Coming from the heart of the Montel newsroom, Editor-in-Chief, Snjolfur Richard Sverrisson and his team of journalists explore the news headlines in the energy sector, bringing you in depth analysis of the industry’s leading stories each week.
Richard speaks to experts, analysts, regulators, and senior business leaders to the examine not just the what, but the why behind the decisions directing the markets and shaping the global transition to a green economy.
In the last episode we announced that the Montel Weekly goes on a summer break… but we have a small surprise for you!
Anna takes us behind the scenes of the show, and shares a few thoughts about some of the twenty episodes we prepared in spring. Do you remember the episode with Sonia Dunlop, senior policy adviser at Solar Power Europe and Leah Charpentier, head of European regulatory and government affairs at First Solar?
SPEAKER_03
Hi, it's Anna, the producer of the Montel Weekly podcast. I'm usually behind the scenes of our show, but since the Montel Weekly is taking a summer break now, I thought I'd drop by to take you back in time and remind you of what Richard and I did over the spring months. In March, Montel was present at the Solar Power Summit in Brussels, and Richard had the opportunity to talk with Sonia Danloop, Senior Policy Advisor at Solar Power Europe, as well as with Leah Schapentier, head of European Regulatory and Government Affairs at First Solar. Two really great women who provided us with lots of insight into the solar power developments in Europe. Here is a part from the interview with Lia Schapentie.
SPEAKER_01
Can you tell us a little bit about that regulatory environment here in Brussels and how how receptive are they to companies yourself?
SPEAKER_02
I think generally they're quite interested in what the solar industry has to say. I mean, I think we're entering a phase that's quite interesting. Historically, you know, the discussion with renewables was about subsidies and it was about how the government could drive demand. Now we're going to be entering a discussion which is much more about disruption. So how we're challenging certain incumbents and how they do things, how quickly they might have to actually take certain old installations offline, what that means for the grid, what that means for formerly vertically integrated utilities who don't necessarily have the same appetite for change other organizations do. So I'm actually really looking forward to this next phase of dialogue, but it's always a little bit tricky when you're forcing people to think differently. Of course. And also I think the regulator needs to maybe come to realization with the fact that they're going to be less in the driving seat and more about creating the right the environment that is conducive to this new wave of changes. So it'll it'll require a certain subtlety and diplomacy to make sure that happens. But I think, you know, these are really it's an exciting time to be in solar, and I think the regulators feel that as well. You just have to deal with people who've been doing things for a certain amount of years. Of course, their willingness to go about it differently.
SPEAKER_00
So we're at the um at the Solar Power Europe summits, the annual summit. So that maybe explains some of the background noise here. But you talked, uh you you you mentioned here the disruption.
SPEAKER_03
I remember those were the very beginnings of the Montel Weekly. And I think we were quite stressed but also tremendously excited. We were entering the season of summits and conferences, and Richard was traveling more and more across Europe to hear experts' opinions and get interviews for the Montel Weekly. If you want to hear more about the development in the area of solar power, the disruption, check out the full episode. It is called Is Solar Set for a Bright Future? You can find it on the Montel Weekly podcast page via the Montel website, as well as on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. You see, it's just there. You just need to scroll down a bit. The Montel Weekly returns on the 2nd of August. And when we are back, I'm pretty sure we will have a look at solar power news if not once. On this occasion, a big thank you to all our guests who share their expertise and knowledge with the Montel Weekly and its listeners. And thanks to you for listening. Tune in on the 2nd of August.
