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283 afleveringen, van nieuw naar oud
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The VC case for 'full stack deeptech'
8 januari 2026 · 53 min
For “deep tech” or industrial tech investors, a captivating idea on paper doesn’t always translate into a sustainable or viable business. Even a remarkable technological breakthrough isn’t guaranteed to survive the long sales cycles of the industrial world. Lees meer
So which companies are worth the investment?
Ian Rountree, founder and partner at the venture firm Cantos, wrote a bare-bones thesis on X that offers guidance on this question. In it, Rountree lays out a stark list of the companies he invests in—and the ones he passes on.
In this episode, Shayle and Ian unpack his post and explore how it applies to the current landscape of hardware and industrial startups. They cover topics like:
Why selling technology to large incumbents like automakers or utilities can be a death sentence for startups
The pitfalls of "commercializing science"
Why capital risk to sell an end-product can be better business than licensing technology
Why "weird" companies—"N of 1" startups—can generate huge amounts of talent and capital
Why selling commodities (like electrons or minerals) can actually be a safer bet than entering a new market
Real-world examples of full-stack success in the mining industry, including Earth AI and KoBold Metals
Latitude: Earth AI’s play in the hunt for critical minerals
Catalyst: Calibrating hype with Akshat Rathi
Catalyst: Climate tech startups need strong techno-economic analysis
Open Circuit: Pain, resilience, and bargain hunting for climate tech investors
Credits: Hosted by Shayle Kann. Produced and edited by Max Savage Levenson. Original music and engineering by Sean Marquand. Stephen Lacey is our executive editor.
Catalyst is brought to you by Uplight. Uplight activates energy customers and their connected devices to generate, shift, and save energy—improving grid resilience and energy affordability while accelerating decarbonization. Learn how Uplight is helping utilities unlock flexible load at scale at uplight.com.
Catalyst is brought to yo…
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How AI is changing weather forecasting
2 januari 2026 · 45 min
Weather forecasting drives billions of economic decisions — from grid operations to evacuation planning. Better forecasting could improve supply chain planning, disaster warnings, and renewable integration. The industry has decades of satellite observations and ground measurements, making it ripe for AI-driven advancements. Lees meer
And it’s already happening. But how exactly does AI get used in weather forecasting, and how does it actually lead to improvements?
In this episode, Shayle talks to Peter Battaglia, senior director of research at Google DeepMind’s sustainability program, which launched a new AI-powered weather forecasting model in November 2025. They cover topics like:
Why precipitation is so much harder to predict than temperature
How the weather industry works, with governments creating global models and private companies refining them for specific use cases
What AI models can see that traditional supercomputer simulations can’t
Novel sources of data like cell phones, door bells, and social media
Resources:
Latitude Media: Where are we on using AI to predict the weather?
Latitude Media: Could AI-fueled weather forecasts boost renewable energy production?
Catalyst: Specialized AI brains for physical industry
Credits: Hosted by Shayle Kann. Produced and edited by Daniel Woldorff. Original music and engineering by Sean Marquand. Stephen Lacey is our executive editor.
Catalyst is brought to you by Uplight. Uplight activates energy customers and their connected devices to generate, shift, and save energy—improving grid resilience and energy affordability while accelerating decarbonization. Learn how Uplight is helping utilities unlock flexible load at scale at uplight.com.
Catalyst is brought to you by Antenna Group, the public relations and strategic marketing agency of choice for climate, energy, and infrastructure leaders. If you're a startup, investor, or global corporation that's looking to tell your climate story, demonstrate your impact, or acce…
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The gas turbine crunch
26 december 2025 · 39 min
Demand for turbines is growing fast, but so are lead times — causing serious headaches for developers and even cancellations. In Texas, one of six cancelled projects cited “equipment procurement constraints” as the reasons for its withdrawal. Lees meer
Lead times are stretching to four years and sometimes more. Costs are climbing. So what’s behind the bottleneck?
In this episode, Shayle talks to Anthony Brough, founder and CEO of Dora Partners, a consulting firm focused on the turbine market. Shayle and Anthony cover topics like:
Why previous boom-bust cycles in turbine manufacturing have left the industry skittish — and why Anthony says leaders are approaching this new peak with “guarded optimism”
The competing demands on the turbine supply chain, including from power, oil and gas, and aerospace industries
How lead times have ballooned to four years and, in some cases, even longer
Factors affecting the market beyond load growth, like renewables, storage, affordable gas, and coal retirements
How investment in tech innovation has raised turbine efficiency
How the industry is preparing for hydrogen — if hydrogen scales up
Resources:
Latitude Media: Engie’s pulled project highlights the worsening economics of gas
Latitude Media: High costs, delays prompt withdrawal of five more Texas gas plants
Power Magazine: Gas Power's Boom Sparks a Turbine Supply Crunch
Marketplace: Will we have enough natural gas turbines to power AI data centers?
CTVC: 🌎 Gas turbine gridlock #236
Credits: Hosted by Shayle Kann. Produced and edited by Daniel Woldorff. Original music and engineering by Sean Marquand. Stephen Lacey is our executive editor.
Catalyst is brought to you by EnergyHub. EnergyHub helps utilities build next-generation virtual power plants that unlock reliable flexibility at every level of the grid. See how EnergyHub helps unlock the power of flexibility at scale, and deliver more value through cross-DER dispatch with their leading Edge DERMS platform, by visiting ene…
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Will inference move to the edge?
18 december 2025 · 48 min
Today virtually all AI compute takes place in centralized data centers, driving the demand for massive power infrastructure. Lees meer
But as workloads shift from training to inference, and AI applications become more latency-sensitive (autonomous vehicles, anyone?), there‘s another pathway: migrating a portion of inference from centralized computing to the edge. Instead of a gigawatt-scale data center in a remote location, we might see a fleet of smaller data centers clustered around an urban core. Some inference might even shift to our devices.
So how likely is a shift like this, and what would need to happen for it to substantially reshape AI power?
In this episode, Shayle talks to Dr. Ben Lee, a professor of electrical engineering and computer science at the University of Pennsylvania, as well as a visiting researcher at Google. Shayle and Ben cover topics like:
The three main categories of compute: hyperscale, edge, and on-device
Why training is unlikely to move from hyperscale
The low latency demands of new applications like autonomous vehicles
How generative AI is training us to tolerate longer latencies
Why distributed inference doesn‘t face the same technical challenges as distributed training
Why consumer devices may limit model capability
Resources:
ACM SIGMETRICS Performance Evaluation Review: A Case Study of Environmental Footprints for Generative AI Inference: Cloud versus Edge
Internet of Things and Cyber-Physical Systems: Edge AI: A survey
Credits: Hosted by Shayle Kann. Produced and edited by Daniel Woldorff. Original music and engineering by Sean Marquand. Stephen Lacey is our executive editor.
Catalyst is brought to you by EnergyHub. EnergyHub helps utilities build next-generation virtual power plants that unlock reliable flexibility at every level of the grid. See how EnergyHub helps unlock the power of flexibility at scale, and deliver more value through cross-DER dispatch with their leading Edge DERMS platform, by visiting energyhub.com.
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Can AI revolutionize EPC?
11 december 2025 · 35 min
Big construction projects in the U.S. are notoriously unpredictable, often finishing over budget and behind schedule. Part of the problem is the inherent complexity of these kinds of projects, like data centers and first-of-a-kind plants. But there’s another problem: the companies that actually build these projects — called EPC firms for engineering, procurement, and construction — often lack strong incentives to control costs or deliver on time. Lees meer
That’s the thesis behind Unlimited Industries, a new startup focused on using AI to develop multiple project designs upfront and reduce project risks. So what would it take to actually cut costs and shorten construction timelines?
In this episode, Shayle talks to Alex Modon, co-founder and CEO of Unlimited Industries. The company recently announced a $12 million fundraise as it emerged from stealth. Shayle and Alex cover topics like:
How EPC incentives and contract structures drive cost overruns
Why bespoke projects prevent learning and standardization
The role software and AI can play in design and risk reduction EPC
Managing risks – including geopolitics, contractor reliability, and supply chains
Resources:
Catalyst: FOAK tales
The Green Blueprint: Shortening the nuclear development cycle from decades to years
Catalyst: The cost of nuclear
Credits: Hosted by Shayle Kann. Produced and edited by Daniel Woldorff. Original music and engineering by Sean Marquand. Stephen Lacey is our executive editor.
Catalyst is brought to you by EnergyHub. EnergyHub helps utilities build next-generation virtual power plants that unlock reliable flexibility at every level of the grid. See how EnergyHub helps unlock the power of flexibility at scale, and deliver more value through cross-DER dispatch with their leading Edge DERMS platform, by visiting energyhub.com.
Catalyst is brought to you by Bloom Energy. AI data centers can’t wait years for grid power—and with Bloom Energy’s fuel cells, they don’t have to. Bloom Energy delive…
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Who benefits from the AI power bottleneck?
4 december 2025 · 35 min
The bottleneck holding back AI is a scarcity of power, or so goes the story. That may be true — and plenty of reporting backs it up — but different actors in the space face varying incentives to play up or play down that narrative. Lees meer
So what incentives are at play, and how do they shape each player's story?
In this episode, Shayle talks to Shanu Mathew, senior vice president and portfolio manager-analyst for U.S, sustainable equity at Lazard. Last month on X, he posted a breakdown of the actors — including hyperscalers, chip makers, utilities, and others – and how the different incentives they face shape how they talk about energy and AI. They cover topics like:
Hyperscalers’ mixed incentives: the benefits of building their own capacity vs encouraging others to overbuild
Why equipment makers, chipmakers, and land developers benefit from talking up the bottleneck to boost demand for their services
How independent power producers and gas players benefit from high prices
How the power-bottleneck narrative has shifted over time
Resources:
Latitude Media: ERCOT’s large load queue has nearly quadrupled in a single year
Latitude Media: The power bottleneck is changing data center financing
Latitude Media: Early-stage data centers are driving up US power demand forecasts
Credits: Hosted by Shayle Kann. Produced and edited by Daniel Woldorff. Original music and engineering by Sean Marquand. Stephen Lacey is our executive editor.
