Watt Matters Podcast

Rewiring US Customer Relationships

The US’ electricity market is complex but has a huge opportunity to include households in decarbonisation efforts. The Watt Matters team catch up with energy company Octopus Energy US to hear how it is seizing that opportunity.

Most read this month

How to cut the cost of water electrolysis

Autumn/Winter 2023

District heating and Power-to-X make natural partners

Main Partners

Supporting the mission and journalistic principles behind FORESIGHT Climate & Energy

We face a fundamental change of the cost structure on the supply side and a need for a fundamental change.

Jochen Kreusel

- Market innovation manager in the power grids division at ABB Power

They [the European Commission] are looking at this stuff backwards. I still think they are convinced the short-term market model could work even though they are also starting to realise that you need something parallel, with long term price signals that give investors confidence to invest in infrastructure and allow them to see a decent market return.

Francesco Venturini

- Global head of renewables for Italian utility Enel

Despite tremendous cost decline of wind and solar technologies, electricity prices will probably remain too low to attract the level of investment needed.

Fatih Birol

- Executive director of the International Energy Agency

The greatest barrier to overcome is the integration of variable renewables into electricity systems. This will require developing power system flexibility and also a friendly deployment of variable renewables.

Fatih Birol

- Executive director of the International Energy Agency

The greening of steel

Green hydrogen is set to have a significant role in decarbonising the steel industry. Policies are essential to help close the cost gap with production methods relying on fossil fuels and ensure that green steel plants come online in the next few years. Emerging Power-to-X technologies, in particular iron ore electrolysis, could also play a part

Read more

Seizing the triple win: Jobs, fair transition & decarbonisation through building upgrades

Investing in effective buildings renovation is a no-regret strategy for governments, companies and residents, says Thomas Alan Kwan from Schneider Electric

Read more

Defining transition finance

Episode four of Talking Transitions, recorded in Dubai, delves into the problems and challenges facing transition finance as a tool to accelerate the transition to a sustainable economy, but also provides some real-world examples of some recent success stories

Read more

The Jolt: Good COP, Bad COP

In Tuesday’s edition of The Jolt, Sam looks at why picking a COP climate summit host is such a difficult task, plus lobbyists descend in record numbers on the current meeting in Dubai.

Read more

Understanding energy infrastructure

In this episode of Energy Enablers, Thomas Boermans from E.ON and Helge Barlen of Afry discuss how to unleash the complex world of energy infrastructure

Read more

The Jolt: Taxing times at COP28

In Monday’s edition of The Jolt, Sam looks at a new tax initiative at COP28 that aims to scale up climate finance from hundreds of millions to hundreds of billions, plus clean power enjoys its time in the sun at the Dubai summit

Read more

The Jolt: We’re going daily

In Friday’s edition of The Jolt, we make a very special announcement that our listeners will not want to miss, plus we bring you all the latest developments from the COP28 climate summit

Read more

Transforming heavy transport with smart solutions and new income sources

The electrification of trucks and buses is a global imperative, but it is a transition with challenging grid constraints and high investment needs. Spirii CEO Tore Harritshøj emphasises the importance of innovative, localised solutions to expedite the shift towards e-mobility

Read more

Philippa Nuttall, Technology

Any way the wind blows

The shipping sector is drifting towards decarbonisation as it tries to determine which combination of alternative fuels is best

The power of COP28 for co-operation and co-creation

Multiple flight plans

The Jolt: Ready, steady, grids

Methane in the membrane

The Jolt: Ireland’s climate finance call

Putting the “net” in net zero emissions

The private sector’s key role

A hydrogen alternative

How cities navigate the green transition

The Jolt: Taking a chainsaw to climate action

The Jolt: Mind the gap

What our editors are reading

Salt caverns for hydrogen storage

Reports

The UK should help kickstart the development of salt-cavern hydrogen storage to meet its goal of net zero by 2050, says the Royal Society. Work on constructing the caverns should begin immediately, the new report states, where parts of the UK have the right geology for the storage projects. Large-scale electricity storage is needed to smooth out variations in wind and solar, particularly long-term variations in wind. Storing most of the surplus as hydrogen, in salt caverns, would be the cheapest way of doing this, says the report.

Link to source

US needs to exploit Grid-Enhancing Technologies

Reports

The US needs to triple transmission investment and use Grid-Enhancing Technologies (GETs) to support this goal, concludes a white paper by Brattle Group and the Watt Coalition. There are more than 10,000 projects adding up to over two terawatts of new capacity awaiting grid connection. When compared to major new transmission investments, GETs can be implemented much faster and often for a small fraction of the cost. GETs enhance transmission investments, acting more as a tool to augment, akin to a GPS or tire air pressure sensor making driving easier—not by themselves replacing the car.

Link to source

Offshore wind growth accelerates

Reports

Offshore wind capacity is expected to grow by 18.4 GW in 2023, a record, with China accounting for over half of this total. By 2030, the annual total will reach 45.7 GW, mainly due to the mature markets of China, the UK, Germany and the Netherlands, but emerging markets such as the US, Taiwan, France, South Korea, Poland and Japan will also make significant contributions. From 2031 to 2035, the report says that installations will average 45.6 GW per year, peaking at 48.2 GW in 2035.

Link to source