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283 afleveringen, van nieuw naar oud
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The global geopolitics of nuclear fuel
5 november 2026 · 36 min
This fall, uranium prices set a record high — $96.50 per pound. But even though the radioactive metal is critical to the nuclear power buildout, rising prices haven’t triggered panic among uranium buyers. Lees meer
So how are buyers continuing to rely on the supply chain to keep delivering?
In this episode, Shayle speaks with Mike Alkin, founder and chief investment officer at Sachem Cove Partners, to unpack the full nuclear fuel cycle: from mining and yellowcake to conversion, enrichment, and fabrication. Mike explains why uranium mining, specifically, is the ultimate bottleneck in the supply chain. He also makes the case that murky contracting masks the market reality, and breaks down what could happen when America’s 2028 ban on Russian enriched uranium goes into full effect.
Shayle and Mike also discuss:
- Uranium’s global supply/demand mismatch
- Why buyers have been replacing fuel at just above 50% of its burn rate
- Why production costs at the world's lowest-cost producer, Kazatomprom, have skyrocketed and triggered global production curtailments.
- Why shifting toward overfeeding will create massive new demand for uranium yellowcake
- The challenges America faces finding new uranium suppliers
- Catalyst: Building a domestic nuclear fuel supply chain
- Catalyst: The state and future of nuclear waste
- Catalyst: The path to market for new nuclear reactors
- Open Circuit: Inside Meta’s massive nuclear push
- 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 Antenna Group, the strategic communications and marketing partner behind the biggest names in energy, climate, and infrastructure. For three decades, Antenna has helped breakout companies amplify their stories, build reputation, differentiate from the competition, define new categories and accelerate growt…
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The new landscape for gas turbines
29 oktober 2026 · 32 min
Data center developers are facing unprecedented roadblocks to power new facilities. In addition to being hampered by an enormous interconnection queue backlog, the major gas turbine suppliers — GE Vernova, Mitsubishi, and Siemens — are completely sold out past 2030. As a result, developers are scrambling to find alternate behind-the-meter power solutions. Lees meer
In this episode, Shayle invites Tony Brough, president of Dora Partners & Company, back on the show to examine this squeeze on gas-fired power generation. They break down the OEM backlog, examine rising equipment pricing, and take a deep dive into the emerging ecosystem of new suppliers looking to fill the void.
Shayle and Tony discuss:
- Why turbine prices have surged from $500/kW to nearly $2,500/kW
- The long-term viability of deploying reciprocating generators as bridge power
- The technical and manufacturing hurdles facing new turbine OEMs like Boom Supersonic and Parallax
- How companies like FTAI, PROENERGY, and Nova Power are repurposing jet engines into stationary power units
- The market outlook for 2030, including the role of renewables, and whether behind-the-meter gas demand will plateau
- Catalyst: Data centers' looming methane surge
- Catalyst: The rise of flexible data centers
- Catalyst: The gas turbine crunch
- Open Circuit: Data centers have a Texas-sized energy problem
- Open Circuit: Power is caught in AI's doom loop
- Latitude Media: Is the gas turbine bottleneck solving itself?
- Latitude Media: Hyperscalers say gas is a bridge — but no one says where it ends
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 GridBeyond. GridBeyond is the world’s leading technology platform for managing distributed and flexible energy resources. Learn more by visiting GridBeyond.com.
Catalyst is brought to you by Antenna Group, the strategic communica…
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The battery boom behind the AI buildout [partner content]
27 oktober 2026 · 30 min
The AI buildout is the most capital-intensive project in history. The hunger for power has pushed companies to unconventional options, sparking demand for jet engines, mobile trailer-mounted generators, and hybrid microgrids. Lees meer
And now batteries are having a moment. The urgency to connect to the grid and manage volatile AI workloads is making storage a must-have piece of the energy stack for data centers.
The demand is being felt by companies like battery integrator FlexGen, which has seen its order book suddenly filled with data center customers.
In this Frontier Forum, Stephen Lacey talks with FlexGen CEO Pegler and COO Hugh Scott about how the demand is showing up — and how data centers are reshaping the industry.
“I had thought coming from the renewable energy space, we were an impatient crew. The data center community makes us look like the most patient people around,” says Kelcy Pegler, the CEO of FlexGen.
They walk through how developers are designing and integrating batteries, how software is controlling them, and where the market is headed.
This is partner content, brought to you by FlexGen. FlexGen designs and integrates battery energy storage solutions and the software platform that is enabling today’s energy transition.
This conversation was recorded live as part of Latitude Media’s Frontier Forum series. You can access the full video here.
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BTM data centers’ looming methane surge
22 oktober 2026 · 32 min
It’s no secret that hyperscalers’ behind-the-meter gas bonanza could generate enormous CO2 emissions. But the BTM boom could become responsible for another, less-publicized emissions issue: upstream and onsite methane leaks that could derail decarbonization efforts. Lees meer
In this episode, Shayle Kann speaks with Olya Irzak, founder and CEO of Frost Methane Labs. Olya unpacks the full lifecycle of methane emissions in gas-powered data centers, and considers why the actual warming impact of behind-the-meter gas may be double current estimates. Olya says practical, relatively low-cost strategies could cut those emissions in half. Shayle and Olya also discuss:
- The big-picture data: Why tens of gigawatts of new behind-the-meter gas capacity could generate 380 megatons of CO2 and methane emissions over the next 18 months.