Catalyst is brought to you by EnergyHub. EnergyHub helps utilities build next-generation virtual power plants that unlock reliable flexibility at every level of the grid. See how EnergyHub helps unlock the power of flexibility at scale, and deliver more value through cross-DER dispatch with their leading Edge DERMS platform, by visiting energyhub.com.
Catalyst is brought to you by Bloom Energy. AI data centers can’t wait years for grid power—and with Bloom Energy’s fuel cells, they don’t have to. Bloom Energy delivers affordable, always-o…
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Looking for a turnaround in transmission
20 november 2025 · 29 min
After years of stalled transmission buildout, there are new signs of progress. Earlier this month, SPP approved $8.6 billion in transmission projects across 14 states. Major plans are emerging in MISO, PJM, and ERCOT. Despite the DOE canceling its loan guarantee, the Grain Belt Express is still moving forward. And regardless of court battles, so is the New England Clean Energy Connect. Lees meer
Are these signs that the U.S. could start building transmission at scale again?
In this episode, Shayle talks to Rob Gramlich, founder and president of Grid Strategies. He and Shayle cover topics like:
Why Rob says the DOE’s efforts to fast-track large-load interconnection is a positive sign for transmission buildout
The recent buildout of 880 miles of transmission and why it may look better than it is
Why transmission hasn’t benefited from data center investment
Specific projects, including SPP’s transmission backbone and the Grain Belt Express
Rob’s outlook on buildout over the coming year
The uncertain future of permitting reform despite bipartisan support
Resources:
Catalyst: Unpacking DOE’s proposal to transform data center interconnection
Latitude Media: How the Grain Belt Express lost its LPO loan
E&E News: Data center growth cited in defense of MISO transmission plan
Fill out our short podcast listener survey for a chance to win a $100 Amazon gift card.
Credits: Hosted by Shayle Kann. Produced and edited by Daniel Woldorff. Original music and engineering by Sean Marquand. Stephen Lacey is our executive editor.
Catalyst is brought to you by EnergyHub. EnergyHub helps utilities build next-generation virtual power plants that unlock reliable flexibility at every level of the grid. See how EnergyHub helps unlock the power of flexibility at scale, and deliver more value through cross-DER dispatch with their leading Edge DERMS platform, by visiting energyhub.com.Catalyst is brought to you by Bloom Energy. AI data centers can’t wait years for grid power—and with Bloom…
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New Mexico proves America can still build [partner content]
18 november 2025 · 31 min
Across the country, people are asking the same question: why is it so hard to build in America? Lees meer
From transmission lines to clean energy factories, projects are taking longer, costs are rising, and frustration is growing. But in New Mexico, two cabinet secretaries are trying to show that it doesn’t have to be this way.
Together, Economic Development Secretary Rob Black and Environment Secretary Jim Kenney are helping redefine how state agencies work with industry. Their model blends speed, access, and careful environmental oversight to help companies build more quickly without cutting corners.
Together, they’re using that model to attract billion-dollar fusion and geothermal projects, expand water and infrastructure investments, and deploy the state’s $65 billion sovereign wealth fund directly into advanced energy and deep-tech manufacturing.
In this episode, Stephen Lacey talks with Rob Black and Jim Kenney about how New Mexico is rewriting the rules of economic development, and what their partnership can teach the rest of America about how to make government work again.
This is a partner episode, produced in collaboration with the New Mexico Economic Development Department, which works to expand opportunity through innovation, infrastructure, and investment across the state.
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Driving down the cost of green hydrogen
13 november 2025 · 41 min
A few years ago, industry and political leaders embraced hydrogen as a solution to a laundry list of hard-to-abate decarbonization challenges — steel production, ammonia production, and more. But hydrogen failed to come down in costs and policymakers pulled back support. Ultimately, the bubble burst. Lees meer
So what does it take to drive down the costs of low-carbon hydrogen and rebuild momentum?
In this episode, Shayle talks to Raffi Garabedian, co-founder and CEO of Electric Hydrogen. (Shayle is on the board of Electric Hydrogen and Energy Impact Partners, where Shayle is a partner, invests in the company). Shayle and Raffi cover topics like:
Why the hype bubble burst: political pullback, high renewables costs driven by AI demand, and high CapEx
The real cost problem: Why engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC) costs have remained persistently high
Competing approaches: Why Electric Hydrogen chose supersized electrolyzers over modular units
The China question: Why hydrogen’s EPC costs will limit the impact of cheap Chinese electrolyzers
Real numbers: Realistic cost targets for fossil parity and Electric Hydrogen’s current pricing
Where hydrogen wins: Markets where Raffi says green hydrogen can achieve fossil parity by the early 2030s, including Brazilian fertilizer
Resources:
Latitude Media: is 45v guidance killing green hydrogen production?
The Green Blueprint: Electric Hydrogen’s bet on supersized electrolyzers
Latitude Media: Electric Hydrogen is building through the market downturn
Latitude Media: Hydrogen’s narrow pathway to positive climate impacts
Latitude Media: Why the Electric Hydrogen-Ambient merger is a sign of things to come
Fill out our short podcast listener survey for a chance to win a $100 Amazon gift card.
Credits: Hosted by Shayle Kann. Produced and edited by Daniel Woldorff. Original music and engineering by Sean Marquand. Stephen Lacey is our executive editor.
Catalyst is brought to you by EnergyHub. EnergyHub helps utilitie…
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Inside a $300 million bet on AI for physical R&D
6 november 2025 · 36 min
A big problem with using artificial intelligence to discover new materials? It struggles to predict beyond its training data. That means AI might be better at optimizing known materials than discovering entirely new ones — like a room temperature superconductor or carbon-capture sorbents. Lees meer
But since we last covered the topic in September 2024, a few things have changed. OpenAI released its powerful O1 reasoning model. Large language models have also gotten better at math, physics, and coding. And lab automation — robots mixing liquids and powders, running characterization tests — has improved, allowing for a higher volume of experiments.
So, can these improvements overcome AI’s training data problem?
In this episode, Shayle talks to Ekin Dogus Cubuk, cofounder of Periodic Labs, which raised $300 million seed round in September. Last year, Dogus took a more cautious view on using AI for materials discovery. Now though, he’s convinced there’s a clearer path forward for physical science research and development, especially materials discovery. Shayle and Dogus cover topics like:
Creating experimental and synthetic data to overcome AI’s limitations of predicting beyond its training set
Why we should focus on breakthrough discoveries over easier, incremental wins
The different roles humans and AI play in the discovery process
Period’s focus on automated experimental labs using AI-generated hypotheses
Resources:
Catalyst: Can AI revolutionize materials discovery?
Latitude Media: This ‘superintelligence platform’ just raised $200m in seed funding
Latitude Media: Can AI get us closer to fusion?
The New York Times: Top A.I. Researchers Leave OpenAI, Google and Meta for New Start-Up
Credits: Hosted by Shayle Kann. Produced and edited by Daniel Woldorff. Original music and engineering by Sean Marquand. Stephen Lacey is our executive editor.
Catalyst is brought to you by EnergyHub. EnergyHub helps utilities build next-generation virtual power plants that unlock re…
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Unpacking DOE's proposal to transform data center interconnection
30 oktober 2025 · 41 min
Last Thursday, Energy Secretary Chris Wright directed the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to consider rulemaking to fast-track interconnection for large loads — as long as they agree to be curtailable or colocate with dispatchable generation. Lees meer
So what does this proposal actually mean for interconnection?
In this episode, Shayle talks with Allison Clements, former FERC commissioner and current partner with digital infrastructure advisory firm ASG. Allison is also principal of 804 Advisory. Shayle also talks with Tyler Norris, doctoral student at Duke University’s Nicholas School of the Environment. Allison, Tyler, and Shayle cover topics like:
How the proposal would standardize interconnection procedures for certain large loads, with study periods no longer than 60 days
The jurisdictional shift: asserting federal authority over a process traditionally under state purview
The types of eligible loads, including traditional data centers as well as ones that colocate with generation, also known as “hybrid facilities”
The duration of flexibility and whether 2-hour, 4-hour, or longer durations are needed for curtailment
Whether flexibility resources should be behind-the-meter or front-of-meter
The potential disadvantages for bring-your-own-supply or bring-your-own-VPP
Resources:
Latitude Media: Wright directs FERC to fast track large load interconnection
Latitude Media: How the world’s first flexible AI factory will work in tandem with the grid
Latitude Media: OpenAI pushes the White House to invest in the grid to compete with China
E3: Demand Response as a Capacity Resource in SPP’s Era of Data Center Growth
Canary Media: In a first, a data center is using a big battery to get online faster
Credits: Hosted by Shayle Kann. Produced and edited by Daniel Woldorff. Original music and engineering by Sean Marquand. Stephen Lacey is our executive editor.
Catalyst is brought to you by EnergyHub. EnergyHub helps utilities build next-generation virtual power pl…
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Five big questions about the future of energy
23 oktober 2025 · 44 min
We’ve covered AI’s massive power appetite in depth over the past year – with good reason. It’s the driving force behind much of the change and uncertainty in the energy world right now, from the error bars around our demand for electricity to the lineup of technologies vying to meet that demand. Lees meer
In this episode Shayle talks to his colleague Andy Lubershane, head of research and partner at Energy Impact Partners, about five big questions arising in this uncertain load-growth environment. They cover topics like:
The underappreciated factors that could flip the supply crunch to oversupply, like algorithmic efficiency gains, on-device inference, and off-grid data centers
The winners of the AI-drive power boom, including utilities and grid equipment suppliers, and the potential losers like industry that relies on cheap power
Whether there will be a “Cambrian explosion” or consolidation of nuclear reactors designs
The prospects for enhanced geothermal after Fervo’s Cape Station comes online
The future of grid-enhancing technologies like advanced conductors and dynamic line ratings, and whether they will make it out of “utility pilot hell”
Resources:
Steel for Fuel: Why does nobody know how much energy AI will consume?
Open Circuit: How do we know if we’re in an AI bubble?
Catalyst: The US nuclear groundswell
Catalyst: How geothermal gets built
Latitude Media: In Georgia, stakeholders still can’t agree on data center load growth numbers
Credits: Hosted by Shayle Kann. Produced and edited by Daniel Woldorff. Original music and engineering by Sean Marquand. Stephen Lacey is our executive editor.
