A weekly podcast featuring veteran investor Shayle Kann interviewing experts about the state of the energy sector and the technologies powering decarbonization. Shayle Kann is asking the big questions about the ways we power our world: How cheap can clean energy get? Where is the smart money going on new technologies? How will the AI boom both help and hinder us on our journey to decarbonization? Every Thursday on Catalyst, Shayle dives deep into the world of energy with prominent experts, investors, researchers, and executives to unpack both the solutions and the challenges at play in this ever-changing landscape.
Data centers are increasingly turning to behind-the-meter natural gas generation to meet rising electricity demand, raising questions about potential supply and infrastructure constraints. Unlike the electricity grid, the natural gas system has historically been more flexible regarding pipeline construction and product...
Data center water consumption is primarily a function of design choices rather than an inherent requirement of modern computing infrastructure. As rack densities climb to 400 kilowatts or higher, the industry is shifting from traditional air cooling to direct liquid cooling (DLC) to manage heat more effectively. While ...
Texas has experienced explosive growth in grid-scale battery capacity, surging from 200 megawatts to over 16 gigawatts in just a few years. This rapid expansion has saturated the ancillary services market, forcing developers to pivot toward energy arbitrage, where revenue has plummeted from nearly $200 per installed ki...
Maritime defense operations face unique energy challenges driven by the extreme density of water and the harsh subsea environment, which necessitate specialized propulsion and power systems. Unlike commercial ground vehicles, autonomous maritime platforms must carry all required energy for missions, as recharging infra...
The energy sector faces significant shifts in 2026, driven by rapid AI-related demand and evolving geopolitical tensions. Data center development encounters widespread, bipartisan community opposition, leading to localized delays that, while significant, will not impede the broader pace of AI advancement. Meanwhile, th...
Data centers create a complex, bifurcated impact on electricity prices, functioning differently at local and global scales. Locally, these facilities often exert downward pressure on rates because utilities negotiate specific, protective tariffs and capacity agreements that prevent residential customers from bearing th...
Large-scale data center development faces a significant public and political backlash, shifting from community-welcomed economic drivers to targets of intense scrutiny. This opposition stems from the rapid scale of new projects and a broader, often emotional, resistance to AI technology. While data centers can lower lo...
Distributed energy resources (DERs) have reached a critical inflection point where their integration into the power grid is no longer a theoretical aspiration but a functional necessity. Historically, DERs failed to scale because the grid lacked significant load growth, and these resources functioned as optional "vitam...
The rapid expansion of AI infrastructure faces a critical, often overlooked bottleneck: a severe shortage of specialized, highly skilled electricians. To address this, data center developers are shifting from traditional stick-built construction to modular, manufacturing-based assembly, which improves safety and allows...
Commercial and Industrial (C&I) energy storage, historically stagnant compared to residential and utility-scale sectors, is entering a period of rapid growth driven by shifting economic incentives. Rising electricity rates and demand charges, coupled with new revenue streams like capacity markets and "Bring Your Own Ca...
Vehicle-to-Grid (V2G) technology stands at an inflection point, transitioning from long-standing pilot programs to a scalable grid resource as major automakers integrate bidirectional capabilities into new electric vehicles. Steve Letendre, Senior Advisor at the Vehicle-Grid Integration Council, identifies three essent...
Quantum computing is transitioning from theoretical laboratory experiments to tangible productization, though achieving widespread, practical utility remains three to four years away. While significant capital flows into the sector, current hardware is hampered by high error rates, necessitating a shift from noisy inte...
Securing reliable power has become the primary bottleneck for the rapid expansion of AI infrastructure, forcing hyperscalers and AI labs to adopt aggressive, non-traditional energy strategies. Because grid capacity cannot keep pace with the exponential growth of data center demand, companies are increasingly deploying ...
Solar geoengineering offers a potential mechanism to stabilize global temperatures, yet it presents significant governance and safety risks. Stardust, led by CEO Yanai Yedvab, is developing a proprietary particle system composed of amorphous silica and calcite to serve as a safer, more inert alternative to traditional ...
The Mid-Atlantic Reliability Line (MARL), a proposed 107-mile high-voltage transmission project, exemplifies the grid-scale challenges hindering the energy transition. Originally approved in 2022 to address regional reliability, the project now faces intense scrutiny as the AI-driven data center boom shifts the landsca...
The "electric supercycle" describes an unprecedented era of surging electricity demand driven by AI, data centers, and broad industrial electrification. While the power sector currently faces a "gauntlet" of supply chain bottlenecks, with equipment lead times stretching to five years and rising costs, the long-term out...
Follow this podcast in Podwise
Sign in to get AI summaries, transcripts and mind maps for any episode, including new ones.