- How methane can leak across the value chain, from wellheads and gathering pipelines to facility leaks and engine slippage
- How methane's extreme short-term warming potency means off-grid gas emissions could dwarf coal’s impacts over the next 20 years
- Why running gas generators at partial loads increases leaks
- Why low-leak gas procurement, leak detection and repair, and catalyst additions add less than 1% to total data center build costs without causing operational delays
- How big tech's current emissions reporting relies on averages that overlook actual leaks
- Frost Methane Labs / MERIT certification
- Catalyst: The unexplored frontier of methane removal
- Catalyst: Why are we still flaring gas?
- Catalyst: Serving data center load with carbon capture
- Catalyst: Can the fossil gas supply handle the AI boom?
- Open Circuit: The off-grid data center fantasy
- Latitude Media: The problem with the US gas bonanza for data centers
- Latitude Media: Senate Democrats probe gas-powered AI data centers
Credits: Hosted by Shayle Kann. Produced and edited by Max Savage Levenson. Original music and engineering by Sean Marquand. Stephen Lacey is…
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Can natural gas supply handle the AI boom?
15 oktober 2026 · 36 min
As data center-driven load growth continues to rise, hyperscalers are turning to natural gas – both in front of and behind the meter — to secure power. But whether the natural gas pipeline system has the bandwidth to support this surging demand remains far from certain. Lees meer
In this episode, Shayle sits down with Eric McGuire, director of natural gas and LNG trading analytics at Wood Mackenzie, to unpack whether gas is in the midst of a capacity crunch of its own. Shayle and Eric consider how data center demand has collided with massive LNG exports in the United States, why regional pricing spreads are informing data center siting, and how winter weather creates extreme daily price volatility. They also discuss:
- How connecting large loads directly into interstate gas pipeline headers compares to filing an electric grid interconnection request
- Why data centers and LNG export contracts compete for baseload gas
- How placing data centers in the Permian Basin and Marcellus Shale helps developers bypass long-haul pipeline constraints
- How cold snaps cause wellhead freeze-offs that knock out tens of billions of cubic feet of gas supply
- Catalyst: Live from Transition-AI 2026: Inside Google’s massive AI capex
- Catalyst: The rise of flexible data centers
- Catalyst: AI scaling pathways: On grid, on edge, off grid, off planet
- Open Circuit: The off-grid data center fantasy
- Open Circuit: AI needs a different kind of power plant
- Latitude Media: Microsoft is embracing off-grid gas for West Virginia data centers
- Latitude Media: Building clean power for data centers in a gas-obsessed market
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 GridBeyond. GridBeyond is the world’s leading technology platform for managing distributed and flexible energy resources. Learn more by visiting GridBeyond.com.
Catalyst is brou…
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The truth about data center water usage
8 oktober 2026 · 44 min
Of all the concerns surrounding the AI boom, data center water usage tops the list. Opponents claim that massive hyperscaler facilities threaten local drinking supplies and drain aquifers. Proponents say data centers use a negligible amount of water, at least compared to agriculture or conventional power generation sources. Lees meer
So who actually has it right?
In this episode, Shayle sits down with Tim Shedd, founder of Ebullient Insights and an expert in data center thermal management. They unpack the history and evolution of data center cooling and consider how high-density chip racks have developers ditching air cooling in favor of single-phase direct-to-chip liquid cooling. The two also discuss:
- Why modern GPU racks (drawing 220 kW to 500 kW+) have rendered traditional air cooling obsolete
- The distinctions between single-phase direct-to-chip, two-phase cooling, and immersion cooling methods
- How collecting heat at higher temperatures inside a server allows data centers to reject heat outside with far less energy and water inputs
- How developers can better communicate with the public about data centers’ water usage and foster local trust amidst rapid buildouts.
- Ebullient Insights
- Catalyst: What comes after the data center backlash?
- Open Circuit: Can data centers regain their social license?
- Open Circuit: A feast of hot takes
- Latitude Media: Data centers' hidden water footprint is linked to 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.
Catalyst is brought to you by GridBeyond. GridBeyond is the world’s leading technology platform for managing distributed and flexible energy resources. Learn more by visiting GridBeyond.com.
Catalyst is brought to you by Antenna Group, the strategic communications and marketing partner behind the biggest names in energy, climate, and infrastructure. For three decades, Antenna has help…
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ERCOT batteries: boom, bust, or rebound?
1 oktober 2026 · 38 min
It’s been a wild few years for grid-scale batteries in Texas. At the start of the decade, the Lone Star State was home to roughly 200 megawatts of battery capacity. Today, that number has skyrocketed to seventeen gigawatts…with at least five more gigawatts expected to come online by the end of 2026. Lees meer
But this rapid buildout quickly led to market saturation. In the past year alone, revenues plummeted by more than 80%, far below the threshold needed for fleet operators to stay in the black.
