Rethink Energy Podcast

In this episode the Rethink Energy Team is joined by John Ingram, founder of CSP startup Focal Line Solar, to discuss his views on concentrated solar power, as well as recent news on the EU's emissions targets, Enhanced geothermal's first grid participation in China, and a pro-renewable shift in the US's PJM electricity market relating to the Minimum Offer Price Rule (MOPR).

In this episode the Rethink Energy Team discusses the investments which India is incentivizing from its fossil fuel sector into renewable manufacturing, the UAE openly expressing its impatience with the rest of the OPEC cartel's production limits, and a praiseworthy report from the UK's Office of Budget Responsibility which points out various severe threats to the economy from climate change - arg...

In this episode the Rethink Energy Team discusses China's 16 GW Baihetan hydropower station, how the steel industry is more prepared to decarbonize than the gas industry, the rapid strengthening of China's domestic solar segment, Texel's aluminum hydride heat storage battery, and Hydrogen Systems Australia's small-scale plasma-based electrolyzers.

In this episode the Rethink Energy Team is joined by highly experienced renewables journalist Peter Kelly Detwiler to discuss the future of EVs and their on-grid participation. We also cover Rethink Energy's latest report covering the hydrogen transition which the global steel industry is about to embark on, the US startup Breeze which plans to use pipelines as compressed-air energy distribution,...

In this episode the Rethink Energy Team discusses the looming mass low-price selloff of Permian Basin oil assets, how the latest monthly EV sales figures from Europe surpass even our forecasts, our Spain country profile, The "B3W" Build Back Better World initiative to mobilize $40 trillion of private finance from the West for the energy transition, the UK Climate Change Committee's milquetoast cri...

In this episode the Rethink Energy Team discusses an estimated 30 GW of soalr installed worldwide in Q1, a new wind power technology with five times the generation density per square kilometer, the pressure Royal Dutch Shell is coming under to decarbonize, and EV maker Lordstown's continued woes.

In this episode the Rethink Energy team discusses Mercedes-Benz's investment in green steel, Vietnam's 5.4 GW pipeline of wind to be built in 2021, Brazil's drought and the related issues of hydropower and the rainforest, and NREL's energy storage predictions for the US.

In this episode the Rethink Energy team discusses the multi-GW floating offshore wind platforms to be built in Icelandic waters, Malta Inc's thermal pumped energy storage, how Mexico's turn against renewables may be set in stone in the midterm elections this week, and how we expect oil consumption to reach its second peak in 2031, having never fully returned to 2019 numbers.

In this episode the Rethink Energy Team discusses the UK's post-EU carbon market, the IEA's report forecasting even more renewable energy than we expect, India's anti-dumping probe against almost all solar cells used in the country last year, the latest accusations of forced labor against the Chinese polysilicon industry, and Algeria's stagnant energy policy.

In this episode the Rethink Energy Team discusses the Biden Administration's approval of the 800 MW Vineyard Wind offshore wind project, the IEA's minerals report, the likelihood of Europe reaching a mooted 20 GW solar manufacturing capacity, Ocean Sun's floating solar in Colombia, the Colonial Pipeline hack, and Vietnam's 6% cut to coal generation in 2021 even as its demand grows. 

In this episode the Rethink Energy Team discusses: how US oil majors are more concerned with paying down debt, dividends or share buybacks than with the energy transition; a 17 GW set of five solar projects in Urumqi, the capital of Xinjiang; Chile's potential as a hydrogen giant; and the implications of rocketing steel prices.  

In this episode the Rethink Energy Team discusses $8 billion in US government funding for transmission infrastructure, the oil majors' results and the implication for their renewables investments, China's last-minute attendance at the Climate Summit, and vertical-axis wind turbines. 

In this episode the Rethink Energy team discusses a new hydrogen production process that uses solar power directly without electrolysis, the Earth Day Summit and international climate targets, China's 30 GW five-year energy storage  ambitions, and some pro-gas bills in the aftermath of the February Texas powercut, and our upcoming Steel Report forecasting global demand and decarbonisation.

In this episode the Rethink Energy team discusses the new hydrogen electrolysis catalyst developed at Kyoto University, the contrast between Australia's government and the private sector on renewable energy development, and how France's ban on short domestic flights will impact hydrogen and electric-powered aeroplane startups in that country.

In this episode the Rethink Energy Team discusses the British Government's ongoing promotion of expensive gas and nuclear power, Bombora's wave energy proposal which would be integrated with floating offshore wind projects, how Q1 EV sales figures from China and Europe vindicate Rethink Energy forecasts, and China's large CSP pipeline.

In this episode the Rethink Energy Team discusses our 178 GW expectation for global solar in 2021, the Biden Administration's boost to offshore wind power, our Saudi Arabia country profile, and Raygen's PV-inclusive concentrated solar design. 

In this episode the Rethink Energy team discusses how renewable energy Capex can peak globally in the 2030s thanks to cost declines, how the UK, EU, and Indonesia are all clinging to fossil fuels, Vietnam's grid adjustment after the FiT-driven solar boom, and a new form of dense hydrogen storage.

In this episode we discuss Noon Energy's Solid-Oxide Fuel Cells, Fortescue Metals' renewable energy and hydrogen plans, Hindenburg's attack on EV startup Lordstown's reputation, TVP Solar's high-temperature vacuum solar thermal heaters, Rethink Energy's latest analysis of future LCOEs for wind and solar, the IEA's latest pro-oil energy forecast, and the surge of component prices in China's solar i...

In this episode the Rethink Energy Team discusses China's "GDP-first" 14th Five-Year Plan, the H2Pro hydrogen startup, alleged flaws in Siemens Gamesa's ETES hot rock energy storage, and Power Roll's microgroove approach to thin-film solar and supercapacitors.

In this episode the Rethink Energy Team discusses our latest report, Look Back in Anger, which examines the next three decades - from the perspective of where things have to be in 2050. We also discuss India's attempts to foster its domestic solar manufacturing industry with a new Basic Customs Duty on imports, the shortage of chips in the automotive industry, and our new 146.5 GW estimate for 202...

In this episode the Rethink Energy team discusses China's expanding Carbon Market pilot, Drax's environmentally dubious biomass expansion in the UK, a correction in hydrogen and other clean energy stocks, and how polysilicon supply threatens to bottleneck a rapidly expanding solar industry in 2021.

In this episode the Rethink Energy Team discusses - 67 GW of green hydrogen planned by the HyDeal Ambition initiative in Spain, Eavor's new type of geothermal energy which copies fracking to deep enough to be used anywhere and doesn't rely on pumps, the Texas blackout debacle, a bill proposing 10 GW floating offshore wind in California.

In this episode the Rethink Energy team discusses our recently released report on perovskites, a novel type of solar photovoltaic while will gain a significant chunk of market share by 2030: Ford's overstated commitment to EVs; and how the major forecasters such as Bloomberg and Wood Mackenzie continue to underestimate the impact that green hydrogen and EVs will have on oil through to 2050.

In this episode we discuss GM's 2035 deadline past which they will no longer make internal combustion vehicles, the extremely weak figures for the oil majors in 2020, the Biden Administration's as yet vague ambition to boost offshore wind. We also discuss Panasonic's retreat from solar manufacturing, the trillion dollars bound up in oil and gas pipeline developments.

In this episode the Rethink Energy Team discusses: how General Motor's deadline to stop making ICE vehicles from 2035 vindicates Rethink's EV forecast, Tesla's financial results, the shift of engineering talent from ICE to EVs, Elon Musk's jocular $100 million CCUS prize, and China's 50% increase in solar manufacturing capacity during 2020.