Best Latinamerica Podcasts (2026)

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887: The Four Rules of Storytelling | with Aaron Nichols 56:56

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1h ago56:56

56:56

What do a struggling mom in Georgia and a solar installer named Jim have in common? Their stories can change elections and shape public perception of clean energy. In this final episode of 2025, Aaron Nichols returns to SunCast with a mission: rescue storytelling from corporate cliché and remind us why one emotional story is worth a thousand graphs…

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886: A Very SunCast Christmas: Our Top Moments, Trends & Hopes for 2026 44:16

1d ago44:16

44:16

🎄 Pull up a chair and pour some eggnog. It’s time for the first-ever SunCast Christmas episode. This special holiday edition brings together the full SunCast leadership crew—Nico Johnson, Jeremy Pingul, and (drumroll, please) new team member Josh Beck—for a reflective and lively roundtable you won’t want to miss. What made 2025 so memorable? From A…

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885: Houston’s $95 Billion Energy Bet: Jane Stricker on the New Clean Energy Capital 24:37

3d ago24:37

24:37

Can the city known for oil & gas become the center of clean energy? In this powerhouse episode, we meet Jane Stricker, SVP of Energy Transition at the Greater Houston Partnership and Executive Director of HETI (Houston Energy Transition Initiative). Jane shares a front-row view of Houston’s bold strategy to stay the energy capital of the world – no…

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884: Clean Energy's Next Chapter: Automation, Grid Innovation, and Resilient Design 27:44

10d ago27:44

27:44

Solar is finally getting smarter. And faster - thanks to…robots? Recorded live at RE+ 2025, this episode takes you behind the scenes of solar’s most advanced innovations — from automation in engineering to AI-driven O&M and digital twins. Hosts Amy Norstedt and Josh Beck sit down with some of the Industry’s most forward-thinking executives to talk …

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883: Half of the Existing Solar Arrays Might Fail by 2030? Cesar Barbosa Thinks So 1:02:47

7d ago1:02:47

1:02:47

Most people in solar avoid the uncomfortable conversation: what happens when systems age, warranties expire, components fail, and the original installer is long gone. Cesar Barbosa — founder of NuLife Power Services — has built a business around the part of the industry nobody wants to talk about: decommissioning, system remediation, and repowering…

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You Actually Can Protect People from Crime Without Destroying Democracy 59:01

8d ago59:01

59:01

This is a variation of a talk that I give a few times per year. (It's usually shorter.) I haven't written it up as a publication yet. The gist: it's perfectly possible to protect people from crime without locking up 3 percent of a country's male population, blowing up civilian boats on the high seas, and dismantling democracy. Long experience in La…

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Honduras's Knife-Edge Presidential Election 45:39

9d ago45:39

45:39

On The LatinNews Podcast this week, we take a look at the recent presidential election in Honduras and explore why the incumbent party performed so poorly, the probable outcomes from this neck and neck contest between Salvador Nasralla and Nasry Asfura, the role of President Trump and the pardon of former president Juan Orlando Hernández. Joining u…

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882: Semiconductors, Solar, and the ‘Beautiful Bill’ That’s Reshaping Energy 27:35

16d ago27:35

27:35

The rules of the game have changed. Have you figured out the OB3 playbook? From massive tax credit shifts to permitting bottlenecks and foreign entity restrictions, the so-called “One Big Beautiful Bill” has reshaped the future of clean energy in America. At this year’s RE+ 2025, top minds from GoodLeap, Infineon, SEIA, and Wood Mackenzie broke dow…

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U.S.-Mexico Border Update: December 12, 2025 26:16

13d ago26:16

26:16

I'm trying something new here: a full-length video version of this week's U.S.-Mexico Border Update. This week's WOLA Border Update covers developments in the military's growing role at the U.S.-Mexico border, reports of deteriorating and inhuman conditions at ICE detention facilities, and updates from Mexico.…

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Prevention Intention: Wafaa El-Sadr on People and Persistence in HIV Research 37:47

