Today we had the pleasure of visiting with Pavel Molchanov, Managing Director of Renewable Energy and Clean Technology Research at Raymond James. Pavel joined Raymond James as an Associate 20 years ago and actually first began coverage of the new energy space in 2006. His team currently covers all aspects of sustainable-themed technologies including solar, wind, biomaterials, electric vehicles, hydrogen, power storage, grid modernization, water technology, and more. We were excited to connect with Pavel and get his perspective on stocks, investors, trends, technologies and transition public policy. In the discussion, we cover the broad space that Pavel and his team observe.
 
In our conversation, Pavel first provides a few of his big-picture observations on the energy space and how it has changed in the course of his career. We discuss the future of coal in particular and its role in the global energy system, the various energy sources and assumptions that would be required to entirely phase out coal, and the potential increase in energy costs associated with transitioning away from coal and the impact on economic development. Pavel shares his perspective on the different growth rates and dynamics between the clean tech sector and oil and gas, and the challenges clean tech companies face to drive adoption and become more cost competitive. We also discuss the large number of clean energy stocks that went public during COVID-19, ESG in the clean technology universe, investor attitudes, the Raymond James investor base, and more. The discussion ended up being a fascinating blend of the global energy system and the changes underway, and how all that shows up in individual stocks. We are grateful to Pavel for his time and insights, but are particularly appreciative of his “ask me anything” approach to the whole conversation. Thank you again, Pavel!
 
Mike Bradley kicked us off by highlighting that commodity and equity markets didn’t respond as positively as many had hoped for given news of a tentative debt ceiling agreement over the weekend. Given current select Republican rumblings, markets are now going to wish to see solid evidence that the current tentative deal can obtain passage before the end of this week. He highlighted that the upcoming OPEC meeting on June 4th could be one of the more important meetings in quite some time given that Saudi’s Oil Minister (warning oil speculators) and Russia’s Oil Minister (saying no added production cuts) seem to be messaging differently when they should be showing unity. Todd Scruggs also joined for today’s discussion and added his insights and questions to the discussion.
 
Thank you, as always, for your support and friendship!