Podcast appearances and mentions of Stephen Lacey

Electric transmission development is notoriously difficult, and these days, NIMBYism gets the brunt of the blame. But as data center loads surge and electricity prices climb, there's a new roadblock –  the messy world of multi-state cost allocation. The Mid-Atlantic Resiliency Link (MARL) — a planned 100-mile, $960 million transmission line stretching across Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Maryland, and Virginia — was approved by PJM in 2022 under standard rules that spread costs across the entire region. But that plan was made before ChatGPT took off and data center forecasts shot upwards.  Fast forward four years, and now state consumer advocates are asking why local ratepayers should foot the bill for an infrastructure project designed to feed data centers in northern Virginia. In this episode, Shayle sits down with Maeve Allsup, senior reporter at Latitude Media, to unpack her reporting on the project. They dive into how the rise of generative AI has disrupted traditional grid planning and explore why this challenge has proven to be such an impactful rate limiter for the AI boom. [Correction: In this episode, Shayle and Maeve refer to MARL as the Mid-Atlantic Reliability Line. The correct name is the Mid-Atlantic Resiliency Link. We regret the error.] Shayle and Maeve discuss topics like: - How a project approved in 2022 hit a vastly different policy and regulatory landscape by the time it reached state dockets - Why data center growth breaks the historic assumption that regional transmission costs eventually "even out" between states - How the Ratepayer Protection Pledge — a voluntary commitment signed by tech hyperscalers at the White House — is being harnessed by state advocates as a cudgel to demand data centers pay for grid upgrades - Why the United States has gone from building thousands of miles of transmission a decade ago to just hundreds today - How the intersection of local opposition and confusion over utility tariffs is delaying grid buildouts Resources - Latitude Media: How the Ratepayer Protection Pledge became a transmission hurdle in PJM - Latitude Media: FERC to grid operators: Connect large loads to transmission faster - Catalyst: Looking for a turnaround in transmission - Catalyst: The rise of flexible data centers - Catalyst: AI scaling pathways: On grid, on edge, off grid, off planet - Open Circuit: Grid utilization vs expansion: The 100 GW debate - Open Circuit: A five-alarm fire for the grid? Credits: Hosted by Shayle Kann. Produced and edited by Max Savage Levenson. Original music and engineering by Sean Marquand. Stephen Lacey is our executive editor. Tune into Critical Capital, a brand new podcast from Crux and Latitude Studios. Hosted by Crux CEO Alfred Johnson, Critical Capital explores the interlocking forces powering clean and critical infrastructure. Join us every other Tuesday for in-depth conversations at the intersection of energy, government, finance, and global markets. Listen here, or wherever you get podcasts. Catalyst is brought to you by FischTank PR, an award-winning climate and energy tech, renewables, and sustainability-focused PR firm dedicated to elevating the work of both early-stage and established companies. Learn more about their PR approach and how they can support your company's messaging by visiting fischtankpr.com. Catalyst is brought to you by EnergyHub. EnergyHub helps utilities build next-generation virtual power plants that unlock reliable flexibility at every level of the grid. See how EnergyHub helps unlock the power of flexibility at scale, and deliver more value through cross-DER dispatch with their leading Edge DERMS platform, by visiting energyhub.com.

Brian Kurtz doesn't shy away from a tough climb. He's always loved the mountains, and in college he spent an entire semester “abroad” in the Western Rockies, learning about ecology while also trudging up and down mountains.  That experience taught him a framework called expedition behavior — a methodical approach to planning and executing a mission. Years later, Brian and his team at PSEG Long Island took on a different kind of mission, but one that still required a thoughtful, patient approach.  This week on With Great Power, Brian tells the story of how PSEG Long Island rose from the bottom of the 2014 J.D. Power customer satisfaction survey among large electric utility business customers in the East to the top in 2025. They talk about the key steps along the way — including a rate modernization program and improved customer communications. Credits: Hosted by Brad Langley. Produced by Mary Catherine O'Connor. Edited by Anne Bailey. Original music and engineering by Sean Marquand. Stephen Lacey is executive editor. The GridX production team includes Jenni Barber, Samantha McCabe, and Brad Langley.

While many energy insiders remain focused on the staggering demand coming from AI and data centers, a much larger and far-reaching shift is happening. We are entering what Energy Impact Partners' head of research Andy Lubershane calls the "electric supercycle" — a series of interlocking technological flywheels that are accelerating the clean energy transition faster than many may realize. In this episode, Shayle sits down with Andy to map out the interconnected nature of the "electric stack.” They unpack how early investments in solar and EVs are scaling up technologies that are now feeding back into grid infrastructure, and look ahead to the massive electricity demands of the coming robotics and defense industry boom. They also consider the pressing question of the ultimate rate limiters for meeting this demand. Shayle and Andy discuss topics like: - The power grid supply crunch - Why electricity prices have tracked inflation so far, but may surge past it when equipment costs hit retail customer bills. - The four pillars of the electroindustrial tech stack: Solar PV, lithium-ion batteries, EVs, and wide-bandgap power electronics - How a "Robo-Butler" load profile compares to other household appliances - How the defense industry could catalyze climate tech, especially batteries - Why physical transmission corridors remain the top rate limiter for the energy transition - Andy Lubershane's Substack post, “Riding the Electric Supercycle” - Catalyst: Five big questions about the future of energy (with Andy Lubershane) - Catalyst: Surprising trends in global electricity generation - Catalyst: Live from Transition-AI 2026: Inside Google's massive AI capex - Catalyst: AI scaling pathways: On grid, on edge, off grid, off planet - Open Circuit: America's electricity rage is here - Open Circuit: Have we run out of big ideas to fix the grid? Credits: Hosted by Shayle Kann. Produced and edited by Max Savage Levenson. Original music and engineering by Sean Marquand. Stephen Lacey is our executive editor. Tune into Critical Capital, a brand new podcast from Crux and Latitude Studios. Hosted by Crux CEO Alfred Johnson, Critical Capital explores the interlocking forces powering clean and critical infrastructure. Join us every other Tuesday for in-depth conversations at the intersection of energy, government, finance, and global markets. Listen here, or wherever you get podcasts. Catalyst is brought to you by FischTank PR, an award-winning climate and energy tech, renewables, and sustainability-focused PR firm dedicated to elevating the work of both early-stage and established companies. Learn more about their PR approach and how they can support your company's messaging by visiting fischtankpr.com. Catalyst is brought to you by EnergyHub. EnergyHub helps utilities build next-generation virtual power plants that unlock reliable flexibility at every level of the grid. See how EnergyHub helps unlock the power of flexibility at scale, and deliver more value through cross-DER dispatch with their leading Edge DERMS platform, by visiting energyhub.com.

If you're building a consumer software startup, your investors may expect you to project hockey stick-style growth. But if you're building the physical infrastructure of the clean energy transition, you're likely in a very different position. Frank O'Sullivan, Managing Director at S2G Investments, argues that the climate finance ecosystem is suffering from a structural mismatch. While there is plenty of capital for early-stage innovation and mature infrastructure projects, there is a "missing middle" — a gap where hard tech startups are generating revenue but aren't yet bankable enough for infrastructure investors. In this episode, host Lara Pierpoint talks with Frank about why we've been trying to finance infrastructure companies like they're software startups, the concentration risks in venture capital, and why large infrastructure allocators should be stepping into this growth-stage gap to seed their own pipeline. Credits: Hosted by Lara Pierpoint. Produced and edited by Ross Kenyon and Anne Bailey. Technical direction by Sean Marquand. Stephen Lacey is our executive editor. The Green Blueprint is a co-production of Latitude Media and Trellis Climate. Subscribe on Apple, Spotify, or anywhere you get podcasts. For more reporting on the companies featured in this show, subscribe to Latitude Media's newsletter.

In 2020, China exported about a million cars a year. Now, it's tracking somewhere around twelve million — surpassing the historic peaks of giants like Japan and Germany.  Yet this massive global shift feels nearly invisible in the U.S. A 100% tariff on Chinese vehicles, combined with strict rules keeping Chinese hardware and software off American roads, has effectively built a regulatory wall around the domestic market. But in virtually every other corner of the globe, Chinese automakers are dramatically reshaping markets — from Europe and Southeast Asia to Latin America and Canada. In this episode, Shayle sits down with Michael Dunne, the CEO of Dunne Insights and author of the upcoming book Car Wars. Shayle and Michael map out the chaotic dynamics of the global auto market and consider what's actually happening inside China's automotive powerhouse. And they explore the biggest question of all: can America permanently shield legacy automakers, or is it just delaying an inevitable wave? Shayle and Michael discuss topics including: - How China successfully applied its massive manufacturing capacity to the automobile industry. - The market forces governing China's massive car exports - Unpacking the two tiers of Chinese automakers: Legacy scale giants like BYD, Geely, and SAIC versus the "Teslas of China” like Xiaomi, Xpeng, Leapmotor, and Nio. - Why China's expansion is already forcing major European and Japanese automakers to plan for closures and layoffs. - How regulatory frameworks in China are accelerating the commercialization of autonomous driving far quicker than in the U.S. - Concerns over cybersecurity in Chinese automobiles - Driving with Dunne podcast - Catalyst: Repurposing EV batteries for grid storage - Catalyst: Demystifying the Chinese EV market - Catalyst: Has Humble Robotics cracked the code on autonomous trucking? - Open Circuit: The AI race is really an electro-industrial race, led by China - Latitude Media: Rivian and EnergyHub are teaming up on managed charging Credits: Hosted by Shayle Kann. Produced and edited by Max Savage Levenson. Original music and engineering by Sean Marquand. Stephen Lacey is our executive editor. Tune into Critical Capital, a brand new podcast from Crux and Latitude Studios. Hosted by Crux CEO Alfred Johnson, Critical Capital explores the interlocking forces powering clean and critical infrastructure. Join us every other Tuesday for in-depth conversations at the intersection of energy, government, finance, and global markets. Listen here, or wherever you get podcasts. Catalyst is brought to you by FischTank PR, an award-winning climate and energy tech, renewables, and sustainability-focused PR firm dedicated to elevating the work of both early-stage and established companies. Learn more about their PR approach and how they can support your company's messaging by visiting fischtankpr.com. Catalyst is brought to you by EnergyHub. EnergyHub helps utilities build next-generation virtual power plants that unlock reliable flexibility at every level of the grid. See how EnergyHub helps unlock the power of flexibility at scale, and deliver more value through cross-DER dispatch with their leading Edge DERMS platform, by visiting energyhub.com.

