Energy Evolution

Much of the current discussion about nuclear power focuses on advanced technologies, from the potential for nuclear fusion to the development of various designs for small, modular reactors. But if we ask what new nuclear reactors have been built recently in North America and are up and running? The answer is the two reactors at the Vogtle plant in Georgia, which use Westinghouse Electric's AP1000 design. In this episode, Dan Testa interviews Grant Isaac, president and COO of Cameco Corp., a uranium mining and production company that is co-owner of Westinghouse Electric. Isaac says the global nuclear industry is making significant improvements in cost and execution when it comes to building new projects and refurbishing existing reactors – and that the pieces are lining up in the US for utilities to invest in new, large nuclear reactors using Westinghouse's AP1000 design.

It's hard to overstate how fast the battery energy storage industry is growing, and the impact that's having on the power sector. In 2025, US utilities and independent developers added 17.75 gigawatts of large-scale battery storage capacity, up 52% from 2024. Multiple forecasts suggest another 100 GW or more of large-scale battery capacity will come online in the US through 2030. To the extent utilities and power producers can meet the electricity demand projected to surge in coming years, batteries are going to be critical to the solution, supporting data centers, electric vehicles, domestic factories and other sources of increased load. In this episode, Dan Testa digs into these trends with Noah Roberts, executive director of the Energy Storage Coalition, and Mateo Jaramillo, CEO of Form Energy, a company building and deploying long-duration batteries using innovative iron air technology.

In this episode, host Eklavya Gupte sits down with Marijn van Diessen, CEO of STX Group, one of the world's leading environmental commodity traders. The conversation explores Europe's strategic pivot toward domestic energy sources, the explosive growth potential of biomethane as a gas substitute, and the surge in demand for renewable certificates driven by AI data centers — alongside the challenge of creating liquid markets for products that exist only as digital attestations. Van Diessen explains both the parallels and distinctions between environmental and traditional energy trading. Like oil and gas, environmental commodities require logistics, storage and physical infrastructure. But unlike fossil fuels, they're far more sensitive to regulatory shifts — where a single policy change can trigger volatility as dramatic as any geopolitical shock.

The war in the Middle East has put energy security back at the top of Europe's political agenda. For many, it brings back uncomfortable memories of 2022, when Russia's invasion of Ukraine triggered an energy crisis that forced governments to scramble for solutions. But this time, something is different. In this episode of Energy Evolution, host Eklavya Gupte speaks with Alex Blackburne, senior reporter at S&P Global Energy, who recently sat down with Miguel Stilwell d'Andrade, CEO of Portugal's EDP — one of Europe's largest utilities and a major player in renewable energy. Stilwell d'Andrade explains why Europe's power system is more resilient now than it was four years ago, driven by the region's massive expansion of wind, solar and storage. But progress hasn't been uniform, and the EDP CEO argues that consistent policy execution, as opposed to new measures, is what Europe needs most to secure its energy independence.

Chris Womack is chairman, president and CEO of Southern Company, one of the largest investor-owned, regulated utility holding companies in the US. Its electric and gas subsidiaries serve more than 9 million customers in Alabama, Georgia, Illinois, Mississippi and Tennessee. In this episode, co-host Dan Testa sits down with Womack to discuss the many issues facing the US power industry, including how utility capital spending impacts affordability, federal loan guarantees, coal-fired power plant extensions, as well as rising power demand forecasts driven by data centers and AI.

Russia's invasion of Ukraine has fundamentally reshaped its energy sector, with oil and gas exports diverted from Europe to Asia while soaring military spending strains the state budget. The war has stalled Russia's decarbonization plans and reduced investment in cleaner energy projects. But with climate change impacts increasingly visible across Russia's vast territory, the question looms: How will Moscow adapt its energy infrastructure? And what potential exists if the government shifts priorities toward energy adaptation? In this episode of Energy Evolution, host Eklavya Gupte and Rosemary Griffin, managing editor at Platts, part of S&P Global Energy, examine how geopolitical conflict and climate realities are creating a crossroads moment for one of the world's largest energy producers. First, Tatiana Mitrova, fellow at Columbia University's Center on Global Energy Policy, explains how the war in Ukraine is affecting Russia's energy strategy and why the country's enormous renewable energy potential remains largely untapped. The conversation then turns to Eoin Quill, researcher at Climate Analytics, who puts Russia's greenhouse gas emissions in global context, examines its role as a carbon sink, and explores how the rapidly warming Arctic could alter the country's energy infrastructure and export capabilities.

The EU Emissions Trading System is facing its greatest test yet. European leaders and companies are sounding the alarm, warning that high carbon prices are undermining the bloc's industrial competitiveness and threatening to drive manufacturing offshore. In this episode of Energy Evolution, host Eklavya Gupte examines what's driving the turbulence in Europe's carbon market and what it means for the bloc's energy transition. First, Irina Breilean, carbon price reporter at S&P Global Energy Platts, explains how political pressure from member states has dragged EU Allowance prices down by almost Eur30/mtCO2e in recent months. The conversation then turns to Julia Michalak, EU policy director at the International Emissions Trading Association, who breaks down the ETS reforms now under consideration: extended free allocations, the modified Market Stability Reserve, and why industrial competitiveness concerns are dominating the climate policy debate in Brussels. Eklavya also speaks with Pedro Barata, associate vice president for carbon markets and private sector decarbonization at the Environmental Defense Fund, who offers a perspective on the political economy of carbon pricing and how the EU's Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism is evolving from a climate tool into an instrument of industrial policy -- with major implications for global trade.