The future of the battery market in Texas remains murky. Will the depression continue? Or will the imminent, enormous surge of data center load growth reset the state of play and bring volatility back into the mix?
In this episode, Shayle sits down with Brandt Vermillion, U.S. market lead at Modo Energy, to unpack the mechanics of the Texas battery storage market, and consider when the tide could turn back in developers’ favor. They cover topics like:
- The factors behind the recent cratering of the market
- How longer battery durations are able to capture secondary price spikes
- The degree to which weather patterns have contributed to battery demand
- Reconciling currently suppressed revenues with the hundreds of incoming gigawatts of proposed data center demand
- Whether on-site generation for hyperscaler data centers will blunt peak demand spikes and delay the return of grid volatility
- Why off-takers are considering tolling agreements to survive the market downturn
- Catalyst: 2026 trends: Gas turbines, Texas' load queue, and China electrifies
- Catalyst: Why C&I storage is finally taking off
- Catalyst: The rise of flexible data centers
- Open Circuit: Data centers have a Texas-sized energy problem
- Open Circuit: The off-grid data center fantasy
- Open Circuit: A global energy shock and the case for distributed power
- Open Circuit: Power is caught in AI’s doom loop
- Latitude Media: How the AI boom has impacted US battery storage so far
- Latitude Media: …
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The rush for clean, on-site power [partner content]
28 september 2026 · 31 min
This is a partner episode, brought to you by Bloom Energy. Lees meer
Long interconnection queues, fragile supply chains, and a lack of grid capacity are pushing a wide range of C&I customers to invest in distributed, on-site power.
But as data centers and other industrial facilities build more power behind the meter, new challenges have emerged. Air quality, noise, and water use are top concerns for local communities, making cleaner solutions like fuel cells much more attractive.
This shift within the data center industry is starting to shape energy decisions in the broader C&I sector across retail, healthcare, higher education, and manufacturing.
In this Frontier Forum, Stephen Lacey talks with Aman Joshi, chief commercial officer at Bloom Energy, about how the scramble for electricity is changing how large energy users plan their power.
In this new landscape for large loads, Aman explains why more customers are planning to permanently stay disconnected from the grid; how the familiar cost-per-megawatt-hour calculation can fall short; and why speed, reliability, and community acceptance are central to power decisions.
This conversation was recorded live as part of Latitude Media’s Frontier Forum with Bloom Energy. You can access the full video here.
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Anduril's vision for powering maritime defense
24 september 2026 · 32 min
Dual-use technologies and the rise of defense tech are having a moment. But how does the defense sector approach innovations in energy that may be necessary to optimize its fleets? Lees meer
To help answer that question, Shayle turns to the maritime sector to explore how advanced batteries, nuclear propulsion, and autonomous capabilities are shaping the future of defense.
Unlike conventional EVs, maritime vehicles and drones must compete with the challenges presented by the sea in order to complete surveillance and reconnaissance-related missions, as well as direct attacks. Saltwater corrodes hardware, and vehicles at great depths must withstand enormous pressure; to say nothing of the fact that moving through water requires nearly 1,000 times more energy than through air.
To learn how the sector navigates these obstacles, Shayle sits down with Andrew Nuss, the head of growth and strategy in the maritime division at the defense technology company Anduril. They unpack topics including:
- The complicated physics influencing maritime drone design and energy usage
- How lithium-ion cells fare in deep-sea deployment
- Why extreme reliability and long-range capabilities drive the military’s energy requirements compared to commercial shipping
- How surface or subsea recharging depots could reshape vehicle design
- Why both commercial and defense sectors are revisiting nuclear propulsion as a viable option for high-speed, zero-emission surface vessels
Catalyst: The rise of metal fuels
- Catalyst: GM’s big new battery tech push
- Catalyst: Decarbonizing the high seas
- Open Circuit: A five-alarm fire for the grid?
- Latitude Media: Is adaptation ready for growth money?
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. Peak season puts every grid to the test — and the utilities that pass are the ones that built flexib…
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AMA: Fuel cells, geopolitics, and the solar growth curve
17 september 2026 · 23 min
As we head into the final quarter of this pivotal and dramatic year for the energy sector, Catalyst host Shayle Kann takes stock of 2026 so far – and considers what’s to come – in this AMA-style episode. He discusses the year’s biggest stories, the trends that have surprised him the most, and his hot takes on the current energy landscape. Lees meer
Shayle dives into topics including:
- The data center backlash and why it has become more bipartisan than he expected
- The impacts of the war in Iran on global EV adoption, and how the rollback of U.S. tax credits has countered that momentum
- Why fuel cell maker Bloom Energy is flourishing amidst the rush for behind-the-meter generation
- Tariff innovations: How big data centers could subsidize retail electricity rates in small utility territories
- Why Shayle thinks predictions of a flattening U.S. solar market are underestimating massive growth potential
- Hot take: why Shayle thinks massive grid capacity is about to hit the system
- Catalyst: What comes after the data center backlash?
