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As U.S. utilities and power providers explore numerous new technologies in their pursuit of a cleaner energy future, industry experts believe it is important not to lose sight of the evolution of an existing carbon-free resource. Darren Sweeney, a senior reporter at S&P Global Commodity Insights, joined Energy Evolution for this episode to share interviews about nuclear energy with Xcel Energy Chairman, President and CEO Bob Frenzel and John Kotek, a Senior Vice President of Policy Development and Public Affairs at the Nuclear Energy Institute. Energy Evolution co-hosts Dan Testa and Taylor Kuykendall are veteran journalists with broad expertise covering the energy and mining sectors. In addition, Camellia Moors and Camilla Naschert, reporters who write about mining and power issues, are correspondents for Energy Evolution and regularly contribute to the show. Subscribe to Energy Evolution on your favorite platform to catch our latest episodes! We want to hear about your podcast preferences so we can keep improving our shows. Take our podcast survey here and share your thoughts: https://www.surveylegend.com/s/4xyz

This episode takes you into the German Solar Valley, which was once the world’s largest production hub but was abandoned in the 2010s as China became solar powerhouse Number One. Now, companies like Meyer Burger Technology are ramping up the old factories, gunning for a revival of European production. But, CEO Gunter Erfurt tells the podcast, panels have evolved from commodity to geopolitical poker chip, and Europe risks losing the game without injecting more money into the sector. Thanks to the Inflation Reduction Act, solar expert Edurne Zoco of S&P Global Commodity Insights also sees more incentives for U.S. factories than European ones. Still, ESG considerations and shorter supply routes could increasingly make the case for home-grown products, too. Energy Evolution co-hosts Dan Testa and Taylor Kuykendall are veteran journalists with broad expertise covering the energy and mining sectors. In addition, Camellia Moors and Camilla Naschert, reporters who write about mining and power issues, are correspondents for Energy Evolution and regularly contribute to the show. Subscribe to Energy Evolution on your favorite platform to catch our latest episodes! We want to hear about your podcast preferences so we can keep improving our shows. Take our podcast survey here and share your thoughts: https://www.surveylegend.com/s/4xyz

This Energy Evolution episode features three guests from across the electric vehicle supply chain. Our first guest is David Slutzky, the founder and CEO of Fermata Energy. The company hopes to accelerate the adoption of electric vehicles and the transition to renewable energy. Fermata's bidirectional charging technology enables customers to earn revenue from their electric vehicles while combatting climate change and supporting grid resilience.  Our second guest is Kulr Technology Group CEO Michael Mo. Kulr is also accelerating a transition to broader electrification. The company's technology ensures that batteries stay cool and safe.  We also chat with Volt Lithium President and CEO Alex Wylie about his company's efforts to extract lithium from oilfield brines in Canada. The company recently announced a resource report indicating 4.3 million tonnes of lithium resources at its Rainbow Lake project. Energy Evolution co-hosts Dan Testa and Taylor Kuykendall are veteran journalists with broad expertise covering the energy and mining sectors. They are joined by correspondents Camellia Moors and Camilla Naschert, reporters who write about mining and power issues for S&P Global Commodity Insights. Subscribe to Energy Evolution on your favorite platform to catch our latest episodes!

Last year, Duke Energy and Amazon Web Services announced they would be collaborating to build out cloud technologies to support Duke's Intelligent Grid Services. The technology is aimed at helping the utility anticipate energy demand and identify where and how it should update its power grid. The use of the cloud opens up a wealth of opportunities for data collection and analysis and is essential to Duke's efforts to transform the grid. For this episode, Energy Evolution spoke with Sarah Cooper, the general manager of AWS industry products, and Bonnie Titone, the senior vice president and CIO of Duke Energy, one of the nation's largest energy holding companies, serving 8.2 million customers in North Carolina, South Carolina, Florida, Indiana, Ohio and Kentucky. Duke has targeted a 50% carbon reduction from its electric generation by 2030 and net-zero carbon emissions by 2050. Energy Evolution co-hosts Dan Testa and Taylor Kuykendall are veteran journalists with broad expertise covering the energy and mining sectors. They are joined by correspondents Camellia Moors and Camilla Naschert, reporters who write about mining and power issues for S&P Global Commodity Insights. Subscribe to Energy Evolution on your favorite platform to catch our latest episodes!