Ellen Zuckerman followed her nose, literally, into her first career as an energy auditor in New York City. She had an uncanny ability to sniff out dangerous gas leaks in apartment buildings.  That led to energy efficiency work in states across the country – everything from helping utilities, regulators, and businesses advance efficiency projects to helping ratepayers lower their bills through weatherization programs In 2022, Google took notice and offered her a position with its community energy program – a program designed to fund energy efficiency programs in communities where the company is building data centers. This week on With Great Power, Ellen describes how this program works. She also outlines how Google has worked with regulators and utilities in Nevada, Minnesota, and other states to develop large load tariffs in support of bringing hundreds of megawatts of clean energy and storage to the grid. Credits: Hosted by Brad Langley. Produced by Mary Catherine O'Connor. Edited by Anne Bailey. Original music and engineering by Sean Marquand. Stephen Lacey is executive editor. The GridX production team includes Jenni Barber, Samantha McCabe, and Brad Langley.

While global electricity demand is unquestionably rising, we may nonetheless be underestimating the scale of necessary future generation. In this episode, Shayle speaks to Nic Fulghum, senior energy and climate data analyst at Ember. Nic is the co-author of Ember's annual Global Electricity Review. This year's installment, released in April, demonstrates that renewable sources – and solar in particular – are continuing to grow exponentially, even as those markets mature. In 2025, solar generation grew by a remarkable 30% year-over-year globally; its highest rate in eight years. At the same time, global fossil generation declined in 2025, driven by drops in coal generation in both China and India. But as solar surges, how quickly grid-connected batteries can step in to absorb peak demand remains to be seen. In their conversation, Shayle and Nic dive deep into the data behind global electricity generation in 2025 and consider the future of the grid. They explore a range of topics, including:  - Why Ember's report focuses on generation instead of capacity - How solar continues to maintain exponential growth rates - Why fossil generation has dropped in China and India - How battery storage is being used to shift midday solar peaks to shoulder hours - What the US' LNG supply glut means for its power grid trajectory Resources - Ember's Global Electricity Review 2026 - Catalyst: 2026 trends: Gas turbines, Texas' load queue, and China electrifies - Catalyst: More 2026 trends: Solar costs, oil oversupply, and the startup slump - Catalyst: Scaling America's domestic solar supply chain - Open Circuit: Clean energy didn't collapse in 2025. It adapted - Open Circuit: State of the transition: Oil shocks, power prices, and grid bottlenecks - Latitude Media: The Iran war doesn't give China an energy advantage. The US did - Latitude Media: Putting numbers on China's cleantech influence abroad Credits: Hosted by Shayle Kann. Produced and edited by Max Savage Levenson. Original music and engineering by Sean Marquand. Stephen Lacey is our executive editor. Tune into Critical Capital, a brand new podcast from Crux and Latitude Studios. Hosted by Crux CEO Alfred Johnson, Critical Capital explores the interlocking forces powering clean and critical infrastructure. Join us every other Tuesday for in-depth conversations at the intersection of energy, government, finance, and global markets. Listen here, or wherever you get podcasts. Catalyst is brought to you by FischTank PR, an award-winning climate and energy tech, renewables, and sustainability-focused PR firm dedicated to elevating the work of both early-stage and established companies. Learn more about their PR approach and how they can support your company's messaging by visiting fischtankpr.com. Catalyst is brought to you by EnergyHub. EnergyHub helps utilities build next-generation virtual power plants that unlock reliable flexibility at every level of the grid. See how EnergyHub helps unlock the power of flexibility at scale, and deliver more value through cross-DER dispatch with their leading Edge DERMS platform, by visiting energyhub.com.

Silicon solar panels have led the market for decades but will soon hit a ceiling around 25% efficiency. Perovskite, a frontier material once dismissed for degrading too fast, is now being called the holy grail of solar. Saritha Peruri, VP of Commercialization at Tandem PV, is bringing it to market. The company stacks its proprietary perovskite on top of silicon, capturing a wider spectrum of light and pushing efficiency past 30%, a major jump over conventional solar. And because it builds on the silicon PV infrastructure that already exists, the path to scale stays simple. Getting there wasn't easy. After a long Series A, Tandem PV pulled off something rare in deep-tech hardware: 100% equipment financing for its 40-megawatt demonstration factory. It's now shipping quarter-sized modules to utility-scale customers who want U.S.-made panels for supply chain certainty and the domestic content kicker. It's potentially a bridge to a post-ITC world that cuts land and labor costs because each installation needs far fewer modules. In this episode, host Lara Pierpoint talks with Saritha about reaching high durability and the challenges of financing deep-tech hardware. Credits: Hosted by Lara Pierpoint. Produced and edited by Ross Kenyon and Anne Bailey. Technical direction by Sean Marquand. Stephen Lacey is our executive editor. The Green Blueprint is a co-production of Latitude Media and Trellis Climate. Subscribe on Apple, Spotify, or anywhere you get podcasts. For more reporting on the companies featured in this show, subscribe to Latitude Media's newsletter.

Amidst the increasing urgency of powering data centers, a new solution has entered the mix: send them out to sea. In this episode, Shayle speaks to Garth Sheldon-Coulson, co-founder and CEO of Panthalassa. The company is building 85-meter steel "nodes" – taller than Big Ben – that it deploys into the deep ocean. These untethered, self-propelled nodes harness wave energy to power AI clusters, then beam their data back to land via satellite. The technology isn't without its fair share of logistic complications, but it nonetheless offers a pathway to powering the AI boom that's largely independent from grid or fuel constraints. Shayle and Garth cover topics including: - The physics and mechanics that power Panthalassa's nodes - The significance of building an autonomous fleet - The energy generation waiting to be tapped in the open ocean - The logistics and unit economics behind scaling Panthalassa's technology - Why deep-sea compute is well-suited for long-running workloads like inference and reinforcement learning - Catalyst: AI scaling pathways: On grid, on edge, off grid, off planet - Catalyst: How to build more hydropower - Latitude Media: Are Thiel-funded floating data centers enough to make wave energy pencil?  - Open Circuit: Grid utilization vs expansion: The 100 GW debate - Latitude Media: What geothermal can learn from offshore wind's demise Credits: Hosted by Shayle Kann. Produced and edited by Max Savage Levenson. Original music and engineering by Sean Marquand. Stephen Lacey is our executive editor. Catalyst is brought to you by EnergyHub. EnergyHub helps utilities build next-generation virtual power plants that unlock reliable flexibility at every level of the grid. See how EnergyHub helps unlock the power of flexibility at scale, and deliver more value through cross-DER dispatch with their leading Edge DERMS platform, by visiting energyhub.com. Tune into Critical Capital, a brand new podcast from Crux and Latitude Studios. Hosted by Crux CEO Alfred Johnson, Critical Capital explores the interlocking forces powering clean and critical infrastructure. Join us every other Tuesday for in-depth conversations at the intersection of energy, government, finance, and global markets. Listen here, or wherever you get podcasts. Catalyst is brought to you by FischTank PR, an award-winning climate and energy tech, renewables, and sustainability-focused PR firm dedicated to elevating the work of both early-stage and established companies. Learn more about their PR approach and how they can support your company's messaging by visiting ⁠fischtankpr.com⁠.

After emigrating from Cuba to the U.S. at age ten, Georges Gonzalez struggled to find his voice and his passion. It took joining the Civil Air Patrol and, later, the Air Force to boost his confidence and instill a work ethic he'd carry with him for years. He began his post-military career as a delivery driver for Coca-Cola, where he quickly moved up the ranks. But after working for the company for more than a decade, Georges took a buy-out in 2015. Before long, he was on to his next adventure, working in the water utility sector, starting in Pinellas County in west-central Florida. Today, he's the director of enterprise solutions for water resources in nearby Hillsborough County, Florida. This week on With Great Power, Georges talks about how his team is evaluating AI tools for improving its customer service representative training, among other functions. Georges explains the county government's careful approach to using artificial intelligence, how department staff have reacted to it, and how the water resources team is testing the technology. Credits: Hosted by Brad Langley. Produced by Mary Catherine O'Connor. Edited by Anne Bailey. Original music and engineering by Sean Marquand. Stephen Lacey is executive editor. The GridX production team includes Jenni Barber, Samantha McCabe, and Brad Langley.

For years, the prospect of commercial nuclear fusion felt a long way off. But recent breakthroughs—like Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory's historic 2022 net energy gain—have marked a new chapter in the quest for fusion. Proving the physics in a lab, however, is a lot different than building a power plant that can compete on the open grid. Massive hurdles remain across physics, financing, and scaling. In this episode, host Shayle Kann sits down with Carrie von Muench, COO of Pacific Fusion and a former venture capitalist. Carrie brings a unique, investor-minded perspective to this singular challenge. Shayle and Carrie dive into topics like: Net facility gain, and the difference between breaking even at a target level versus breaking even across a facility's tech stack. The distinctions between steady-state and inertial fusion Why Pacific Fusion is focused on building modular reactors The company's strategy of utilizing widely accessible commodities like oil, plastic, metal, and water instead of specialized materials that rely on shaky supply chains. Unpacking the “ignition cliff;”the point at which a nuclear reactor shifts from relying on outside inputs to producing energy itself Why Pacific Fusion emulated pharma's multi-tranche funding strategies to create milestones around capital deployments and de-risk its early execution Resources ⁠Catalyst⁠⁠: Is nuclear fusion getting close? Catalyst: The state and future of nuclear waste Catalyst: Building a domestic nuclear fuel supply chain Open Circuit: Inside Meta's massive nuclear push Latitude Media: ARPA-E awards record $135 million to speed commercial fusion energy Latitude Media: General Fusion's $1 billion deal and the return of the SPAC Latitude Media: Trump Media's bizarre fusion play for TAE Technologies Credits: Hosted by Shayle Kann. Produced and edited by Max Savage Levenson. Original music and engineering by Sean Marquand. Stephen Lacey is our executive editor. Catalyst is brought to you by FischTank PR, an award-winning climate and energy tech, renewables, and sustainability-focused PR firm dedicated to elevating the work of both early-stage and established companies. Learn more about their PR approach and how they can support your company's messaging by visiting fischtankpr.com. Catalyst is brought to you by EnergyHub. EnergyHub helps utilities build next-generation virtual power plants that unlock reliable flexibility at every level of the grid. See how EnergyHub helps unlock the power of flexibility at scale, and deliver more value through cross-DER dispatch with their leading Edge DERMS platform, by visiting energyhub.com. Tune into Critical Capital, a brand new podcast from Crux and Latitude Studios. Hosted by Crux CEO Alfred Johnson, Critical Capital explores the interlocking forces powering clean and critical infrastructure. Join us every other Tuesday for in-depth conversations at the intersection of energy, government, finance, and global markets. Listen here, or wherever you get podcasts.