- Catalyst: Can AI revolutionize grid operations?
- Catalyst: Why C&I storage is finally taking off
- Catalyst: Enter the electric supercycle
- Catalyst: Inside the global fertilizer crunch
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. Peak season puts every grid to the test — and the utilities that pass are the ones that built flexible capacity before they needed it. EnergyHub works with more than 170 utilities to coordinate 2.5 million devices and 3.4 gigawatts of dispatchable flexibility through a single platform designed to perform when it counts most. See what that looks like at https://www.energyhub.com/
Catalyst is brought to you by Bloom Energy. Bloom Energy fuel cells deliver affordable, ultra-reliable onsite power for hospitals, utilities, and data centers – at s…
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Do data centers actually increase electricity prices? No...and yes
10 september 2026 · 42 min
You don’t have to look far to see the vitriol and backlash ignited by the rapid expansion of hyperscaler data centers. While critics and activists tend to focus their ire on resource consumption and residents’ electricity bills, the reality of data center economics is far more complex. Lees meer
In this episode of Catalyst, host Shayle Kann sits down with Andy Lubershane, head of research at Energy Impact Partners, to unpack the nuances. They crunch the numbers behind utility rate structures, consider the "denominator effect" that can lower customers’ rates, and dig into the supply chain crunches pushing global power system costs higher.
Shayle and Andy discuss:
- Why a new data center can reduce utility rates for locals while contributing to rising costs elsewhere
- How data centers impact utility tariff rates
- Separating public perception of data centers from the reality of the grid
- How soaring demand for transformers, switchgear, conductors, gas turbines, and labor is driving systemic cost increases across the power sector
- Strategies to mitigate rising global grid costs, from load flexibility and distributed energy resources (DERs) to energy efficiency hardware
- Catalyst: What comes after the data center backlash?
- Catalyst: Enter the electric supercycle
- Catalyst: Can AI revolutionize grid operations?
- Catalyst: Inside the AI power wars
- Open Circuit: As midterms approach, electricity bills are on the ballot
- Open Circuit: Data centers have a Texas-sized energy problem
- Latitude Media: The great home battery financing experiment
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. Peak season puts every grid to the test — and the utilities that pass are the ones that built flexible capacity before they needed it. EnergyHub works with more than 170 utilities to coordinate 2.5 million devices and…
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What comes after the data center backlash?
3 september 2026 · 48 min
In their early days, data centers were largely welcomed by communities who saw their arrival as an economic boost. Today as concerns around noise levels, power prices, water use, and AI grow, they face fierce opposition. Lees meer
In this episode, Shayle speaks to Brian Janous, co-founder and chief commercial officer of Cloverleaf Infrastructure. Together, they unpack the data center backlash and explore how the industry can approach the problem differently.
Shayle and Brian dive into specifics like:
- Communities’ shift from “red carpets to pitchforks” on data center development
- How misleading information about data center energy and water usage has led to the AI sector losing the public relations battle
- Distinctions between data centers’ micro-level benefits and macro-level price inflation on power grids
- The potential, and pitfalls, of "bring-your-own-capacity" and behind-the-meter generation
- The viability of taking data centers off-grid, off-land, or off-planet
- The emerging market for distributed edge compute facilities
Resources:
- Catalyst: When to colocate data centers with generation
- Catalyst: Explaining the ‘Watt-Bit Spread’
- Open Circuit: The off-grid data center fantasy
- Open Circuit: Utilities are in the crosshairs of the data center backlash
- Latitude Media: In Indiana, an anatomy of data center opposition
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. Peak season puts every grid to the test — and the utilities that pass are the ones that built flexible capacity before they needed it. EnergyHub works with more than 170 utilities to coordinate 2.5 million devices and 3.4 gigawatts of dispatchable flexibility through a single platform designed to perform when it counts most. See what that looks like at https://www.energyhub.com/
Catalyst is brought to you by Bloom Energy. Bloom …
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The rise of metal fuels
27 augustus 2026 · 40 min
Diesel generators remain ubiquitous because they offer an unusually powerful combination of low cost, high energy density, long-duration storage, and reliable off-grid power. But their pollution, noise, maintenance requirements, permitting challenges, and growing footprint are becoming increasingly problematic as data centers drive demand for backup generation. Lees meer
In this episode of Catalyst, Shayle Kann talks with Richard Wang, co-founder and CEO of Voya Energy, about the company's effort to replace diesel generators with generators powered by aluminum.
Richard explains why diesel has been so difficult to displace, why natural gas and batteries fall short for some backup applications, and how Voya's electrochemical generator uses aluminum pellets and air to produce electricity. Unlike combustion-based generators, the system is designed to operate without air emissions, while offering high energy density, quiet operation, rapid startup, and long-duration capabilities.
The conversation also explores aluminum's potential as a globally transportable energy carrier and why low-grade scrap aluminum could provide Voya's initial fuel supply.