Transitioning the world to cleaner forms of energy will require a significant infrastructure transformation. World Bank released a new framework on April 20 for overcoming the challenges created, particularly in developing countries, as renewable energy scales up and fossil fuel generation is phased down. For this episode, Energy Evolution spoke with Demetrios Papathanasiou, the organization's global director for energy and extractives. View the full report here: https://www.worldbank.org/en/topic/energy/publication/scaling-up-to-phase-down  Energy Evolution co-hosts Dan Testa and Taylor Kuykendall are veteran journalists with broad expertise covering the energy and mining sectors. They are joined by correspondents Camellia Moors and Camilla Naschert, reporters who write about mining and power issues for S&P Global Commodity Insights. Subscribe to Energy Evolution on your favorite platform to catch our latest episodes!

Some members of the steel industry, which is known for being carbon-intensive, are looking toward cleaner primary steel production pathways to cut down on carbon emissions. One avenue is the production of “green steel,” which uses hydrogen instead of fossil fuels in the iron ore smelting process. Energy Evolution correspondents Camellia Moors and Camilla Naschert spoke with Chathu Gamage, a manager in the Climate-Aligned Industries Program at RMI, and Kajsa Ryttberg-Wallgren, head of hydrogen at H2 Green Steel, about the green steel production process and how views about the product are changing in response to the energy transition. Energy Evolution co-hosts Dan Testa and Taylor Kuykendall are veteran journalists with broad expertise covering the energy and mining sectors. Subscribe to Energy Evolution on your favorite platform to catch our latest episodes!

Energy Evolution co-host Taylor Kuykendall shares one last interview from this year's CERAWeek by S&P Global conference. Sunny Elebua, the senior vice president and chief strategy and sustainability officer at Exelon Corp., joined the show to talk about some of the problems and solutions associated with the rapid rise of electric vehicles. Energy Evolution co-hosts Dan Testa and Taylor Kuykendall are veteran journalists with broad expertise covering the energy and mining sectors. They are joined by correspondents Camellia Moors and Camilla Naschert, reporters who write about mining and power issues for S&P Global Commodity Insights. Subscribe to Energy Evolution on your favorite platform to catch our latest episodes!

Sunnova Energy President and CEO John Berger joined the podcast from the CERAWeek by S&P Global conference to discuss solar energy deployment in the U.S. Sunnova Energy is an American residential and commercial solar energy company based in Houston, Texas. Also joining from the sidelines of the energy conference is former U.S. Department of Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz. Moniz, the founder of the think tank Energy Futures Initiative, discussed how current geopolitical events might impact the clean energy transition. 

During CERAWeek by S&P Global in Houston, Energy Evolution co-host Taylor Kuykendall spoke with Raphael Declercq, the CEO of PowerFlex. Declercq's company is a solar-powered electric vehicle microgrid developer. Kuykendall also spent a few moments with Mark Danzenbaker, the CEO of GridPoint. GridPoint is an energy management platform for commercial buildings. The company's technology is already in more than 17,000 commercial buildings across the U.S. Energy Evolution co-hosts Dan Testa and Taylor Kuykendall are veteran journalists with broad expertise covering the energy and mining sectors. They are joined by correspondents Camellia Moors and Camilla Naschert, reporters who write about mining and power issues for S&P Global Commodity Insights. Subscribe to Energy Evolution on your favorite platform to catch our latest episodes!