California recorded its second-lowest Sierra Nevada snowpack on record this spring. That's not just a bad ski season, it's a water supply crisis. Snowpack is where California's water comes from. And when it doesn't materialize, agriculture, hydropower, and fire suppression all feel the strain. Dacia Leon, CEO and co-founder of Supercool Earth, is building a company around a deceptively simple idea: use biology to make it rain and snow where it's needed most, on demand. Her company's core technology involves engineering microbes to produce high quantities of this pure protein cheaply, which is then used in snowmaking machines and for cloud seeding. Supercool Earth is targeting high-margin markets first, starting with a snow-making additive for ski resorts. It's a cheaper, greener, and scalable alternative to existing products like Snomax largely because it's made of pure, biodegradable protein (no bacterial cells), has no smell, and is stable at room temperature.  The company is intentionally using natural proteins instead of non-degrading silver iodide used in traditional cloud seeding to streamline the regulatory process through EPA TSCA, which is faster than dealing with GMO regulations. In this episode, Lara Pierpoint talks with Dacia about the science and commercial strategy behind Supercool Earth, the lessons she's carrying from Bio 1.0 failures, the public perception challenges around geoengineering, and what she'd do if $100 million landed in the company's bank account tomorrow. Credits: Hosted by Lara Pierpoint. Produced and edited by Ross Kenyon and Anne Bailey. Technical direction by Sean Marquand. Stephen Lacey is our executive editor. The Green Blueprint is a co-production of Latitude Media and Trellis Climate. Subscribe on Apple, Spotify, or anywhere you get podcasts. For more reporting on the companies featured in this show, subscribe to Latitude Media's newsletter.

While much of the world has been focused on the war in Iran's impact on the energy sector, another arguably more impactful market has been largely overlooked: fertilizer. The global fertilizer market is in a precarious spot. Roughly a third of the world's seaborne fertilizer trade goes through the Strait of Hormuz. Even before the war in Iran began, China, the world's top phosphate producer, halted exports of the crucial compound. As a result, the longer the strait remains closed, the more the threat to our global food supply escalates. In this episode, Shayle speaks with Josh Linville, vice president of Fertilizer at StoneX, to make sense of the global fertilizer market and its cascading impacts. Shayle and Josh cover topics including: The current state of global fertilizer markets The tenuous relationship between natural gas prices and the cost of producing nitrogen-based fertilizers in Europe How stalled shipments of fertilizer could impact supply and demand for next year's planting season The impact of Chinese phosphate export restrictions on the global market How a prolonged closure of the Strait could impact food supplies around the world Resources Josh Linville's X account Open Circuit: Iran, energy shocks, and the case for distributed power Latitude Media: DOE's second ‘Energy Dominance' loan was reworked to embrace coal Latitude Media: This isn't demand destruction. It's rationing. Credits: Hosted by Shayle Kann. Produced and edited by Max Savage Levenson. Original music and engineering by Sean Marquand. Stephen Lacey is our executive editor. Catalyst is brought to you by FischTank PR, an award-winning climate and energy tech, renewables, and sustainability-focused PR firm dedicated to elevating the work of both early-stage and established companies. Learn more about their PR approach and how they can support your company's messaging by visiting fischtankpr.com. Catalyst is brought to you by EnergyHub. EnergyHub helps utilities build next-generation virtual power plants that unlock reliable flexibility at every level of the grid. See how EnergyHub helps unlock the power of flexibility at scale, and deliver more value through cross-DER dispatch with their leading Edge DERMS platform, by visiting energyhub.com.Tune into Critical Capital, a brand new podcast from Crux and Latitude Studios. Hosted by Crux CEO Alfred Johnson, Critical Capital explores the interlocking forces powering clean and critical infrastructure. Join us every other Tuesday for in-depth conversations at the intersection of energy, government, finance, and global markets. Listen here, or wherever you get podcasts.

Fifteen years ago, Scott Engstrom thought utilities were boring, bureaucratic organizations where people went for job security. But after co-founding GridX in 2010 during the smart meter era, he discovered an industry full of dedicated people tackling complex challenges. GridX went the next five years without a paying customer. Then, in 2015, California mandated time-of-use rates, and the start-up found its footing. Today, Scott helps utilities nationwide design and implement sophisticated rates for a variety of programs, from electric vehicle charging to demand response programs and virtual power plants. Because as load growth from AI data centers and industrial customers strains the grid, sophisticated rate design has become more critical than ever. This week on With Great Power, Scott outlines how rate design helps utilities manage unprecedented load growth from data centers and why "growth pays for growth" protects existing customers from new infrastructure costs. Credits: Hosted by Brad Langley. Produced by Erin Hardick and Mary Catherine O'Connor. Edited by Anne Bailey. Original music and engineering by Sean Marquand. Stephen Lacey is executive editor. The GridX production team includes Jenni Barber, Samantha McCabe, and Brad Langley.

Even though autonomous passenger vehicles have entered the mainstream in cities across the country, autonomous trucks still lag behind. But Humble Robotics thinks it has cracked the code with a new design that completely does away with the tractor-trailer model we see on the highway every day. In this episode, Shayle speaks to Eyal Cohen, founder and CEO of Humble. The company built its electric trucks from the ground up. Fully cabless, they combine the tractor and trailer into a single platform designed to optimize energy efficiency, unit economics, and roadway safety. Shayle and Eyal explore topics including: The differences between autonomous passenger and freight vehicles The challenge of transporting heavy payloads at high speeds Why Humble has shifted away from LiDar in favor of a camera-centric approach offered by visual language models (VLMs) The unit economics of electric and autonomous freight Why Humble is embracing a "hub-to-hub" model for its trucks The evolving regulatory landscape for autonomous trucking Resources Catalyst: Volts crossover: Six big energy questions Latitude Media: Can the Tesla Semi finalize decarbonize trucking? Latitude Media: Rivian and EnergyHub are teaming up on managed charging The Green Blueprint: A billion-dollar play on electrified transport Credits: Hosted by Shayle Kann. Produced and edited by Max Savage Levenson. Original music and engineering by Sean Marquand. Stephen Lacey is our executive editor. Catalyst is brought to you by FischTank PR, an award-winning climate and energy tech, renewables, and sustainability-focused PR firm dedicated to elevating the work of both early-stage and established companies. Learn more about their PR approach and how they can support your company's messaging by visiting fischtankpr.com. Catalyst is brought to you by EnergyHub. EnergyHub helps utilities build next-generation virtual power plants that unlock reliable flexibility at every level of the grid. See how EnergyHub helps unlock the power of flexibility at scale, and deliver more value through cross-DER dispatch with their leading Edge DERMS platform, by visiting energyhub.com. Tune into Critical Capital, a brand new podcast from Crux and Latitude Studios. Hosted by Crux CEO Alfred Johnson, Critical Capital explores the interlocking forces powering clean and critical infrastructure. Join us every other Tuesday for in-depth conversations at the intersection of energy, government, finance, and global markets. Listen here, or wherever you get podcasts.

The global financial system is undergoing a structural shift into a "volatile new world order," where unpredictability is the norm, and climate tech is uniquely exposed.  Venture investor Susan Su says the war in Iran is complicating the landscape. That's because about 40% of the world's capital comes from just four Gulf states, and those states are exploring whether the war allows them to invoke force majeure to legally exit binding financial commitments to fund billion-dollar projects – including energy projects. It's a move that's creating a chilling effect on large, long-term investments. Susan's warning for founders? "Be default alive by any means necessary." With the next 18 to 24 months predicted to be a brutal filtering environment, she recommends extending financial runways to three years, if at all possible. In this episode, Susan talks with Lara about why founders should act urgently and highlights the increasing availability of pockets of catalytic capital and downside-protected debt products as funding options. Credits: Hosted by Lara Pierpoint. Produced and edited by Ross Kenyon and Anne Bailey. Technical direction by Sean Marquand. Stephen Lacey is our executive editor. The Green Blueprint is a co-production of Latitude Media and Trellis Climate. Subscribe on Apple, Spotify, or anywhere you get podcasts. For more reporting on the companies featured in this show, subscribe to Latitude Media's newsletter.

As the utility-scale solar market collides with an era defined by massive load growth, EPC (engineering, procurement, and construction) firms are rethinking their strategy to meet the moment. In this episode, Shayle speaks to George Hershman, CEO of SOLV Energy, one of the largest solar and storage construction firms in the US. George offers a unique perspective into the state of the market as well as the logistics of building gigawatt-scale projects and insights into how automation is changing the EPC game. Shayle and George discuss: Why George believes rising demand can help solar move past boom-and-bust cycles How SOLV is taking on larger projects without needing to increase its workforce proportionally How automation helps SOLV build and install utility-scale solar faster The logistics bottleneck impacting EPCs' ability to scale How AI-driven simulations can help optimize installations Catalyst: Can AI revolutionize EPC? Catalyst: 2026 trends: Gas turbines, Texas' load queue, and China electrifies Catalyst: Scaling America's domestic solar supply chain Latitude Media: Can the US bring solar installation to below $2 per watt?  Latitude Media: This former solar installer is all-in on software-only sales Credits: Hosted by Shayle Kann. Produced and edited by Max Savage Levenson. Original music and engineering by Sean Marquand. Stephen Lacey is our executive editor. Catalyst is brought to you by FischTank PR, an award-winning climate and energy tech, renewables, and sustainability-focused PR firm dedicated to elevating the work of both early-stage and established companies. Learn more about their PR approach and how they can support your company's messaging by visiting fischtankpr.com. Catalyst is brought to you by EnergyHub. EnergyHub helps utilities build next-generation virtual power plants that unlock reliable flexibility at every level of the grid. See how EnergyHub helps unlock the power of flexibility at scale, and deliver more value through cross-DER dispatch with their leading Edge DERMS platform, by visiting energyhub.com. Tune into Critical Capital, a brand new podcast from Crux and Latitude Studios. Hosted by Crux CEO Alfred Johnson, Critical Capital explores the interlocking forces powering clean and critical infrastructure. Join us every other Tuesday for in-depth conversations at the intersection of energy, government, finance, and global markets. Listen here, or wherever you get podcasts.

Audrey Zibelman's first job as a trial lawyer in a male-dominated firm in Minneapolis wasn't a good fit. So she moved to the state's attorney general office, a place known for being more supportive of working mothers like her. But she never would have guessed that the shift would lead her into the power sector. But it did. After a dynamic career as a utility executive, regulator, and founder, Audrey now serves  on corporate boards and in advisory roles where she advocates for designing responsive power systems and focusing on consumers' needs.  This week on With Great Power, Audrey Zibelman talks about lessons learned and walks Brad Langley through the distributed energy resource (DER) policy and research tools she recently helped develop as part of the Distributed Energy Resources Initiative Advisory Council for the Pew Charitable Trusts. Those tools include a state-by-state policy explorer that tracks how states are advancing DERs, as well as a DER policy playbook. Credits: Hosted by Brad Langley. Produced by Mary Catherine O'Connor. Edited by Anne Bailey. Original music and engineering by Sean Marquand. Stephen Lacey is executive editor. The GridX production team includes Jenni Barber, Samantha McCabe, and Brad Langley.

