Electrified — Insights from the Energy Transition

Today's guest is Sue Yang. Sue is a Vice President at Orion Energy Partners - one of the largest debt funds in energy.

Prior to joining Orion, Sue worked at Macquarie Infrastructure where she was involved in the firm’s power and transportation investment practice, and at McKinsey where she worked in the Middle East on infrastructure projects.

Our conversation with Sue was a wide-ranging one. We discussed alternative capital structures for companies in the energy transition, the most overhyped technologies, and diversity within the sector where Sue is playing a large role in shaping the future of our industry.

I hope you enjoy this episode as much as we enjoyed having Sue on the show.

For more content on climate change and the energy transition subscribe to the Electrified Newsletter.

Follow us on Twitter @kevindstevens and @jm_crowd.

Today's guest is Sue Yang. Sue is a Vice President at Orion Energy Partners - one of the largest debt funds in energy.

Prior to joining Orion, Sue worked at Macquarie Infrastructure where she was involved in the firm’s power and transportation investment practice, and at McKinsey where she worked in the Middle East on infrastructure projects.

Our conversation with Sue was a wide-ranging one. We discussed alternative capital structures for companies in the energy transition, the most overhyped technologies, and diversity within the sector where Sue is playing a large role in shaping the future of our industry.

I hope you enjoy this episode as much as we enjoyed having Sue on the show.

For more content on climate change and the energy transition subscribe to the Electrified Newsletter.

Follow us on Twitter @kevindstevens and @jm_crowd.

This week's guest is Leo Polovets. Leo is a  co-founder and General Partner at Susa Ventures, where he focuses on enterprise software; developer tools and technical products; and logistics and supply chain.

Leo led Susa's investments in Outlier, Pex, Scalyr, and Stedi. Having been a software engineer for 10+ years, Leo approaches challenges with an engineering mindset and supports portfolio companies in vetting and hiring technical talent.

Prior to Susa, Leo was the second engineering hire at Linkedin where he worked on the first versions of products like LinkedIn Jobs and LinkedIn Groups. Leo then worked on payment fraud detection algorithms at Google and was also an early engineer at Factual, where he built data processing software.

Leo and Susa are known for investing in industries that traditionally lag behind when it comes to software adoption, so we asked him what lessons founders could apply across industries and what the new wave of interest in cleantech from venture capital means for the industry.

For more content on climate change and the energy transition subscribe to the Electrified Newsletter.

Follow us on Twitter @kevindstevens and @jm_crowd.

This week's guest is Leo Polovets. Leo is a  co-founder and General Partner at Susa Ventures, where he focuses on enterprise software; developer tools and technical products; and logistics and supply chain.

Leo led Susa's investments in Outlier, Pex, Scalyr, and Stedi. Having been a software engineer for 10+ years, Leo approaches challenges with an engineering mindset and supports portfolio companies in vetting and hiring technical talent.

Prior to Susa, Leo was the second engineering hire at Linkedin where he worked on the first versions of products like LinkedIn Jobs and LinkedIn Groups. Leo then worked on payment fraud detection algorithms at Google and was also an early engineer at Factual, where he built data processing software.

Leo and Susa are known for investing in industries that traditionally lag behind when it comes to software adoption, so we asked him what lessons founders could apply across industries and what the new wave of interest in cleantech from venture capital means for the industry.

For more content on climate change and the energy transition subscribe to the Electrified Newsletter.

Follow us on Twitter @kevindstevens and @jm_crowd.

Our guest today is Russell Frisby. Russell is a Partner at Stinson, a premier law firm in energy and Intelis Capital advisor.

Russell's career is fascinating, to say the least. Previously, he served as chair of the Maryland Public Service Commission and as a board member at Pepco when it was acquired by Exelon for $6B in 2016.

In addition to his energy expertise, Russell was responsible for the regulatory work surrounding Uber's entry into Maryland and has represented cases before the US Supreme Court.

This epsiode covers everything from policy creation, the goal of regulation, and the potential inequalities being caused by the energy transition.

We hope you enjoy this conversation with Russell as much as we did.

For more content on climate change and the energy transition subscribe to the Electrified Newsletter.

Follow us on Twitter @kevindstevens and @jm_crowd.

Our guest today is Russell Frisby. Russell is a Partner at Stinson, a premier law firm in energy and Intelis Capital advisor.

Russell's career is fascinating, to say the least. Previously, he served as chair of the Maryland Public Service Commission and as a board member at Pepco when it was acquired by Exelon for $6B in 2016.

In addition to his energy expertise, Russell was responsible for the regulatory work surrounding Uber's entry into Maryland and has represented cases before the US Supreme Court.

This epsiode covers everything from policy creation, the goal of regulation, and the potential inequalities being caused by the energy transition.

We hope you enjoy this conversation with Russell as much as we did.

For more content on climate change and the energy transition subscribe to the Electrified Newsletter.

Follow us on Twitter @kevindstevens and @jm_crowd.

Our guest today is Patricia Schouker. Patricia leads business development for King and Union, a cybersecurity firm focused on the energy sector. She's also a Non-Resident Fellow at the Payne Institute at the Colorado School of Mines and a Non-Resident Fellow at the Science Diplomacy Center at Tufts University, and was recently selected as one of the top 40 most influential individuals in the energy sector by Right Relevance.

