the research consultancy for energy technologies
Our written research into the energy transition profiles different opportunities, “how they work”, their costs, technical challenges, and leading companies; in PDF research reports that are available to TSE subscription clients.
Our philosophy is that research into the energy transition should help decision-makers by breaking down this enormous topic into concise research notes, each of which tackles a single specific question. Then tackles that question as concisely as possible. In no more than 10-20 pages. (Our job is not to write ‘War and Peace’. It is to save you time and get you the right information quickly, simply).
All of the underlying data behind our research into the energy transition is published transparently on our website. If there are any specific questions that you would like to be addressed with a TSE research note, then please do email us, and we are happy to add your questions onto our research list.
All of our written research into the energy transition is summarized on this page, in chronological order, for clients with our ‘written insights subscription’.
Could electric vehicles deflate towards cost parity with ICEs in 2025-30, helping to re-accelerate EV adoption? This 13-page report contains a granular sum-of-the-parts cost breakdown for EVs vs ICEs. Then we consider battery deflation, power train deflation, small urban EVs, tax incentives, and the representativeness of low-cost Chinese EVs.
Energy transition technologies are often envisaged to follow S-curves: rapidly inflecting, then reaching 100% market adoption. However, this 17-page report argues electric vehicles will more likely saturate at 15-30% of sales in 2025-30. EVs were already at 15% of sales in 2023. So what would the more limited EV upside mean for energy and materials?
There has never been more controversy over the fair values of power generation assets, which hinge on their remaining life, utilization, flexibility, power prices, rising grid volatility and CO2 credentials. This 16-page guide covers the fair values of generation assets, hidden opportunities and potential pitfalls.
What does it take to move global oil demand by 1Mbpd? This 22-page note ranks fifteen themes, based on their costs and possible impacts. We still think oil demand plateaus around 105Mbpd mid-late in the 2020s, before declining to 85Mbpd by 2050. But the risks now lie to the upside?
Vast quantities of hydrogen are produced in the Earth’s subsurface, via the Serpentinization of iron-containing Peridotite rocks. Gold, white and orange hydrogen variations aim to harness this hydrogen. This 19-page note explores opportunities, costs and challenges for harvesting H2 out of natural seeps, hydrogen reservoirs or fracking/flooding Peridotites.
Today’s power grids fire up peaker plants to meet peak demand. But the grid is changing rapidly. Hence this 17-page report outlines the economics of gas peaker plants. Rising volatility will increase earnings and returns by 40-50%, before grid-scale batteries come into the money for peaking?
Japan’s oil demand peaked at 5.8Mbpd in 1996, and has since declined at -2.0% per year to 3.4Mbpd in 2024. To some, this trajectory may be a harbinger of events to come in broader global oil markets? However, this 7-page report finds unique features that do not generalize globally?
Sugar cane is an amazing energy crop, yielding 70 tons per hectare per year, of which 10-15% is sugar and 20-25% is bagasse. Crushing facilities create value from sugar, sugar-to-ethanol and cogenerated power. This 11-page note argues that more volatile electricity prices could halve ethanol costs or raise cash margins by 2-4x.
The average major economy produces 70% of its own energy and imports the other 30%. This 12-page note explores energy self-sufficiency by country. We draw three key conclusions: into US isolationism; Europe’s survival; and the pace of EV adoption, both in China and in LNG-importing nations.
This 17-page note outlines how capacity markets work, in order to stabilize global power grids. We argue reserve margins in the US grid are not as healthy as they look. Data centers are like wolves at the door. Capacity prices must rise. This boosts gas plants, grid-scale batteries and non-regulated utilities?