PODCAST: The year’s biggest stories in solar and energy storage and looking ahead to 2021

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Image: Iberdrola.

In this final episode of the Solar Media Podcast for 2020, Liam Stoker and Andy Colthorpe reflect on the biggest stories of the year and gaze into their crystal balls for 2021.

We reflect on how capacity expansion announcements and new technologies took the upstream solar sector into a new era, how the net zero movement spread and, yes, what impact the COVID-19 pandemic had on the industry supply chain. In energy storage, we discuss why California was rarely out of the headlines, some of the world’s biggest projects and a ‘mysterious’ new contender in the long-duration space.

There’s also time to reflect on some of the lighter stories of 2020, and both Liam and Andy provide their predictions for 2021.

The podcast can be streamed below:

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The Solar Media Podcast will be back in January for an entirely new season, but Andy, Liam and the rest of the Solar Media editorial team wish all of our listeners a happy holidays and a prosperous new year.

8 September 2026
Barcelona, Spain
Battery & Energy Storage Tech Europe (BESTE) is Europe’s industrial scaling platform for stationary and industrial battery applications — not EVs. Taking place 8–9 September 2026 at Fira de Barcelona, BESTE brings together utilities, IPPs, energy-intensive industries, data centres, ports, rail, maritime, defence and aerospace OEMs — all deploying or integrating battery storage at scale. Over 100 companies already confirmed — including EDP Renewables, Acciona, Endesa, Naturgy, Neoen, Galp, Basquevolt and Veolia — alongside 40+ expert speakers and international institutional support from BEPA, BVES, LDES and Volta Foundation. Where Europe’s battery & ES ecosystem turns projects into reality.
15 September 2026
San Diego, USA
You can expect to meet and network with all the key industry players again in 2025 from major US asset owners, operators, RTOs and ISOs, optimizers, software and analytics providers, technical consultancies, O&M technology providers and more.

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