This Week in Cleantech

Mike Casey

This episode of This Week in Cleantech, guest-hosted by Jeremiah Karpowicz alongside Mike Casey, covers OpenAI's 20-year, 10-gigawatt Ohio data center lease backed by Nvidia; a New York Times look at the aging transformers leaving the U.S. grid vulnerable to a lasting blackout; a Bloomberg report on battery storage projects stuck for years in interconnection queues; Paul Gerke's piece on the DOE scrapping its last three transmission corridor reviews; and WIRED's Molly Taft on the growing, cross-partisan backlash against AI data centers. This week's Cleantecher of the Week is Heron Power's Drew Baglino.

This week's episode covers Base Power's $1 billion funding round and new 36-hour home battery, the Trump administration's $3 billion critical minerals push that's inadvertently boosting EV supply chains, a Nebraska tax program funneling renewable energy revenue into rural schools and counties, a federal judge's order forcing the Pentagon to lift its freeze on wind project reviews, and a deep dive with returning guest Mark Chediak of Bloomberg on new tariffs targeting imported polysilicon. The episode closes with "Cleantecher of the Week," honoring a UK dairy farm's milk-powered heat pump innovation.

This week on This Week in Cleantech, Paul Gerke and Mike Casey cover China's solar capacity closing in on coal, a pro-solar super PAC's role in unseating Rep. Andy Ogles in his primary, and the world crossing 3 terawatts of installed solar capacity. They also dig into the US critical minerals mining boom at sites like Thacker Pass, and welcome first-time guest Heather Clancy of Trellis to discuss why Equinix and Oracle are turning to Bloom Energy fuel cells for data center power. The episode closes with Aytaç Yilmaz of Ore Energy as Cleantecher of the 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.