Episodes
-
In this episode of Rethink Energy Talks, we're joined by Paul Moonie, CEO of Australia's perovskite company Halocell, to discuss perovskites' performance in low-light conditions, dusk, and dawn - starting with a Microquanta test from a few months ago in which perovskites had 38% more usable light-hours under 75% cloud cover compared to standard silicon. We also discuss Halocell's various routes to market and research efforts.
-
In this week's episode, the Rethink Energy team discusses:
The true price of China's solar panels - they're being sold below cost, but how far below cost? Carbon fiber production capacity is set to expand dramatically, courtesy of China, with just three factories in the past couple of months amounting to 82,000 tons - half of global demand India's $386 billion in energy transition finance pledges heavily feature solar manufacturing expansion - but how much wafer output will they achieve? Li Auto has disclosed some details of its AI-centered approach to Full Self Driving (FSD) development - including the size of its database and the scale and cost of the necessary computing capacity. -
Episodes manquant?
-
In this week's episode, the Rethink Energy team discusses:
The 14th ICAO Air Navigation Conference has called for streamlining regulatory processes for implementing new aircraft designs which will accompany the adoption of sustainable aviation fuel, hydrogen and battery power. Rethink Energy has published a new forecast on perovskites - which will take over the solar industry by 2040, with certain segments being revolutionized ahead of 2030. Solar's quality improvements will keep rolling in through 2050 and beyond. Carbon fiber prices have almost halved in the past 14 months in China - allowing wider usage in wind turbines. -
In this week's episode, the Rethink Energy team discusses:
Tandem perovskite modules are being shipped to customers by Caelux, Oxford PV and others - these are still small-scale trial shipments, but this signifies that the technology has reached the threshold of parity on lifetime power output with conventional silicon modules. Per a new study from Boeing, 12% of global feedstock requirement for SAF could be met from South-East Asia alone - but SAF's logistical hurdles extend beyond simple creation of the feedstock. Typhoon Yagi has destroyed some wind turbines - but for the most part the disaster has acted as a proof of reliability for the new plus-size turbines deployed in south China. -
In this week's episode, the Rethink Energy team discusses:
Hydrogen has a little-explored route into the trucking segment, with hydrogen-fired combustion engines offering lower Capex than battery EVs. Australia has committed $1 billion AUD to solar manufacturing - but this only enough for the module segment, plus something more in the cell segment - maybe perovskites? Also in Australia, the value of curtailed energy per year, if stored and dispatched, is growing rapidly towards a similar $1 billion per year. -
In this episode of Rethink Energy talks, we're joined by Tyler Hortin, CEO of Lion Energy, to discuss the future of battery energy storage in the US.
That includes Lion Energy's use of technology such as EMS and BMS to optimise charge and discharge timing, integrating multiple demand and supply sources as well as accounting for electricity price variation on the grid. We also discuss the US reshoring agenda, the indefinite dominance of lithium-iron phosphate, and the rapid growth of the battery segment.
-
In this episode of Rethink Energy Talks we're joined by Nicola Battey, Director of Sustainability at Hometree - a residential installer of heat pumps, solar panels and batteries in the UK.
We discuss the adoption of heat pumps and other residential energy systems - including why the UK is behind mainland Europe, and the abrupt rise to viability of batteries, even without a photovoltaic system.
-
In this week's episode, the Rethink Energy team discusses:
South Korea's hydrogen fuel cell powered tram system, due for mid-2028 - and why such experiments should be shelved in favour of electric power. The US now has one wind turbine installation vessel (WTIV) compliant with the Jones Act - but its final cost came to $715 million, larger than the original $500 million price tag from back in 2020, and double the usual global price. This represents another cost factor hindering the nascent US offshore sector. JetZero's decision to go with sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) for its blended wing-body (BWB) airline design will prove a mistake in the long run, with hydrogen set to take over the industry over time. Natron Energy has announced a 24 GW sodium-ion battery factory in the US, geared towards short-duration, high-power applications such as EV fast charging infrastructure and securing industrial power supply. -
In this week's episode, the Rethink Energy team discusses:
Hazer Group's turquoise hydrogen production pilot scheme and whether the synthetic graphite byproduct will compensate for the cost of its high energy intensity. China has produced 100 GWh of energy storage batteries in H1 2024 - showing the continued rapid growth of the BESS industry to accompany wind and solar at scale. Ming Yang's 16.6 MW dual-rotor wind turbine has put out to sea - but floating wind is always going to be more expensive than fixed-base, which in turn is more expensive than onshore. -
In this week's episode , the Rethink Energy team discusses:
ClearVue's Building-Integrated Photovoltaic (BIPV) glass, and the startup's latest agreement with Alu-Tec WLL to foster distribution of its products through the MENA region. Illinois has introduced a Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) incentive - not steep enough to close the gap with jet fuel, but another step toward the new industrial segment. NREL's latest offshore wind transmission research, which includes a description of a $100 billion intra-regional HVDC backbone stretching from North Carolina to New Hampshire - going far beyond the limited approach of connecting each project to the shore piecemeal. -
In this week's episode , the Rethink Energy team discusses:
Solar manufacturing output has stalled for the first time in over a decade, passing 50 GW a month in June 2023 - a level from which it first grew to 70 GW, before shrinking back to 50 GW in June 2024. This reinforces the reality of vast solar equipment stockpiles, and that the new limiting factor on project development is transmission. A hydrogen demonstrator flight should be achieved in 2026 by KLM and ZeroAvia - and with SAF-based pilot flights already achieved a few years back, that means the gap between the two aviation fuel routes has widened to the better part of a decade. But the bigger SAF gets, the bigger hydrogen, which is a feedstock for SAF, also has to become. And the slower hydrogen adoption is now, the more sudden and steep it will be when it finally takes off. -
In this episode of Rethink Energy Talks, we're joined by Duncan Burt, the Chief Strategic Growth Officer at Reactive Technologies, a pioneering grid frequency stability company which measures the stability of power grids around the world.
