Rethink Energy Podcast · 2025-06-08 · 20 min
With Republicans sabotaging renewables and Democrats bound to push out fossil fuels, nuclear stands to benefit as the 'least interfered with' option. President Trump has signed a new EO upping the Biden 2050 target of 200 GW, to 400 GW of nuclear power - to include 10 constructions beginning by 2030, and this is backed by data center hyperscalers, which combine massive future electricity demand growth and the necessary private funds to support nuclear projects. California curtailed almost 1 TWh of wind and solar in the month of April, even as batteries ramp up to discharge 10 GW each evening. The China Hydropower Research Institute has released a sweeping report into renewable energy capex - in which the most surprising finding is that compressed-air energy storage is cheaper upfront than lithium energy storage batteries, if there's a natural salt cavern to use - and scarcely more expensive even with artificial excavation.
Rethink Energy Talks Ep. 18: Nuclear Power with Ed Ho, Part 267 / 100Rethink Energy 231: US nuclear strategy, China's future manufacturing dominance, BESS exports up over 400%Rethink Energy 230: Flying cars to redouble all-solid-state R&D; VPP progress to accelerate EV adoption via V2GRethink Energy 229: Rio Tinto bets on future lithium price recovery; trends in TOPCon solar technologyRethink Energy Talks Ep. 17: discussing Nuclear Power with consultant Ed Ho