As the race to build out artificial intelligence accelerates, the infrastructure required to support it is undergoing a remarkable transformation. In February, Google announced a plan to spend $175 billion to $185 billion in CapEx for 2026— a figure roughly equivalent to the GDP of Hungary. In this special live episode, recorded at Transition-AI 2026 in San Francisco, Shayle sits down with Amin Vahdat, Google's chief technologist for AI infrastructure. Amin pulls back the curtain on how the hyperscaler is rethinking everything from data center reliability and behind-the-meter power generation to real-time inference. Shayle and Amin discuss: How Google's shift from focusing on training to inference can enable more distributed, smaller-scale data center deployments Why Google is moving away from traditional "five nines" reliability for certain workloads in exchange for doubling compute capacity How on-site generation can serve as a "bridge" to manage interconnection latency Google's milestone agreement with utilities for one gigawatt of demand response How software can co-optimize chip design, building cooling and power generation to create superefficient and flexible "AI factories" Catalyst: The rise of flexible data centers Catalyst: Will inference move to the edge? Catalyst: The mechanics of data center flexibility Open Circuit: The natural gas ‘bridge' becomes a highway Open Circuit: Are investors losing faith in the AI infrastructure frenzy? Latitude Media: Energy Vault is expanding into infrastructure for AI Latitude Media: The rise of the AI infrastructure asset class Credits: Hosted by Shayle Kann. Produced and edited by Max Savage Levenson. Original music and engineering by Sean Marquand. Stephen Lacey is our executive editor. Catalyst is brought to you by FischTank PR, an award-winning climate and energy tech, renewables, and sustainability-focused PR firm dedicated to elevating the work of both early-stage and established companies. Learn more about their PR approach and how they can support your company's messaging by visiting fischtankpr.com. Catalyst is brought to you by EnergyHub. EnergyHub helps utilities build next-generation virtual power plants that unlock reliable flexibility at every level of the grid. See how EnergyHub helps unlock the power of flexibility at scale, and deliver more value through cross-DER dispatch with their leading Edge DERMS platform, by visiting energyhub.com. Tune into Critical Capital, a brand new podcast from Crux and Latitude Studios. Hosted by Crux CEO Alfred Johnson, Critical Capital explores the interlocking forces powering clean and critical infrastructure. Join us every other Tuesday for in-depth conversations at the intersection of energy, government, finance, and global markets. Listen here, or wherever you get podcasts.

[This episode is a re-run from October 2025. Look out for a new episode of Catalyst on Thursday, April 23.] Yesterday, Base Power announced a ⁠$1 billion series C⁠, giving the residential battery company an eye-popping $4 billion post-money valuation. Base manufactures, installs, owns, and operates residential batteries — a vertical integration strategy that CEO ⁠Zach Dell⁠ says is the “magic” to beating utility-scale batteries on CapEx. The company also acts as an electricity retailer and sells generation capacity. So how does Base's business model work? And what will it do with its new fundraise?  In this episode, Shayle talks to Zach about Base's business model, the vertical integration strategy, and the challenges ahead. They cover topics like: The customer value proposition: how customers pay for backup power and Base uses the batteries for grid services Bases's “gentailer” business model in ERCOT, earning revenue from monthly customer fees, retail electricity sales, and battery arbitrage The regulated market approach, where Base sells capacity directly to utilities Base's vertical integration strategy: from ground-mounted designs to decoupled installation processes Challenges like managing a fixed workforce amid fluctuating demand and the declining price volatility in ERCOT Resources: ⁠New York Times⁠: Base Power, a Battery-Focused Power Company, Raises $1 Billion ⁠Open Circuit⁠: Is this moment for distributed energy different?   ⁠Catalyst⁠: Is now the time for DERs to scale?  Credits: Hosted by Shayle Kann. Produced and edited by Daniel Woldorff. Original music and engineering by Sean Marquand. Stephen Lacey is our executive editor.  Catalyst is brought to you by FischTank PR, an award-winning climate and energy tech, renewables, and sustainability-focused PR firm dedicated to elevating the work of both early-stage and established companies. Learn more about their PR approach and how they can support your company's messaging by visiting ⁠fischtankpr.com⁠. Catalyst is brought to you by EnergyHub. EnergyHub helps utilities build next-generation virtual power plants that unlock reliable flexibility at every level of the grid. See how EnergyHub helps unlock the power of flexibility at scale, and deliver more value through cross-DER dispatch with their leading Edge DERMS platform, by visiting ⁠energyhub.com⁠.

In 2007, Apple released its first iPhone. That same year, Seth Frader-Thompson co-founded EnergyHub, planning to leverage smartphones to help consumers save energy.   But over time, the startup realized there was actually a bigger opportunity: helping  utilities centralize and control the growing list of distributed energy resources, like smart thermostats and rooftop solar, that their customers were installing. In fact, EnergyHub was so early to the build-out of virtual power plants and distributed energy resource management systems that Seth has been called the OG of DERMS. This week on With Great Power, Seth tells Brad Langley what EnergyHub has learned about how virtual power plants mature – and the test they've developed to track maturity – as well as how EnergyHub plans to meet its goal of bringing 100 gigawatts of dispatchable flexibility online by 2035. Credits: Hosted by Brad Langley. Produced by Mary Catherine O'Connor. Edited by Anne Bailey. Original music and engineering by Sean Marquand. Stephen Lacey is executive editor. The GridX production team includes Jenni Barber, Samantha McCabe, and Brad Langley.

As the buildout of data centers accelerates on a dramatic trajectory,its strain on the electric grid has increased in turn; forecasts suggest they could consume up to 17% of all US power by 2030. To avoid higher rates and slower AI growth, the industry has embraced a promising solution: data center flexibility. In this episode, Shayle speaks with Varun Sivaram, the CEO of Emerald AI. Coming on the heels of a $25 million investment round led by Energy Impact Partners, Varun returns to the show to provide an update on the "wickedly complicated" challenge of aligning utilities, cloud providers, and the grid.  Shayle and Varun explore topics like: Tapping into the 100+ gigawatts of unused grid capacity Why the "Watt-Bit spread" is shifting to make power flexibility profitable The differences between training and inference flexibility, including Google's new "flex" and "priority" tiers The "mini dispatch curve" for data centers created by batteries, gas turbines and fuel cells Emerald's plans to collaborate with NVIDIA and other partners on the world's first 100-megawatt, truly power-flexible AI factory Resources Catalyst: The mechanics of data center flexibility Catalyst: The potential for flexible data centers Latitude Media: How the world's first flexible AI factory will work in tandem with the grid Latitude Media: Nvidia and Oracle tapped this startup to flex a Phoenix data center Latitude Media: A reality check on flexible data centers Latitude Media: Can VPPs unlock grid capacity for data centers?  Credits: Hosted by Shayle Kann. Produced and edited by Max Savage Levenson. Original music and engineering by Sean Marquand. Stephen Lacey is our executive editor. Catalyst is brought to you by FischTank PR, an award-winning climate and energy tech, renewables, and sustainability-focused PR firm dedicated to elevating the work of both early-stage and established companies. Learn more about their PR approach and how they can support your company's messaging by visiting fischtankpr.com.Catalyst is brought to you by EnergyHub. EnergyHub helps utilities build next-generation virtual power plants that unlock reliable flexibility at every level of the grid. See how EnergyHub helps unlock the power of flexibility at scale, and deliver more value through cross-DER dispatch with their leading Edge DERMS platform, by visiting energyhub.com.

In 2025, the clean energy market navigated a mix of shifting tariffs, evolving FEOC compliance rules, and uncertainty around tax policy. On the surface, it looked like a year defined by instability. And yet, capital continued to move. Total capital expenditures across the clean economy reached roughly $120 billion, with total financing activity exceeding $200 billion across the full stack of project capital. The transferable tax credit market scaled to about $42 billion, growing rapidly in just a few years. So why are the underlying dynamics so strong? In this episode, recorded live as part of a Frontier Forum, Stephen Lacey speaks with Alfred Johnson, CEO of Crux, and Katie Bays, Managing Director and Head of Research at Crux, about what actually happened beneath the surface of the market. They discuss how developers and investors navigated uncertainty, how financing structures evolved to provide more flexibility, and why underlying demand continued to pull capital into the sector. Read the full Crux market intelligence report. And watch the full video of the Frontier Forum here, which features even more depth on tax credit pricing, safe harbor strategies, evolving deal structures.

Even as momentum grows for U.S. nuclear, the fuel supply chain is often overlooked. This dynamic is shifting as the industry wakes up to critical choke points and a heavy reliance on countries like Russia for enrichment. As America aims to reduce geopolitical dependency in energy, fixing these domestic gaps has become a strategic priority. In this episode — a companion to a separate episode of Catalyst focused on nuclear waste — Shayle Kann speaks with Scott Nolan, the CEO of General Matter. The company is focused on enrichment, one of the most acute risk areas in the supply chain. Shayle and Scott also discuss the big-picture state of nuclear fuel, from mining to advanced reactor requirements. The two cover topics like: The five-step nuclear fuel supply chain America's continued reliance on Russian enrichment: The history of enrichment decline in the US The "chicken or egg" problem for advanced reactors Distinctions between LEU and HALEU fuel Enrichment's toll-service business model The strategic importance of General Matter's enrichment facility in Paducah, Kentucky Catalyst: The state and future of nuclear waste Catalyst: The path to market for new nuclear reactors Catalyst: The US nuclear groundswell Open Circuit: Inside Meta's massive nuclear push Open Circuit: Fear and loathing at the Department of Energy Latitude Media: What TerraPower's big milestone says about future nuclear projects Latitude Media: Commonwealth Fusion Systems launches digital twin with Nvidia and Siemens Credits: Hosted by Shayle Kann. Produced and edited by Max Savage Levenson. Original music and engineering by Sean Marquand. Stephen Lacey is our executive editor. Catalyst is brought to you by FischTank PR, an award-winning climate and energy tech, renewables, and sustainability-focused PR firm dedicated to elevating the work of both early-stage and established companies. Learn more about their PR approach and how they can support your company's messaging by visiting fischtankpr.com. Catalyst is brought to you by EnergyHub. EnergyHub helps utilities build next-generation virtual power plants that unlock reliable flexibility at every level of the grid. See how EnergyHub helps unlock the power of flexibility at scale, and deliver more value through cross-DER dispatch with their leading Edge DERMS platform, by visiting energyhub.com.

