This episode breaks down rising U.S. electricity costs tied to grid constraints and growing demand, controversial federal payouts halting offshore wind projects, and Europe’s struggle with gas-driven power pricing. The hosts also explore the rise of affordable long-range EVs despite policy setbacks. Guest Oliver Millman explains why clean energy growth continues globally, even amid political resistance, highlighting strong market forces and legal challenges shaping the energy transition.
Intro
Paul Gerke (00:11.92)
Hey everybody and welcome to another edition of This Week in Clean Tech. We're already having a laugh. At my expense, I'll be honest, I got the worst haircut of my life this week. I'm not gonna name names. I'm not gonna leave a bad review. I'm just gonna learn from my lesson and not go back there. Anyway, you're not at the barbershop. You're listening to a podcast. It's called This Week in Clean Tech. It's a Factor This podcast. We do it every Friday. It's a 15-minute roundup of the biggest stories in climate and clean energy every week. This is Friday, May 1st. Turn of a new month in 2026. We've got a returning guest on the horn, Oliver Millman from The Guardian is waiting in standby right now. If you don't know me by now, I'm Factor This content director, Paul Gerke, alongside cleantech commentator Mike Casey of TigerCom. Mike, I'm glad that I could provide a little humor at my own expense for you.
Mike Casey (01:00.652)
I don't know what's funny or your bad haircut that had you look like Keith Moon or Brian Mendes cackling about it because he is it. Mendes is a strategic cackler. He gets that cackle going right before he does the countdown. And then we're left trying to suppress the guffaws that result. So I just this is more backstage drama that our listeners and viewers want to hear every week. I'm certain because they tell me about it. There you go. All right. Paul Gerke. man.
Paul Gerke (01:22.738)
When he gets going, it's tough because then we all get going. Once you get going, then it's tough for me to rein it in anyway. The point of the matter is we have some fun on this show despite what Mike tells every guest in the lobby that this is a very serious and buttoned up program. We'd love to hear from the viewers and the listeners. I've gotten some emails and some LinkedIn messages recently. Appreciate all of you for reaching out about the show. If you have a story you want to see on it or two cents to share, just email us. The email address is TWIC at tigercom with two M's dot US we've got five stories lined up for you this week let's start with the first one Mike
Story 1: Rising Electricity Costs and the Broken Grid
Mike Casey (02:01.006)
You might have heard of the New York Times. There's a heat map editor who writes for him. His name is Robinson Meyer. We laud his coverage often. And he put together this really cool package. Why is there electric bill going up? Blame the broken grid, Paul.
Paul Gerke (02:18.684)
Yeah, that's an SEO dream right now. For someone who works in like article analytics, that title is going to perform really well for the New York Times. Smart guy, Robinson Meyer. So the gist of this one is something you already know listening to this program. Electricity costs are out of control right now. They're American's second largest energy expense after gasoline if you live in the Great Lakes states. You're nodding your head in agreement right now after what happened to gas prices over the last day or so.
Price is poised to keep climbing as demand hits record high for the first time in over a decade. For most of American history, electricity demand has grown alongside the economy and it's been pretty slow, but that pattern started to break in the mid-2000s with an efficient shift to LED lighting that was so impactful that it kept demand flat for like 15 years, even as the economy grew. But as you know, that era is behind us now and we're in this surge for EVs and electrification and AI and data centers.
But there's a multi-pronged problem here. It's not just a supply and demand issue, aging infrastructure, natural disasters, global price shocks, the warner on, lots of complications here, led by data centers which are increasingly trying to bypass the grid with their own on-site power plants. And the longer this goes on, the more of an issue it becomes. Transmission takes time, interconnection takes time.
We've got some problems all over the place. Mike, your thoughts on this as electricity demand continues to increase.
