Energy Insiders - a RenewEconomy Podcast

Retiring Hydro Tasmania CEO Ian Brooksbank reflects on the changing nature of grids, the role of hydro, Battery of the Nation and building wind farms in the right place. Plus: Shutting down coal.

Carl Hutchinson, the country manager of Enel X, on the difficulties of getting demand response on Australia’s main grid, despite its obvious benefits. Plus: News of the week.

AEMO chief executive Daniel Westerman explains why Australia is shifting from the old paradigm of "baseload" power, and why he still wants spinning machines. Plus: News of the week.

Matt Kean on being a private citizen, duelling with Barnaby, rent-seeking on Eraring and pathways to net zero.

Climate expert Lesley Hughes on the recent weather extremes and the impact on biodiversity, and people. Plus: News of the week including the first big CIS tender.

ENA chief executive Dominique van den Berg on the hotly contested role that networks can play in distributed resources. Plus, news of the week.

NAB's Andrew Smith on the challenges of raising equity for Australia's renewable energy transition. Plus: News of the week.

VicGrid CEO Alastair Parker has a job some would not envy, managing the planning of transmission lines and renewable zones in the state of Victoria. He joins the podcast to talk about transmission routes, battery storage, the option of going underground, and where things went wrong on social licence. Plus, the news of the week including windfall profits for all the big utilities.

Rebecca Colvin from ANU and John Cole from University of Southern Queensland and their takes on obtaining social licence for energy projects, and the lessons from King Island and CSG. Plus, news of the week.

Andy McCarthy on setting up a solar business in the heart of coal country more than a decade ago, when a 1 kW system cost $8,000. And what the industry can learn from that as it struggles for social licence. Plus: News of the week including high prices and farmers walking away from wind.

Doug Lewin, from the Energy Capital podcast in Texas, explains how a massive storm triggered unprecedented investment in solar and storage in the oil state. Plus: News of the week.

What we learned from Ted O'Brien, Chris Bowen and everyone else at the CEC summit. Plus: Hydrostor's Jon Norman on why advanced compressed air storage is beating pumped hydro, and why even nuclear needs lots of storage.

Contractors and developers are struggling with higher costs and projects delays. Matt Rennie joins us to discuss the issue. Plus: News of the week.

Amber Electric’s Chris Thompson on new push to have EVs use their batteries on wheels to support homes and the grid, and play utilities at their own market game. Plus: News of the week.

John Grimes from the Smart Energy Council on China's robo-taxis, and its lead on battery, EVs, solar and hydrogen. Plus: The ISP, Matt Kean and nuclear.

Evergen’s Ben Hutt on optimising solar, batteries, and the race to electrification. Plus: News of the week and the nuclear fallout.

Energy expert Alex Wonhas on designing the new grid, generation choices and using batteries to boost the network. Plus, news of the week.

Do communities trust developers? Do people believe renewables will do the job? Zen Energy's Paul Sheridan on the surprising results of a new survey. Plus: News of the week.

DNV's Peerapat Vithayasrichare discusses the Asean super grid idea. Plus: Is it time to rethink long term storage needs?

Is the Eraring coal extension a good deal? Plus: Kane Thornton from the Clean Energy Council discusses GenCost, AEMO, CIS, Made in Australia and what the US is up to.

Transgrid CEO Brett Redman on new projects, delays, costs and social licence. Plus: The federal budget and even bigger batteries.

Hysata's Paul Barrett on the electrolyser tech's record fund raising. Plus: Labor's gas strategy, NSW's sky high prices, and Origin hollers a Marshall.

Victoria energy minister Lily D'Ambrosio on the first offshore project studies, the SEC, and getting a fair share of the Capacity Investment Scheme. Plus: Eraring's future and big batteries take centre stage.

Energy minister Chris Bowen discusses the capacity investment scheme, the Eraring closure, social licence, planning approvals, long duration storage, and why the Coalition’s nuclear plan does not stack up.

