Redefining Energy

After the fiasco of “Better place” in 2013, a much-hyped Israeli start up that proposed battery swapping for cars, everybody thought that the concept of battery swapping was dead. Against all odds, an exceptional Hong Kong Chinese American entrepreneur decided to be a contrarian and launched Gogoro as Better Place collapsed. But Horace Luke’s angle was to focus on two-wheelers, which are so present in Asia (500 million). Horace’s past experiences at Microsoft and HTC helped him shaped his vision. Battery Swapping was in his mind, the ideal solution for mass adoption of electric Two-Wheelers in densely populated, polluted and congested Asian Megacities.
Execution has been performed the “hard way”, as the initial digital platform has morphed into a hardware company, designing batteries, manufacturing electric scooters, and operating swapping stations.
Fast forward ten years, Gogoro has built the world’s leading battery swapping network and best-in-class electric two-wheelers, and is now listed on the NASDAQ with a market cap above 1bnUSD.
We have the pleasure of welcoming Horace Luke to discuss the challenges and opportunities of battery swapping for two-wheelers. And learn the benefits of the “hard way”.

We thank our partner DLA Piper

Elon Musk calls Lithium supply the “limiting factor” for electric vehicle adoption globally. Lithium is the key material for the Energy Transition and is currently enjoying a “white gold” rush.

The supply has significantly gone up multiple fold in the past seven years, up to 500,000t/y in 2022; still, demand is expected – according to Benchmark Minerals Intelligence – to grow another four to five-fold this decade.

The shortage of Lithium – whether real or perceived -, has triggered a spectacular rise in the price of materials over the past two years. Spot prices of Lithium have gone up six-fold since 2020. And Lithium is not alone: Nickel, Cobalt, Graphite, every battery material has gone up. Basically, in 2020 you had 2,000USD of material in a Tesla battery, now it is closer to 6,000USD.
Are we going to run out of Lithium? Are they new places to mine, new players, new technologies which could come to the rescue?
We have invited Alex Grant, Principal at Jade Cove Partners, to assess all those challenges.
We call Alex the “Indiana Jones of Lithium and Battery materials”. Forbes 30 under 30, research affiliate at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Alex has an M.S. from Northwestern University in Chemical Engineering and tracks 70 different Lithium Extraction Technologies. Finally, he has a cool Twitter handle: @big_lithium. So, he is the man to interview!
We also have inserted an excerpt from Elon Musk conversation in the FT “Future of cars” that was held in May 2022 where Tesla’s CEO shares his views on the Lithium supply chain.

A salute to our main sources of knowledge in Lithium: Simon Moores at Benchmark Minerals Intelligence, and of course Joe Lowry aka “Mr Lithium”. Check them on LinkedIn

And thanks again and again to our partner Aquila Capital

There is not a single day when we don’t hear about new funds being raised to finance the Energy Transition. As very few funds are listed on Exchanges, and it is estimated that more than 2/3 of the Energy Transition is currently financed on private markets, for which there is limited public available information.

Today, we attempt to lift the veil on those VC (Venture Capital), PE (Private Equity), Infrastructure funds which all working to finance the Energy Transition. Who invest in those funds, how they are managed, how do they evolve, what is the “special relationship” between GPs (General Partners) and LPs (Limited Partners)? What will be the performance of the new “Climate tech” and “Decarbonisation” funds that have recently been launched.

We also try to decrypt an increasingly complex regulatory environment where green labels are getting harder to get. Are new regulations a solution to greenwashing or just more bureaucracy?

So, what the new profile of Energy Transition funds?
We have invited Tiffany Howard, Principal at Capstone Partners (a Mizuho Company) to discuss the state of play. Capstone is one of the most active placing agents of the industry. Tiffany discusses with Gerard and Laurent the latest evolutions of the private markets financing the Energy Transition.

We thank our partner DLA Piper for supporting the show

Over the past few months, energy prices have gone through the roof, and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has put energy security on the front burner. We can legitimately ask ourselves: Are high energy prices and the need for energy security tanking or boosting the Energy transition?

Of course, we now are seeing the fossil fuels lobbyists making victory laps, telling “we told you so”, “forget about net-zero” “This is La-la land”, “That’s the consequence of ESG”. In our opinion, that is just grand standing.

