Financing Gaps, SVB Collapse + Renewable Red Tape
Energy Terminal Weekly Newsletter
March 21st 2023 | Issue #44 | Subscribe here
Happy Tuesday!
Welcome back to ET weekly, Energy Terminal's weekly newsletter where we cover trends, opportunities, events and updates across the energy industry.
In this issue:
💲Financing gaps in energy VC
🚩 Red tape around renewables
💥 SVB collapse + incubators' reactions
📈 Growing electricity demand
⚛️ Is nuclear in or out of renewable goals?
🚨 Top 3 Energy Jobs 🚨
1) Memphis Meets, Product Strategy Intern
• Memphis Meets (now UPSIDE Foods) grows meat, poultry and seafood from animal cells. It is the first company in the world to receive the US FDA greenlight for cultivated meat. A product strategy intern will be tasked with assessing and introducing a new chicken SKU into UPSIDE Foods's development pipeline.
2) GE Power, Carbon Solutions Intern
• GE Power has set the goal to be a net-zero company by 2050. Interns will be exposed to in-depth economic modelling of energy market fundamentals and the policies and regulations that will affect the way that power is produced.
3) Tesla, EV Charging and Public Policy Intern
• Tesla is building a world powered by solar energy, running on batteries and transported by electric vehicles. In this intern role, you'll gain a breadth of knowledge about regulatory policy issues, analyze the impact of EV charging initiatives on Tesla and support the development of new policy and business initiatives.
📣 Episode 25
We see it all the time: millions for emerging startups and successful fundraising rounds. In this episode, we go behind the headlines to uncover the gaps in energy financing and how we can address these gaps to speed the energy transition.
Joining us on the show is Hilary Vogelbaum, Senior Analyst at S2G Ventures and MIT Engineering grad. Hilary has given two TED Talks on how we can break down barriers to more effectively tackle climate change and the energy transition as well as how people with non-traditional backgrounds can make an impact. In the episode, we talk about the concept of “radical inclusion” to bring together diverse perspectives, how she got started with a career in energy venture capital, and the opportunities she sees for startups and investors to take advantage of funding gaps.
📚 Reading List (3/20 - 3/27)
Can utilities decarbonize?! Nuclear pushed out of EU's goals? Check out this week’s handpicked reading list to learn more about these groundbreaking energy topics 🔥
🎙️Podcasts:
Climate One, A Global Just Transition - For Whom?
Fossil-fueled development has unjustly put developing countries at a higher climate risk, and these same countries need help financing the clean energy transition
Research shows that with a transition to a green global economy, there is a $26 trillion additional gain and millions more jobs created, so it’s possible to both grow the economy and take care of the planet
However, navigating the energy transition in low-income countries is highly complicated and the interactions between finance an international aid, economic growth, national interests, resource development, and economic justice need to be addressed
Energy Gang, Clearing the Red Tape around Renewables
The lengthy permitting and interconnection process remains one of the biggest obstacles to renewable development and is the primary reason projects fail
To reach net-zero goals, transmission needs to grow by 2.3% per year, compared to 1% per year this past decade
Republicans in the House are launching a new permitting bill that might open the door to bipartisan agreement
POLITICO Energy, The Western water wars collide with Navajo Nation water access
⅓ of the households in the Navajo Nation lack access to running water
And, the reservation is bordered by the main stem of the Colorado River
The Navajo Nation is asking the court to allocate and protect a portion of the water that is in the Colorado River for them
However, this water usage will come out of other’s water usage, and this river is shrinking both due to over allocation and climate change
The court justices do appear to be sympathetic to the Navajo Nation’s arguments for allocation of water
In a 1908 ruling by SCOTUS, if a treaty is creating a right to a reservation there is also an implication for water
The reaction to this argument will have large implications on other tribes’ arguments for water allocation
📰️ Articles:
Canary Media, How climate tech incubators rallied to help startups after SVB collapse
SVB held a huge market share of banking for startups and innovative companies, which were especially hard-hit by the collapse
About 1500 climate tech startups banked with SVB
In response, incubators like Greentown Labs, Third Derivative, Los Angeles Cleantech Incubator (LACI), and Urban Future Lab are developing more holistic ways they can support startups and founders in the midst of economic uncertainty
Forbes, Can Utilities Rise to the Challenges Presented by Decarbonization?
The US grid may need to expand by 60% by 2030 to meet clean energy demands
Distributed energy resources (DERs) can alleviate some of this stress on the grid, by taking 20% of peak load by 2030
Decreased fossil fuel usage means increase consumption of electricity, so electricity consumption could move from 20% to 50% by 2050
Carbon neutrality and reliability are both vital, so we need both natural gas and nuclear as we move to transition completely away from coal
Reuters, Germany, Spain push to keep nuclear out of EU renewable energy goals
The EU is negotiating more ambitious renewable energy targets, but these talks have been deadlocked by the controversy of whether the goals can be met by using “low-carbon hydrogen” produced by nuclear power
Seven countries recently called for the targets to not include non-renewable energy sources, as they argue that this would “decrease ambition” and “slow renewables deployment”
Other countries that want to open up EU renewable energy targets state that excluding nuclear would slow the development of hydrogen fuel, and this is bad because Europe is depending on it to decarbonise heavy industry
⏰ Missed Episode 24?
☄️ Thanks for reading this edition of ET weekly!
Make sure to follow us on our socials so you're always up-to-date!