Catalyst is brought to you by EnergyHub. EnergyHub helps utilities build next-generation virtual power plants that unlock reliable flexibility at every level of the grid. See how EnergyHub helps unlock the power of flexibility at scale, and deliver more value through cross-DER dispatch with their leading Edge DERMS platform, by visiting energyhub.com.
Catalyst is brou…
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Frontier Forum: The new power map for AI infrastructure
21 oktober 2025 · 36 min
As AI reshapes the industrial landscape, companies are questioning whether the grid can keep pace. Permitting delays, transmission constraints, and reliability risks are forcing developers to rethink where power comes from. Lees meer
In this episode, KR Sridhar, CEO of Bloom Energy, lays out a radically different vision. He believes that many data centers will ultimately operate like refineries — powered by captive, off-grid generation that prioritizes resilience, speed, and local control over traditional grid economics.
Sridhar argues that solid-state fuel cells have become an ideal solution to meet data center needs at AI speed and scale. They can be deployed in months rather than years, follow digital loads in real time, and integrate with future zero-carbon fuels like hydrogen.
“I truly believe that this is a cyclical trend that’s going to continue for well over a decade,” said Sridhar.
This episode features an edited version of our live Frontier Forum conversation about what a future-proof AI power strategy really looks like. We talk about the tension between off-grid and grid-connected approaches, the importance of speed to power, carbon capture, and supply chains over the next decade of growth.
The conversation also touches on Bloom’s new white paper, Fuel Cells: A Technology Whose Time Has Come, which argues that onsite generation can deliver AI-scale reliability and lower emissions.
You can watch the full Frontier Forum conversation with audience Q&A here.
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Calibrating hype with Akshat Rathi
16 oktober 2025 · 41 min
In the climate space, every idea sits somewhere along the hype continuum. Some command outsize attention. Others fly under the radar despite big potential. And a rare few hit the sweet spot, earning exactly the buzz they deserve. Lees meer
But how do you tell which is which?
In this episode, Shayle teams up with Akshat Rathi, senior reporter for climate at Bloomberg News and host of the Zero podcast, to sort it out. Akshat and Shayle run through a list of hot topics and place each one on the hype continuum. They cover topics like:
Using DERs to meet load growth
Co-locating generation with data centers
Infrastructure bottlenecks like generation, transmission, and transformers
The roles of venture capital and the Paris Agreement in shaping markets
A grab-bag of other topics like sodium-ion, advanced geothermal, and advanced nuclear
Resources:
Catalyst: The new wave of DERs
Catalyst: When to colocate data centers with generation
Zero: The Device Throttling Our Electrified Future
Zero: The Gas Turbine Shortage Might Be a Climate Problem
Credits: Hosted by Shayle Kann. Produced and edited by Daniel Woldorff. Original music and engineering by Sean Marquand. Stephen Lacey is our executive editor.
Catalyst is brought to you by EnergyHub. EnergyHub helps utilities build next-generation virtual power plants that unlock reliable flexibility at every level of the grid. See how EnergyHub helps unlock the power of flexibility at scale, and deliver more value through cross-DER dispatch with their leading Edge DERMS platform, by visiting energyhub.com.
Catalyst is brought to you by Bloom Energy. AI data centers can’t wait years for grid power—and with Bloom Energy’s fuel cells, they don’t have to. Bloom Energy delivers affordable, always-on, ultra-reliable onsite power, built for chipmakers, hyperscalers, and data center leaders looking to power their operations at AI speed. Learn more by visiting BloomEnergy.com.
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How insurance can narrow the valley of death [partner content]
15 oktober 2025 · 27 min
Jamie Daggett started his career as a mechanical engineer working for cleantech startups in Silicon Valley. But after five startups and three buyouts, Daggett saw the same story repeat itself: good technologies that worked in the lab often died before reaching commercial scale. Lees meer
And often they didn’t fail because the science was wrong; they failed because investors couldn’t trust that the performance would hold up over time.
That realization eventually led him to an unexpected place: insurance.
Today, Daggett is the energy storage and fuel cell lead at Ariel Green, a Lloyd’s of London syndicate that provides a wide range of insurance for clean-energy projects.
“Insurance is another tool that we can use to help grow the clean-energy market,” says Daggett. “I do feel like it plays an unsung role behind the scenes.”
In this episode, produced in collaboration with Ariel Green, Daggett talks with Stephen Lacey about how insurance is helping the energy storage sector mature.
They discuss how the bankruptcy of Powin Energy exposed the fragility of supplier warranties, what the Moss Landing fire revealed about chemistry and safety risk, and how new markets for long-duration and non-lithium storage are testing the boundaries of what can be insured.
Daggett explains how technology performance insurance now allows lenders, developers, and manufacturers to move faster by transferring risk from young suppliers to a creditworthy insurer.
This is a partner episode, produced in collaboration with Ariel Green. Ariel Green helps clients reduce uncertainty by providing investment-grade insurance for clean-energy projects — protecting the technologies that protect the environment. To learn more, visit arielgreen.com.
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How Base Power plans to use its fresh $1B
9 oktober 2025 · 40 min
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. Lees meer
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 EnergyHub. EnergyHub helps utilities build next-generation virtual power plants that unlock reliable flexibility at every level of the grid. See how EnergyHub helps unlock the power of flexibility at scale, and deliver more value through cross-DER dispatch with their leading Edge DERMS platform, by visiting energyhub.com.
Catalyst is brought to you by Bloom Energy. AI data centers can’t wait years for grid…
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Frontier Forum: A new playbook for clean energy growth
6 oktober 2025 · 32 min
After the failure of federal climate legislation in 2010, clean energy advocates realized they had to look elsewhere for momentum. The result was a shift toward states and regional markets — and the creation of Advanced Energy United, a trade group built to make policy progress outside of Washington. Lees meer
Today, that strategy is more important than ever. With the federal government rolling out new regulatory hurdles, load growth accelerating, and an affordability crisis growing, states have become critical for industry growth.
In this episode, Heather O’Neill, the CEO of Advanced Energy United, talks about a new playbook for scaling clean energy in this environment. The framework: build it, make it flexible, and make it affordable.
That means removing red tape for new projects, unlocking more value from existing infrastructure through tools like virtual power plants and advanced transmission technologies, and ensuring affordability as utilities make massive investment decisions.
“States are where some of our most forward-looking and politically resilient clean energy policies have been developed,” said O’Neill. “And that’s where the opportunities are today.”
This week, we feature an edited version of our recent Frontier Forum with Heather about how states are shaping the clean energy transition, and how companies can use United’s new playbook to grow the market.
You can download United’s new playbook guide here, and watch the full Frontier Forum conversation with live audience Q&A at Latitude Media.
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The new wave of DERs
2 oktober 2025 · 39 min
Demand response was the original distributed energy resource. In its early days, it was surprisingly manual: a grid operator would call up a large load, like a factory, and request a few hours of reduced demand during peak times. Lees meer
Fast forward to today and DERs look dramatically different. They’re automated, deployed frequently across the country, and include everything from EVs and thermostats to sophisticated management systems at paper mills and data centers.
So how did DERs evolve from phone calls to fully fledged virtual power plants? And what role do they play now as electricity demand surges?
In this episode, Shayle talks to Dana Guernsey, co-founder and CEO of DER and VPP developer Voltus. She is also the former director of energy markets at EnerNOC, a pioneer in demand response. Shayle and Dana cover topics like:
The changing mix of customers and resources, as well as the evolving use cases
Voltus’ new “Bring Your Own Capacity” model, allowing large loads like data centers to fund regional VPPs
The barriers that hold DERs back, like access to data
The market forces shaping DER adoption, including load growth, declining system costs, and market structures
How DERs stack up against conventional power plants in meeting rising demand
Resources:
Open Circuit: The grid flexibility solutions staring us in the face
Catalyst: Is now the time for DERs to scale?
Catalyst: Making DERs work for load growth
Catalyst: PJM and the capacity crunch
Latitude Media: Google expands demand response to target machine learning workloads
Credits: Hosted by Shayle Kann. Produced and edited by Daniel Woldorff. Original music and engineering by Sean Marquand. Stephen Lacey is our executive editor.
Catalyst is brought to you by EnergyHub. EnergyHub helps utilities build next-generation virtual power plants that unlock reliable flexibility at every level of the grid. See how EnergyHub helps unlock the power of flexibility at scale, and deliver more value through cross-DE…
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Ag residue and carbon removal
25 september 2025 · 35 min
Agricultural byproducts like corn stover, wood chips, and soybean husks typically get left to decompose and release carbon dioxide. Don’t call them “waste” though; some farmers use these byproducts as field cover to improve soil health. And industry uses a fraction of this biomass as feedstock for valuable products like ethanol, electricity, and heat. Theoretically, it’s a vastly underutilized resource. Lees meer
The problem is that agricultural residue is really hard to collect. The economics of gathering, sorting, processing, and refining are tough. On top of that, it makes for a crappy fuel. It’s low energy density and high carbon, compared to oil, for example.
So in what applications does agricultural residue make the most sense? And how do you economically collect the material at scale?
In this episode, Shayle talks to Peter Reinhardt, co-founder and CEO of Charm Industrial, a carbon removal startup that collects agricultural residue and refines it in the field into what it calls “bio-oil.” It then injects the bio-oil underground for sequestration. Together, Peter and Shayle discuss the use cases and collection of agricultural residue, covering topics like:
How the difficult economics of collecting and transporting biomass have killed centralized biomass projects, except in a few niche examples
Why Peter says the processing and densification are key to improving the economics
The tradeoffs between big, centralized processing facilities and Charm’s on-field mobile pyrolysis units
The case for using agricultural residue for applications where the carbon content matters, like iron-making, sustainable aviation fuel, and carbon removal
What’s driving carbon removal buyers and what it takes to build trust with them
Resources:
Catalyst: Fuzzy math and food competition: The pitfalls of sourcing biomass for carbon removal
Open Circuit: What we learned from the ethanol disaster
Catalyst: Shopify’s head of sustainability on the realities of the carbon removal market
C…
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Is now the time for DERs to scale?
18 september 2025 · 41 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. 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.