14d ago37:47

37:47

In the second episode of the Prevention Intention mini-series, Katherine speaks with Wafaa El-Sadr, University Professor in Epidemiology at Columbia University and the director of ICAP. They discuss El-Sadr’s formative experience treating AIDS patients in New York City in the early 1980s, as the global HIV epidemic began to emerge; her decision to …

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881: AI Pressure Is Breaking the Grid - Doug Banty on What Happens Next 16:41

21d ago16:41

16:41

AI is pushing the grid to its limits — and transformers are now the critical path for both data centers and renewable projects. Today’s guest, Doug Banty, EVP at Forgent (and former CEO of MGM Transformers), sits at the intersection of these two worlds. Half of his week at RE+ was spent across the strip at the Yotta data center conference, where th…

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880: Why Smart Homeowners Are Choosing Flexible Backup Power 15:28

16d ago15:28

15:28

What’s your plan when the power goes out? If you think a generator is your only option, think again.Today’s conversation, live from our RE+ PowerUp Live stage, Rachel Stotts of Jackery breaks down a new category of home energy backup: flexible, modular systems that you can easily scale and take with you. Whether you're facing tornadoes or planning …

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Prevention Intention: Linda-Gail Bekker on HIV Prevention with Purpose 39:05

21d ago39:05

39:05

In the first episode of the Prevention Intention mini-series, a series featuring conversations with leading female HIV clinical researchers, Katherine speaks with Linda-Gail Bekker, a medical doctor and director of the Desmond Tutu HIV Centre at the University of Cape Town. They discuss Bekker's decision to focus her work on HIV as well as her invo…

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879: “Speed to Power” is the new race — but can the grid keep up? Hugo Mena, Electric Power Engineers 20:03

21d ago20:03

20:03

“Speed to Power” is the new race — but can the grid keep up? Hyperscalers, AI, and industrial demand are pushing load growth from flat to vertical. Yet most projects still take five to seven years just to interconnect. That’s the bottleneck Hugo Mena is tackling as Chief Growth Officer at Electric Power Engineers (EPE). This live conversation addre…

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Erika Elvander, former U.S. Health Attache in Beijing: “It behooves us to find the common ground.” 39:31

23d ago39:31

39:31

Erika Elvander served her country as a federal career health diplomat for 27 years, including as the U.S. Health Attache in Beijing from the spring 2021 until the end of 2024. Her Asia passion ignited while a student in Hong Kong and traveler to Beijing in the late 1980s. And carried forward for the following decades. As Health Attache in Beijing d…

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878: Three Ways to Make Real Climate Impact This Giving Tuesday 56:59

23d ago56:59

56:59

This Giving Tuesday, SunCast brings you three powerful stories of how clean energy is transforming communities, saving lives, and unlocking local climate action. Host Nico Johnson sits down with leaders working across three different fronts of the climate fight: • Robin Swanhuyser — Twende Solar Electrifying community hubs in places like rural Ghan…

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Argentina Under President Milei: Two Years In 42:25

24d ago42:25

42:25

Argentina's colourful President Javier Milei has been in power for two years and on The LatinNews Podcast this week, we take a look at his record so far and possible outcomes for the future after a successful midterm elections and significant public approval for his mandate. Joining us is Carlos Gervasoni, Associate Professor and chair of Political…

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Announcing Democracy&: A New Podcast From The Washington Office on Latin America 1:05

24d ago1:05

1:05

In this series from the Washington Office on Latin America (WOLA), prominent decision-makers from across the Americas—those who have been at the heart of democratic governance—share personal reflections and insights on the meaning, challenges, and future of democracy in the region. In each episode, members of the WOLA team sit down with a current o…

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877: Frustrated by Permit Delays? How SolarAPP Provides Immediate Solutions 1:02:26

28d ago1:02:26

1:02:26

Can getting a solar permit be as fast as ordering takeout? Permitting may be the most boring part of solar, but it's also the biggest bottleneck. That’s what Matthew McAllister is working to fix. As CEO of SolarAPP, he’s leading a quiet revolution that helps installers skip the paperwork and get to work faster with instant, automated approvals. In …

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876: This Startup Is Reinventing Rare Earth Refining - Without New Mines 35:17