When it comes to advanced nuclear generation, most North American power producers are in the study and development phases. But Ontario Power Generation is currently constructing the first of four small modular nuclear reactors at its Darlington facility, with the first 300-MW unit scheduled to complete construction and connect to the grid by 2030. The other three reactors are scheduled to be complete in the mid-2030s, totaling 1,200 MW of firm capacity from advanced nuclear reactors. In this episode, Dan Testa speaks with OPG President and CEO Nicolle Butcher, from the sidelines of the CERAWeek by S&P Global conference in Houston, about the state of the advanced nuclear project so far, how OPG selected this reactor design and why public power providers, like OPG in Canada and the Tennessee Valley Authority in the US, are taking the first steps to build advanced nuclear generation in North America.

Carbon accounting — the math of how emissions are calculated, reported and compared — is poised to move to the forefront of global trade and energy markets. Three critical developments in 2026 are forcing action: the implementation of the EU's Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism, revisions to the Greenhouse Gas Protocol, and new industry-driven product-level carbon accounting efforts. In this episode, host Eklavya Gupte explores why harmonizing carbon accounting matters now, what's at stake, and how the commodity industry is responding to the urgent need for standardized, comparable emissions data. The discussion features S&P Global Energy Horizons analysts Kevin Birn, head of carbon research and the center of emissions excellence; Roman Kramarchuk, head of integrated narratives and policy analysis; and James Salo, head of partnerships and strategic initiatives.

For several years, Iran, Venezuela, and Russia have relied on a sprawling network of aging tankers—known as the shadow fleet—to keep their oil flowing despite Western sanctions. Now, the EU is proposing its most aggressive move yet: a sweeping ban on maritime services that could cut off insurance, brokerage, and port access for vessels carrying Russian crude. This comes at a time when the Venezuelan shadow fleet has largely been replaced by mainstream tanker operators, while the US continues to impose new restrictions on Iranian vessels. Both developments raise fresh questions about the future of these rogue tankers. In this episode of Energy Evolution, host Eklavya Gupte explores whether the shadow fleet can survive tighter sanctions and what the consequences might be for global energy security, trade flows, and environmental safety. Joining the conversation are Kelly Norways and Max Lin, two journalists from Platts, part of S&P Global Energy, who have been tracking the shadow fleet's evolution over the past few years. They break down the mechanics of this shipping network, explain how the EU's proposed ban differs from the price cap system, and reveal the growing risks posed by a fleet of vessels operating outside international safety standards. Related content Shadow Fleet: How illicit shipping networks broke global oil trade https://www.spglobal.com/energy/en/news-research/videos/crude-oil/230925-shadow-fleet-how-illicit-s… G7 tankers return to Russia on weak Urals despite security worries https://www.spglobal.com/energy/en/news-research/latest-news/shipping/011626-g7-tankers-return-to-r… G7 crude tankers' share in Russia falls to four-month low as EU plans full ban https://www.spglobal.com/energy/en/news-research/latest-news/crude-oil/020926-g7-crude-tankers-shar… INTERACTIVE: Seaborne trade in Russian oil under G7 price cap https://www.spglobal.com/energy/en/news-research/latest-news/crude-oil/030724-interactive-russia-cr…

Offshore wind once looked like a natural play for oil majors: big offshore projects, complex engineering, and familiar operating conditions. But as costs and interest rates have risen, the sector's economics have started to clash with the companies' return expectations. This has revealed a business model where capital is invested upfront, payback is slow, and the competitive advantage often lies in power market and contracting expertise, rather than just offshore execution. In this episode, host Eklavya Gupte is joined by Alex Blackburne, senior reporter at S&P Global Energy, to unpack the shifting strategies of European oil majors in offshore wind. We also hear from Julio Dal Poz, managing director in the energy transition practice at FTI Consulting, who explains why offshore wind has proven to be a challenging fit for companies accustomed to quicker returns and greater upside potential.

Greenland has suddenly emerged as a focal point in the global competition for critical minerals and energy. This episode explores the Arctic island's strategic importance through conversations examining how resource competition and geopolitics are converging in one of Earth's most remote locations. Host Eklavya Gupte speaks with Kip Keen, senior reporter at S&P Global Energy, on Greenland's mineral potential and the sobering realities facing companies that have invested there. Euan Sadden, senior editor at S&P Global Energy, interviews Jørgen T. Hammeken-Holm, deputy minister at Greenland's ministry of business, mineral resources and energy, about the regulatory environment and investor response to growing interest in the island's mineral wealth. Euan also speaks with Nicolas Jouan, a defense and security analyst at RAND, who explains why Greenland has become such a strategic focal point in a new era of resource security.

The nature-based carbon removals industry is undergoing a scientific and technological transformation to restore credibility in the voluntary carbon market. In this episode, host Eklavya Gupte speaks with Santiago Canel Soria, senior price reporter at S&P Global Energy Platts, about how project developers are deploying advanced monitoring systems and rigorous methodologies to address past market challenges as corporate buyers demand higher integrity offsets. Santiago speaks with Saif Bhatti, CEO of Renoster, and Christopher Kilner, head of biosphere science at Isometric, who explain how scientific advances and risk-management strategies are establishing nature-based removals as a credible, scalable, and cost-effective pillar of the VCM. The discussion covers the role of insurance in carbon markets, the challenge of operationalizing rigorous science at scale, and why nature-based solutions remain essential for corporates with net-zero targets. Related content: Platts Carbon Credit Price Assessments Carbon Markets Specifications Guide Voluntary carbon markets: how they work, how they're priced and who's involved Price Assessments (Subscriber content): Platts CRC ACRCA00 Platts Biochar, US ATCCA00 Platts Biochar, India INBCY00 Platts Blue Carbon AJLUB00