Richard and Shayle discuss:
The global diesel generator market and why diesel remains dominant
Why natural gas generators and batteries haven't displaced diesel
Aluminum as a high-energy-density fuel
How Voya Energy's electrochemical aluminum generator works
Voya vs. diesel on cost, footprint, power quality, and runtime
Using Voya generators as grid assets and battery alternatives
Why metal fuels are becoming viable now
Using low-grade scrap aluminum as fuel and the long-term vision for recyclable aluminum energy storage
Credits: Hosted by Shayle Kann. Produced and edited by John Sheehan. Original music and engineering by Sean Marquand. Stephen Lacey is our executive editor.
This episode of Catalyst is brought to you by ENGIE, the smarter energy supplier. ENGIE doesn't just provide the power to run your business — they supp…
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Can AI revolutionize grid operations?
20 augustus 2026 · 39 min
Everyone loves to talk about the “broken grid.” But if you look inside a utility’s planning and operations functions, a different picture emerges: infrastructure that is remarkably reliable, built and run by engineers solving impossibly complex problems with often outdated tools. Lees meer
In this episode, Shayle Kann sits down with Josh Wong, CEO and founder of ThinkLabs AI, a company building physics-informed AI for utility planning and operations. They break down how utility studies get built today, the data cleanup headaches, the silos between teams, and the “worst case” mentality that drives an overbuild of infrastructure.
Shayle and Josh discuss:
Why utility planning is split into silos across transmission, distribution, and DER planning.
The gap between studies that identify grid problems and the work of actually solving them.
What “physics-informed AI” actually means.
The shift from AI that identifies problems to AI that actually solves them.
The disconnect between utility planning and real-time operations.
Should data center microgrids be treated as micro utilities?
Resources:
Latitude Media: GE spinout ThinkLabs has a new copilot offering for the grid
Latitude Media: Do microgrids make sense for data centers?
Latitude Media: The case against relying on behind-the-meter power for data centers
Latitude Media: Unpacking DOE's proposal to transform data center interconnection
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.
This episode of Catalyst is brought to you by ENGIE, the smarter energy supplier. ENGIE doesn't just provide the power to run your business — they supply the energy to move it forward, with reliable, flexible solutions built for what's next. Learn more at engieresources.com.
Catalyst is brought to you by EnergyHub. Peak season puts every grid to the test — and the utilities that pass are the ones that built flexible capa…
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Is now the time for DERs to scale? [re-published]
13 augustus 2026 · 42 min
A decade ago, DERs were hot. The hype was that things like batteries, smart devices, and other distributed energy technologies would offset the need for expanding traditional grid infrastructure. Lees meer
But DERs never took off, at least not at the scale that many hoped for. They had high price tags and short track records compared to the existing substations, transmission lines, and generation options that utilities were familiar with. In short, the market didn’t need them yet.
Fast forward 10 years, and things have changed. Load growth is increasing while major grid bottlenecks — like in transmission, interconnection, and supply chains — may be opening up a new opportunity.
So is the time finally right for DERs? In this episode, Shayle talks to his colleague Andy Lubershane, partner and head of research at Energy Impact Partners. Last week, Andy published a blog post making the case that DERs were a good idea that was just too early, but the market is ready now. Original episode date: 9/18/2025.
Shayle and Andy cover topics like:
- What held DERs back a decade ago
- Why now is different, including falling system costs and growing grid bottlenecks
- The difference between demand response and virtual power plants
- The potential hurdles to scale, like supply chain bottlenecks, foreign entity of concern regulations, and fire codes
Resources:
Latitude Media: Can distributed energy answer AI’s power problem?
Open Circuit: The grid flexibility solutions staring us in the face
Catalyst: Making DERs work for load growth
Credits: Hosted by Shayle Kann. Produced and edited by Daniel Woldorff. Original music and engineering by Sean Marquand. Stephen Lacey is our executive editor.
This episode of Catalyst is brought to you by ENGIE, the smarter energy supplier. ENGIE doesn't just provide the power to run your business — they supply the energy to move it forward, with reliable, flexible solutions built for what's next. Learn more at engieresources.com.
Catalyst is brou…
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Critical Capital: Senator Tillis' case for "all-of-the-above" energy
11 augustus 2026 · 31 min
This week, we’re presenting an episode of Critical Capital, a new podcast from Crux and Latitude Studios. Lees meer
Energy policy has become increasingly polarized just as the U.S. faces record electricity demand, a rapidly expanding AI economy, and growing competition from China.
In this episode, Alfred Johnson speaks with North Carolina Sen. Thom Tillis about why the country's biggest energy challenge is the inability to build durable, bipartisan policy that survives changes in political leadership.
Drawing on more than a decade in the Senate, Tillis argues for an "all-of-the-above" energy strategy that embraces renewables, natural gas, nuclear, and other generation sources rather than treating them as competing ideologies. He discusses the economic consequences of abruptly cancelling energy projects, the need for stable investment signals, and why rising electricity demand requires policymakers to focus on practical solutions instead of partisan rhetoric. Tillis also discusses domestic manufacturing, critical minerals, AI governance, and the importance of strengthening America's energy supply chains while remaining globally competitive.