Bridget McIntosh from EnergyLab on South-east Asia's energy transition and the role being played by Australian experts. Plus: Battery storage gets really big.

China is the dominant force in solar, wind, battery storage and EVs, and the world’s biggest polluter. China expert Lauri Myllyvirta lifts the lid. Plus: Labor’s Made in Australia plan, and lots of storage news.

TS Conductor CEO Jason Huang on reducing line losses for renewables and storage. Plus: All the news of the week.

Can Alice Springs switch off fossil fuels in the middle of the day? Lyndon Frearson from Ekistica on the options and lessons for the NEM. Plus: Eraring and NVES.

Monash Uni’s Yolande Strengers and Kari Dahlgren on one of the big challenges of the energy transition - trust. Plus, all the news of the week in this nuclear free podcast.

Rio Tinto’s Vik Selvaraja on why Australia’s biggest smelters - and biggest single energy consumers - are choosing wind and solar. Plus: Coalition’s nuclear nonsense.

EnergyAustralia CEO Mark Collette on coal as a reserve asset, the uncertainty of Yallourn, the challenge of green hydrogen, and just managing the transition.

GE global wind boss Steve Swift on landmark supply deal with Andrew Forrest. Plus: Rio Tinto plans Australia’s biggest wind farm to power smelters. And Littleproud’s Barnaby moment.

We talk to three industry experts on offshore wind as part of the Locking in the Green Energy Transition podcast series sponsored by Norton Rose Fulbright.

Daan Walter from RMI on the phenomenal growth of battery storage. Plus: Victoria blackouts, Eraring, and the rabble against renewables.

Dylan McConnell discusses the benefits of the Capacity Investment Scheme, its impact on prices and how the market should pay for spilled energy.

Berkeley Earth’s Robert Rohde discusses the latest climate science and whether even 2°C is achievable. Plus: All the renewable and storage news from the first few weeks of 2024.

AEMO’s head of system design Merryn York on the draft 2024 Integrated System Plan. Plus: The big NSW tender, and battery storage everywhere. And a few tips for 2024.

Baringa’s Anne Bailey talks about the Capacity Investment Mechanism and what’s needed to make it work. Plus: AEMO’s 2024 ISP, the COP28 results, and energy ministers and coal plants.

Vic SEC boss Chris Miller on the state-owned corporation’s first big battery play, and what’s next. Plus: All the news of the week.

Macquarie marches in to Australian renewables by RenewEconomy

Kate Muller from Norton Rose Fulbright talks with Habitat’s Ben Irons and colleague Nick Abrahams on the role AI will play in a grid making switch from spinning machines to inverter-based tech.

Brad Hopkins, from AEMO Services, discusses the successful battery storage tender in NSW that could serve as a blueprint for Chris Bowen's massive 32 GW capacity scheme.

Confusing new wind guidelines in NSW as coal state runs short of spinning machines. Plus: Origin battle intensifies as Tesla throws down energy gauntlet

Genex is succeeding where others feared to tread, with a new big battery, the first pumped hydro project in four decades, and massive wind, solar and storage plans. CEO Craig Francis explains how.

Ivor Frischknecht, now head of Sosteneo, talks about the new battery that signals the end of the need for spinning machines, and a clear path to 100 per cent renewables. Plus: All Energy and Joyce.

State energy minister Tom Koutsantonis discusses green hydrogen plan, filling the "gap" on renewables, transmission, storage and prices.

Methane expert Peter Rayner on Australia’s potent climate problem, and a solution. Plus: Origin’s black hole, Genex deals and big battery bids.

We talk to three people in regional Australia dealing with renewable and transmission projects about the issue of social licence. Plus: Brookfield’s big win.

We talk to Caroline Wykamp and Prajit Parameswar from Marinus Link. Plus: Spring renewables surge delivers low prices, new records, and a push for more storage.

Katherine Woodthorpe, from the Australian Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering, on why Australia should fast-track its net zero ambitions. Plus: The nuclear debate and renewable records.