Catalyst is brought to you by Anza, a solar and energy storage development and procurement platform helping clients make optimal decisions, saving significant time, money, and reducing risk. Subscribers instantly access pricing, product, and supplier data. Learn more at go.anzarenewables.com/latitude.
Catalyst is supported by Ener…
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When to colocate data centers with generation
12 september 2025 · 37 min
The idea of colocating data centers with behind-the-meter generation is picking up steam, including large projects in Memphis, Texas, and Utah developing significant on-site capacity, mostly from combined-cycle gas plants. The main argument is speed to power. Building your own generation allows data centers to sidestep the challenges involved in grid upgrades, transmission, and permitting. Lees meer
But when does a good idea jump the shark?
In this episode, Shayle brings Brian Janous back on the show to talk about why a data center might not want to colocate generation. Brian is co-founder and chief commercial officer at data center developer Cloverleaf Infrastructure. He makes the case for relying on alternatives instead, like batteries, grid-enhancing technologies (GETs), advanced conductors, and a range of other non-generation options to take advantage of untapped capacity in the existing grid. Shayle and Brian cover topics like:
Whether 24/7 loads actually needs 24/7 power and why utilities solve for peaks, not 24/7 needs
The constraints of colocation, including gas constraints, added complexity and cost, and permitting challenges
The complexity of multiple-party solutions involving VPPs, GETs, and other alternatives vs. the relative simplicity of single-party generation
Why both Shayle and Brian are skeptical of on-site nuclear
Resources:
Catalyst: The case for colocating data centers and generation
Latitude Media: AEP, Dominion argue there’s no such thing as ‘isolated’ colocation for data centers
Catalyst: Explaining the ‘Watt-Bit Spread’
Catalyst: The potential for flexible data centers
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 Anza, a solar and energy storage development and procurement platform helping clients make optimal decisions, saving significant time, money, and reducing risk. Subscribers instantly ac…
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AMA: Geoengineering, nuclear, power prices, and more
4 september 2025 · 42 min
You sent in great questions, and today we’re answering them. In this episode, Shayle hands it over to Lara Pierpoint, the managing director of Trellis Climate at the Prime Coalition and host of The Green Blueprint. Together they cover topics like: Lees meer
Whether solar radiation management will remain the “black sheep” of climate technologies
What technologies will excel in a world of rising power prices
Whether the nuclear renaissance is finally here
Why Lara and Shayle are more bullish on vehicle-to-home than V2G
The thorny plastics problem – and whether it’s core to climate change
Resources:
Catalyst: Solar geoengineering: Is it worth the risk?
Latitude Media: Google, Kairos, and TVA ink historic next-generation nuclear deal
Catalyst: The US power demand surge: The electricity gauntlet has arrived
Credits: Hosted by Shayle Kann. Produced and edited by Daniel Woldorff. Original music and engineering by Sean Marquand. Stephen Lacey is executive editor.
Catalyst is brought to you by Anza, a solar and energy storage development and procurement platform helping clients make optimal decisions, saving significant time, money, and reducing risk. Subscribers instantly access pricing, product, and supplier data. Learn more at go.anzarenewables.com/latitude.
Catalyst is brought to you by EnergyHub. EnergyHub helps utilities build next-generation virtual power plants that unlock reliable flexibility at every level of the grid. See how EnergyHub helps unlock the power of flexibility at scale, and deliver more value through cross-DER dispatch with their leading Edge DERMS platform by visiting energyhub.com.Catalyst is brought to you by Antenna Group, the public relations and strategic marketing agency of choice for climate and energy leaders. If you're a startup, investor, or global corporation that's looking to tell your climate story, demonstrate your impact, or accelerate your growth, Antenna Group's team of industry insiders is ready to help. Learn more at antennagrou…
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The mechanics of data center flexibility
28 augustus 2025 · 36 min
Adding flexibility to data center loads could ease strain on the grid and reduce the need for costly new generation. And, according to one study, shaving off just a few megawatts during peak hours could also unlock unused capacity —as many as 98 gigawatts in the U.S — if those facilities reduced load by just 0.5% each year. Lees meer
The problem: data centers promise near-perfect reliability, often “five nines” (99.999% uptime) in service-level agreements with customers. That leaves little room to adjust something as critical to reliability as power.
But times are changing. The data center market is reckoning with the constraints of the power grid and growing concern about pushing up electricity prices to pay for new generation. In July, the Electric Power Resource Institute’s DCFlex demonstration at an Oracle data center in Phoenix, Arizona, reduced load 25% during peak demand. And this month Google expanded its demand response through two new agreements with Michigan Power and the Tennessee Valley Authority.
So what are the actual mechanics of data center flexibility?
In this episode, Shayle talks to Varun Sivaram, founder and CEO of Emerald AI. The startup’s data center flexibility platform powered EPRI’s DCFlex demonstration. Shayle and Varun cover topics like:
What people often misunderstand about how much of their nameplate capacity data centers actually use
The distinct load profiles of training, inference, and other workloads
How data centers can pause, slow, or shift workloads in time or space to reduce demand
What it will take for flexibility solutions like Emerald AI to earn operator trust
How much flexibility data centers can realistically achieve
Varun’s long-term vision for evolving from occasional demand response to weekly or even daily load shifting
Resources:
Latitude Media: Nvidia and Oracle tapped this startup to flex a Phoenix data center
Latitude Media: Google expands demand response to target machine learning workloads
Catalyst: The potent…
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The Green Blueprint: Terrawatt Infrastructure’s billion-dollar strategy
21 augustus 2025 · 36 min
Editor's note: With the Trump administration's efforts to roll back California's electric trucking rules, there's new attention on heavy duty transport right now. So we're bringing you a deep dive into the industry, an episode of The Green Blueprint on Terawatt Infrastructure's $1 billion strategy to build charging depots. Lees meer
In 2021, Neha Palmer co-founced Terrawatt Infrastructure with a bold mission: create the backbone for America's electric trucking revolution.
Within its first year, Terrawatt secured a billion-dollar investment. But as the company developed plans for a nationwide charging network, it confronted the daunting challenge of building infrastructure for an electric truck market that barely existed.
High-profile bankruptcies like Nikola Motors cast long shadows over the sector's viability, raising questions about whether heavy-duty transport can truly be electrified.
In this episode, Lara talks with Neha about how Terrawatt aims to transform freight transport despite market skepticism. Neha explains Terawatt’s strategic approach to site selection, innovative charging designs for fully-loaded trucks, and the vision for a revolutionary California-to-Texas network.
Credits: Hosted by Lara Pierpoint. Produced by Erin Hardick. Edited by Anne Bailey and Stephen Lacey. Original music and engineering by Sean Marquand. Stephen Lacey is our executive editor.
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The case for sodium-ion
14 augustus 2025 · 46 min
Our first episode covering sodium-ion batteries featured a cautious take on the chemistry: Back in February Adrian Yao, founder of Stanford’s STEER program, explained the challenges of reaching competitive energy density and costs, especially given the falling price of LFP. Still, sodium-ion chemistries are picking up steam, thanks largely to growing deployments in stationary storage and small-scale mobility in China. Lees meer
So what’s a more bullish take on sodium-ion?
In this episode, Shayle talks to Landon Mossburg, founder and CEO of sodium-ion battery manufacturer Peak Energy. He outlines a pathway to competitiveness and argues that, in the right applications, the advantages of sodium-ion chemistries outweigh their challenges. Shayle and Landon cover topics like:
Why almost all current deployments of sodium-ion capacity are in China — and why Korean battery giants are committed to LFP right now
The thermal advantages of sodium iron pyrophosphate (NFPP) vs. the higher energy densities of layered oxides
Sodium-ion's supply chain benefits and lower CapEx requirements
How NFPP’s system-level savings in cooling, safety, auxiliary power, and maintenance — plus strong cycle life — could offset its current cell cost premium
Resources:
Catalyst: The promise and perils of sodium-ion batteries
Latitude Media: Peak Energy’s quest to build US sodium-ion battery dominance
Latitude Media: Is it too late for the US to rival China on sodium-ion batteries?
Nature Energy: Critically assessing sodium-ion technology roadmaps and scenarios for techno-economic competitiveness against lithium-ion batteries
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 Anza, a solar and energy storage development and procurement platform helping clients make optimal decisions, saving significant time, money, and reducing risk. Subscribers instantly access…
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Explaining the ‘Watt-Bit Spread’
7 augustus 2025 · 42 min
Editor’s note: The uncertainties of data center construction — like when, where, and how much to build — are as pressing as ever. So we’re revisiting a conversation with Brian Janous, co-founder and chief commercial officer at data center developer Cloverleaf Infrastructure. In this episode, he explains his theory of the ‘Watt-Bit Spread’, which offers insightful heuristics for understanding how data centers are driving change in the power sector. Lees meer
Every data center company is after one thing right now: power. Electricity used to be an afterthought in data center construction, but in the AI arms race access to power has become critical because more electrons means more powerful AI models.
But how and when these companies will get those electrons is unclear. Utilities have been inundated with new load requests, and it takes time to build new capacity.
Given these uncertainties, how do data center companies make the high-stakes decisions about how much to build? How sustainable is the rate of construction? And how much will these data center companies pay for electricity?
In this episode, Shayle talks to Brian Janous, co-founder and chief commercial officer at data center developer Cloverleaf Infrastructure. Brian recently explained how he thinks about these questions in a LinkedIn post titled “The Watt-Bit Spread,” which argues that the value of watts is incredibly high right now, and the cost of those watts is too low. Shayle and Brian cover topics like:
The unclear data center demand and high costs that are making data center companies hesitant to build
How the skills required for data center development have shifted from real estate and fiber to energy
Why higher power prices are needed to incentivize new generation
Potential solutions for better pricing electricity and speeding up the construction of new generation
Recommended resources
Latitude Media: AES exec on data center load: 'It's like nothing we’ve ever seen'
Latitude Media: Mapping the data ce…
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PJM and the capacity crunch
31 juli 2025 · 32 min
The PJM capacity auction this month broke records with sky-high wholesale power prices — and that was by design. Under PJM’s auction rules, tight supply raises prices, incentivizing the development of new generation and encouraging existing generation to stay online. The big driver of that tight supply? Data-center driven load growth. The independent system operator covers Virginia, one of the densest and fastest-growing regions for data center development. Lees meer
So will higher wholesale prices incentivize enough generation to meet load growth without provoking the public with higher bills?
