Jigar Shah returns to the Energy Gang

The Energy Gang

Wood Mackenzie

Alternative Energy, Tech News, 958784, Environment, Technology, Renewable Energy, Energy, Business, Sustainability, Wind Energy, Climate Change, Cleantech, News, Solar Energy, Innovation, News Commentary

4.6 • 1.3K Ratings

🗓️ 9 May 2024

⏱️ 52 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

The Department of Energy’s Loan Programs Office has a grandstand view of the energy transition. Where is it going next?

Jigar Shah, one of the originators of the Energy Gang, now runs the Department of Energy’s Loan Programs Office, playing a key role in advancing clean energy projects. By helping to bridge the gap between R&D and large-scale deployment, it encourages private sector investment and supports the administration’s work to achieve its net zero goals.

Jigar was appointed Director of the LPO in March 2021 with a brief to “to rev those engines back up” after a quiet period under the Trump administration. He returns to the Energy Gang to discuss the progress he has made so far, and the goals he is working towards in the future. In particular, he talks about the hot topic of the moment in energy: how to meet increased demand for electricity driven by data centers for AI, new factories, and electric vehicles.

Much of the new load being added to the electricity system will not be flexible. Data centers mostly need to be available 24/7. So how is the grid going to manage these growing demands? Host Ed Crooks is also joined by Amy Myers-Jaffe, Director of NYU’s Energy, Climate Justice & Sustainability Lab, to discuss Jigar’s views on the solutions to these challenges.

Topics covered include Virtual Power Plants, enhanced geothermal and advanced nuclear. Those latter two are among the handful of sources of energy that we usually think about when we are discussing “clean firm power”. Geothermal in particular is generating a lot of buzz lately. What will it take to get it deployed at scale? Is it pulling ahead of advanced nuclear in the race to commerciality and large-scale deployment?

The Energy Gang will be recording live from the Global Energy Transition event in June in New York. To secure a discounted ticket, use the ENERGYGANG500 discount code. Visit https://events.reutersevents.com/energy-transition/global-energy-transition-new-york to book.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	Hello and welcome
0:03.7	welcome to the Energy Gang a discussion show about the fast-changing world of energy.
0:07.6	I'm Ed Crooks and we've got a really very exciting show for you today
0:12.1	because it's my great pleasure to welcome back to the show after an absence of many years Jiggers Shah.
0:17.0	Of course, famously a founder of this podcast, one of its greatest achievements,
0:21.0	huge vigor in the world of energy generally and currently the director of the loan programs office at the Department of Energy.
0:28.0	Hi Jigger, how are you? Welcome back.
0:30.0	Oh my gosh, it's great to be back.
0:32.0	Thanks for all the great work you're doing.
0:33.6	Well, thank you, thank you.
0:34.8	It's been too long, certainly.
0:36.0	It's great to see you back here again.
0:38.0	I should also, before we get probably started,
0:40.4	congratulate you.
0:41.2	You've named by Time magazine one of the 100
0:43.2	most influential people of 2024 that's very impressive you know it is you know the
0:48.9	the weird thing for me is the fact that our sector and the work that we do made that list, right?
0:55.8	I mean, you know, it's one thing to, you know, to sort of, you know, be a big fish in a small pond. it's another thing for our sector to even be
1:04.9	recognized within that list which I think is a big testament to where we are right now.
1:08.9	Yeah and not unreasonable I think I always say to people kind of half joking, we have the most important job in the world, right? I mean, providing the energy that people need, well, also not destroying the ecosystem that enables modern
1:24.6	civilization to exist. That's hard to think of things that are more important than
1:28.0	that. And LPO, I mean Jigger, we really admire you're going to LPO in the
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Wood Mackenzie, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of Wood Mackenzie and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.