Shell USA’s vice president for energy transition Andrey Shuvalov and Precourt director William Cheuh discussed the hurdles of financing and scaling clean technologies at a Tuesday panel hosted by Stanford’s Precourt Institute for Energy.
The discussion came as policymakers and companies face pressure to shift to cleaner energy sources, with questions over how to finance and distribute technologies at a global scale. Stanford students, alumni and professionals interested in renewable energy were among those present in the audience at the Gunn Rotunda in Stanford’s ChEM-H building.
Shuvalov said Shell is drawing lessons from its oil and gas operations to support emerging energy transition projects. He pointed to the company’s experience in standardizing offshore platforms as an example of how discipline and repeatability can reduce both costs and emissions.
“It requires some discipline not to tinker with the design every time,” Shuvalov said. “That really drove the costs and the carbon emissions down.”
For new technologies like carbon capture, he emphasized the importance of partnerships with investors and customers to spread risk and ensure demand. Shell’s carbon storage project in Europe, he said, succeeded because industrial customers agreed to long-term commitments.
Chueh pressed Shuvalov on how corporations decide which technologies are worth backing. Shuvalov highlighted that solutions such as direct air capture and geothermal remain uncompetitive without market pull.
“At Stanford, we know the innovation recipes,” Cheuh said. “But without that market pull, it’s hard to see continuous investment.”
Both panelists highlighted opportunities tied to the rapid growth of data centers and artificial intelligence, which demand massive amounts of power. Shuvalov said siting new facilities where natural gas, carbon storage and transmission capacity converge could enable lower-emission energy hubs. Chueh shared a Stanford mapping study, which identified U.S. regions where such projects could be viable.
The discussion also explored geothermal energy, with Shuvalov sharing Shell’s support of start-ups such as Fervo Energy, but suggesting broader industry participation that would be needed.
“Unless I start practicing my runs, I’m not getting to the level I want to be,” he said, comparing geothermal deployment to training for a race.
On a global scale, Shuvalov stressed that Shell tailors strategies regionally to balance energy security, affordability and sustainability. In places like Indonesia, where coal is dominant, he said Shell is investing in solar, biofuels and nature-based solutions alongside natural gas.
To effectively scale clean energy, both Cheuh and Shuvalov stressed the importance of sustained collaboration between corporations, universities and governments.
“I like topics related to transportation, energy, infrastructure,” shared Jayden Wang ’29, a frosh living in Stanford’s Explore Energy House. He said he attended the panel to “learn more… and see what kinds of connections [exist at] Stanford.”
Another attendee, Stanford alum Alex Cannara, Engr. ’66 MS ’74 PhD ’76, advocated for the potential of nuclear energy and expressed concerns regarding the University’s current research in renewable energy sources.
“My concern is Stanford could do a lot more than it’s doing environmentally… energy-wise,” Cannara said.