In this episode, Shayle talks to Steve Piper, research director of North American power and renewables at S&P Global. Steve and Shayle cover topics like:
Why Steve says PJM and other stakeholders became concerned that low prices weren’t incentivizing enough generation to stay on the market
Why ISOs upping resource adequacy requirements across technologies, while raising targets for reserve margins
The bottlenecks slowing down the development of new generation
What’s holding back demand response in the auction
Resources:
Latitude Media: Will Pennsylvania be the nation’s AI-energy model?
PJM: PJM Auction Procures 134,311 MW of Generation Resources; Supply Responds to Price Signal
Utility Dive: PJM capacity prices set another record with 22% jump
Credits: Hosted by Shayle Kann. Produced and edited by Daniel Woldorff. Original music and engineering by Sean Marquand. Stephen Lacey is executive editor.
Catalyst is brought to you by Anza, a solar and energy storage development and procurement platform helping clients make optimal decisions, saving significant time, money, and reducing risk. Subscribers instantly access pricing, product, and supplier data. Learn more at go.anzarenewables.com/latitude.
Catalyst is supported by EnergyHub. EnergyHub helps utilities build next-generation virtual power plants that unlock reliable flexibility at every level of the grid. See how EnergyH…
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Repurposing EV batteries for grid storage
24 juli 2025 · 28 min
The job of an EV battery is unforgiving. If its performance slips too far — say, lost acceleration or range — it's probably off to the recycling heap. That’s even though it may have plenty of usable life, if only for something less demanding than powering a vehicle. Lees meer
Grid storage is theoretically a gentler job, involving slower discharging and more careful management. Still, repurposing isn’t easy. It requires dealing with a mishmash of various makes, models, and levels of quality. And it means competing against the falling price of new, purpose-built storage systems.
But a few companies have said they’ve figured it out, including Redwood Materials, which supplied a second-life data center microgrid this year.
So how does second-life storage on the grid actually work?
In this episode, Shayle talks to Colin Campbell, chief technology officer of battery recycler Redwood Materials. Colin explains how, in just the past year, the company has found cost-effective ways to repurpose batteries before recycling them. Shayle and Colin cover topics like:
What has changed to make repurposing profitable, including better software management and high-volume, low-cost supply
Why, for Redwood, second-life batteries only need a short lifespan to be worth it
Why second-life systems are especially well-suited for long-duration storage
What it takes to compete with the falling prices of new LFP systems
Resources:
Latitude Media: Crusoe and Redwood Materials are powering a data center with old EV batteries
Latitude Media: Millions of EV batteries could retire on solar farms
Latitude Media: The challenging economics of battery recycling
Credits: Hosted by Shayle Kann. Produced and edited by Daniel Woldorff. Original music and engineering by Sean Marquand. Stephen Lacey is executive editor.
Catalyst is brought to you by Anza, a solar and energy storage development and procurement platform helping clients make optimal decisions, saving significant time, money, and reducing ris…
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Five big questions emerging from the OBBB
17 juli 2025 · 44 min
The One Big Beautiful Bill (OBBB) complicates things. Together with a related executive order, it dismantled key parts of the Inflation Reduction Act, while also injecting uncertainty into tax credit eligibility. The uncertainty in particular throws a wrench into project planning and leaves big questions about the impact across climate tech. Lees meer
So what do we know about the complexities of the new policy landscape? And what questions still need answers?
In this episode, Shayle talks to his colleague Andy Lubershane, partner at Energy Impact Partners and the firm’s head of research. They cover five topics:
The foreign entity of concern provision and why Andy calls it the biggest unresolved issue
Safe harbor and under construction guidance
Tax credit disparities in coming years — tax credits for nuclear, geothermal, and CCS, not solar and wind — and how that might alter the generation landscape
Hydrogen’s extended tax credit timeline, and how much will get built
EV tax credits and their impact on both personal and commercial vehicles
Resources:
Latitude Media: The GOP megabill will reshape the tax credit transferability market
Latitude Media: Congress just reshaped the solar industry. Here’s what comes next
Latitude Media: How OBBB will impact the power grid
Latitude Media: With help from Chris Wright, geothermal is spared in the budget bill
The New York Times: Ford Says Battery Plant’s Tax Break Survived Republican Attacks
Credits: Hosted by Shayle Kann. Produced and edited by Daniel Woldorff. Original music and engineering by Sean Marquand. Stephen Lacey is executive editor.
Catalyst is brought to you by Anza, a solar and energy storage development and procurement platform helping clients make optimal decisions, saving significant time, money, and reducing risk. Subscribers instantly access pricing, product, and supplier data. Learn more at go.anzarenewables.com/latitude.
Catalyst is supported by EnergyHub. EnergyHub helps utilities build next-generatio…
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Tumult in residential solar
10 juli 2025 · 35 min
Residential solar has had a rough couple of years. In 2024, the market contracted 31% and major companies like Sunpower and Titan went bankrupt. Now, only halfway through 2025, Sunnova and Mosaic have filed for bankruptcy, too. The market has suffered from low demand, high interest rates, and major policy changes like California’s cuts to net metering. Lees meer
So now that the One Big Beautiful Bill phases out key tax credits, what’s next for the battered industry?
In this episode, Shayle talks with Julien Dumoulin-Smith, who leads equity research for power, utilities, and clean energy at Jefferies. Shayle and Julien cover topics like:
Why the IRA eased — but didn’t solve — the troubled market’s key challenges, like high interest rates, tax equity challenges, and intense competition
How debt prevented companies from weathering rising input costs
How the final version of the One Big Beautiful Bill avoided the worst case scenarios for residential solar
Whether the bill will impact utility or residential solar more
How the shift toward leasing will benefit larger companies over small, local installers
The impact of rising electricity prices
Resources:
Latitude Media: Sunnova’s debt problem
Latitude Media: Is residential solar poised for a comeback?
Open Circuit: Does residential solar have a bad product?
Catalyst: Could VPPs save rooftop solar?
Latitude Media: SunPower is bankrupt. Competitors see opportunity
Credits: Hosted by Shayle Kann. Produced and edited by Daniel Woldorff. Original music and engineering by Sean Marquand. Stephen Lacey is executive editor.
Catalyst is brought to you by Anza, a solar and energy storage development and procurement platform helping clients make optimal decisions, saving significant time, money, and reducing risk. Subscribers instantly access pricing, product, and supplier data. Learn more at go.anzarenewables.com/latitude.
Catalyst is brought to you by EnergyHub. EnergyHub helps utilities build next-generation virtual power…
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Fresh intel from state utility regulatory filings
3 juli 2025 · 37 min
You’ve probably heard about Nat Bullard’s massive decarbonization slide decks, filled with charts and insights into decarbonization drawn from climate and energy data. Lees meer
This time he's waded through piles of utility regulatory filings — countless PDFs that hint at the inner workings of utilities and large customers — to find clues about everything from gas plant costs to new large-load tariffs.
In this episode, Shayle and Nat, cofounder of the climate tech market research firm Halcyon, cover topics like:
How utilities — especially small ones — are handling eye-popping interconnection requests
New tariff structures that utilities are developing for large-load customers like data centers
Historical precedents for this level of change on the power grid, like the 2000s Enron bubble and the 1930s buildout of the West
How factories and other large-load customers are battling against data centers for sites
Shayle’s greatest fear about energy in the next few years: That electricity rates will rise dramatically unless we tackle large-load requests and the cost of new infrastructure
What industries to bet on in a world of rising rates
What filings reveal about the cost of new gas generation
Resources:
Catalyst: The US power demand surge: The electricity gauntlet has arrived
Catalyst: Making DERs work for load growth
Latitude Media: High costs, delays prompt withdrawal of five more Texas gas plants
Latitude Media: In Georgia, stakeholders still can’t agree on data center load growth numbers
Credits: Hosted by Shayle Kann. Produced and edited by Daniel Woldorff. Original music and engineering by Sean Marquand. Stephen Lacey is executive editor.
Catalyst is brought to you by Anza, a solar and energy storage development and procurement platform helping clients make optimal decisions, saving significant time, money, and reducing risk. Subscribers instantly access pricing, product, and supplier data. Learn more at go.anzarenewables.com/latitude.
Catalyst is brought …
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GM's big new battery tech push
26 juni 2025 · 37 min
Lithium-manganese-rich (LMR) batteries could offer a rare combination in energy storage: high energy density at lower costs. They swap much of the expensive nickel for abundant, affordable manganese. But technical hurdles — like poor cycle life, voltage decay, and long formation time — kept them on the sidelines. Lees meer
Now GM says it’s solved these challenges. In May, it announced plans to mass produce LMR batteries starting in 2028. In energy density, the new chemistry would land between the two major alternative chemistries in the U.S., NMC and LFP.
So what does this new entrant mean for the U.S. battery market?
In this episode, Shayle talks to Kurt Kelty, VP of battery, propulsion, and sustainability — and a 30-year battery industry veteran who led Tesla’s battery development for over a decade. Shayle and Kurt cover topics like:
What parts of the U.S. battery supply chain to on-shore or near-shore
The tradeoffs between LFP, LMR, and high-nickel chemistries
The roles that Kurt sees for all three in the market
Shifting production lines and supply chains from NMC to LMR
Why LFP may still outcompete LMR in the stationary market
Resources:
General Motors: Why LMR batteries will change the outlook for the EV market
AutomotiveDive: GM, LG Energy target commercializing manganese-rich batteries for EVs
WSJ: An Ex-Tesla Engineer Is Turning EVs Into Affordable Family Cars
Catalyst: What happened at Northvolt?
Credits: Hosted by Shayle Kann. Produced and edited by Daniel Woldorff. Original music and engineering by Sean Marquand. Stephen Lacey is executive editor.
Catalyst is brought to you by Anza, a platform enabling solar and storage developers and buyers to save time, reduce risk, and increase profits in their equipment selection process. Anza gives clients access to pricing, technical, and risk data plus tools that they’ve never had access to before. Learn more at go.anzarenewables.com/latitude.