Subscribe to Critical Capital on Apple, Spotify, or any podcast platform.
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The electrician shortage slowing the AI boom
6 augustus 2026 · 35 min
The race to build AI infrastructure is often framed around the availability of power, chips, and capital. But another critical constraint is becoming impossible to ignore: skilled labor. In this episode, Shayle sits down with Raymond Hawkins, chief customer officer at Compass Datacenters, about why a shortage of qualified electricians has emerged as one of the biggest bottlenecks to data center construction, and how the industry is responding. Lees meer
Hawkins explains that labor shortages aren't preventing new data centers from being built, but they are driving up costs, extending project timelines, and forcing developers to compete aggressively for experienced electricians. As AI demand accelerates, companies are increasingly moving workers across the country, housing them near construction sites, and relying on a traveling workforce much like the healthcare industry relies on travel nurses. At the same time, demand is surging for highly specialized professionals capable of installing the sophisticated electrical systems that modern AI data centers require.
Hawkins also explores how modular construction and prefabrication are reshaping the way data centers are built, and how, as data centers expand into new markets, developers must become more transparent about their projects to earn a community's trust.
Shayle and Raymond discuss:- Why electricians have become one of the biggest constraints on AI data center growth
- How workforce shortages are changing hiring, training, and construction practices
- Compass Datacenters' partnership with community colleges to develop skilled labor
- The role of modular construction and prefabrication in reducing labor demands
- Strategies for earning community support through transparency, workforce investment, and responsible infrastructure development
Resources:
Catalyst: The State of Play of Data Center Development
Catalyst: AI Scaling Pathways: On Grid, On Edge, Off Grid, Off Planet
Latitude Media: As community scrutiny gro…
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The commercial battery comeback
30 juli 2026 · 44 min
Commercial and industrial (C&I) battery storage has long been the missing middle of the energy storage market. It’s been too complex and expensive to scale like residential systems, but too small to compete with utility-scale projects. Lees meer
That may finally be changing.
In this episode, Shayle sits down with Tim Hade, senior vice president at Voltus and founder of Brightfield Infrastructure, to discuss why C&I storage has historically struggled, why the economics are shifting dramatically, and why the next wave of distributed energy could be driven by commercial customers rather than utilities.
They explore the four revenue streams that are making batteries more valuable, from demand charge management to emerging capacity markets, and examine how declining hardware costs, stable federal tax incentives, and AI-powered automation are reshaping project economics. Tim also explains how aggregating thousands of commercial batteries into virtual power plants could help hyperscalers bring new data centers online faster while easing pressure on an increasingly constrained electric grid.
Shayle and Tim discuss: - Why commercial battery storage lagged behind residential and utility-scale markets
- The four revenue streams driving today's C&I storage economics
- How rising electricity prices and capacity shortages are changing customer demand
- Why battery hardware costs have fallen by roughly one-third in 18 months
- How AI could reduce project transaction costs by as much as 90%
- The opportunity — and challenge — of aggregating thousands of distributed batteries into virtual power plants
- Why data center growth and "bring your own capacity" programs could accelerate C&I storage adoption
- Tim's outlook for the fastest-growing segment of the battery storage marketResources
Latitude: Voltus is acquiring energy storage startup Brightfield AI
Latitude: Google is Voltus' first Bring Your Own Capacity
Latitude: Can VPPs unlock grid capacity for data centers?
Catalyst:…
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The multi-billion dollar promise of vehicle-to-grid integration
23 juli 2026 · 35 min
Most electric vehicles spend nearly all of their lives parked, doing nothing. But under the hood of those idle cars, a massive store of energy sits untapped. The Kia EV9, for instance, holds a 100-kilowatt-hour battery—which is equivalent to about seven home backup batteries—just waiting to be utilized. Lees meer
Yet despite this enormous potential, Vehicle-to-Grid (V2G) technology has remained mostly limited to small-scale pilot programs for decades. But with advanced tech hitting the market, that could soon change.
In this episode, Shayle sits down with Steve Letendre, senior advisor at the Vehicle-Grid Integration Council and editor of V2G News, to explore why the V2G revolution is finally moving from concept to reality. They break down the technical battle between AC and DC architectures, tackle the looming questions around battery degradation and warranties, and debate the business models that will finally convince everyday drivers to plug their cars back into the grid.
Shayle and Steve discuss topics like:
- The unused energy capacity hidden in parked EVs
- The technical debate, cost trade-offs, and hardware differences between off-board power conversion (DC architecture) and on-board power conversion (AC architecture).
- Current compatible EV options, including the Nissan Leaf, Tesla Cybertruck, Ford F-150 Lightning, and Kia EV9
- The high upfront cost of V2G systems
- Consumers' fears regarding whether discharging power to the grid will ruin their EV batteries or void manufacturer warranties.
- Streamlining the V2G enrollment process via VPP programs or at point-of-sale
- How financing can unlock mass V2G adoption
Resources
Catalyst: Repurposing EV batteries for grid storage
Catalyst: How China is reshaping the global auto market
Catalyst: Enter the electric supercycle
Latitude Media: Electric Era is turning its EV-charging tech into a data center power play
Latitude Media: The future of optimized EV charging
Credits: Hosted by Shayle Kann. Produced …
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When will quantum computing have its breakout moment?