Mike Casey (03:44.973)
Yeah, so Robinson, he's got some interesting arguments here. He says, we should actually welcome rising electricity demand because big new customers can actually lower costs for everyone by covering more of the grid's shared expenses. And he points out that states with the biggest demand growth, North Dakota, New Mexico, for example, they've seen prices stay flat or drop.
where states where demand fell, like California or Maine, they actually saw the steepest price hike. So more demand can actually mean lower bills, counterintuitive obviously. He also argues that rather than blocking data centers, communities should harness their massive investment appetite to modernize the grid for everyone. He calls it a generational opportunity, which I got to tell you with all the pushback against data centers, I know that could fall on.
unfriendly ears, we'll say. But he says basically let's treat the grid like an interstate highway system. It's critical infrastructure that's worth real public investment. So he has a list of things he advocates. I just found this a fascinating piece. So hats off to Robinson. Paul, story number two.
Story 2: Offshore Wind Buyouts
Paul Gerke (04:52.687)
Yeah, go read the piece if you want to see that full list. We're trying to keep things to 15 minutes here. Story number two by Repeat. This week in Clean Tech guest Jennifer McDermott and Matthew Daly from the AP. We just republished this one on Factor This. Trump administration to pay two more companies to walk away from US offshore wind leases. Mike, we heard about the first iteration of this a couple weeks ago. What's changed?
Mike Casey (05:15.278)
We're doubling down on stupid. That's what's changed. Because if you're an insolvent country, like we are, and you need more power, like we do, the smart thing to do is to hand taxpayer money to energy generators to walk away from projects that could produce energy.
Paul Gerke (05:33.359)
That they've already invested hundreds of millions of dollars in too, by the way.
Mike Casey (05:35.734)
Yeah, that's good. So anyway, we could just get into the details of the stupidity. Let's just quickly give the, let's fly over the country here. The Interior Department said Blue Point Wind off New Jersey and New York and Golden State Wind off California Central Coast will surrender their leases for nearly $900 million. Neither company will pursue any new offshore wind projects in the US.
Paul Gerke (05:50.301)
Mm-hmm.
Mike Casey (06:00.018)
Each project was expected to be capable of powering more than one million homes when completed. I just, you know, I think we're at a saturation point on the show for covering the ongoing clown show that seems to be federal policy making.
Story 3: Europe’s Gas Price Problem
Paul Gerke (07:08.059)
Alright, story number three this week by Simon Mundy from the Financial Times titled why electricity markets are stuck on the gas price roller coaster so Mike
Mike Casey (07:02.775)
Okay, if you can not be pissy, why don't you go first on this show, but don't be pissy. All right, go ahead.
Paul Gerke (07:08.059)
Alright, European wholesale electricity prices are swinging all over the place right now. If you're paying attention over there, Germany just hit a record low of minus 414 euros per megawatt hour when solar and wind flooded the grid. But when renewables and nuclear fall short, expensive gas plants kick in and prices go way up and that's been exacerbated by what's happening in the Middle East right now.
Gas only generates a quarter of UK electricity, less than a fifth in the EU but it still sets the price for the whole market most of the time because that price disparity is so drastic. Part of the issue is that the European electricity markets use marginal pricing. Renewables bid low, gas bids high, and then the grid takes the cheapest bids first, but everyone gets that final highest price. So even though renewable energy is cheap to produce, as long as that gas lingers around, it's going to bring up the price of everything with it.
Mike Casey (07:57.4)
So the UK looked at zonal pricing, that's the term, splitting into regional markets with their own prices but rejected it last year, saying it would create too much uncertainty and could be passed on to consumers as higher prices. So instead, the UK is expanding fixed price contracts so that already operating renewable energy plants can sell power outside that wholesale market. That would reduce exposure to gas price spikes, but gas is still forecast to set
the UK wholesale electricity price by half the time in 2030. So the EU is facing the same debate. Options on the table include subsidizing gas plants or splitting renewable and non-renewable power into separate markets. There is resistance. Last week, the European Commission proposed measures with no mention of market restructuring. Spain shows what's possible.
When renewables dominate, gas sets the electricity price only 15 % of the time versus 89 % in Italy, and the average wholesale prices there are 43 euros versus 128 euros. So there's no easy answers here. It's just a race to build enough clean energy, grid infrastructure, and stories to reduce gas impact on power prices. Paul, our fourth story.
