This Week in Cleantech

Top five cleantech stories.
Fifteen minutes. Every week.

Cracks in the off-grid AI data center boom; a court admission that the Trump administration cancelled $7.6 billion in clean energy grants along political lines; BP's talks to sell Lightsource to a Kuwait-backed group; the FCC's new ban on foreign-made power inverters; and Heineken's pilot of a Rondo heat battery to decarbonize brewing in Portugal. WSJ's Clara Hudson joins hosts Paul Gerke and Mike Casey to discuss the heat battery story, plus this week's Cleantecher of the Week: Tim Shepherd and Sylvain Marseille.

This Week in Cleantech examines mounting financial concerns around AI-driven data center growth, changing state policies that reduce rooftop solar compensation, China's continued dominance in battery storage, and encouraging trends in state clean energy permitting. Associated Press reporter Alexa St. John joins the show to discuss how automakers are turning electric vehicles into backup power sources and future grid assets through vehicle-to-home and vehicle-to-grid technology. The episode concludes with the Cleantecher of the Week, recognizing Bright Saver's affordable balcony solar initiative.

This week, Paul Gerke and Mike Casey cover New York's first-in-the-nation data center moratorium, the American auto industry's retreat from EVs even as global sales boom, a transformer and grid equipment shortage driven by AI data center demand, and a 69% surge in global fusion investment. Dallas Morning News reporter Lana Ferguson joins to discuss Texas's booming "solar sheep" agrivoltaics industry, where ranchers graze sheep beneath solar panels. The episode closes with Cleantecher of the Week Joey Fiore, CEO of PowerLabs, maker of the portable solar generator Roav.

Woodwell researchers studying methane-consuming microbes in Maine's forests, India's renewable energy curtailment crisis tied to grid bottlenecks, why European climate tech struggles to scale past Series B funding compared to the US, and how extreme heat is forcing Europe's infrastructure sector toward climate adaptation over decarbonization. The episode also features Financial Times reporter Martha Muir discussing soaring US clean power PPA prices driven by AI data center demand and expiring federal tax credits. 

This week's episode covers the Department of Energy's $17.5 billion in conditional loans to bolster the US nuclear supply chain and back ten new Westinghouse reactors; a report showing Spanish households save €10 monthly thanks to renewables decoupling electricity from gas prices; why California is seeing few data centers built despite the AI boom; the grid interconnection bottleneck keeping data centers from plugging in; and Sunrun, Tesla, and Renew Home offering 16 gigawatts of virtual power plant capacity. 

Fast-tracked off-grid power plants are fueling the AI data center boom with little public scrutiny, raising transparency and pollution concerns. The administration writes another billion-dollar payout to cancel offshore wind leases, shifting capital to gas. The cleantech IPO market rebounds, led by energy, nuclear, and geothermal. FERC approves PJM's expedited interconnection track for large shovel-ready projects. Guest Tim McDonald of Semafor breaks down the Strait of Hormuz settlement, Iran's energy leverage, and what it means for gasoline prices ahead of the midterms.

LS Power nears a $4.7 billion deal for EDF's North American renewables arm, and Cypress Creek lines up $3.5 billion to finance a massive Arkansas solar-plus-storage project. GM pivots to grid-scale sodium-ion battery production as EV sales slow, while Q Cells begins commercial solar cell production at its Georgia mega-facility. Special guest Dr. Akshat Rathi of Bloomberg explains how the Iran energy shock is pushing Asia and Europe to speed up electrification. Plus, Emerald AI's Varun Sivaram is Cleantecher of the Week.

This week, Mike Casey and Paul Gerke examine a new report showing carbon removal efforts remain far behind what’s needed to meet global climate goals. They discuss proposed restrictions on solar development on U.S. farmland, mounting delays in AI-driven data center construction, and a lawsuit challenging the Trump administration’s offshore wind settlement deals. E&E News reporter Ben Storrow joins the show to explain why several Democratic governors in New England are warming to natural gas pipeline expansion amid rising electricity demand, slow clean energy buildouts, and changing political realities.

This week’s episode examines how clean energy is increasingly intersecting with politics, economics, and local communities. The hosts discuss a Texas primary race influenced by solar-backed political spending, a federal plan to repurpose Cold War plutonium for nuclear fuel, and growing turmoil in China’s dominant solar industry. They also look at how stalled federal reviews are putting billions in U.S. wind investments at risk. Heatmap News’ Robinson Meyer joins the show to explain why local opposition to data centers is surging and what it could mean for future development.

Mike Casey fills in for Paul Gerke and breaks down the week’s biggest cleantech stories, including Tim Pawlenty taking over SEIA, CMBlu’s $58 million flow battery raise, Fervo Energy’s massive geothermal IPO, and EDP’s bullish outlook on U.S. renewables despite political headwinds. WIRED reporter Molly Taft joins to discuss how AI data centers are driving a surge in gas turbine deployments and whether renewables can realistically keep pace with exploding power demand.