Catalyst is brought to you by EnergyHub. EnergyHub helps utilitie…
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The story of steam
19 juni 2025 · 32 min
Addison Stark thinks waste heat is a waste of time. The real opportunity, he argues, is decarbonizing industrial steam, which accounts for roughly 30% of industrial heat in the U.S. But doing that means deploying alternatives to the fossil fuel boilers industry currently relies on. Lees meer
So how do you clean up steam? And why does Addison think waste heat is overhyped?
In this episode, Shayle talks with Addison Stark, the CEO — or as he likes to call himself, chief boiler maker — of industrial heat pump startup AtmosZero. They dive into topics like:
The difference between saturated and superheated steam — and why it matters
Why fuel dominates OpEx in steam generation, and how fuel types vary across regions
How the cost of steam affects overall cost of delivered products
Why resistive boilers reached maturity ahead of heat pumps
Why standardized, air-source heat pumps are emerging as an attractive alternative to resistive boilers
The role of thermal storage combined with renewable PPAs
Why Addison thinks waste heat is a distraction for decarbonization
Resources:
Joule: To decarbonize industry, we must decarbonize heat
The Green Blueprint: Rondo Energy’s complicated path to building heat batteries
Catalyst: Solving the conundrum of industrial heat
Credits: Hosted by Shayle Kann. Produced and edited by Daniel Woldorff. Original music and engineering by Sean Marquand. Stephen Lacey is executive editor.
Catalyst is brought to you by Anza, a platform enabling solar and storage developers and buyers to save time, reduce risk, and increase profits in their equipment selection process. Anza gives clients access to pricing, technical, and risk data plus tools that they’ve never had access to before. Learn more at go.anzarenewables.com/latitude.
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 flexibilit…
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The state of play of data center development
12 juni 2025 · 36 min
The future of the grid increasingly hinges on where and how data centers get built. To forecast the kind of power infrastructure we need to meet AI’s growing appetite, we first need to understand a laundry list of variables: data center size, workload type, latency, reliability — even the variety of a data center’s coolant system. Lees meer
So what’s the state of play in data center development today — and how are the trends shaping grid needs?
In this episode, Shayle talks to Chris Sharp, chief technology officer of Digital Realty, a developer, owner and operator of data centers. They cover topics like:
How AI inference workloads are clustering in existing regions, driven by latency and throughput requirements
“Data gravity” and “data oceans”: how large concentrations of data attract more compute infrastructure
What’s driving longer lead times: interconnection delays, equipment bottlenecks, or both?
Large-scale builds vs. incremental additions and densification of existing infrastructure
“Braggawatts” vs. real demand: separating hype from reality
The diverging power needs of training vs. inference, and whether any workloads work with intermittent power
The evolving role of “bridge power” and why diesel and gas are still in the mix
Resources:
Latitude Media: Google’s new data center model signals a massive market shift
Latitude Media: The future of energy-first data centers takes shape
Latitude Media: Can a new coalition turn data centers into grid assets?
Latitude Media: Do microgrids make sense for data centers?
The New York Times: Wall St. Is All In on A.I. Data Centers. But Are They the Next Bubble?
Catalyst: The case for colocating data centers and generation
Credits: Hosted by Shayle Kann. Produced and edited by Daniel Woldorff. Original music and engineering by Sean Marquand. Stephen Lacey is executive editor.
Catalyst is brought to you by Anza, a platform enabling solar and storage developers and buyers to save time, reduce risk, and increase profit…
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The gas turbine crunch
5 juni 2025 · 39 min
Demand for turbines is growing fast, but so are lead times — causing serious headaches for developers. In Texas, one of six projects that pulled proposals from consideration for a valuable financing program cited “equipment procurement constraints” as the reasons for its withdrawal. Lees meer
Lead times are stretching to four years and sometimes more. Costs are climbing. So what’s behind the bottleneck?
In this episode, Shayle talks to Anthony Brough, founder and CEO of Dora Partners, a consulting firm focused on the turbine market. Shayle and Anthony cover topics like:
Why previous boom-bust cycles in turbine manufacturing have left the industry skittish — and why Anthony says leaders are approaching this new peak with “guarded optimism”
The competing demands on the turbine supply chain, including from power, oil and gas, and aerospace industries
How lead times have ballooned to four years and, in some cases, even longer
Factors affecting the market beyond load growth, like renewables, storage, affordable gas, and coal retirements
How investment in tech innovation has raised turbine efficiency
How the industry is preparing for hydrogen — if hydrogen scales up
Resources:
Latitude Media: Engie’s pulled project highlights the worsening economics of gas
Latitude Media: High costs, delays prompt withdrawal of five more Texas gas plants
Power Magazine: Gas Power's Boom Sparks a Turbine Supply Crunch
Marketplace: Will we have enough natural gas turbines to power AI data centers?
CTVC: 🌎 Gas turbine gridlock #236
Credits: Hosted by Shayle Kann. Produced and edited by Daniel Woldorff. Original music and engineering by Sean Marquand. Stephen Lacey is executive editor.
Catalyst is brought to you by Anza, a platform enabling solar and storage developers and buyers to save time, reduce risk, and increase profits in their equipment selection process. Anza gives clients access to pricing, technical, and risk data plus tools that they’ve never had access to before. Learn mo…
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How geothermal gets built
29 mei 2025 · 32 min
Geothermal seems to be nearing an inflection point. With rising load growth, clean, firm power is more valuable than ever. Next-gen geothermal players like Fervo Energy and Sage Geosystems are signing PPAs with major tech firms. Even U.S. Secretary of Energy Chris Wright — a known critic of renewables — has praised the potential of geothermal. Lees meer
The size of the U.S. geothermal resource accessible through next-gen geothermal technologies like enhanced-geothermal systems is enormous — potentially thousands of gigawatts. But tapping into it hinges on figuring out the economics.
So what does it actually take to develop a geothermal project — and how are new tools reshaping the process?
In this episode, Shayle talks to Carl Hoiland, co-founder and CEO of geothermal energy company Zanskar, which uses AI for enhanced geothermal exploration. Shayle and Carl cover topics like:
Why geothermal stalled — and what’s changing now
The full step-by-step process of developing a project
How to avoid exploration risk, also known as dry hole risk
Methods for estimating resource size and managing depletion risk
The geothermal supply chain
How permitting is speeding up
Carl’s outlook for when and where development is likely to happen
Resources:
Latitude Media: Geothermal could meet 64% of hyperscale data center power demand
Latitude Media: Why geothermal might benefit from Trump’s tariffs
The Green Blueprint: How a text message launched a geothermal revolution in Utah
Latitude Media: The geothermal industry has a potential ally in Chris Wright
Latitude Media: Why California lawmakers are warming to geothermal
Credits: Hosted by Shayle Kann. Produced and edited by Daniel Woldorff. Original music and engineering by Sean Marquand. Stephen Lacey is executive editor.
Catalyst is brought to you by Anza, a platform enabling solar and storage developers and buyers to save time, reduce risk, and increase profits in their equipment selection process. Anza gives clients access to p…
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What to make of Trump's deep-sea minerals push
22 mei 2025 · 35 min
In April, the Trump administration issued an executive order to accelerate the development of deep-sea minerals — part of its broader push for “energy dominance.” The world’s oceans hold vast, untapped deposits of critical minerals like nickel, copper, manganese, and rare earth elements — all essential to batteries and clean energy technologies. Lees meer
Despite decades of interest, no commercial deep-sea mining project has begun production. The reasons? Regulatory uncertainty, environmental concerns, and the complexity of processing polymetallic nodules.
So what does this new executive order actually do?
In this episode, Shayle talks to Hans Smith, president and CEO of Ocean Minerals, a company participating in exploration of the Cook Islands. Shayle and Hans cover topics like:
What the Trump executive order mandates — and its legal limits
The bottleneck of U.S. deep-sea exploration
The controversy about U.S. legal authority over international waters
The economics and geopolitics of deep-sea hotspots like the Clarion-Clipperton Zone, Japan, and the Cook Islands
The technical challenges of refining polymetallic nodules
CapEx, OpEx, and barriers to commercial deployment
Resources:
Catalyst: Mining the deep sea
World Resources Institute: What We Know About Deep-Sea Mining — and What We Don’t
Reuters: Trump signs executive order boosting deep-sea mining industry
Credits: Hosted by Shayle Kann. Produced and edited by Daniel Woldorff. Original music and engineering by Sean Marquand. Stephen Lacey is executive editor.
Catalyst is brought to you by Anza, a platform enabling solar and storage developers and buyers to save time, reduce risk, and increase profits in their equipment selection process. Anza gives clients access to pricing, technical, and risk data plus tools that they’ve never had access to before. Learn more at go.anzarenewables.com/latitude.
Catalyst is brought to you by EnergyHub. EnergyHub helps utilities build next-generation virtual power plants t…
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A former race car engineer on battery safety and supply chains [partner content]
20 mei 2025 · 27 min
From his days as an IndyCar race engineer to his current role as chief product officer for a leading storage integrator, Tristan Doherty has always worked at the intersection of high performance and risk management. Lees meer
Today, he's applying that expertise at LG Energy Solution Vertech to build more resilient, domestically manufactured energy storage systems for America's evolving grid.
LG Energy Solution Vertech is the US energy storage division of LG Energy Solution, which has committed $1.4 billion to manufacture batteries in the U.S., creating a hub capable of producing 16.5 gigawatt-hours of energy storage cells annually. This investment is part of the company's long-term strategy to diversify supply chains.
"We're on schedule for early next year to be a hundred percent non-Chinese in terms of all of the components and sub-components going into those ESS cells,” says Doherty.
This manufacturing strategy is critical in a moment of trade uncertainty. While LG Energy Solution's substantial resources allow it to weather these challenges, smaller players in the supply chain face greater difficulties. "We're seeing projects that are being paused, that are being delayed. We're seeing suppliers that are rethinking their strategy...the goalposts are continually shifting."
Beyond manufacturing, LG Energy Solution has transformed its approach to system integration. Rather than simply connecting batteries to the grid, the company now designs comprehensive power solutions with grid needs as the starting point. Doherty describes this as "flipping the script" from an inside-out to an outside-in approach.