Paul Gerke (09:06.161)
That's not too dissimilar from what's happening in the States, when you break it down like that.
Story 4: Affordable Long-Range EVs
Paul Gerke (09:22.411)
Story number four, I think this is super interesting. This one from Francesca Paris, again at the New York Times, titled The Rise of the High-Range, Less Expensive EV. We've talked a lot about this stuff on the show. Mike, what's in this story?
Mike Casey (10:07.309)
Yeah, haters be damned, here we go. The new EV sales in the US have slumped. The Trump administration ended the $7,500 tax credit and manufacturers are canceling models because why lean into the future? But one corner of the market is actually growing affordable long range EVs. A decade ago, range and price were tightly linked. If you wanted to go far, you had to spend a lot. That is no longer true. Today, there are over a dozen models that offer more than 250 miles of range for under 40,000 bucks. In 2021, you could count them in one hand. Driving force behind all this is battery technology.
battery prices have dropped from $1,000 per kilowatt hour in the early 2010s to around a hundred bucks in 2025. That's a 90 % price reduction and the energy density has also improved. Paul, what do you think?
Paul Gerke (11:03.196)
I got some news for the haters. It's a better mousetrap. And we know that and I think a lot of consumers know that. And I think when you have a whole market full of options that have that 250 to 300 mile range, which is really what most Americans need on a day to day, I think that it eventually will displace gasoline vehicles. It's just quite frankly a better mousetrap.
Overall, new EV sales are dropping though, you're not imagining that, down about 27 % from early 25 to early 26. That's because of that tax credit though. But the affordable long-range segment actually held up better than its contemporaries, some models growing in sales. I was reading a story about how Chinese projects, like the BYD stuff, Mike, the long-range EVs, are starting to show up in California because it's legal for folks in Mexico to buy them.
Mike Casey (11:52.286)
Whoops.
Paul Gerke (11:54.96)
and then commute across the border to work in the United States. So Californians are seeing firsthand from some Mexican citizens what's possible in the EV space and wondering, what is going on here in the States? Why can't we have any of this cool stuff? Just a matter of time before we get there.
Mike Casey (12:09.59)
Okay, our last story is by our returning guest, Oliver Millman from The Guardian, who is not feeling pissy, Paul Gerke, because he writes, Trump's attempt to crush clean energy progress not going to plan, experts say.
Story 5: Clean Energy Pushback Isn’t Working
Mike Casey (12:09.59)
Okay, our last story is by our returning guest, Oliver Millman from The Guardian, who is not feeling pissy, Paul Gerke, because he writes, Trump's attempt to crush clean energy progress not going to plan, experts say. Oliver, you are like a breath of good news here with this headline. So I want you to tell our listeners and our viewers, if they haven't read the story, which we want them to do, what is the big takeaway?
Oliver (12:35.771)
Sure. Hi there, Mike and Paul. So essentially, not to kind of downplay any of the other kind of bad news that is swirling around, we're not short of it. And as you mentioned there, the Trump administration has been, you know, continues to be aggressive in trying to shut down the clean energy industry, even paying developers not to develop their projects. But the market forces and the kind of global shift to clean energy seems to be
undeniable and unstoppable even for the power of the presidency. So we saw last month in March the US produce more electricity from renewable sources than from gas for the first time. And that's just a single month. But if you look over what's going to be happening the rest of this year, we're still on track for 93 percent of new power grid additions coming online in the US are going to be clean. Just seven percent are going to be kind of fossil fuels, mainly gas. That kind of record year for new
capacity last year, of course. And then the world, of course, the world is kind of moving in this direction. And it seems to ironically been accelerated by the war in Iran that Donald Trump launched with Israel. Countries are now kind of doubling down on clean energy because they just want to get away from the kind of horrible price volatility of fossil fuels. So you're seeing all of these things kind of combined to kind of really thwart Trump, as well as the courts. So last week, the administration had some setbacks
in the courts, the federal court in Massachusetts that said
we're going to put a temporary pause on your hold of clean energy projects, these various barriers that the administration is throwing up. That got swept aside by a judge. And obviously, these offshore wind farms as well that the administration tried to stop too, that's been thwarted in court as well, that those are going to resume. So you're seeing all of these things come together to give a bit of glimmer of hope to
an energy, clean energy sector that felt a little bit under siege for a while. Still does, I think, but certainly there was some optimism being voiced by those I spoke to for the piece.
