydrogen, Green Ammonia, Methanol and Biodiesel? And the answers are hybrid and multi-fuels. Links to Michael’s articles on the subject in Forbes https://www.forbe...

At COP28 was endorsed the concept of “tripling renewables” – all good, but a lot of people forgot to mention the rest of the sentence which is “and doubling of Energy Efficiency”. In the latest IEA report, there is a 400bnUSD Energy Efficiency pie, almost at the level of Oil Upstream, and more than into Grids. Nobody talks about it. Buildings, Industrial, Transport. Electrification, Heat Pumps. So...

Why has the fund raised by infrastructure fund drastically collapsed in 2023. Is it linked to lackluster returns in a high interest rate environment? At the same time, we have seen numerous acquisitions of mid size infrastructure specialists by larger global asset managers, case in point the very spectacular purchase of Global Infrastructure Partners by Blackrock (or is it a reverse take over?). W...

After two years of irrational exuberance, we are back to earth when it comes to Cleantech investment. On the menu this week, Gerard and Laurent are reviewing the Cleantech 100 report (15th edition). The overall ecosystem is down 40% yoy, but it has also cleaned the foam and is now revealing the future. We discuss the 5 sub-sectors (agriculture, transportation, materials, resources, and energy) Our...

Long term renewables assets portfolios provide stable returns. In most of the world, they are held by pension funds, insurance companies or big infrastructure funds. We have the exception of the UK with listed Infrastructure funds, also known as Yieldcos. For more than a decade, Yieldcos have been the backbone of the Energy Transition investing. To explain what are listed Infrastructure funds, we...

First Episode on the Redefining Energy MINUTES on the main channel. On the menu this week, an update of nuclear and offshore wind , two important (but minor) sources of carbon-free energy. And some news on the scandal at Cummins, and their pollution cheating device, costing them 1.6bnUSD. https://www.reuters.com/business/autos-transportation/cummins-take-about-204-bln-charge-fourth-quarter-2023-12...

Happy new year to all our listeners. It has become a tradition for the first episode of the year: Gerard and Laurent present their 2024 Predictions in the Energy Transition. And we brought in our friend (and co-host of our sister show RE TECH) to spice up the conversation: Michael Barnard. Michael also acts as referee to score the predictions that were made a year ago. Record installation of every...

Final Episode of 2023 (and last one for the MINUTES on their own channel). All episodes will be on this channel going forward. Here are the Redefining Energy Awards for 2023: Company of the Year - BYD Start Up of the Year - PV Case Deal of the Year – Tesla and NACS Trade of the Year – Short Gas TTF Scandal of the Year – Venture Global and the 200 LNG cargoes heist Person of the Year – Jigar Shah S...