Recorded Sunday 12th April. we look at three forces reshaping the battery industry: Sodium-ion as a new chemistry moving toward commercialization, a new infrastructure model enabling heavy transport electrification, and a reminder that capital intensity can bankrupt even promising solutions.

1) Are Sodium Batteries Finally Ready for the Grid? - Inside Peak Energy's Sodium ion system:

• What is a sodium-ion battery, and how does it differ from traditional lithium-ion systems?
• Why is Peak Energy using sodium iron phosphate pyrophosphate (NFPP) cathodes and hard carbon anodes?
• How do sodium batteries compare with NMC and LFP on safety, supply chains, and lifetime cost?
• Why did the industry shift from NMC to LFP—and how does sodium extend that trend toward durability and affordability?
• Why are sodium batteries particularly suited to stationary grid storage despite lower energy density?
• How does passive cooling reduce equipment, maintenance, and system costs in large battery installations?
• Why do sodium batteries perform better in extreme cold conditions than lithium systems?
• How could abundant domestic sodium resources reshape long-term battery supply chains?
• Why might sodium be slightly more expensive today but cheaper over the full project life?

2) Why Did Zenobē Buy Revolv — and What Does It Say About Electric Trucking?

• What is Zenobē’s model as a fleet electrification and charging infrastructure provider?
• Why is acquiring Revolv’s truck fleet and charging depots strategically important?
• How large are electric truck batteries—and why can they require 250–600 kWh per vehicle?
• Why has charging infrastructure, not battery technology, been the main constraint on truck electrification?
• How do high-power chargers change the economics of long-distance trucking?
• Why are buses easier to electrify than heavy trucks from an operational perspective?
• What role do subsidies and depot investment play in scaling electric fleets?
• Why has battery-electric trucking gained momentum while hydrogen alternatives have struggled?

3) Ascend Elements Filed for Bankruptcy — What Actually Went Wrong?

• What is precursor cathode active material (pCAM), and why is it critical to battery manufacturing?
• How did Ascend attempt to build a circular battery supply chain through recycling?
• Why are battery materials plants among the most capital-intensive projects in the energy sector?
• How did falling lithium prices weaken recycling economics and cash flow?
• What happens when large facilities face delays, funding gaps, or canceled grants?
• How did Ascend’s strategy differ from competitors that diversified into energy storage or services?
• What does this case reveal about financing risk in emerging industrial supply chains?
• And more broadly: why do many clean energy bankruptcies stem from timing and capital structure rather than technology failure?

Recorded Sunday 29th March. Two very different stories highlight the complexity of the energy transition - from the chemistry of steel and cement, to the geopolitics of offshore wind. The discussion explores how hidden industrial linkages, policy decisions, and market incentives shape the pace of decarbonization.

• Industrial decarbonization: A new technology turning steel waste into low-carbon cement inputs
• Energy politics: Policy decisions disrupting offshore wind development in the U.S. and U.K.

The discussion explores how hidden industrial linkages, policy decisions, and market incentives shape the pace of decarbonization.

1. Charlotte explains a technology that processes electric arc furnace steel slag so it can be reused as a supplementary cementitious material in concrete, replacing part of ordinary Portland cement. That matters because steel and cement together account for a 15% of global emissions, yet both remain hard-to-abate sectors.A key systems challenge is that as steel production shifts away from blast furnaces and toward electric arc furnaces, emissions fall, but the byproducts that cement producers historically relied on also change. New technologies can solve that mismatch while creating better economics for steel plants by turning a low-value waste product into a much more valuable cement input.
2. Lucy discusses offshore wind in the United States, and the political significance of a major offshore wind project being halted, with lease payments reportedly refunded and investment redirected toward oil and gas. In the UK, we then examine the rejection of a large proposed Chinese turbine manufacturing investment on security grounds, and what that could mean for jobs, industrial policy, and the domestic wind supply chain.

Key themes

Industrial decarbonization is deeply interconnected. Cleaning up steel production can unintentionally make cement harder to decarbonize unless new technologies emerge to bridge the gap.

Policy risk is now a major factor in clean energy investment. Offshore wind economics are shaped not only by technology and cost, but by politics, permitting, national security, and government priorities.

The energy transition is also an industrial strategy story. Decisions about where turbines are built, who finances projects, and how supply chains are structured will influence jobs, competitiveness, and long-term energy security.

Live from Octopus Energy HQ: Over-hyped, Under-hyped, or Hyped-Just-Right?

Introducing the origin story of Power Plays and celebrating with a live audience event hosted by Octopus Energy in London. We gave the audience six recent talking points in energy and asked them to vote: over-hyped, under-hyped, or hyped just right? The results weren't always what we expected. We also opened the floor to audience questions - from the future of the grid to hydropower's image problem, moonshots, and whether the North Sea still has a role to play.

The game — six topics, audience votes, live debate:

• Enhanced geothermal — less than 1% of global geothermal output today, but with oil & gas tailwinds in the US, is it finally having its moment?
• Balcony solar — a technology that started in off-grid Africa and is now trending in Germany and the UK. Does the 4–6 year payback period justify the hype?
• Vehicle-to-grid — why we both think this is deeply underhyped
• Coal phase-out — under-hyped according to the room. Why the UK's experience gives us a misleading picture of where global coal consumption is actually going
• Copper supply — the metal driving electrification, new refining and recycling technologies, alongisde substitution and optimisation opportunties
• Critical minerals geopolitics — Lucy takes the contrarian position: are we strategising for 60 very different supply chains together in a frenzied race that risks making energy more expensive for everyone?

Audience Q&A:

• The grid of the future: who builds it, who pays, and how distributed resources could let us do more with what we already have
• Why hydropower isn't sexy — and why it should be, from Snowy 2.0 to the Grand Renaissance and Itaipu
• Moonshots: space-based solar generation, beaming energy across time zones, and fusion