"The direction of design decisions and the direction of design intent has kind of flipped 180 degrees," he explains. "It's creating much more effective and much more powerful designs."
This evolution in design philosophy extends to safety considerations as well. Following incidents like the Moss Landing fire, the industry has increasingly shifted toward containerized solut…
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Terrawatt Infrastructure’s billion-dollar strategy
15 mei 2025 · 37 min
This week, we're bringing you a special episode of The Green Blueprint, a show about the stories behind first-of-a-kind climate projects. In this episode: Terawatt Power's first commercial electric truck charging depot, which opened in April near the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach. It was a significant milestone for the industry. So how’d Terawatt pull it off? Lees meer
Host Lara Pierpoint talks to Terawatt’s founder Neha Palmer about the financing, offtakes, and market demand for electrified trucks. It’s the kind of deep-dive conversation we love to have here on Catalyst, so we think you’ll enjoy it.
In 2021, Neha Palmer co-founced Terrawatt Infrastructure with a bold mission: create the backbone for America's electric trucking revolution.
Within its first year, Terrawatt secured a billion-dollar investment. But as the company developed plans for a nationwide charging network, it confronted the daunting challenge of building infrastructure for an electric truck market that barely existed.
High-profile bankruptcies like Nikola Motors cast long shadows over the sector's viability, raising questions about whether heavy-duty transport can truly be electrified.
In this episode, Lara talks with Neha about how Terrawatt aims to transform freight transport despite market skepticism. Neha explains Terawatt’s strategic approach to site selection, innovative charging designs for fully-loaded trucks, and the vision for a revolutionary California-to-Texas network.
Credits: Hosted by Lara Pierpoint. Produced by Erin Hardick. Edited by Anne Bailey and Stephen Lacey. Original music and engineering by Sean Marquand. Stephen Lacey is executive editor.
Catalyst is brought to you by Anza, a platform enabling solar and storage developers and buyers to save time, reduce risk, and increase profits in their equipment selection process. Anza gives clients access to pricing, technical, and risk data plus tools that they’ve never had access to before. Learn more at go.anzarenewables.com/l…
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The U.S. nuclear groundswell
9 mei 2025 · 38 min
The nuclear renaissance of the 2000s turned out to be something of a mirage. Buoyed by rising fossil gas prices, growing climate awareness, and steady load growth, nuclear seemed poised for a breakout moment. But that momentum stalled. Electricity demand flatlined. The fracking boom sent gas prices plummeting. And Fukushima rattled public confidence in nuclear power. Ultimately, only two new reactors, Vogtle units 3 and 4 in Georgia, reached completion over a decade later. Lees meer
So is this latest wave of nuclear hype any different?
In this episode, Shayle talks to Chris Colbert, CEO of Elementl Power, which on Wednesday announced a deal with Google to develop three nuclear projects of at least 600-megawatts each. (Energy Impact Partners, where Shayle is a partner, is an investor in Elementl.) Chris, a former executive at NuScale Power, thinks last year may have marked the start of a nuclear revival: the recommissioning of Pennsylvania’s Three Mile Island and Michigan’s Holtec Palisades; Big Tech deals to support small modular reactor development; and the start of construction on TerraPower’s Wyoming reactor, the Western Hemisphere’s first advanced nuclear facility.
But until new reactors move beyond one-off projects to serial deployment, nuclear won’t achieve the cost reductions needed for widespread adoption. Chris and Shayle discuss what it will take to turn this groundswell of activity into widespread deployment, covering topics like:
Current tailwinds, like load growth and interest from corporate buyers
Why corporate buyers may be better positioned than utilities to take on development risks
Elementl’s technology-agnostic approach
Different nuclear technologies — light water, non-light water, and advanced designs — and Chris’s predictions for when they’ll reach commercialization
Why iteration is essential to driving down costs (and why the Google deal involves three separate projects)
How regulatory timelines are speeding up
The steps of project development…
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Frontier Forum: Unlocking next-generation VPPs
7 mei 2025 · 26 min
In the mid-2000s, Ben Brown started his career designing demand response programs that relied on pagers and telephones. Today, as Renew Home's CEO, he's leveraging AI and tens of millions of connected smart devices to help households save energy and create an entirely new approach to grid management. Lees meer
Renew Home is building a new kind of virtual power plant that moves beyond occasional emergency events toward continuous, subtle energy shifts across millions of connected households.
"The biggest evolution is connected devices," explains Brown, who previously led energy product development at Google after its acquisition of Nest.
During his time at Google Labs working on large language models, Brown also witnessed firsthand the massive energy demands that AI would place on our grid.
This realization, combined with his work on smart home technology, led Brown to envision a new approach to virtual power plants – one built on subtle, personalized adjustments across millions of homes rather than occasional disruptive events.
“There's actually a lot more value continuously throughout the year, over hundreds of hours where customers can save more money by helping support the grid."
With DOE projections showing a 200 gigawatt peak on the US grid by 2030, Renew Home's approach offers a compelling alternative to building new power plants. By focusing on customer control and personalization, they've achieved 75% opt-in rates, while creating a resource that is far cheaper than gas peakers.
In this episode, recorded as part of a live Frontier Forum, Stephen Lacey talks with Ben Brown about the next generation of virtual power plants.
How does Renew Home’s approach differ from demand response or battery-based VPPs? And what role can it play in addressing the grid’s urgent needs?
This is a partner episode, brought to you by Renew Home. It was recorded live as part of Latitude Media's Frontier Forum series. Watch the full video to hear more details about next-generation VPP…
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Catalyst Live at SF Climate Week
1 mei 2025 · 45 min
It’s a Catalyst first-of-a-kind: our very first live event! We hosted it last Wednesday at San Francisco Climate week. In this episode, Shayle talks to Mike Schroepfer, co-founder and partner at Gigascale Capital and former CTO of Meta, and Nick Chaset, CEO of Octopus Energy US. Together they cover: Lees meer
Lessons on building products that consumers love
Over and under hyped trends, including data center load growth, carbon removal, and fusion
What areas will benefit most from the current administration
The most important, least appreciated category of climate tech
The craziest idea that just might work
Recommended resources:
Catalyst: A skeptic’s take on AI electricity load growth
Catalyst: The geopolitics of rare earth elements
Credits: Hosted by Shayle Kann. Produced and edited by Daniel Woldorff. Original music and engineering by Sean Marquand. Stephen Lacey is executive editor.
This special Catalyst Live was sponsored by JP Morgan Chase and DLA Piper.
Catalyst is brought to you by Anza, a platform enabling solar and storage developers and buyers to save time, reduce risk, & increase profits in their equipment selection process. Anza gives clients access to pricing, technical, and risk data and tools that they’ve never had access to before. Learn more at go.anzarenewables.com/latitude.
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.
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The geopolitics of rare earth elements
24 april 2025 · 32 min
China’s new export controls on rare earth elements (REEs) are a problem for EVs, renewables, and other industries that rely on the minerals, especially the permanent magnets they’re used in. The vast majority of the global supply chain is in China. Plus, Chinese companies control supply chain operations around the world. Lees meer
So is it possible to stand up a rare earth supply chain outside of China’s control?
In this episode, Shayle talks to Ahmad Ghahreman, co-founder and CEO of REE recycler Cyclic Materials. (Energy Impact Partners, where Shayle is a partner, invests in Cyclic.) They cover topics like:
REE 101: the basket of 17 minerals, how they’re mined and processed, and the most important five
Why an REE supply chain hasn’t been built outside of China, even though the raw materials exist outside the country
The timeline of Chinese export controls leading up to the April escalation and what could come next
The specifics of what’s limited, including oxides, alloys, and magnets
Why Ahmad is optimistic about building an ex-China supply chain
Other potential pathways, like recycling and designing more REEs-efficient products
Recommended resources:
The New York Times: The Mine Is American. The Minerals Are China’s.
The New York Times: How China Took Over the World’s Rare Earths Industry
Axios: China trade war risks stifling America's electric car movement
Heatmap: China’s Minerals Pause All Pain, No Gain for U.S
Latitude Media: Building a supply chain for rare earth elementsCredits: Hosted by Shayle Kann. Produced and edited by Daniel Woldorff. Original music and engineering by Sean Marquand. Stephen Lacey is executive editor.
Catalyst is brought to you by Anza, a platform enabling solar and storage developers and buyers to save time, reduce risk, & increase profits in their equipment selection process. Anza gives clients access to pricing, technical, and risk data and tools that they’ve never had access to before. Learn more at go.anzarenewables.com/latitud…
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What’s next for the battery storage boom? [partner content]
23 april 2025 · 20 min
The U.S. storage market is experiencing hockey-stick growth, with multiple gigawatts being installed quarterly. But new policy uncertainties around tariffs and the Inflation Reduction Act are threatening this momentum. Lees meer
But Jeff Waters, the CEO of Powin, remains optimistic.
"This industry will figure out a way to work with it," says Waters, who brings decades of experience from the semiconductor and solar industries. "What we're doing is important."
Powin is a leading storage integrator that designs, commissions, and services some of the largest utility-scale batteries in the world. As Waters puts it, "If you are a utility or if you are an IPP, if you want to integrate storage and own and operate a storage asset, we are that one throat to choke."
In this episode, produced in partnership with Powin, Stephen Lacey talks with Jeff about why he's still optimistic about the market despite significant headwinds. Drawing from his experience in semiconductors, Waters makes a case for how America should approach domestic battery manufacturing.
"When I hear people talk about storage and say, 'We don't want Chinese companies investing or getting taxpayer money to build plants,' I think it's a ridiculous notion," Waters explains. "The only way we're going to get anywhere in the U.S. market with storage is by partnering with the Chinese."
They discuss the extraordinary scaling of project sizes, the surge in electricity demand from data centers, technology trends beyond lithium-iron phosphate batteries, diverse deployment models, regional market opportunities, and the remarkable resilience of an industry used to navigating policy volatility.
This is a partner episode, brought to you by Powin. Powin is pushing the frontiers of energy storage. To learn more about Powin's integrated energy storage systems and to read case studies of how the company is executing projects, go to powin.com.