In 2019, when Julia Hoos moved to Houston for a role with Boston Consulting Group, she had no interest in the energy industry. For one thing, it was — and largely remains — a boy's club. For another, energy just didn't excite her. But as she started learning about the energy transition, Julia became curious. Before long, she was crunching numbers for an oil and gas client looking to understand how California's zero-emissions vehicle mandate would impact demand for its fuel products. Then, in 2022, Julia joined power market analytics firm Aurora Energy Research, where she focuses on the eastern U.S. and the PJM power market. This week on With Great Power, Julia talks to Brad Langley about the pressures that PJM is facing, and its reform efforts. They also discuss how demand flexibility could support more data centers without adding new generation, and how utilities are using large load tariffs to manage costs and grid reliability. Credits: Hosted by Brad Langley. Produced by Mary Catherine O'Connor. Edited by Anne Bailey. Original music and engineering by Sean Marquand. Stephen Lacey is executive editor. The GridX production team includes Jenni Barber, Samantha McCabe, and Brad Langley.

For years, demand-side programs like energy efficiency and demand response were treated as compliance, not real resources.  Now, that's changing. As electricity demand surges, utilities are facing a new reality: they can't build infrastructure fast enough or affordably enough. So they're starting to look in a different place for capacity: inside homes and businesses. In this episode, Stephen Lacey speaks with Hannah Bascom, chief growth officer at Uplight, about the rise of the “demand stack” — a framework for combining efficiency, dynamic pricing, and demand response into a coordinated resource for the grid. They also explore a new case study from Evergy, developed with the Brattle Group, which shows how integrating demand-side strategies can significantly expand peak reduction through better enrollment, forecasting, and customer engagement. Hannah traces how the industry evolved from compliance-driven efficiency programs to a world where distributed energy resources can deliver real, planning-grade capacity. And she explains why utilities are starting to take these resources more seriously as pressure on the grid intensifies. Learn more about how Uplight helps utilities unlock flexibility from distributed energy resources.

The nuclear power sector is gaining a lot of momentum. But even as SMRs continue to flourish, the Department of Energy's reactor pilot program moves forward, and decommissioned plants come back online, the question of what to do with nuclear waste has largely stayed out of the spotlight. The U.S. currently houses 90,000 tons of spent nuclear fuel; as more plants come online, that number could rise dramatically.  In this episode, Shayle speaks to Dr. Jen Shafer, a former ARPA-E director and current professor at the Colorado School of Mines, to learn more about waste itself, and how to dispose of — or recycle it — as the industry evolves. The two cover topics like: The physical and chemical composition of spent nuclear fuel Short-term versus long-term hazards of waste The stalled disposal site at Yucca Mountain in Nevada Wet versus dry storage methods for nuclear waste The strategies for managing the waste from advanced reactors The “take back” model for managing microreactor waste Resources Catalyst: The path to market for new nuclear reactors Catalyst: The US nuclear groundswell Open Circuit: Inside Meta's massive nuclear push Open Circuit: Fear and loathing at the Department of Energy Latitude Media: What TerraPower's big milestone says about future nuclear projects Latitude Media: Commonwealth Fusion Systems launches digital twin with Nvidia and Siemens Latitude Media: Trump Media's bizarre fusion play for TAE Technologies Credits: Hosted by Shayle Kann. Produced and edited by Max Savage Levenson. Original music and engineering by Sean Marquand. Stephen Lacey is our executive editor. Catalyst is brought to you by Uplight. Uplight activates energy customers and their connected devices to generate, shift, and save energy—improving grid resilience and energy affordability while accelerating decarbonization. Learn how Uplight is helping utilities unlock flexible load at scale at uplight.com.  Catalyst is brought to you by Antenna Group, the public relations and strategic marketing agency of choice for climate, energy, and infrastructure leaders. If you're a startup, investor, or global corporation that's looking to tell your climate story, demonstrate your impact, or accelerate your growth, Antenna Group's team of industry insiders is ready to help. Learn more at antennagroup.com. Catalyst is brought to you by EnergyHub. EnergyHub helps utilities build next-generation virtual power plants that unlock reliable flexibility at every level of the grid. See how EnergyHub helps unlock the power of flexibility at scale, and deliver more value through cross-DER dispatch with their leading Edge DERMS platform, by visiting energyhub.com.

Despite the dark cloud of federal policy hanging over the solar industry, skyrocketing load growth is driving demand. The question is whether supply can keep up. In this episode, Shayle talks to Scott Moskowitz — VP of market strategy and public affairs at Qcells and board chair of the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA) — about the challenges of reshoring solar in the U.S. They cover topics like: How supply chain resilience incentivize reshoring efforts The specific state of polysilicon, wafers, cells, and module reshoring Why resource “clustering” has been a boon for Chinese solar manufacturing Industry challenges around permitting solar Why American solar remains so much more expensive per watt than Chinese solar The threat of technological obsolescence to funding solar projects Resources Catalyst: More 2026 trends: Solar costs, oil oversupply, and the startup slump Catalyst: Tumult in residential solar Open Circuit: Does residential solar have a bad product? Latitude Media: GlassPoint is back, and armed with global expansion plans Latitude Media: Tesla's rooftop solar paradox Latitude Media: Can the US bring solar installation to below $2 per watt? Credits: Hosted by Shayle Kann. Produced and edited by Max Savage Levenson. Original music and engineering by Sean Marquand. Stephen Lacey is our executive editor. Catalyst is brought to you by Uplight. Uplight activates energy customers and their connected devices to generate, shift, and save energy—improving grid resilience and energy affordability while accelerating decarbonization. Learn how Uplight is helping utilities unlock flexible load at scale at uplight.com. Catalyst is brought to you by Antenna Group, the public relations and strategic marketing agency of choice for climate, energy, and infrastructure leaders. If you're a startup, investor, or global corporation that's looking to tell your climate story, demonstrate your impact, or accelerate your growth, Antenna Group's team of industry insiders is ready to help. Learn more at antennagroup.com. Catalyst is brought to you by EnergyHub. EnergyHub helps utilities build next-generation virtual power plants that unlock reliable flexibility at every level of the grid. See how EnergyHub helps unlock the power of flexibility at scale, and deliver more value through cross-DER dispatch with their leading Edge DERMS platform, by visiting energyhub.com.

Growing up in Silicon Valley, Varun Sivaram didn't look to Elon Musk or Sergey Brin to learn about success stories. He looked to his dad, a material scientist who immigrated from India.  But Varun's own dreams of pursuing a career in technology took a circuitous path. His physics lab at Oxford discovered a promising new solar material, but when he emerged from graduate school in 2012, it was no time to launch a renewables startup. After a successful early career pursuing his other love, foreign relations, he pivoted to tech. In 2024, Varun founded Emerald AI, which helps data centers adjust their workloads to use energy more efficiently. This week on With Great Power, Varun explains why he thinks AI can help save the grid. Varun and Brad talk about the demonstration pilots Emerald AI has completed and Varun's vision for a massive AI factory the company is helping to build, in Virginia. Credits: Hosted by Brad Langley. Produced by Mary Catherine O'Connor. Edited by Anne Bailey. Original music and engineering by Sean Marquand. Stephen Lacey is executive editor. The GridX production team includes Jenni Barber, Samantha McCabe, and Brad Langley.

As demand for data center power skyrockets, available options to provide that power have dwindled. And cohesive frameworks for finding sustainable generation remain few and far between. In this episode, Shayle speaks with Jake Elder, senior vice president of research and innovation at Energy Impact Partners. The two colleagues dig into the four main generation solutions — on grid, off grid, on edge, and off planet – and consider the viability of each in the years to come. Shayle and Jake explore topics like: A ten year forecast: Jake's prediction for how the global "compute pie" will get split up between these four pathways Jake's skepticism around whether a shift towards on-device compute can scale effectively The worsening bottleneck facing on-grid connection Building “shock absorbers” into the infrastructure of off-grid data centers that enable them to maintain “five nines[a][b][c]” of reliability The feasibility of making orbital data centers affordable The logistics behind creating radiators “the size of a small town” to dissipate heat from orbital data centers Resources: Catalyst: PJM and ERCOT are navigating a capacity rollercoaster Catalyst: Will inference move to the edge? Catalyst: Who benefits from the AI power bottleneck? Open Circuit: Are investors losing faith in the AI infrastructure frenzy? Open Circuit: The White House AI power pledge: Political theater or policy? Latitude Media: The data center boom is a diesel generator boom Latitude Media: How Hitachi became a speed-to-power company Credits: Hosted by Shayle Kann. Produced and edited by Max Savage Levenson, Anne Bailey, and Sean Marquand. Original music and engineering by Sean Marquand. Stephen Lacey is our executive editor. Catalyst is brought to you by Uplight. Uplight activates energy customers and their connected devices to generate, shift, and save energy—improving grid resilience and energy affordability while accelerating decarbonization. Learn how Uplight is helping utilities unlock flexible load at scale at uplight.com.  Catalyst is brought to you by Antenna Group, the public relations and strategic marketing agency of choice for climate, energy, and infrastructure leaders. If you're a startup, investor, or global corporation that's looking to tell your climate story, demonstrate your impact, or accelerate your growth, Antenna Group's team of industry insiders is ready to help. Learn more at antennagroup.com. Catalyst is brought to you by EnergyHub. EnergyHub helps utilities build next-generation virtual power plants that unlock reliable flexibility at every level of the grid. See how EnergyHub helps unlock the power of flexibility at scale, and deliver more value through cross-DER dispatch with their leading Edge DERMS platform, by visiting energyhub.com.

Can a grid operator tell the difference between a virtual power plant and a traditional one? That's the idea behind the Huels Test, a framework developed by EnergyHub to answer a simple but consequential question: when does a distributed fleet of customer devices become reliable enough to function like a power plant? Passing the test means more than just aggregating thermostats or batteries. It means delivering predictable, repeatable performance that utility planners and operators trust enough to rely on during system peaks. And it's no longer theoretical. During a series of brutal winter cold snaps across the Southeast this year, Duke Energy leaned on tens of thousands of connected devices — smart thermostats, batteries, and water heaters — to help manage record-breaking winter peaks. Together, they formed a virtual power plant that the utility could dispatch when the grid was tight. In this Frontier Forum, Stephen Lacey talks with Stacy Phillips, Managing Director of Customer Load Management at Duke Energy, and Seth Frader-Thompson, president and co-founder of EnergyHub, about the spectrum of virtual power plants. They discuss how VPPs are evolving from traditional demand-response programs into operational grid resources, and what still needs to change before utilities treat them exactly like conventional power plants. This conversation was recorded live as part of Latitude Media's Frontier Forum with EnergyHub. Watch the full video here. EnergyHub works with more than 160 utilities across North America to build and scale virtual power plants using its Edge DERMS platform. Read EnergyHub's white paper outlining the VPP maturity model and discover what VPPs can do for your grid.