To try to understand where the Energy Transition is heading, we have invited one the wisest observer of the Energy Landscape, Jules Kortenhorst. Jules, after a distinguished career in the Energy Industry, is now CEO of RMI (formerly Rocky Mountain Institute). RMI is a 40-year-old independent nonprofit organization of experts working across disciplines to accelerate the clean energy transition to secure a clean, prosperous, zero-carbon future for all.
With Jules, Gerard and Laurent assess the near term and long-term impacts of the current energy markets turmoil. They confront their visions of how policies, technologies, investments, and individual behaviors will influence the future of the Energy Transition.

We thank Aquila Capital for their support

Contact RMI
@JulesKortenhors
@RockyMtnInst
https://www.linkedin.com/company/rocky-mountain-institute/
https://rmi.org/

There is also an excellent report by Alexa Capital on the same subject here
https://www.alexa-capital.com/news-insights/how-europe-s-pearl-harbour-moment-is-affecting-the-transatlantic-energy-transition-outlook/

How to survive a war when you are a Utility in Ukraine?

Thanks to Eurelectric which organised the introduction, we have the honour of welcoming a hero of the Energy world: Maxim Timchenko, CEO of DTEK, one of the top integrated Utility in Ukraine.
During an intense conversation we talk about war, destruction, and sufferings, but also about resistance and resilience. Maxim praises its workforce as it tries to reestablish power and heat in liberated towns.
Beyond the horror and the drama, there is hope for the post war situation, the optimism of a stronger European integration that will help our continent wean itself of Russian dependence while creating opportunities for Ukraine’s resources.

We thank again Maxim for making the time. Slava Ukraini

Maxim will join European Power Summit in June
https://powersummit2022.eurelectric.org/

Thanks to our forever friends and partner Aquila Capital

Decarbonising Heat is a significant challenge on the road to Net-Zero, Climate Resilience and Energy Security. It is also a very complex problem as there are several categories of heat that require different technical solutions. While Heat Pumps can (and will) provide low grade heat, the options for high grade heat are evading electrification and will continue to rely on burning molecules.

Several start-ups on the US West Coast are tackling the challenge, with the support of powerful Venture Capital funds such as Bill Gates’ Breakthrough Energy Ventures.

To understand how those groundbreaking applications looks, we have invited a young prodigy on the show. Tony Pan, CEO and Co-founder of Modern Electron, explains his approach to Ultra Energy-Efficiency in Heat. Once scaled, Modern Electron’s innovations will significantly enhance the climate performances of heating.

We thank our partner DLA Piper for its support

The deployment of Li-Ion batteries has exploded in recent years and is expected to enjoy a 30% annual growth until 2030. But those very critical pieces of hardware need a brain to fully function, and that is where software kicks in. In fact, they are two layers of software: the operating system, monitoring the functioning of the battery and the cloud system that interacts with the global electricity system and the power markets. Managing batteries revenues widely differs from geography to geography. Revenues can be categorised in three captions: a) short term ancillary service: daily auctions for primary, secondary, and tertiary reserve b) wholesale electricity market: day-ahead, intraday and imbalance markets; c) long-term auctions such as capacity schemes, voltage control, and last reserve.
The battery management software must adapt to those different revenue stacks. So, how are the software developed, managed? How do they evolve?
We have the pleasure of welcoming Seyed Madaeni, Chief Digital Officer at Fluence, to discuss those fascinating subjects.
Finally, we do a deep dive into the economics of Fluence and have a go at the newly listed (and supposedly competitor) Energy Vault.
We thank Aquila Capital for supporting the show.

If you want more from Gerard and Laurent, check our sister podcast: Redefining Energy MINUTES, available on all main podcasts platforms.

The war in Ukraine is a total gamechanger. Beyond the personal drama and misery inflicted on millions of human beings, it triggers a tremor in the world of Energy of a magnitude not seen since the Oil shocks of the 70’s.
As Energy Security becomes front and center, Gerard and Laurent try to understand the short-term implications on the Energy landscape.
Are we moving away from the energy transition or are we going to align energy security with the energy transition?
Politicians have a chance to rise and make radical decisions. We have the human and financial capital; we have the technologies. We can implement a deep decarbonization than will also benefit Energy Security.