In this conversation, we cover the cross-section of energy as it relates to cybersecurity and geopolitics. We also dive into the likelihood of a cyberattack on the US power grid in the near future.

We hope you enjoy this conversation as much as we did.

For more content on climate change and the energy transition subscribe to the Electrified Newsletter.

Follow us on Twitter @kevindstevens and @jm_crowd.

Show Notes:
1:06 - 3:16 Patricia's background

4:14 - 8:12 Critical cybersecurity issues today

8:13 - 11:28 Importance of collaboration

11:29 - 16:39 Insurance mindset and under-spending

16:40 - 23:09 Consequences and likelihood of a cyberattack on the US electric grid

 23:10 - 27:48 Smart meters aren't "smart" unless they're secure

27:49 - 32:47 Compliance is not security

32:48 - 38:59 Adapting cybersecurity for industry, not the inverse

39:00 - 45:16 Changing technology landscape alters resource geopolitics 

45:17 - 51:32 Climate as a mechanism for diplomacy

51:33 - 56:40 Which energy companies do a good job at cybersecurity?

56:41 - 1:00:01 Rapid change requires radical collaboration; tech should adapt to us not the inverse

Our guest today is Patricia Schouker. Patricia leads business development for King and Union, a cybersecurity firm focused on the energy sector. She's also a Non-Resident Fellow at the Payne Institute at the Colorado School of Mines and a Non-Resident Fellow at the Science Diplomacy Center at Tufts University, and was recently selected as one of the top 40 most influential individuals in the energy sector by Right Relevance.

In this conversation, we cover the cross-section of energy as it relates to cybersecurity and geopolitics. We also dive into the likelihood of a cyberattack on the US power grid in the near future.

We hope you enjoy this conversation as much as we did.

For more content on climate change and the energy transition subscribe to the Electrified Newsletter.

Follow us on Twitter @kevindstevens and @jm_crowd.

Show Notes:
1:06 - 3:16 Patricia's background

4:14 - 8:12 Critical cybersecurity issues today

8:13 - 11:28 Importance of collaboration

11:29 - 16:39 Insurance mindset and under-spending

16:40 - 23:09 Consequences and likelihood of a cyberattack on the US electric grid

 23:10 - 27:48 Smart meters aren't "smart" unless they're secure

27:49 - 32:47 Compliance is not security

32:48 - 38:59 Adapting cybersecurity for industry, not the inverse

39:00 - 45:16 Changing technology landscape alters resource geopolitics 

45:17 - 51:32 Climate as a mechanism for diplomacy

51:33 - 56:40 Which energy companies do a good job at cybersecurity?

56:41 - 1:00:01 Rapid change requires radical collaboration; tech should adapt to us not the inverse

Our guest today is Shayle Kann, Managing Director at Energy Impact Partners. He is also a member of the NYSERDA Investor Advisory Board and a Non-Resident Fellow at the Columbia University Center on Global Energy Policy.

Previously, Shayle built and ran GTM Research, the market intelligence arm of Greentech Media, where he led a 30-person team tracking and forecasting the evolution of the electricity sector

For more content on climate change and the energy transition subscribe to the Electrified Newsletter.

Follow us on Twitter @kevindstevens and @jm_crowd.

Show Notes:
01:23 - About Shayle and Energy Impact Partners

05:15 - Shayle's research style for uncovering the most pressing issues in energy

08:00 - How generalist VCs and energy-focused VCs are similar and different

09:30 - What lessons were learned in cleantech 1.0?  How do we carry over the right ones?

12:12 - Can carbon removal be the primary value prop for a company?

18:01 - The role of hardware in the energy transition and the need for infrastructure investments

24:30 - Shayle's background in psychology and how that shapes his views on B2C energy startups

32:00 - The climate-tech hype cycle

42:21 - Adding realism and pragmatism with newfound optimism in climate tech

Our guest today is Shayle Kann, Managing Director at Energy Impact Partners. He is also a member of the NYSERDA Investor Advisory Board and a Non-Resident Fellow at the Columbia University Center on Global Energy Policy.

Previously, Shayle built and ran GTM Research, the market intelligence arm of Greentech Media, where he led a 30-person team tracking and forecasting the evolution of the electricity sector

For more content on climate change and the energy transition subscribe to the Electrified Newsletter.

Follow us on Twitter @kevindstevens and @jm_crowd.

Show Notes:
01:23 - About Shayle and Energy Impact Partners

05:15 - Shayle's research style for uncovering the most pressing issues in energy

08:00 - How generalist VCs and energy-focused VCs are similar and different

09:30 - What lessons were learned in cleantech 1.0?  How do we carry over the right ones?

12:12 - Can carbon removal be the primary value prop for a company?

18:01 - The role of hardware in the energy transition and the need for infrastructure investments

24:30 - Shayle's background in psychology and how that shapes his views on B2C energy startups

32:00 - The climate-tech hype cycle

42:21 - Adding realism and pragmatism with newfound optimism in climate tech