Despite its ability to deliver ample carbon-free energy, the potential of geothermal and EGS is limited by the number of drilling sites close enough to the earth's surface. But a few pioneering companies have landed on a potential solution: dig way deeper. In this episode, Shayle speaks with Carlos Araque, the founder of Quaise Energy. The company has developed millimeter-wave drills to vaporize rock, allowing them to dig up to twelve miles underground in search of water around 800 degrees Fahrenheit. That super hot and "supercritical" water packs a huge punch: ten times more energy density than traditional geothermal. Shayle and Carlos explore a range of topics, including: Why 800 degree water is the “ideal” temperature for deep geothermal How "activating" permeability in deep rock differs from traditional fracking The state of Quaise's Oregon project pilot, including their goal of a commercial-grade flow test by the end of 2026 How the LCOE of super hot geothermal compares to traditional baseload energy sources Resources Catalyst: How geothermal gets built Open Circuit: Is this geothermal's breakout moment? Latitude Media: Armed with $115 million, geothermal startup Zanskar gets ready to build Green Blueprint: Sage Geosystems' bet on geothermal energy storage Latitude Media: Fervo's Tim Latimer is ‘bullish' on DOE funding for geothermal Credits: Hosted by Shayle Kann. Produced and edited by Max Savage Levenson. Original music and engineering by Sean Marquand. Stephen Lacey is our executive editor. Catalyst is brought to you by Uplight. Uplight activates energy customers and their connected devices to generate, shift, and save energy—improving grid resilience and energy affordability while accelerating decarbonization. Learn how Uplight is helping utilities unlock flexible load at scale at uplight.com.  Catalyst is brought to you by Antenna Group, the public relations and strategic marketing agency of choice for climate, energy, and infrastructure leaders. If you're a startup, investor, or global corporation that's looking to tell your climate story, demonstrate your impact, or accelerate your growth, Antenna Group's team of industry insiders is ready to help. Learn more at antennagroup.com. Catalyst is brought to you by EnergyHub. EnergyHub helps utilities build next-generation virtual power plants that unlock reliable flexibility at every level of the grid. See how EnergyHub helps unlock the power of flexibility at scale, and deliver more value through cross-DER dispatch with their leading Edge DERMS platform, by visiting energyhub.com.

From his early days as a paper boy and eagle scout to his time as a naval officer decades later, Casey Kirkpatrick has always believed in service. Today, after more than 25 years with the energy giant National Grid, he's still serving.   Casey directs National Grid's strategic engineering team, where he focuses on an emerging threat that most of its east coast ratepayers don't think much about: wildfires. To get ahead of that growing risk, National Grid has partnered with Rhizome, a company that helps utilities understand their wildfire vulnerabilities. This week on With Great Power, Casey tells Brad what National Grid has learned from its work with other utilities and with Rhizome — including a few surprises. They also explore how wildfire preparedness fits into National Grid's broader climate resilience planning, and why the threat looks somewhat different across the utility's UK operations. Credits: Hosted by Brad Langley. Produced by Mary Catherine O'Connor. Edited by Anne Bailey. Original music and engineering by Sean Marquand. Stephen Lacey is executive editor. The GridX production team includes Jenni Barber, Samantha McCabe, and Brad Langley.

They're at it again. Two years after they last teamed up for a Volts/Catalyst crossover episode, David Roberts joins Shayle for another far-ranging conversation exploring the future of energy. Their prompt was simple: Each host brought three critical questions they want to see answered in the next decade. From “data center fever” to closed-loop critical mineral economics, Shayle and David take the opportunity to dive deep into a myriad of second-order effects of the clean energy transition. In the hour-long conversation, the two hosts cover topics including: The coming explosion of self-driving cars, and whether it will fuel urban sprawl The feasibility of "electrifying everything” and whether a proliferation of “micro-DERs” in home devices will create create a more efficient grid or a software-fueled dystopia The future of off-grid data centers Whether the pros of geoengineering and solar radiation modification, or SRM, outweigh the potential moral hazards Resources: Catalyst: The Volts crossover episode Catalyst: The plug-in DER case for small businesses Catalyst: AMA: Geoengineering, nuclear, power prices, and more Open Circuit: Tesla's fork in the road Latitude Media: The growing free-market push to let data centers go off grid Credits: Hosted by Shayle Kann. Produced and edited by Max Savage Levenson. Original music and engineering by Sean Marquand. Stephen Lacey is our executive editor. Catalyst is brought to you by Uplight. Uplight activates energy customers and their connected devices to generate, shift, and save energy—improving grid resilience and energy affordability while accelerating decarbonization. Learn how Uplight is helping utilities unlock flexible load at scale at uplight.com. Catalyst is brought to you by Antenna Group, the public relations and strategic marketing agency of choice for climate, energy, and infrastructure leaders. If you're a startup, investor, or global corporation that's looking to tell your climate story, demonstrate your impact, or accelerate your growth, Antenna Group's team of industry insiders is ready to help. Learn more at antennagroup.com. Catalyst is brought to you by EnergyHub. EnergyHub helps utilities build next-generation virtual power plants that unlock reliable flexibility at every level of the grid. See how EnergyHub helps unlock the power of flexibility at scale, and deliver more value through cross-DER dispatch with their leading Edge DERMS platform, by visiting energyhub.com.

For decades, the physical equipment underpinning the electric grid has remained largely unchanged: passive, "dumb" devices installed as far back as the 1970s that lack much real-time control. But today, in the face of skyrocketing energy demand, a new class of technologies has emerged. In this episode, Drew Baglino, the founder and CEO of Heron Power, returns to the show to discuss his company's new generation of solid-state transformers, or SSTs. After a 17-year career at Tesla — where he led energy and powertrain development — Drew is now focused on replacing the grid's aging infrastructure with these advanced power electronics. Shayle and Drew take a deep dive into the history of the power transistor, and then explore how the SST has the potential to transform the grid into a highly optimized and intelligent machine. They cover topics like: The evolution of power electronics Why we still haven't fixed the transformer shortage How Heron Power's SSTs remove legacy transformers and switches to create a substantial uplift for project developers The potential to remove 70% of traditional electrical equipment at data centers by distributing power directly to the rack Why Drew thinks SSTs offer a "pathway toward affordability" Resources Catalyst: Drew Baglino on Tesla's master plan Latitude Media: Inside Heron Power's plan to transform the grid Catalyst: Understanding the electric transformer shortage Open Circuit: The grid resilience dilemma Latitude Media: These Autogrid alums want to change how data centers use power Credits: Hosted by Shayle Kann. Produced and edited by Max Savage Levenson. Original music and engineering by Sean Marquand. Stephen Lacey is our executive editor. Catalyst is brought to you by Uplight. Uplight activates energy customers and their connected devices to generate, shift, and save energy—improving grid resilience and energy affordability while accelerating decarbonization. Learn how Uplight is helping utilities unlock flexible load at scale at uplight.com.  Catalyst is brought to you by Antenna Group, the public relations and strategic marketing agency of choice for climate, energy, and infrastructure leaders. If you're a startup, investor, or global corporation that's looking to tell your climate story, demonstrate your impact, or accelerate your growth, Antenna Group's team of industry insiders is ready to help. Learn more at antennagroup.com. Catalyst is brought to you by EnergyHub. EnergyHub helps utilities build next-generation virtual power plants that unlock reliable flexibility at every level of the grid. See how EnergyHub helps unlock the power of flexibility at scale, and deliver more value through cross-DER dispatch with their leading Edge DERMS platform, by visiting energyhub.com.

Most kids don't think much about how buildings are powered or how much energy they waste. But growing up in an old, inefficient apartment building in New York, Ben Brown did. From an early age he knew he wanted to work on climate solutions and energy efficiency. That interest led him to Google, where he worked on Nest Renew, which allowed Nest thermostat users to adjust their energy usage to times when electricity is cleaner or cheaper. In 2024, Nest Renew merged with the demand response platform OhmConnect to form a new venture, Renew Home. In November, Renew Home released a study showing that small shifts in five million of its smart thermostats across the U.S. can provide utilities with four gigawatts of energy capacity.This week on With Great Power, Ben Brown dives into how Renew Home conducted its study, what it says about the bigger potential for shifting capacity nationwide, and why he says thermostats are just the beginning when it comes to connecting utilities with available energy capacity inside homes. Credits: Hosted by Brad Langley. Produced by Mary Catherine O'Connor. Edited by Anne Bailey. Original music and engineering by Sean Marquand. Stephen Lacey is executive editor. The GridX production team includes Jenni Barber, Samantha McCabe, and Brad Langley.

Last year, the PJM capacity crunch became a focal point for an entire industry struggling to navigate the explosive growth of hyperscaler data centers. Yet even in the first two months of 2026, capacity prices have continued to skyrocket, and the economics of energy generation have only become more tenuous.  In this episode, Shayle Kann talks to Paul Segal, the CEO of LS Power. A major player in the space, LS Power owns a diverse portfolio of generation, storage, and transmission assets across the U.S. Shayle and Paul dive into the volatility currently defining the two most talked-about power markets in the country: PJM and ERCOT. They cover topics like: How PJM flipped nearly overnight from a state of "stasis" to a capacity shortage The federal government's emergency order to make large data centers "pay their way"  Why 10 gigawatts of expected load failed to show up during the recent Texas winter storm Why Paul sees ERCOT as a “cyclical” market that is currently difficult for new gas generation, despite massive load growth Paul's strategy for ensuring sufficient “bridge” generation before new large-scale projects come online Resources Catalyst: PJM and the capacity crunch Latitude Media: PJM's $178 billion fork in the road Catalyst: The potential for flexible data centers Credits: Hosted by Shayle Kann. Produced and edited by Max Savage Levenson. Original music and engineering by Sean Marquand. Stephen Lacey is our executive editor. Catalyst is brought to you by Uplight. Uplight activates energy customers and their connected devices to generate, shift, and save energy—improving grid resilience and energy affordability while accelerating decarbonization. Learn how Uplight is helping utilities unlock flexible load at scale at uplight.com.  Catalyst is brought to you by Antenna Group, the public relations and strategic marketing agency of choice for climate, energy, and infrastructure leaders. If you're a startup, investor, or global corporation that's looking to tell your climate story, demonstrate your impact, or accelerate your growth, Antenna Group's team of industry insiders is ready to help. Learn more at antennagroup.com. Catalyst is brought to you by EnergyHub. EnergyHub helps utilities build next-generation virtual power plants that unlock reliable flexibility at every level of the grid. See how EnergyHub helps unlock the power of flexibility at scale, and deliver more value through cross-DER dispatch with their leading Edge DERMS platform, by visiting energyhub.com.