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Serving data center load with carbon capture
17 april 2025 · 37 min
Big tech’s data center construction boom is fueling a flurry of natural gas development, despite the fuel’s challenges, and it’s complicating big tech’s climate goals. But carbon capture and storage (CCS) could mitigate emissions from those new plants, and hyperscalers could secure low-carbon power while meeting their needs for speed and reliability. Lees meer
So how could natural gas with CCS serve data center loads?
In this episode, Shayle talks to Julio Friedmann, chief scientist at Carbon Direct, who recently co-authored a couple pieces on the topic. Despite recent high profile cancellations of natural gas projects, Julio makes the case that gas-plus-CCS has attractive advantages, provided the carbon capture actually happens. Shayle and Julio cover topics like:
The surprisingly attractive economics, even at lower flue concentrations
Where it may compete with renewables, storage, and nuclear
The challenges of siting CO2 infrastructure and uncertainty around the 45Q tax credit
Whether “CCS-ready” kicks mitigation down the road, like H2 blending
Big tech companies like Meta that are signaling interest, but not taking action
The range of CCS technologies and the manufacturers jockeying to supply them
CCS’s uncertain political future in the U.S.
Recommended resources:
Carbon Direct: Carbon Capture for Natural Gas-Fired Power Generation
Carbon Direct: Carbon capture for natural gas-fired power generation: An opportunity for hyperscalers
Latitude Media: Where does gas fit in the puzzle of powering AI?
Latitude Media: High costs, delays prompt withdrawal of five more Texas gas plants
Latitude Media: Hydrogen-ready’ power plants aren’t actually ready for hydrogen
Latitude Media: Engie’s pulled project highlights the worsening economics of gas
Credits: Hosted by Shayle Kann. Produced and edited by Daniel Woldorff. Original music and engineering by Sean Marquand. Stephen Lacey is executive editor.
Catalyst is brought to you by Anza, a platform enabling solar and s…
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How climate disasters are shaping insurance markets
10 april 2025 · 33 min
Premiums are rising. Insurers are leaving markets. But people keep building in risk-prone areas, and the climate disasters just keep coming. Lees meer
Can insurance markets adapt?
In this episode, Shayle talks to Dr. Judd Boomhower, an assistant professor of economics at the University of California-San Diego and a faculty research fellow at the National Bureau of Economic Research. He studies how insurance markets are reacting to climate change. Shayle and Judd cover topics like:
Why insurers are limiting coverage in California, Florida, and other high-risk markets
How disaster insurance, unlike auto or health insurance, faces a flood of claims all at the same time
How catastrophe models (or “cat models” for short) work and why AI and other improvements struggle the solve the fundamental problem: a lack of historical data needed to predict future events
The challenges of private “black-box” catastrophe models that can’t be reviewed by third parties
Reinsurance markets and why they’re not attracting more capital to shore up insurers
The pros and cons of parametric insurance, an emerging category of insurance products
Undercapitalized “fly-by-night” insurers that risk insolvency and failing to pay out claim
Recommended resources
NBER: How Are Insurance Markets Adapting to Climate Change? Risk Classification and Pricing in the Market for Homeowners Insurance
Brookings: “How is climate change impacting home insurance markets?”Credits: Hosted by Shayle Kann. Produced and edited by Daniel Woldorff. Original music and engineering by Sean Marquand. Stephen Lacey is executive editor.
Catalyst is brought to you by Anza, a platform enabling solar and storage developers and buyers to save time, reduce risk, & increase profits in their equipment selection process. Anza gives clients access to pricing, technical, and risk data and tools that they’ve never had access to before. Learn more at go.anzarenewables.com/latitude.
Catalyst is brought to you by EnergyHub. EnergyHub …
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Frontier Forum: Future-proofing data center power infrastructure
8 april 2025 · 29 min
Data centers face a critical timing problem. They need massive amounts of power immediately, but grid upgrades can take more than seven years to complete. Microgrids could be a solution to this growing power gap. Lees meer
"How do you future-proof your systems through adaptability of technologies? Microgrids are really a nice technology to address that," explains Adib Nasle, CEO of Xendee.
In this episode, recorded as part of a live Frontier Forum, Latitude Media's Stephen Lacey speaks with Xendee co-founders Adib Nasle and Michael Stadler about how microgrids can help data centers get power quickly, while also preparing for future technology changes.
The conversation explores how the combination of combined heat and power systems with supplemental technologies like batteries and renewables can create flexible, adaptable power solutions for mission-critical facilities. Their research across different energy markets shows striking cost reductions.
"We saw cost reductions up to 80 percent in California and 60 percent in Virginia," notes Dr. Michael Stadler, CTO of Xendee. "If you really go with the utility, it's always the most expensive case."
Using a stepped approach to microgrid implementation, data centers can achieve electricity prices significantly below grid rates — while maintaining complete control over their power infrastructure and preparing for future technologies like small modular reactors.
"One way to think about microgrids is really as a Swiss army knife of energy infrastructure," says Nasle. "You're getting localized resilience, economics, flexibility, scalability, efficiency through controls, and the inherent benefits of a decentralized system."
This is a partner episode, brought to you by Xendee. It was recorded live as part of Latitude Media's Frontier Forum series. Watch the full video to hear more details about microgrid design for data centers.
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Specialized AI brains for physical industry
4 april 2025 · 37 min
Everyone wants a piece of general purpose models. Instacart has deployed ChatGPT for recipes and meal planning. The Mayo Clinic is using it to summarize patient records. Schneider Electric is using an OpenAI LLM to generate sustainability reports. Lees meer
With such powerful models, what’s the need for specialized models built for specific industries, especially in climate tech?
In this episode, Shayle talks to Sam Smith-Eppsteiner, partner at Innovation Endeavors. She recently wrote a blog post arguing that there may be a market that general purpose models struggle to meet: physical industries where training data is siloed, unstructured, and private. She talks through climate-relevant examples like Cadstrom’s copilot for electrical engineers, Hubflow’s automated trucker scheduling, WeaveBio’s AI-powered platform for regulatory approvals. Shayle and Sam also cover topics like:
Applicable cases, like cross referencing complicated technical manuals, repetitive manual work that employees dislike, and technical compliance
The technical knowledge lost when workers retire and how specialized AI could help
What it takes to build specialized models, including data access, vector embedding, prompt engineering, and fine tuning
What budget categories businesses might use to pay for specialized models
Selling the technology (i.e. the traditional SAAS model) vs selling the work (i.e. answers informed by models)
Recommended resources
Innovation Endeavors: Specialized brains for industry: the immense potential for domain-specific AI
Innovation Endeavors: The next industrial unicorn: Where is AI rapidly transforming the physical economy
Catalyst: The coming robotics wave
Latitude: How utilities are designing and embedding AI operating models
Credits: Hosted by Shayle Kann. Produced and edited by Daniel Woldorff. Original music and engineering by Sean Marquand. Stephen Lacey is executive editor.
Catalyst is brought to you by Anza, a platform enabling solar and storage develope…
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The potential for flexible data centers
27 maart 2025 · 31 min
Tyler Norris says regulators have been getting two different stories. On one side, they’ve been hearing that data centers are largely inflexible loads. On the other, last year the U.S. Department of Energy recommended data center flexibility, and EPRI launched its DCFlex initiative to demonstrate the same. Lees meer
So he and a few other researchers wanted to know, What’s the potential for data center flexibility? And what benefits could it have system-wide?
In this episode, Shayle talks to Tyler, a PhD candidate at Duke University’s Nicholas School of the Environment and former vice president of development at Cypress Creek Renewables. In a recent study, Tyler and his co-authors found there’s enough spare capacity in the existing U.S. grid to accommodate up to 98 gigawatts of new industrial load (enough for multiple Project Stargates), if that load can curtail 0.5% of annual load to avoid adding to system peaks. Shayle and Tyler unpack the study’s findings, including:
How much data centers would have to curtail and how often
Options for shaving peaks, like colocating or leasing generation, spatial flexibility, and deferring or front loading training runs
Speeding up interconnection if the data center is able to curtail load
How bridge power could transition to peak shaving backup generation
Recommended resources
Nicholas Institute for Energy, Environment & Sustainability, Duke University: Rethinking Load Growth: Assessing the Potential for Integration of Large Flexible Loads in US Power Systems
Latitude Media: EPRI takes its data center flexibility project global
Latitude Media: Who’s really paying to power Big Tech’s AI ambitions?Credits: Hosted by Shayle Kann. Produced and edited by Daniel Woldorff. Original music and engineering by Sean Marquand. Stephen Lacey is 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 Ene…
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Frontier Forum: How tax credit transfers are reshaping energy finance
21 maart 2025 · 34 min
In 2023, the U.S. market for transferable clean energy tax credits was just getting started. One year later, that market has tripled in size, with credits diversifying beyond wind and solar into nuclear, manufacturing, and other technologies. Lees meer
"The statistics on just how much it grew over that period are really impressive — indicating the transparency, efficiency, liquidity, and growing nature of the market," explains Alfred Johnson, CEO of Crux, which operates a debt and tax credit platform for clean energy.
When new rules allowed clean energy tax credits to be sold for cash, it suddenly opened up a dynamic new market. Now, instead of only large banks with a tax appetite being able to finance projects, any corporate buyer with tax liability can participate — and they're rushing in.
In this episode, recorded during a live Frontier Forum, Latitude Media's Maeve Allsup moderates a conversation with Crux's Alfred Johnson, Stephanie Deterding, Crux's managing director of markets and transactions, and Timmi Kloster, senior vice president of tax credit syndications at US Bank Corp.
The panelists discuss six key findings from Crux's recent market report: the market grew and diversified; pricing improved; smaller credits saw the greatest price improvements; hybrid transactions enabled tax equity market growth; tax insurance became more prominent; and forward commitments grew significantly.
"What surprised me the most is just how quickly investors entered the market and were willing to transact," explains Timmi Kloster of US Bank. "We saw three times the amount of new investors enter the space through transferability that we would have seen in a typical, pre-IRA traditional tax equity partnership market."
Despite post-election policy uncertainty, the market remains robust. "In the weeks following the November election, bidding activity was the highest we have seen yet," says Johnson, noting that 90% of projects benefiting from the credits are in Republican districts.
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