Plug Power is a company providing hydrogen fuel cell systems to power electric motors in place of conventional batteries. Energy Evolution co-host Taylor Kuykendall spoke with Plug Power General Manager of Energy Solutions and Chief Strategy Officer Sanjay Shrestha during the CERAWeek by S&P Global conference in Houston in early March. Tune in to their conversation about challenges in the hydrogen space, building out hydrogen supply chains, and the policy environment for green hydrogen projects.  Energy Evolution co-hosts Dan Testa and Taylor Kuykendall are veteran journalists with broad expertise covering the energy and mining sectors. Subscribe to Energy Evolution on your favorite platform to catch our latest episodes!

8 Rivers is a company providing net-zero solutions across a wide range of sectors, including the oil industry, the renewable sector and so-called hard-to-abate sectors such as cement and steel makers. Energy Evolution co-host Taylor Kuykendall spoke with 8 Rivers President and Chief Development Officer Damian Beauchamp at the company's booth during the CERAWeek by S&P Global conference in Houston in early March.   Energy Evolution co-hosts Dan Testa and Taylor Kuykendall are veteran journalists with broad expertise covering the energy and mining sectors. Subscribe to Energy Evolution on your favorite platform to catch our latest episodes! 

An influx of public funding for energy transition technologies via the U.S. Inflation Reduction Act is keeping the U.S. Department of Energy quite busy.  S&P Global Commodity Insights' Energy Evolution caught up with Jigar Shah, director of the DOE's loan programs office. In this exclusive interview, Shah talks about the large-scale, all-of-the-above energy infrastructure projects his office is funding in the United States.   Energy Evolution co-hosts Dan Testa and Taylor Kuykendall are veteran journalists with broad expertise covering the energy and mining sectors. Subscribe to Energy Evolution on your favorite platform to catch our latest episodes! 

Pressure to improve metals supply chain transparency is growing, spurred by legislation as well as requirements set by end users like electric vehicle battery makers as they sign supply agreements with miners. At the same time, commodity producers are looking for ways to lure a new investor base to the industry. Supply chain participants are now turning to blockchain to help solve both problems. Energy Evolution correspondent Camellia Moors spoke with the leaders of two companies at the intersection of blockchain-based technologies and commodities markets. This episode features interviews with Doug Johnson-Poensgen, founder and CEO of Circulor, which develops blockchain track and trace systems for industrial supply chains, as well as Duane Parnham, CEO of Madison Metals, a uranium mining and exploration company offering a uranium-backed NFT. Energy Evolution co-hosts Dan Testa and Taylor Kuykendall are veteran journalists with broad expertise covering the energy and mining sectors. Subscribe to Energy Evolution on your favorite platform to catch our latest episodes! 

Li-Metal Corp. is a company working with lithium metal and anode technology to be used in next-generation lithium batteries.  The company's newly appointed president, Kunal Phalpher, said it is an exciting time to be involved in lithium. The development of battery technologies is moving along faster than he anticipated. As vehicle makers increasingly embrace electric vehicles, a race for differentiating technology could produce interesting new types of batteries that pave the way for new consumer products and services such as electric aviation, Phalpher said in an interview with S&P Global Commodity Insights.  Energy Evolution co-hosts Dan Testa and Taylor Kuykendall are veteran journalists with broad expertise covering the energy and mining sectors. Subscribe to Energy Evolution on your favorite platform to catch our latest episodes!

Russia's invasion of Ukraine sapped its dominance as an energy and battery metals superpower, putting the energy transition at risk as countries scramble to source key resources elsewhere. While traders are still moving Russia's gas, nickel, and aluminum around the globe, prices for energy and key metals have jumped, wreaking havoc on the energy and mining industries in Europe and raising questions about global dependence on Russia for crucial supplies. On this episode, Energy Evolution shares some insights from experts we talked to on a recent live webinar hosted by S&P Global. Our guests on the webinar were Melanie Kenderdine, principal at Energy Future Initiative; Morgan Bazillian, director of the Payne Institute and professor of public policy at the Colorado School of Mines; Ben Cahill, senior fellow with the energy security and climate change program at the Center for Strategic & International Studies; and Georg Zachmann, senior fellow at Bruegel, a think tank focused on economic and policy issues.  Energy Evolution co-hosts Dan Testa and Taylor Kuykendall are veteran journalists with broad expertise covering the energy and mining sectors. Subscribe to Energy Evolution on your favorite platform to catch our latest episodes! Check out the full webinar mentioned today here: https://pages.marketintelligence.spglobal.com/Russia-war-and-the-energy-transition-Registration-February-2023.html   

