Catalyst with Shayle Kann

Unpopular solar opinions, 2022 edition


Listen Later

We want your feedback! Fill out our listener survey for a chance to win a $100 Patagonia gift card.

In a funny twist of fate, solar’s success has made it old news. It’s the fastest-growing source of electricity in the world and one of the cheapest. But it’s far from the hot topic it was a decade ago when utility-scale photovoltaics were still an emerging technology. Now that it’s a more mature tool in the climate fight, we take it for granted.

And yet there’s so much more we need to do. To reach net zero by 2050, we likely need to quadruple global solar capacity by 2030, according to projections by BloombergNEF (BNEF). But labor shortages, high material costs and interconnection bottlenecks stand in the way. 

So how do we get there?

In this episode Shayle talks to Jenny Chase, who managed BloombergNEF’s solar insights team for 17 years before leaving the role this month. Every year she tweets a thread of 50 not-always-popular opinions on solar, covering the state of the industry and the challenges it needs to solve. For this episode, Shayle picked the opinions he found most interesting and unpacked them with Jenny. 

They cover Jenny’s opinions on:

  • The biggest bottlenecks holding back solar deployment, like labor shortages, high polysilicon prices and grid interconnection backlogs
  • Why we don’t need new technology breakthroughs in solar
  •  Perovskite and building-integrated photovoltaics 
  •  How residential solar and battery salespeople are making up their savings projections
  • How the U.S. Inflation Reduction Act could spur an unsustainable boom in solar and hydrogen equipment manufacturing
  • Why leading forecasts could be underestimating solar deployment
  • Recommended Resources:

    • Twitter: Jenny Chase’s 2022 opinions-on-solar thread 
    • Canary Media: What’s behind solar’s polysilicon shortage — and why it’s not getting better anytime soon
    • Canary Media: Perovskites can make solar panels more efficient than silicon alone
    • Bloomberg: Solar Outshines Wind to Lead China’s Clean-Energy Transition
    • Bloomberg: Solar Growth Estimates for 2050 Are Aggressive, But Not Unrealistic

      Catalyst is a co-production of Post Script Media and Canary Media.

      Catalyst is supported by Scale Microgrid Solutions, your comprehensive source for all distributed energy financing. Distributed generation can be complex. Scale makes financing it easy. Visit scalecapitalsolutions.com to learn more.

      Catalyst is supported by CohnReznick Capital, a trusted source for renewable energy investment banking servicing the US sustainability sector. Visit cohnreznickcapital.com to learn more.

      ...more
      View all episodesView all episodes
      Download on the App Store

      Catalyst with Shayle KannBy Latitude Media

      • 4.9
      • 4.9
      • 4.9
      • 4.9
      • 4.9

      4.9

      257 ratings


      More shows like Catalyst with Shayle Kann

      View all
      Energy Gang by Wood Mackenzie

      Energy Gang

      1,248 Listeners

      Climate One by Climate One from The Commonwealth Club

      Climate One

      570 Listeners

      Columbia Energy Exchange by Columbia University

      Columbia Energy Exchange

      399 Listeners

      Currents by Norton Rose Fulbright

      Currents

      125 Listeners

      Interchange Recharged by Wood Mackenzie

      Interchange Recharged

      498 Listeners

      Redefining Energy by Laurent Segalen and Gerard Reid

      Redefining Energy

      128 Listeners

      Switched On by Bloomberg

      Switched On

      98 Listeners

      POLITICO Energy by POLITICO

      POLITICO Energy

      143 Listeners

      Climate Rising by Harvard Business School Business & Environment Initiative

      Climate Rising

      79 Listeners

      Cleaning Up: Leadership in an Age of Climate Change by Michael Liebreich, Bryony Worthington

      Cleaning Up: Leadership in an Age of Climate Change

      77 Listeners

      Volts by David Roberts

      Volts

      629 Listeners

      The Green Blueprint by Latitude Media

      The Green Blueprint

      210 Listeners

      The Latitude by Latitude Media

      The Latitude

      124 Listeners

      Hot Buttons by Latitude Media

      Hot Buttons

      71 Listeners

      Zero: The Climate Race by Bloomberg

      Zero: The Climate Race

      228 Listeners

      With Great Power by GridX and Latitude Studios

      With Great Power

      84 Listeners

      Shift Key with Robinson Meyer and Jesse Jenkins by Heatmap News

      Shift Key with Robinson Meyer and Jesse Jenkins

      121 Listeners

      Open Circuit by Latitude Media

      Open Circuit

      141 Listeners