Spurred by a suite of executive orders and investments from the federal government, new nuclear reactors are coming soon. Or the announcements are at least.  The advanced nuclear sector has found itself in the spotlight as companies race to acquire licenses and permits aimed at achieving "criticality.” But what do these milestones signify? And is hitting the deadlines even feasible? In this episode, Shayle talks to Katy Huff,  former assistant secretary for nuclear energy at the Department of Energy and current associate professor at the University of Illinois. They unpack the wave of new nuclear announcements, the realities of navigating an arcane regulatory gauntlet, and what Katy considers a realistic timeline for new nuclear deployment. Shayle and Katy cover topics like: The NRC's “murky” pre-application process The differences between various licensing pathways Why Katy views the DOE's goal to have three reactors reach criticality by July 4th as “an extremely aggressive milestone” Upcoming revised guidance on nuclear radiation dose rates The challenges facing the DOE amidst a staff shortage Katy's assessment of a feasible timeline for getting new reactors operational Why Katy doesn't think microreactors are economically scalable…yet Catalyst: The US nuclear groundswell Open Circuit: Inside Meta's massive nuclear push Latitude Media: The self-inflicted hurdles facing Trump's nuclear orders Latitude Media: The Department of Energy's 2026 playbook⁠ Credits: Hosted by Shayle Kann. Produced and edited by Max Savage Levenson. Original music and engineering by Sean Marquand. Stephen Lacey is our executive editor. Catalyst is brought to you by Uplight. Uplight activates energy customers and their connected devices to generate, shift, and save energy—improving grid resilience and energy affordability while accelerating decarbonization. Learn how Uplight is helping utilities unlock flexible load at scale at ⁠uplight.com⁠.  Catalyst is brought to you by Antenna Group, the public relations and strategic marketing agency of choice for climate, energy, and infrastructure leaders. If you're a startup, investor, or global corporation that's looking to tell your climate story, demonstrate your impact, or accelerate your growth, Antenna Group's team of industry insiders is ready to help. Learn more at ⁠antennagroup.com⁠. Catalyst is brought to you by EnergyHub. EnergyHub helps utilities build next-generation virtual power plants that unlock reliable flexibility at every level of the grid. See how EnergyHub helps unlock the power of flexibility at scale, and deliver more value through cross-DER dispatch with their leading Edge DERMS platform, by visiting⁠ ⁠⁠energyhub.com⁠.

Nikki Bruno learned early in her career that debates over climate change – and how to respond – are seldom black and white. Progress comes from honest discourse and collaboration.At Eversource, where she leads the utility's thermal solutions and operational services, Nikki manages a geothermal project that has brought together environmental activists, the utility's gas infrastructure team, ratepayers, and government leaders in Framingham, Mass. The result is the first utility-led geothermal network in the country, which came online in 2024.This week on With Great Power, Nikki Bruno describes how the gas and electric utility Eversource uses geothermal energy to power 140 homes and businesses. She talks about challenges and successes of the project, how Eversource is now expanding it with Energy Department funding, and how the utility is measuring success.Credits: Hosted by Brad Langley. Produced by Mary Catherine O'Connor. Edited by Anne Bailey. Original music and engineering by Sean Marquand. Stephen Lacey is executive editor. The GridX production team includes Jenni Barber, Samantha McCabe, and Brad Langley.

Distributed batteries are having a big moment. On one hand, companies like Base Power and Tesla have leaned into large residential batteries that export power back to the grid, but need permits and inspections to operate. At the same time, however, a new category has emerged: small, "plug-in" batteries that don't require an electrician or complex installation, let alone a permit.  In this episode, Shayle talks to James McGinniss, co-founder and CEO of David Energy (yes, the biblical reference is intentional). David Energy is deploying these nimble, permissionless systems today for both residential customers and small businesses, and James argues that this approach could usher in a new era of massive scale and affordability for distributed energy resources. Shayle and James cover topics like: Why James prefers the term "plug-in" over "permissionless," and what falls into this bucket, from balcony solar to battery-enabled appliances The murky regulatory landscape around micro-DERs How plug-in systems can effectively drive soft costs (permitting, labor, customer acquisition) down to nearly zero How high energy prices in Germany drove the adoption of 4 million plug-in systems in just a few years The appeal for small businesses: how shaving just a few kilowatts of peak demand can generate significant savings for commercial customers in markets like New York Future form factors, including batteries integrated directly into cooktops, heat pumps, and other household appliances  Resources Catalyst: How Base Power plans to use its fresh $1B Catalyst: The new wave of DERs Catalyst: Is now the time for DERs to scale? Latitude Media: Can VPPs unlock grid capacity for data centers?  Latitude Media: How do we turn small-scale, distributed energy into a multi-trillion dollar sector? Credits: Hosted by Shayle Kann. Produced and edited by Max Savage Levenson. Original music and engineering by Sean Marquand. Stephen Lacey is our executive editor. Catalyst is brought to you by Uplight. Uplight activates energy customers and their connected devices to generate, shift, and save energy—improving grid resilience and energy affordability while accelerating decarbonization. Learn how Uplight is helping utilities unlock flexible load at scale at uplight.com.  Catalyst is brought to you by Antenna Group, the public relations and strategic marketing agency of choice for climate, energy, and infrastructure leaders. If you're a startup, investor, or global corporation that's looking to tell your climate story, demonstrate your impact, or accelerate your growth, Antenna Group's team of industry insiders is ready to help. Learn more at antennagroup.com.

We are back for Part 2 of Shayle's double header conversation with the veteran energy analyst Nat Bullard, dissecting his annual presentation on the state of decarbonization. If you missed it, we recommend you go back and listen to Part 1, which was released last week. In this episode, Shayle and Nat shift their focus from data centers to exploring other intriguing trends found in the data that Nat assembled—from the surprising resilience of clean energy stocks to the rising costs of solar installations in the US. Shayle and Nat dig into more topics including: Why the S&P Global Clean Energy Transition Index outperformed the S&P 500 and Nasdaq last year The steep drop in U.S. energy startup investment—from $8 billion in 2022 to just over $2 billion in 2025—and why Shayle thinks 2026 will see a massive rebound The impacts of an enormous oversupply of oil China's skyrocketing share of global vehicle production The remarkable pace of residential battery storage adoption in Australia Resources Nat Bullard's full 2026 presentation Catalyst: 2026 trends: Gas turbines, Texas' load queue, and China electrifies Catalyst: 2025 trends: aerosols, oil demand, and carbon removal Catalyst: More 2025 trends: DeepSeek, plug-in hybrids, and curtailment Latitude: The year resiliency investment began to go mainstream  Credits: Hosted by Shayle Kann. Produced and edited by Max Savage Levenson. Original music and engineering by Sean Marquand. Stephen Lacey is our executive editor. Catalyst is brought to you by Uplight. Uplight activates energy customers and their connected devices to generate, shift, and save energy—improving grid resilience and energy affordability while accelerating decarbonization. Learn how Uplight is helping utilities unlock flexible load at scale at uplight.com.  Catalyst is brought to you by Antenna Group, the public relations and strategic marketing agency of choice for climate, energy, and infrastructure leaders. If you're a startup, investor, or global corporation that's looking to tell your climate story, demonstrate your impact, or accelerate your growth, Antenna Group's team of industry insiders is ready to help. Learn more at antennagroup.com.

In 2024, Tom Burton described the clean energy transition as entering its “third inning” — a phase defined by execution and scale. A year later, the game looks very different. In this episode, produced in partnership with Mintz, Stephen Lacey sits down with Burton to revisit that framework and assess the state of play for U.S. energy infrastructure heading into 2026.  Burton, who chairs Mintz's sustainable energy and infrastructure practice, brings nearly 3 decades of experience advising developers, investors, and operators across clean energy and digital infrastructure. They begin with the immediate market picture: a surge of renewable projects racing to put steel in the ground under existing tax rules, followed by a thinning pipeline. Burton explains why 2027 and 2028 could mark a slowdown in new deployments, even as demand continues to rise. From there, the conversation turns to politics. Federal hostility toward clean energy, shifting tax credit structures, foreign sourcing rules, and the weaponization of permitting have introduced new layers of risk. Deals are harder to close, financing is more complex, and even strong projects are feeling the strain. Burton unpacks what this environment means for developers, including who's most exposed to the current shakeout, what separates resilient companies from struggling ones, and why permitting uncertainty may now be a bigger threat than tax policy itself. The episode also explores one of the defining forces reshaping the energy sector: the rapid expansion of digital infrastructure. Burton explains how power availability, interconnection, and long-term grid planning are now central to dealmaking. The energy transition hasn't stopped, says Burton. But it has entered a rain delay — and the companies that adapt during the pause will be the ones still standing when play resumes. These conversations were recorded at the Mintz Energy Transition Summit. Mintz has been at the frontlines of the energy and sustainability revolution since the start. For finance, policy, and market insights from the Mintz team, sign up for their newsletter.

Heather O'Neill's career in energy started in a pretty unusual place: working for a Republican billionaire. But in 2004 she joined the Robertson Foundation as a program officer just as it was exploring clean energy investments. In 2012, Heather joined Advanced Energy United — an industry association that promotes grid-scale and distributed energy innovations — to focus on state-level and regional energy policy. Today, she leads the organization as president and CEO.This week on With Great Power, Heather O'Neill reflects on some state-level clean energy policy wins from an otherwise dark 2025. She describes Advanced Energy United's strategies for supporting policy in 2026, and explains why she's focused on the 36 gubernatorial races and midterm elections in the coming year.Credits: Hosted by Brad Langley. Produced by Mary Catherine O'Connor. Edited by Anne Bailey. Original music and engineering by Sean Marquand. Stephen Lacey is executive editor. The GridX production team includes Jenni Barber, Samantha McCabe, and Brad Langley.