These measurements replace the old method of modelling - enabling grid operators to know for certain exactly how far they have to go to maintain the stability of the grid, whether by curtailing renewable outputs or investing in infrastructure. As much as 25% of all curtailment is already related to frequency concerns, rather than outright transmission constraints or excess supply compared to demand.
-
In this week's episode , the Rethink Energy team discusses:
China's ammonia-coal co-firing pilot scheme, and how otherwise-curtailed renewable energy could help to make green ammonia affordable. China curtailed 17 GWh of its wind and solar in 2023. First Solar's TOPCon patent investigation which is looking to inconvenience its silicon-based rivals - and how First Solar will pursue next-gen photovoltaic technology in future, looking beyond single-junction. The offshore wind breakage issue, and how incidents like the recent one at Vineyard One will interfere with risk perception and project financing, even if there is no broader reliability problem lurking like the one which came out with Siemens Gamesa last year. -
In this week's episode , the Rethink Energy team discusses:
Oregon-based startup Origami Solar's plan to manufacture steel solar module frames for the US market - and how that matches up to aluminum. Archer Aviations' electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) aircraft are to be used as air taxis alongside Southwest Airlines' operations at Californian airports - but finding a profit margin may be tough. Chile and Saudi Arabia have announced monumental battery energy storage fleets - with Saudi's coming alongside a spate of Chinese solar panel and wind turbine factory announcements in the country. -
In this week's episode , the Rethink Energy team discusses:
Microquanta's perovskite test in Quzhou City indicates that even single-junction perovskites have an advantage over silicon PV with their performance under heavy cloud cover Shell's SAF facility pause calls into question the future of SAF, with cost concerns liable to see it lose market share in the future market to hydrogen -
In this week's episode , the Rethink Energy team discusses:
China's battery industry advance now includes the Chinese government assuming direct ownership of the rare earths sector. Fervo Energy commissions a 400 MW geothermal plant in Utah, the state's first - with EGS technology enabling geographically broader options for the geothermal industry. The 2024 US election is a threaten to the green hydrogen industry - but biofuels may retain bipartisan support. -
In this episode the Rethink Energy team discusses:
South Korean nuclear power's reported cost of just $40 per MWh on the Korea Power Exchange strikes a stark contrast with US newbuild nuclear LCOE of $180 per MWh based on the Vogtle 3&4 construction cost blowout - several explanations have to be brought to bear to explain this vast discrepancy. South Korea's nuclear power ambitions are being ramped up consistently under President Yoon, with billions allotted to R&D around Small Modular Reactors (SMRs) and a pilot project pink hydrogen production scheme being agreed this month. -
In this episode the Rethink Energy team discusses:
The latest SNEC Exhibition in Shanghai, the biggest conference in the solar industry, shows that technological upgrading continues, with some silicon PV modules over 25%, and the first perovskites brought to market by Microquanta and Utmolight in the BIPV sector. Norway's hydropower fleet is getting gradually outscaled by rising electricity demand - prompting the country to join the ranks of Nordic governments considering a nuclear-powered energy strategy. -
Conrad Oakey of Novatech Automation, which runs 25% of US substations, joins us to discuss grid automation. The US grid is seeing a resurgence of demand growth amidst supply chain re-onshoring, EV adoption, and data center build out. It's also changing in quality, with demand and supply becoming much less predictable over time. "You have to electrify and automate everything in order to reach net-zero on time." says Oakey. "Those devices in your house, that grid-forming inverter on your solar panel, needs communication with the grid. And as the grid becomes more and more varied in its generation sources, we have to sense and adapt, rather than the old mode of plan and predict. That means more points of measurement and automation and control, with-fidelity and low-latency data for system operators."
-
In this episode the Rethink Energy team discusses:
New Zealand has lifted its ban on offshore oil and gas exploration, with the government expecting $6 billion investment - a similar sum would build 1 GW of wind-solar for each million citizens. GCL Technology is to build an FBR granular polysilicon factory in the UAE - one of several proposals from Chinese solar manufacturers made over the past 12 months. If they all go ahead, this future 'Gulf state solar industry' across the UAE, Saudi Arabia and Oman would be big enough to supply the entire EU or US market. - Montre plus