It is about Rewiring Europe, electrifying heating and transports, building networks faster, full digitization, higher level of resilience. Rewiring Europe will require significant changes in mindset, thinking, regulation, and in investments. Rewiring Europe will bring bold ideas to fruition and require bravery in implementation. But let’s be clear, Rewiring Europe must be done in an economic environment where financial institutions want to invest, as the sole burden of the transition cannot be borne solely by the ratepayers or the taxpayers.
If we wean ourselves off oil and gas, we will be free!
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Proposals:
Short term
1. Reduce demand for natural gas – Practically, Germany and Belgium may both have to delay closures of nuclear plants and the same may need to happen for coal plants across the continent.
2. Move any energy purchases away from Russia – Practically, we may need to rethink the closure of North Sea and NL gas wells but also be prepared to import energy at higher prices from other parts of the world.
3. Fill up storage tanks – Europe needs to buy as much as it can in terms of uranium and fossil fuels to ensure we have enough energy to keep the lights on and our economies working.
4. Help energy sensitive customers – Practically, governments will need to help people and companies through these difficult times.

Medium term
1. Deeply electrify the energy system – The quickest way to decarbonise is to electrify as much as possible of the energy system. To that we need radical regulatory change to ensure a speedy and low cost transition. This starts with improving planning laws to allow quick build out of renewables and the necessary grid infrastructure.
2. Enable low cost electricity – In many European countries, electricity is the most expensive way to power your car and heat your home. The recent surges in natural gas prices have now indirectly made electricity even more expensive. There is a whole pile of measures than can be put in place, such as a) grid regulatory reforms which force competition and b) cost efficiency improvements to wholesale power market reforms which move away from the marginal cost pricing. In addition, taxes and other charges should be removed to ensure that electricity becomes the cheapest form of energy.
3. Invest in clean energy and storage – self explanatory
4. Embrace energy efficiency – self explanatory
5. Cut demand for fossil fuels – Heat pumps and EVs. In addition, it may well be that Europe needs to bring in a border carbon adjustment tax to ensure that European jobs and emissions are simply exported to another part of the world.
6. Change how Europe does innovation – stop sprinkling funds around to please lobbyists and PR firms, focus research funding on zero-carbon and storage
7. Bring together national security, decarbonization and industrial interests - self explanatory

As Winston Churchill was working on the establishment of the United Nations after WW2, he famously said "Never let a good crisis go to waste." Let’s focus on Rewiring Europe.
Check Gerard’s blog on the Rewiring Europe
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/why-we-need-rewire-europe-learn-from-past-energy-policy-gerard-reid/?trackingId=bYeoeBKtMTQf0jPS65bLAA%3D%3D

As we are celebrating the 20th anniversary of the seminal book by Jeremy Rifkin “The Hydrogen Economy” and the astronomical amount of non-sense it contained, we wanted to have a real look at the prospect of Green Hydrogen.
Beyond bombastic claims such as “History will look back at 2022 as the year that hydrogen started to reshape the world”, we have decided to dig deep into the technology and prospect of Electrolysers.
And there is no better guest to talk about electrolysers than Graham Cooley, CEO of ITM Power. ITM Power is one of the largest electrolyser manufacturers in the world, and has deep pockets to pursue a very aggressive expansion. What is true now, and how does the horizon looks like for green hydrogen?
In other words, is Green Hydrogen a miracle or a mirage?

Anything you want to know about Hydrogen, go to our friend Paul Martin and his Hydrogen Science Coalition.
https://h2sciencecoalition.com/

Link to the Irena Report: Geopolitics of Green Hydrogen
https://www.irena.org/publications/2022/Jan/Geopolitics-of-the-Energy-Transformation-Hydrogen

A nice video of Electrolysers in action (Humberside Project – UK)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=97lA75HocBw

And we thank again our partner DLA PIPER

Gigafactory: a term first coined by Elon Musk in 2013 when announcing the Tesla+Panasonic giant battery plant in Nevada. There are currently more than 260 Gigafactories planned around the world, but lots of them remain “PowerPoint factories”. So, how do you go from PowerPoint to Gigafactory?
The answer might be in Norway, so let’s go to Norway.
We are very happy to be joined by Tom Jensen. Tom is CEO of FREYR battery, a Norwegian Gigafactory start-up. In 2021, FREYR raised 600mUSD on the NYSE to make his vision of Speed, Scale and Sustainability come true.
We discuss the strategic positioning, the inherent advantages of Norway which go beyond cheap clean power, we talk about industrialisation, technology, chemistry, supply chain and competition.
Tom is a great admirer of the Swedish neighbour Northvolt, but he plans to catch up fast. With such a great leadership, FREYR will soon be a force to reckon with in the Battery industry.

Thanks to our great partner Aquila Capital