It's a new year, which means the veteran energy analyst Nat Bullard has dropped another annual, data-rich presentation on the state of energy and decarbonization. And per what has become tradition, Nat is back on Catalyst – for the fourth time – to discuss some of Shayle's favorite slides, cherry-picked from the 200-page deck.  In part one of their two-part conversation, they cover topics like: The significance of China's rapid electrification Why the proportion of GDP spent on electricity has remained flat while oil has proven volatile The massive backlog and rising capital costs for gas turbines How current tech CapEx compares to past large-scale endeavors like the Manhattan Project and broadband build-out The extraordinary explosion of large load interconnection requests in Texas The divergence in load forecasting between grid operators and transmission providers Global drivers of electricity demand growth beyond data centers Resources Nat Bullard's 2026 Presentation Catalyst: 2025 trends: aerosols, oil demand, and carbon removal Catalyst: 2024 trends: batteries, transferable tax credits, and the cost of capital Credits: Hosted by Shayle Kann. Produced and edited by Max Savage Levenson. Original music and engineering by Sean Marquand. Stephen Lacey is our executive editor. Catalyst is brought to you by Uplight. Uplight activates energy customers and their connected devices to generate, shift, and save energy—improving grid resilience and energy affordability while accelerating decarbonization. Learn how Uplight is helping utilities unlock flexible load at scale at uplight.com. Catalyst is brought to you by Antenna Group, the public relations and strategic marketing agency of choice for climate, energy, and infrastructure leaders. If you're a startup, investor, or global corporation that's looking to tell your climate story, demonstrate your impact, or accelerate your growth, Antenna Group's team of industry insiders is ready to help. Learn more at antennagroup.com.

For “deep tech” or industrial tech investors, a captivating idea on paper doesn't always translate into a sustainable or viable business. Even a remarkable technological breakthrough isn't guaranteed to survive the long sales cycles of the industrial world. So which companies are worth the investment? Ian Rountree, founder and partner at the venture firm Cantos, wrote a bare-bones thesis on X that offers guidance on this question. In it, Rountree lays out a stark list of the companies he invests in—and the ones he passes on. In this episode, Shayle and Ian unpack his post and explore how it applies to the current landscape of hardware and industrial startups. They cover topics like: Why selling technology to large incumbents like automakers or utilities can be a death sentence for startups The pitfalls of "commercializing science"  Why capital risk to sell an end-product can be better business than licensing technology Why "weird" companies—"N of 1" startups—can generate huge amounts of talent and capital Why selling commodities (like electrons or minerals) can actually be a safer bet than entering a new market Real-world examples of full-stack success in the mining industry, including Earth AI and KoBold Metals Latitude: Earth AI's play in the hunt for critical minerals Catalyst: Calibrating hype with Akshat Rathi Catalyst: Climate tech startups need strong techno-economic analysis Open Circuit: Pain, resilience, and bargain hunting for climate tech investors Credits: Hosted by Shayle Kann. Produced and edited by Max Savage Levenson. Original music and engineering by Sean Marquand. Stephen Lacey is our executive editor.  Catalyst is brought to you by Uplight. Uplight activates energy customers and their connected devices to generate, shift, and save energy—improving grid resilience and energy affordability while accelerating decarbonization. Learn how Uplight is helping utilities unlock flexible load at scale at uplight.com.  ResourcesCatalyst is brought to you by Antenna Group, the public relations and strategic marketing agency of choice for climate, energy, and infrastructure leaders. If you're a startup, investor, or global corporation that's looking to tell your climate story, demonstrate your impact, or accelerate your growth, Antenna Group's team of industry insiders is ready to help. Learn more at antennagroup.com.

At age 10, Neil Chatterjee found common ground with his immigrant father through politics. Watching then-Vice President George H. W. Bush spar with Michael Dukakis during a presidential debate on TV,  Neil and his dad connected in a way they hadn't before.  Years later, after serving as Senator Mitch McConnell's energy advisor and appointed to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, he found that he needed to shed his partisan views — and his reputation as McConnell's coal guy — to become a convener. Doing so helped him enact policies to make a more resilient electric grid with more renewable and distributed energy resources.This week on With Great Power, Neil Chatterjee explains why he thinks energy policy has gotten so politicized in the U.S. and what could change that trajectory. He and Brad delve into some of the weedy issues  FERC will be addressing in 2026 and some “wonky solutions" to load growth and other grid challenges. Neil also talks about his current role as chief government affairs officer at Palmetto, a provider of residential renewable energy products. Credits: Hosted by Brad Langley. Produced by Mary Catherine O'Connor. Edited by Anne Bailey. Original music and engineering by Sean Marquand. Stephen Lacey is executive editor. The GridX production team includes Jenni Barber, Samantha McCabe, and Brad Langley.

Weather forecasting drives billions of economic decisions — from grid operations to evacuation planning. Better forecasting could improve supply chain planning, disaster warnings, and renewable integration. The industry has decades of satellite observations and ground measurements, making it ripe for AI-driven advancements. And it's already happening. But how exactly does AI get used in weather forecasting, and how does it actually lead to improvements? In this episode, Shayle talks to Peter Battaglia, senior director of research at Google DeepMind's sustainability program, which launched a new AI-powered weather forecasting model in November 2025. They cover topics like: Why precipitation is so much harder to predict than temperature  How the weather industry works, with governments creating global models and private companies refining them for specific use cases What AI models can see that traditional supercomputer simulations can't Novel sources of data like cell phones, door bells, and social media Resources: Latitude Media: Where are we on using AI to predict the weather?   Latitude Media: Could AI-fueled weather forecasts boost renewable energy production?   Catalyst: Specialized AI brains for physical industry   Credits: Hosted by Shayle Kann. Produced and edited by Daniel Woldorff. Original music and engineering by Sean Marquand. Stephen Lacey is our executive editor.  Catalyst is brought to you by Uplight. Uplight activates energy customers and their connected devices to generate, shift, and save energy—improving grid resilience and energy affordability while accelerating decarbonization. Learn how Uplight is helping utilities unlock flexible load at scale at uplight.com. Catalyst is brought to you by Antenna Group, the public relations and strategic marketing agency of choice for climate, energy, and infrastructure leaders. If you're a startup, investor, or global corporation that's looking to tell your climate story, demonstrate your impact, or accelerate your growth, Antenna Group's team of industry insiders is ready to help. Learn more at antennagroup.com.

Demand for turbines is growing fast, but so are lead times — causing serious headaches for developers and even cancellations. In Texas, one of six cancelled projects cited “equipment procurement constraints” as the reasons for its withdrawal.  Lead times are stretching to four years and sometimes more. Costs are climbing. So what's behind the bottleneck? In this episode, Shayle talks to Anthony Brough, founder and CEO of Dora Partners, a consulting firm focused on the turbine market. Shayle and Anthony cover topics like:  Why previous boom-bust cycles in turbine manufacturing have left the industry skittish — and why Anthony says leaders are approaching this new peak with “guarded optimism” The competing demands on the turbine supply chain, including from power, oil and gas, and aerospace industries How lead times have ballooned to four years and, in some cases, even longer Factors affecting the market beyond load growth, like renewables, storage, affordable gas, and coal retirements How investment in tech innovation has raised turbine efficiency  How the industry is preparing for hydrogen — if hydrogen scales up Resources: Latitude Media: Engie's pulled project highlights the worsening economics of gas Latitude Media: High costs, delays prompt withdrawal of five more Texas gas plants Power Magazine: Gas Power's Boom Sparks a Turbine Supply Crunch Marketplace: Will we have enough natural gas turbines to power AI data centers? CTVC:

Today virtually all AI compute takes place in centralized data centers, driving the demand for massive power infrastructure. But as workloads shift from training to inference, and AI applications become more latency-sensitive (autonomous vehicles, anyone?), there‘s another pathway: migrating a portion of inference from centralized computing to the edge. Instead of a gigawatt-scale data center in a remote location, we might see a fleet of smaller data centers clustered around an urban core. Some inference might even shift to our devices.  So how likely is a shift like this, and what would need to happen for it to substantially reshape AI power? In this episode, Shayle talks to Dr. Ben Lee, a professor of electrical engineering and computer science at the University of Pennsylvania, as well as a visiting researcher at Google. Shayle and Ben cover topics like: The three main categories of compute: hyperscale, edge, and on-device Why training is unlikely to move from hyperscale The low latency demands of new applications like autonomous vehicles How generative AI is training us to tolerate longer latencies  Why distributed inference doesn‘t face the same technical challenges as distributed training Why consumer devices may limit model capability  Resources: ACM SIGMETRICS Performance Evaluation Review: A Case Study of Environmental Footprints for Generative AI Inference: Cloud versus Edge Internet of Things and Cyber-Physical Systems: Edge AI: A survey Credits: Hosted by Shayle Kann. Produced and edited by Daniel Woldorff. Original music and engineering by Sean Marquand. Stephen Lacey is our executive editor.  Catalyst is brought to you by EnergyHub. EnergyHub helps utilities build next-generation virtual power plants that unlock reliable flexibility at every level of the grid. See how EnergyHub helps unlock the power of flexibility at scale, and deliver more value through cross-DER dispatch with their leading Edge DERMS platform, by visiting energyhub.com. Catalyst is brought to you by Bloom Energy. AI data centers can't wait years for grid power—and with Bloom Energy's fuel cells, they don't have to. Bloom Energy delivers affordable, always-on, ultra-reliable onsite power, built for chipmakers, hyperscalers, and data center leaders looking to power their operations at AI speed. Learn more by visiting⁠ ⁠⁠BloomEnergy.com⁠. Catalyst is supported by Third Way. Third Way's new PACE study surveyed over 200 clean energy professionals to pinpoint the non-cost barriers delaying clean energy deployment today and offers practical solutions to help get projects over the finish line. Read Third Way's full report, and learn more about their PACE initiative, at www.thirdway.org/pace.

About 90% of global energy storage is pumped storage hydropower – which requires a mountain, a lake, and a whole lot of permitting. While lithium batteries have gotten drastically cheaper over the last decade, they're still expensive for longer durations.   But Cindy Taff and her team at Sage Geosystems are developing geothermal technology that could revolutionize energy storage. Instead of pumping water up a mountain, they pump it deep into the earth, providing cost-effective, long-term storage for intermittent renewable sources. They're piloting this technology at a new commercial facility in partnership with  San Miguel Electric Cooperative, a rural Texas electric cooperative that is transitioning from coal to solar and battery storage thanks to a USDA grant.   In this episode, Lara Pierpoint talks with Cindy Taff, CEO of Sage Geosystems about its groundbreaking new technology, their first commercial facility, and upcoming partnerships with geothermal giant Ormat Technologies.  Hosted by Lara Pierpoint. Produced and edited by Stephen Lacey and Anne Bailey. Technical direction by Sean Marquand. Stephen Lacey is our executive editor. The Green Blueprint is a co-production of Latitude Media and Trellis Climate. Subscribe on Apple, Spotify, or anywhere you get podcasts. For more reporting on the companies featured in this show, subscribe to Latitude Media's newsletter.