1M ago35:17

35:17

America’s about to make a big bet on critical minerals and rare earths. In case you missed it, the DOE just reorganized and announced a major initiative around the refining of this critical element in our energy and defense future. Why? Because the energy and defense sectors are dangerously dependent on China’s refining power; but, what if we could…

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Why is there less migration at the U.S.-Mexico border? 32:04

1M ago32:04

32:04

This is audio accompanying [a video presentation](https://youtu.be/0v7akdHu40A) that walks through what the data tells us is happening at the U.S.-Mexico border, why so few people are migrating amid Trump's crackdown, and whether numbers are likely to stay low. "Keeping people from migrating by withdrawing rights and instilling terror" is not a pol…

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Who owns the future? 34:35

1M ago34:35

34:35

In this final episode of The City Show: An Unstoppable Force, we look ahead to Africa's urban future. With cities growing faster than anywhere else on Earth, the question is: what kind of urban world are we building—and for whom? Data expert George Kibala-Bauer explains why access to data will determine how cities plan and adapt. Futurist Geci Karu…

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Marian Wentworth, MSH: "I have been working since I was 13." 38:16

1M ago38:16

38:16

Marian Wentworth, President & CEO, Management Sciences for Health (MSH), at age 13 started working in a local factory. Attended the famous Latin School in Chicago. Studied math at Harvard. Then joined Merck as it was "growing ferociously fast." Stayed 27 years, grew and led the vaccine business to $6 billion. Was the "quant jock." Spearheaded the l…

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875: Inside Fluence’s Bold Battery Bet: Domestic Content, AI, and Grid Resilience 31:02

1M ago31:02

31:02

In 2008, Fluence installed one of the first lithium-ion battery systems ever connected to the U.S. grid. Back then, the idea of a domestic battery supply chain felt distant—almost theoretical. Today, it’s real. John Zahurancik, now President of Fluence Americas, has spent nearly two decades pushing the storage industry from “interesting pilot proje…

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Why Jamaica Will Recover After Hurricane Melissa 45:29

1M ago45:29

45:29

Over the past 12 years, Jamaica has faced up to challenging hardships in order to earn hard won gains in terms of ordering the economy, reducing the debt to GDP ratio from 150% to 60% and reducing unemployment to 3.3%. It was, in short, an incredible success story. And then in November 2025, the island was struck by Hurricane Melissa, leaving the c…

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874: Building Solar as a System: Inside Nextpower’s Integration Playbook 40:14

1M ago40:14

40:14

Most solar projects are still built the hard way—treating structure, electrical, and software as separate scopes that have to be stitched together in the field. But the teams delivering gigawatts today know something different: solar plants work best when they’re designed as systems, not parts. In this Tactical Tuesday, Nico sits down with three of…

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Life in Full Colour 39:15

2M ago39:15

39:15

In this episode of The City Show, we hit the streets to see how people are shaping everyday life in three very different African cities. In Nairobi's Mathare, community organiser Gathanga Ndungu and a network of women activists are fighting for safety, dignity, and justice in one of the city's oldest and most neglected neighbourhoods. In Lusaka, Mi…

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Rep. Adam Smith on Engaging China 41:07

1M ago41:07

41:07

Listen to the recent CSIS Bipartisan Alliance for Health Security discussion with Congressman Adam Smith (WA-09), Ranking Member of the House Armed Services Committee, on his experience leading a Congressional delegation to China in late September 2025. Rep. Smith’s bipartisan delegation—the first House delegation to travel to China since 2019—pres…

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873: From Backup to Backbone: How Batteries Are Reshaping the Grid 28:56

1M ago28:56

28:56

Batteries aren’t just supporting the grid anymore, they are defending the grid. Chris Finley, CCO of TruGrid, joins Nico on stage at PowerUp Live to explain how battery storage has shifted from a “nice-to-have” to a mission-critical asset class. Whether it’s enabling arbitrage in ERCOT or powering hyperscale data centers, battery systems are now le…

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872: The Landfill Explosion That Changed Tesla’s Fire Strategy 21:13