The U.S. Inflation Reduction Act is expected to unleash a wave of investment in renewable energy infrastructure. However, it also heavily favored investments at home, causing some concern among trading partners, including the European Union. Now, the EU is increasing its own efforts to promote the development of renewable energy.  S&P Global Commodity Insights reporters Molly Christian and Alex Blackburne join the show to discuss the differences in approaches between the U.S. and EU. The show also welcomes guests Michael Cerasoli, a portfolio manager of energy infrastructure strategies at Eagle Global Advisors, and Melanie Brusseler, a senior researcher at climate think tank E3G. Energy Evolution co-hosts Dan Testa and Taylor Kuykendall are veteran journalists with broad expertise covering the energy and mining sectors. Subscribe to Energy Evolution on your favorite platform to catch our latest episodes!

Electric vehicle demand is on an upward trend, generating excitement among some investors about the prospects of electric vehicle manufacturers and the miners supplying the materials needed for their batteries. What retail investors lack, however, is direct exposure to minerals prices to avoid risks associated with investing in manufacturers and miners that may be untested or located in geopolitically hazardous areas, EMG Advisors CEO Will McDonough told metals and mining reporter and Energy Evolution correspondent Camellia Moors. McDonough joins Energy Evolution to talk about investment opportunities in energy transition metals, EMG Advisors’ new metals-focused exchange traded fund, and the electric vehicle battery chemistries that will define the future of the energy transition. Please note that in this episode, which was recorded before a company name change, EMG Advisors is referred to as "Charged Funds." Energy Evolution co-hosts Dan Testa and Taylor Kuykendall are veteran journalists with broad expertise covering the energy and mining sectors. Subscribe to Energy Evolution on your favorite platform to catch our latest episodes!

In December, the U.S. Department of Energy announced that researchers at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory achieved nuclear fusion ignition, a major scientific breakthrough and a potentially big step for clean energy.  Joining us to discuss the scientific, commercial and climate implications of this breakthrough are Tammy Ma, a plasma physicist at the Livermore National Lab, and Andrew Holland, CEO of the Fusion Industry Association.  Energy Evolution co-hosts Dan Testa and Taylor Kuykendall are veteran journalists with broad expertise covering the energy and mining sectors. Subscribe to Energy Evolution on your favorite platform to catch our latest episodes!

The world is clamoring for more nickel to feed the energy transition, particularly for use in electric vehicle batteries. Lifezone Metals aims to not only fill the need for nickel but also to differentiate itself by creating a much less carbon-intensive product. Lifezone CEO Chris Showalter joins Energy Evolution to talk about the prospects for global nickel markets and what his company is doing to clean up nickel's environmental footprint. Energy Evolution co-hosts Dan Testa and Taylor Kuykendall are veteran journalists with broad expertise covering the energy and mining sectors. Subscribe to Energy Evolution on your favorite platform to catch our latest episodes!

In this episode, Energy Evolution hosts chat about the year ahead with S&P Global Market Intelligence's Steve Piper, the director of energy research, and Mark Ferguson, director of research for metals and mining. Energy Evolution co-hosts Dan Testa, Allison Good and Taylor Kuykendall are veteran journalists with broad expertise covering the utility, oil and gas and mining sectors. Subscribe to Energy Evolution on your favorite platform to catch our latest episodes!