Catalyst with Shayle Kann Latitude Media

Investment is on the rise in geothermal, where advances in drilling techniques are driving down the cost of generation right as the grid needs more clean, firm, dispatchable power to meet rising load growth. And enhanced-geothermal startup Fervo is leading the pack of entrants, signing agreements to provide power to Southern California Edison and Google. 
So how ready are these next-generation geothermal technologies to scale?
In this episode, Shayle talks to Dr. Roland Horne, professor of earth sciences at Stanford, where he leads the university’s geothermal program. Shayle and Roland cover topics like:

Geothermal’s historical challenges of limited geography and high up-front costs

Three pathways of next-generation geothermal: enhanced, closed-loop, and super-deep (also known as super-critical)

Knowledge transfer from the oil and gas industry

Advances in drilling technology that cut across multiple pathways 


Recommended resources
U.S. Department of Energy: Pathways to Commercial Liftoff: Next-Generation Geothermal Power
Latitude Media: Fervo eyes project-level finance as it plans for geothermal at scale
Make sure to listen to our new podcast, Political Climate – an insider’s view on the most pressing policy questions in energy and climate. Tune in every other Friday for the latest takes from hosts Julia Pyper, Emily Domenech, and Brandon Hurlbut. Available on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.
Be sure to also check out Living Planet, a weekly show from Deutsche Welle that brings you the stories, facts, and debates on the key environmental issues affecting our planet. Tune in to Living Planet every Friday on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.
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New electric vehicles — including both battery electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles — make up nearly half of new car sales in China. Compared to slowing EV sales in Europe and the U.S. the Chinese market is booming. 
So what’s going on?
In this episode, Shayle talks to TP Huang, who writes a Substack about EVs, clean energy, and other tech focused on China. (Editor's note: TP Huang is a pseudonym, used for family reasons.) Shayle and TP cover topics like:

How EVs became extremely cost competitive with internal combustion engines in China where EV prices dip as low as $10,000 USD

Chinese consumer preferences for vehicles packed with features ranging from voice commands to fridges

The ubiquity and interoperability of fast charging, plus battery swapping

The rapid pace of electrification in heavy-duty trucking 

Chinese exports to Europe, Southeast Asia, and elsewhere (although not the U.S.)


Recommended Resources:
TP Huang: What's going in the Chinese automotive market
CNN: A brutal elimination round is reshaping the world’s biggest market for electric cars
Bloomberg: Why Europe Is Raising Tariffs on China’s Cheap EVs
Make sure to listen to our new podcast, Political Climate – an insider’s view on the most pressing policy questions in energy and climate. Tune in every other Friday for the latest takes from hosts Julia Pyper, Emily Domenech, and Brandon Hurlbut. Available on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.
Be sure to also check out Living Planet, a weekly show from Deutsche Welle that brings you the stories, facts, and debates on the key environmental issues affecting our planet. Tune in to Living Planet every Friday on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Driven by the AI boom, data centers’ energy demand could account for 9% of U.S. power generation by 2030, according to the Electric Power Research Institute. That's more than double current usage.
So how do we meet that demand? And what impacts will it have on the grid and decarbonization?
In this episode, Shayle talks to Brian Janous, former vice president of energy at Microsoft and current co-founder of Cloverleaf Infrastructure. Brian talks through the options for meeting data center demand, including shaping computational loads to avoid system peaks and deploying grid-enhancing technologies. He and Shayle also cover topics like:

Why AI-driven demand will be big, even with “zombie requests” in the interconnection queue

How hyperscalers are “coming to grips” with the reality that they may not hit decarbonization targets as quickly as planned

Why Brian thinks efficiency improvement alone “isn’t going to save us” from rising load growth

Why Brian argues that taking data centers off-grid is not a solution 

Options for shaping data center load, such as load shifting, microgrids, and behind-the-meter generation

How hyperscalers could speed up interconnection by shaping computational loads


Recommended Resources:

Electric Power Research Institute: Powering Intelligence: Analyzing Artificial Intelligence and Data Center Energy Consumption
The Carbon Copy: New demand is straining the grid. Here’s how to tackle it.
Federal Regulatory Energy Commission: Report | 2024 Summer Energy Market and Electric Reliability Assessment