1M ago21:13

21:13

A Powerwall delivery truck flipped. No fire. No smoke. Seemed safe. They tossed those Powerwalls into a landfill. Four days later—explosion! That incident didn’t just make headlines; it changed Tesla’s fire strategy. In this Tactical Tuesday, retired Battalion Chief Kathleen McCaffery explains how that one mistake led Tesla to create a Global Fire …

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The Inheritance 34:21

2M ago34:21

34:21

When African countries gained independence, most cities still looked like the ones the colonisers left behind—European-style centers for the privileged, surrounded by neglected areas for everyone else. Instead of breaking that pattern, post-independence governments mostly ended up reinforcing it. Disentangling cities across Africa from that legacy …

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Dr. Rick Brennan: “This is not good for the American soul.” 35:45

2M ago35:45

35:45

Dr. Rick Brennan, an acclaimed Australian humanitarian leader who led WHO and NGO crisis response in multiple conflicts over several decades, walks us through his personal story. He then unpacks the scale and gravity of what is now unfolding in Darfar—featuring the “F word” (famine), the “G word”( genocide, affirmed by the US Senate), and the “C wo…

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871: 10 Years Later - Adam James on Building Teams, Time & Impact 1:46:35

2M ago1:46:35

1:46:35

This episode marks ten years of SunCast - and the return of its very first guest. In 2015, a young GTM Research analyst named Adam James joined host Nico Johnson for the debut episode exploring the rise of solar in Latin America. A decade later, Adam is a Partner at Energy Impact Partners and Chair of the Clean Energy Leadership Institute (CELI). T…

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Trailer: Season 3 0:59

2M ago0:59

0:59

Season Three of The City Show, titled An Unstoppable Force, focuses entirely on Africa. It traces how the continent's cities came to be what they are today, how people are navigating the often harsh reality of life in them, and what the future might hold as urbanisation accelerates at record speed. It's about the places and systems we have now, tho…

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870: How FEOC Rules Are Reshaping Solar Procurement in 2025 | 4 Experts Weigh-in 56:14

2M ago56:14

56:14

“Is your project really compliant?” That’s the billion-dollar question developers across the U.S. are asking as Foreign Entity of Concern (FEOC) rules tighten their grip on clean energy tax credits. If you are(were) banking on the ITC, PTC, or 45X, you can’t afford to miss this Tactical Tuesday deep-dive. The rules are shifting. Supply chains are m…

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Rodrigo Paz: A Presidency of Pragmatism over Ideology in Bolivia? 47:08

2M ago47:08

47:08

On The LatinNews Podcast this week, we look at the results of the recent presidential elections in Bolivia and the challenges ahead for president-elect Rodrigo Paz. Can this pragmatic leader respond creatively to tests including, a contracting economy, the current decline in the MAS party, the revisitation of diplomatic ties between the country and…

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Fair Doses: An Insider's Story of the Pandemic and the Global Fight for Vaccine Equity 42:45

2M ago42:45

42:45

Listen to the recent CSIS Bipartisan Alliance for Global Health Security book launch of Fair Doses: An Insider’s Story of the Pandemic and the Global Fight for Vaccine Equity by Seth Berkley. As the gravity and magnitude of the Covid-19 pandemic became apparent in the first half of 2020, how did the vision for a mechanism to ensure equitable access…

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869: How Two Unlikely Founders Are Rewiring the Way Solar Gets Built | Ben Callam & Maksim Markevich of PVFarm 1:16:52

2M ago1:16:52

1:16:52

What happens when a builder and a coder decide to fix solar’s biggest disconnect? In this episode, SunCast host Nico Johnson sits down with Maksim Markevich and Ben Callam, the co-founders of PV Farm—a platform born from frustration with designs that look perfect on screen but fall apart in the field. Maksim, a self-taught engineer from Belarus, le…

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868: Roofing and Solar Are Merging, Is This the Future of Residential Solar? | James Mason, ABC Supply 22:58

2M ago22:58

22:58

Roofers are entering solar. Solar pros are adding roofing. How are these trades getting the training & resources required to level up and provide the appropriate level of service to homeowners? Is the future of residential solar trades consolidating int a new kind of contractor? In this RE+ 2025 live session, Nico sits down with James Mason, VP of …