Mike Casey (14:44.351)
yes.
Paul Gerke (14:48.719)
I'm glad that you brought up the court system because that's where I think everything gets funneled through ultimately is these orders to stop work on projects that have already been permitted are illegal. The orders to stop building on federal lands for these companies that have already received permission to do so are illegal. And it's just a matter of time before the judges get their teeth into it and put injunctions on these orders. But that takes time. And Oliver, as you know about the US grid right now, time is not on our side.
Every element that slows down progress ultimately hurts us doubly, triply, quadruply on the back end because it's going to take that much longer to get gigawatts onto the grid. In your reporting, is this all driven through fossil fuel lobbying or is there some other legitimate concern about getting renewables on the grid in the Trump administration other than apparently he doesn't like the way that windmills look as he puts it?
Oliver (15:39.358)
Yeah, I mean, when you ask people for reasons, there's no kind of coherent answer really why. And if you look at the reasons the administration gives to try and stop these things, it's, you know, renewables are unreliable. There's national security risks for having offshore farms, all these kinds of things. But when you hear the president himself speak, it's like, they're ugly. I don't like the look of them. They're garbage.
they litter the environment, all these kind of things. It's a very kind of personal visceral dislike that seems to be driving a lot of this. Not much logic behind it. And even towards their own stated aims, right, of energy dominance, lowering costs for consumers. If you wanted energy dominance and lowering costs for consumers, you would be allowing the kind of traditional Republican, all of the above approach, right, of allowing as much new stuff as possible. And the cheapest and quickest stuff at the moment is, of course, clean energy. So you'd be encouraging that, especially with what's going on with Iran and the kind of the global oil price and gasoline prices that Americans are now facing. So there is no kind of
coherent logic behind it, I think ultimately it comes down to the fact that Donald Trump did not like the look of those wind turbines off his golf course in Scotland all those years ago, and is now wreaking his revenge upon that industry.
Paul Gerke (16:55.109)
Lucky us.
Mike Casey (16:56.077)
Well, that would be a short way of rephrasing Oliver's answer to your question. Paul, we could talk to Oliver all day about this and I would like to because I love this story, but we should go to our clean tech of the week because we're almost at 15 minutes, almost staying out of there.
Paul Gerke (17:16.413)
Alright, let's do it. If you haven't checked out Oliver's story yet, go do so.
Cleantecher of the Week
Paul Gerke (17:16.413)
This week's Cleantecher of the Week, Sean Park, CEO of Point2. So data centers, they rely heavily on copper cables. What doesn't these days? But copper has physical limits on efficiency. It's subject to major price swings like gasoline we were talking about. Point2 has found a way to transmit data using radio waves through plastic materials instead, cutting out the use of copper entirely. The company claims this halves power consumption compared to traditional high-speed copper cables.
Sounds cool, sounds promising. Congrats, Sean Park, CEO of Point2, our Clean Tech-er of the week.
Mike Casey (17:49.921)
We want to thank our occasionally wonderful producer, Brian Mendez, but the always wonderful Clare Quirin and Alex Petersen for helping gather these stories.
Conclusion
Paul Gerke (17:59.107)
And to Oliver Millman for stopping by this week. I really love to see it. Thank you for sharing insights about the story and like I said go check it out if you haven't already. If you enjoyed the show please subscribe, leave a little feedback, share story suggestions if you like. We mentioned our email at the top of the show. You can also read every article we talk about each week. There are links in the episode description as well as in the post where this lives on factorthis.com. Until next time, be good people.