Make sure to listen to our new podcast, Political Climate – an insider’s view on the most pressing policy questions in energy and climate. Tune in every other Friday for the latest takes from hosts Julia Pyper, Emily Domenech, and Brandon Hurlbut. Available on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.
Be sure to also check out Living Planet, a weekly show from Deutsche Welle that brings you the stories, facts, and debates on the key environmental issues affecting our planet. Tune in to Living Planet every Friday on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Tesla’s Master Plan Part 3 lays out the company’s model for a decarbonized economy — and makes the case for why it's economically viable. It outlines a vision for extensive electrification and a reliance on wind and solar power. 
In this episode, Shayle talks to one of the executives behind the plan, Drew Baglino, who was senior vice president for powertrain and energy at Tesla until April when he resigned. In his 18 years at Tesla he worked on batteries, cars, and even Tesla’s lithium refinery. Shayle and Drew cover topics like:

Why Drew isn't sure that AI-driven load growth “is going to be as dramatic as people think”

Drew’s optimism about the U.S.’ ability to build out enough transmission for decarbonization

How to deal with the high rates of curtailment and what to do with that excess power

Meeting the material requirements of decarbonization and Drew’s experience with permitting Tesla facilities 


Recommended Resources:
Tesla: Master Plan Part 3
CNBC: Tesla execs Drew Baglino and Rohan Patel depart as company announces steep layoffs
The Carbon Copy: AI's main constraint: Energy, not chips
Catalyst: Understanding the transmission bottleneck

Utility rates could make or break the energy transition – so how do we do it right? On June 13, Latitude Media and GridX are hosting a Frontier Forum to examine the importance of good rate design and the consequences of getting it wrong. Register here.
And make sure to listen to our new podcast, Political Climate – an insider’s view on the most pressing policy questions in energy and climate. Tune in every other Friday for the latest takes from hosts Julia Pyper, Emily Domenech, and Brandon Hurlbut. Available on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Batteries are making their way into more passenger cars and commercial vehicles than ever before, but the limits of electrification mean that we’ll likely need alternative fuels to decarbonize heavy transport like ships, planes, and trucks. 
So what are those fuels and what modes of transport do they suit best?
In this episode, Shayle talks to his colleague Andy Lubershane, partner and head of research at Energy Impact Partners. They talk through the limits of electrification and the alternatives for decarbonizing trucks, ships, and planes, drawing on Andy’s recent blog post, “How will we move the big, heavy things?”. They cover topics like:

The main limitations of batteries: density and infrastructure

Volumetric and gravimetric density, and why they matter for different types of vehicles

How fossil fuels would beat out even a theoretical “uber-battery” multiple times denser than current batteries

Why upgrading “always-on” grid infrastructure can be lengthy, expensive, and disruptive 

The alternatives to electrification: biofuels, hydrogen, and e-fuels

The advantages and limitations of each for different modes of transport


Recommended Resources:
Port of Long Beach: Our Zero Emissions Future
Enterprise Mobility: Electrifying Airport Ecosystems by 2050 Could Require Nearly Five Times the Electric Power Currently Used
Catalyst: Understanding SAF buyers

Utility rates could make or break the energy transition – so how do we do it right? On June 13th, Latitude Media and GridX are hosting a Frontier Forum to examine the imperative of good rate design, and the consequences of getting it wrong. Register here.
And make sure to listen to our new podcast, Political Climate – an insider’s view on the most pressing policy questions in energy and climate. Tune in every other Friday for the latest takes from hosts Julia Pyper, Emily Domenech, and Brandon Hurlbut. Available on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.

This week, we’re featuring a crossover episode of With Great Power, a show produced by Latitude Studios in partnership with GridX. Subscribe on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you get podcasts.
Ahmad Faruqui has been researching electricity pricing since the mid 1970’s, when the cost of a kilowatt-hour was flat. But in the 80’s and 90’s, he started working on dynamic pricing – pioneering the concept of time-of-use rates.
The big breakthrough for time-of-use rates came during the fallout from the California energy crisis. Later, thanks to the rollout of smart meters, more power providers started experimenting with dynamic rates.
Now, new technology is making time-of-use rate design more transparent. This week, Ahmad talks with Brad about why dynamic pricing is gaining momentum among electric utilities – and what makes for good rate design. 
On June 13th, Latitude Media and GridX will host a Frontier Forum to examine the imperative of good rate design – and the consequences of getting it wrong. Register at the link in the show notes, or go to latitudemdia.com/events. See you there!