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Catalyst with Shayle Kann

Latitude Media
Catalyst with Shayle Kann
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  • How Base Power plans to use its fresh $1B
    Yesterday, Base Power announced a $1 billion series C, giving the residential battery company an eye-popping $4 billion post-money valuation. Base manufactures, installs, owns, and operates residential batteries — a vertical integration strategy that CEO Zach Dell says is the “magic” to beating utility-scale batteries on CapEx. The company also acts as an electricity retailer and sells generation capacity. So how does Base’s business model work? And what will it do with its new fundraise?  In this episode, Shayle talks to Zach about Base’s business model, the vertical integration strategy, and the challenges ahead. They cover topics like: The customer value proposition: how customers pay for backup power and Base uses the batteries for grid services Bases’s “gentailer” business model in ERCOT, earning revenue from monthly customer fees, retail electricity sales, and battery arbitrage The regulated market approach, where Base sells capacity directly to utilities Base’s vertical integration strategy: from ground-mounted designs to decoupled installation processes Challenges like managing a fixed workforce amid fluctuating demand and the declining price volatility in ERCOT Resources: New York Times: Base Power, a Battery-Focused Power Company, Raises $1 Billion Open Circuit: Is this moment for distributed energy different?   Catalyst: Is now the time for DERs to scale?  Credits: Hosted by Shayle Kann. Produced and edited by Daniel Woldorff. Original music and engineering by Sean Marquand. Stephen Lacey is our executive editor.  Catalyst is brought to you by 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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  • Frontier Forum: A new playbook for clean energy growth
    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. 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
    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. 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-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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  • Ag residue and carbon removal
    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.  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   Catalyst: From biowaste to ‘biogold’   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 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 ⁠⁠antennagroup.com⁠⁠.
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  • Is now the time for DERs to scale?
    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. 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 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 ⁠⁠antennagroup.com⁠⁠.
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About Catalyst with Shayle Kann

Investor Shayle Kann is asking big questions about how to decarbonize the planet: How cheap can clean energy get? Will artificial intelligence speed up climate solutions? Where is the smart money going into climate technologies? Every week on Catalyst, Shayle explains the world of climate tech with prominent experts, investors, researchers, and executives. Produced by Latitude Media.
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