16 juli 2026 · 40 min
Over the course of the past decade, quantum computing (or the concept thereof) has ridden hype cycles, just like AI or the internet writ large. Lees meer
In the past year, however, as governments across the globe have committed north of $50 billion to the sector, and billions more have poured into quantum startups, the technology is finding itself in the midst of a particularly dramatic hype wave.
Yet even as the money pours in, quantum remains a nascent technology that hasn’t seen any use in the real world. Among other applications, it offers enormous potential to revolutionize material discovery and molecular design, and to turbo charge clean energy tech. But how close we are to actually moving from isolated chips in a lab to bringing these real-world commercial applications to life remains a bit of a mystery.
In this episode, Shayle speaks to Bob Sorensen, chief analyst for quantum computing at Hyperion Research. They dig past the VC hype to map out the current state of quantum hardware, look at the timeline for fault-tolerant computing, and evaluate where the true performance gains lie.
Shayle and Bob discuss:
- Why recent claims of "quantum advantage" are often based on artificial constructs without much real-world relevance
- The difference between physical and logical qubits, and why reducing the "noise" is a defining hurdle for the hardware industry
- How data-driven AI models and science-driven quantum architectures complement each other differently in materials discovery
- Why 85 independent hardware vendors are far too many for the current ecosystem, and how market consolidation might impact investor confidence
Resources
- Catalyst: Quantum computing could be a critical climate solution
- Catalyst: Can AI revolutionize materials discovery?
- Latitude Media: Can quantum computing help solve the load growth problem?
Credits: Hosted by Shayle Kann. Produced and edited by Max Savage Levenson. Original music and engineering by Sean Marquand. Stephen Lacey …
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Inside the AI power wars
9 juli 2026 · 44 min
For those steeped in the world of AI development, the major differences between tech giants’ chip strategies are easy enough to see: the speed of Google’s TPUs, the affordability of Amazon’s Trainium, and Nvidia’s market dominance. But those same companies’ respective energy strategies often fly under the radar. Lees meer
As data center buildouts surge across the U.S., the tech industry is hitting a massive wall: a power grid that can’t move fast enough to support them. In this episode, Shayle sits down with Jeremie Eliahou Ontiveros, who leads coverage of infrastructure and power at SemiAnalysis, to lift the curtain on the hyper-competitive world of AI energy procurement.
They cover topics including:
The hyperscaler leaderboard: Why Google remains the most energy-sophisticated tech giant, as others continue to innovate
Why power has effectively become revenue for frontier labs
How Google uses its massive balance sheet to provide financial backstops for Anthropic’s data center buildouts
Why the interconnection queue is forcing AI labs like OpenAI and Anthropic to bring their own generation
The sudden market frenzy over modular speed-to-power options—ranging from aeroderivative gas turbines and massive reciprocating engines to billions of dollars of fuel cells
Catalyst: How data centers are complicating transmission expansion
Catalyst: Live from Transition-AI 2026: Inside Google’s massive AI capex
Catalyst: The rise of flexible data centers
Catalyst: AI scaling pathways: On grid, on edge, off grid, off planet
Open Circuit: The new reality for data centers: No easy answers
Open Circuit: Can data centers regain their social license?
Open Circuit: Grid utilization vs expansion: The 100GW debate
Latitude Media: FERC to grid operators: Connect large loads to transmission faster
Latitude Media: The rise of the data center power exchange
Credits: Hosted by Shayle Kann. Produced and edited by Max Savage Levenson. Original music and engineering by Sean Marquand. Steph…
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Inside the most sophisticated plan for solar geoengineering
1 juli 2026 · 38 min
One of the biggest challenges with technologies that reduce greenhouse gas emissions is that they require mass adoption. Solar radiation management (SRM) has the opposite problem. Lees meer
By Stardust Solutions’ estimate, dispersing three million tons of reflective particles into the stratosphere could cool the planet by 1.5 degrees Celsius for the relatively small price of $30 billion; that's less than the cost of a single hyperscale data center.
Despite concerns about such an endeavor, the company is building a proprietary particle injection system with the goal of being deployment-ready this decade. While Stardust says they won’t deploy without the explicit authorization of multiple governments, questions nonetheless remain around the safety and ethics of SRM.
In this episode, Shayle sits down with Yanai Yedvab, CEO and co-founder of Stardust, to unpack how the technology works, its potential risks, and when to deploy it.
Shayle and Yanai discuss topics like:
- Why Stardust is eschewing sulfur dioxide in favor of naturally occurring, biodegradable amorphous silica and calcite particles
- How Stardust’s technology incorporates real-time and holistic testing
- Stardust’s commitment to only deploying under strict international regulation
- How the company balances the risk that solar geoengineering will reduce the economic incentive to decarbonize heavy industries with the imperative of an immediate climate solution
- Why Stardust structured itself as a private company rather than an academic or non-profit lab
- Catalyst: Making sense of solar engineering
- Catalyst: Serving data center load with carbon captureCredits: Hosted by Shayle Kann. Produced and edited by Max Savage Levenson. Original music and engineering by Sean Marquand. Stephen Lacey is our executive editor.
