Walt Musial, a principal engineer at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, stops by the show to discuss the current state of the US offshore wind market. Walt details progress in key regions like the Northeast, where gigawatt-scale projects are actively under construction. Walt addresses the ramifications of renegotiations of power purchase agreements and the mixed outcome of recent offshore wind lease aucitons. On the technology front, Walt goes into great detail about the potential of floating wind technology, which offers flexible siting and cost benefits when compared to fixed-bottom turbines. Walt also outlines the key highlights of NREL's annual Offshore Wind Energy Market Assessment, which track information for 2,036 active offshore wind energy projects in 49 countries.

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The offshore wind industry has been navigating some choppy seas as of late, so Oliver Metcalfe, Head of Wind Research at BloombergNEF, stops by the show to outline what the industry must do to chart a course for sustained growth. Oliver recently returned from an industry conference in China, so he shares his expert insights on that market -- including how Chinese turbine companies are starting to boost their export efforts. When it comes to policy, Oliver details how the early steps in the UK market that put offshore wind on a path for success could be copied in other developing markets. And finally, we turn our attention to the US, where tough economic conditions are beginning to recede, but much work lies ahead for the offshore wind industry to reach its full potential.

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Wade Gungoll, CEO of Industrial Sun, and Christine Larson, the Head of Strategy and Operations at Modern Energy, stop by the show to discuss the role of renewables in heavy industries like chemical processing, manufacturing, and oil and gas. Petrochemical refineries might not be first thing that comes to your mind when you think of the facilities that powered by renewables, but it’s happening -- and Wade and Christine are here to tell us more about it.

They highlight the unique approach of Industrial Sun, which focuses on industrial net-metered solar for heavy industries, offering significant cost savings and green attributes. They discuss the challenges and opportunities in the data center market and outline why Big Tech's race for computing power means renewables might actually have to wait to capture a larger share of the market. Christine predicts a rise in battery storage, while Wade predicts more than $100 billion in green hydrogen investment in ERCOT by 2030.

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