This episode of Catalyst is brought to you by ENGIE, the smarter energy supplier. ENGIE doesn't just provide the power to run your business — they supply the energy to move it forward, with reli…
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How data centers are complicating transmission expansion
25 juni 2026 · 31 min
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. Lees meer
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…
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Enter the electric supercycle
18 juni 2026 · 36 min
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. Lees meer
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 Marqu…
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How China is reshaping the global auto market
11 juni 2026 · 34 min
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. Lees meer
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…
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Surprising trends in global electricity generation
4 juni 2026 · 44 min
While global electricity demand is unquestionably rising, we may nonetheless be underestimating the scale of necessary future generation. Lees meer
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 Levenso…
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Building inference data centers on the high seas
28 mei 2026 · 48 min
Amidst the increasing urgency of powering data centers, a new solution has entered the mix: send them out to sea. Lees meer
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 …
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A blueprint for scalable fusion power
21 mei 2026 · 41 min
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. Lees meer
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 …
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Inside the global fertilizer crunch
14 mei 2026 · 36 min
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. Lees meer
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-g…
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Cracking the code on autonomous trucking
7 mei 2026 · 43 min
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. Lees meer
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 h…
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How AI is modernizing EPCs
30 april 2026 · 34 min
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. Lees meer
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 cr…
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Inside Google’s massive AI capex (live)
23 april 2026 · 36 min
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. Lees meer
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 m…
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How Base Power plans to use its fresh $1B [re-published]
16 april 2026 · 40 min
[This episode is a re-run from October 2025. Look out for a new episode of Catalyst on Thursday, April 23.] Lees meer
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…
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The rise of flexible data centers
9 april 2026 · 43 min
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. Lees meer
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…
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Frontier Forum: Why clean energy capital boomed in a volatile year [partner content]
6 april 2026 · 34 min
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. Lees meer
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.
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Building a domestic nuclear fuel supply chain
2 april 2026 · 39 min
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. Lees meer
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 fi…
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Battery booms and the rise of flexibility [partner content]
30 maart 2026 · 31 min
Battery markets have a pattern: They boom, capital floods in, prices collapse, and then the cycle starts again. Lees meer
So as storage becomes more important than ever, how do we maximize revenue and deliver needed flexibility?
In this episode, Stephen Lacey speaks with Sean McEvoy, chief product officer and head of commercial at GridBeyond North America, about how that cycle is playing out across global power markets — and what happens when batteries stop being scarce.
As markets saturate, the source of value begins to shift. It’s no longer just about building assets. It’s about how precisely you can forecast, optimize, and trade them.
GridBeyond sits between energy assets and energy markets, using AI to coordinate everything from industrial loads to battery fleets. It is increasingly bringing that model to data centers.
These facilities are driving a surge in electricity demand, but they also introduce a new tension. The grid increasingly needs flexible loads, but data centers are built for reliability, not interruption.
The result is a wave of new approaches, from behind-the-meter batteries to “bring your own capacity” strategies that pair infrastructure with grid support.
Learn more about how GridBeyond develops AI software that helps businesses unlock flexibility in their energy systems.
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The state and future of nuclear waste
26 maart 2026 · 34 min
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. Lees meer
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 re…
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Scaling America's domestic solar supply chain
19 maart 2026 · 40 min
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. Lees meer
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 i…
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AI scaling pathways: on grid, on edge, off grid, off planet
12 maart 2026 · 43 min
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. Lees meer
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 uti…
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Frontier Forum: How VPPs earn grid-scale trust [partner content]
10 maart 2026 · 35 min
Can a grid operator tell the difference between a virtual power plant and a traditional one? Lees meer
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.
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Digging deep for super hot geothermal
5 maart 2026 · 36 min
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. Lees meer
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 l…
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Volts crossover: Six big energy questions
25 februari 2026 · 1 uur 5 min
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. Lees meer
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, demons…
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The rise of grid power electronics with Drew Baglino
19 februari 2026 · 50 min
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. Lees meer
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 flexibl…
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PJM and ERCOT navigate a capacity rollercoaster
12 februari 2026 · 40 min
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. Lees meer
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 lo…
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The path to market for new nuclear reactors
5 februari 2026 · 35 min
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. Lees meer
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 Ant…
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The rise of permissionless DERs
29 januari 2026 · 36 min
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. Lees meer
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 y…
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More 2026 trends: Solar costs, oil oversupply, and the startup slump
22 januari 2026 · 26 min
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. Lees meer
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 …
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A ‘rain delay’ for the energy transition [partner content]
20 januari 2026 · 20 min
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. Lees meer
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…
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2026 trends: Gas turbines, Texas’ load queue and China electrifies
15 januari 2026 · 46 min
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. Lees meer
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 deck
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 mor…