Episode 133: Featuring Molly Taft from WIRED Magazine

Overview

1. Solar trade group taps former GOP governor as new chief - POLITICO
2. Organic flow battery company CMBlu closes €50 million Series C - Energy Storage News
3. Fervo's IPO marks geothermal's mainstream move - Axios
4. EDPR upbeat on US renewables market, sees profitable growth and new opportunities - Reuters
5. xAI Adds 19 New Gas Turbines Despite Ongoing Lawsuit - WIRED

Story 1

Mike Casey (00:02.241)
All right, as Paul Gerke would say, three, two, one. Hello and welcome back to This Week in CleanTech. We are a 15 minute roundup of the biggest stories in climate clean energy this week. Today's Friday, May 13th, 2026. So as you might notice, I'm not Paul Gerke, the host of this show and whose day job is content director for Factor This, but he will not be doing his day job today because Paul is wicked sick with the flu. So.

I'm Paul's co-host, cleantech commentator Mike Casey. My day job is running TigerCom, but today I'm gonna try to play Jon Stewart and monologue you through this week's top stories while we wish Paul a speedy recovery. So the good news is that we've got returning guest Molly Taft from Wired joining us shortly. So a bit of commentary here. I was, shall we say, exchanging views on LinkedIn with someone I suspect is a paid critic of all of yours.

after he engaged in some ankle biting of investor Peter Davison. So this guy I strongly suspect is one of half a dozen clowns who hang out on LinkedIn to push propaganda that you, cleantechers and our listeners, are something other than low cost, far cleaner than the incumbents and the future. I was amazed at how deeply full of bovine excrement this person was, but it was a reminder that economic disruption is a full contact sport and that you are worthy.

enough to have your opponents pay folks to propagandize against you. So please know that we always appreciate hearing from viewers and listeners like you and making your opinions part of the show. If you've got a story you want us to cover, please email us at twig@tigercom.us. So we'll get into it. Our first story, recent show guest Kelsey Tamborrino from Politico.

Solar Trade Group taps former GOP governor as new chief. So first some background. Former governor Tim Pawlenty served Minnesota two terms from 2003 to 2011. He even ran for president. So he brings on-camera skills, charisma, and some political know-how to the job of the Solar Energy Industries Association. He starts June 15th. We want to welcome him. As governor, Mr. Pawlenty managed a $50 billion biennial budget.

He led more than 20 state agencies and departments, and he signed Minnesota's Next Generation Energy Act, which sets a 25% renewable electricity standard, and he joined the Midwestern Greenhouse Gas Accord. The governor said he was honored to join the group at such a “pivotal moment” for the nation's future. So I've seen some true believer commentary on LinkedIn decrying this announcement. I want to respectfully differ. To be clear.

My friend Abby Hopper, I think, did a remarkable job leading SEIA over the past nine years. It is a fact that she was there while the industry grew from 36 gigawatts of installed capacity to 255 gigawatts. That's not an accident, and I think her impact on solar and storage in this country is hard to argue, although some who I respect vehemently do. That said, I'm really excited to see what the governor brings to the table here.

He's got a background in government and policy that will be a major asset for a maturing industry. And I'm looking forward to how he carries the torch. So I want to hereby extend an invitation to the governor to join us on this show soon after he starts for a brief conversation. I know our audience would like to hear from him.

Story 2

Mike Casey (03:00.021)
Story number two, April Bodder from Energy Storage News. Organic flow battery company, CMBlu, closes a 50 million euro Series C. So these guys make a very interesting product. We talk a lot about lithium batteries on the show. These are different. They're flow batteries that store energy and liquid electrolytes held in external tanks. Pumps push the liquid through a stack where a chemical reaction happens. You can scale capacity by making bigger tanks, which makes flow batteries a better fit for long duration storage than lithium ion, its backers argue.

They closed a $58 million US Series C financing with participation from Samsung Ventures that pushes CMBlu past the $1 billion valuation. These guys have a unique story because of their approach to the flow battery. And the company's targeting eight to 10 hour durations and pitching data centers and utilities managing AI-driven load growth, something we'll talk to Molly about in just a bit.

They already have a five gigawatt deal with German utility Uniper running through 2037. We wish them congratulations.

Story 3

Mike Casey (04:37.985)
Okay, our third story is by Katie Fehrenbacher. Katie, we want you on the show, all right? So she's reporting from Axios. Fervo's IPO marks geothermal's mainstream move. Okay, you guys know Fervo Energy. They are the geothermal powerhouse we covered quite a bit on this show.

The company priced its IPO at $27 a share, raising $1.89 billion on Tuesday night. It sold 70 million shares of Class A common stock, giving it a valuation of $7.7 billion. So Wednesday morning, the company's stock surged 33% in its Nasdaq debut, pushing market valuation past $10 billion.

A source with knowledge of the offering said it was massively oversubscribed and that bankers are marketing it as “the largest primary clean energy public equity deal of all time.” Quite the superlative. Geothermal is uniquely positioned to support the increase in AI power demand because it's a clean source of energy that runs 24-7, regardless of weather. The company said it has 3.65 gigawatts of power plant capacity under construction or in advanced stages of development.

and another 42 gigawatts could be developed.

Story 4

Mike Casey (05:56.355)
All right, going to our fourth story, Sergio Goncalves, he writes for Reuters, “EDP upbeat on US renewables market sees profitable growth and new opportunities.” Okay, we have covered extensively the seemingly never-ending acts of proud stupidity by the current administration and Congress. It's enough to make some want to give up on the US market. And let's be clear if you have. But our friends at EDPR had an analyst call this week about the U.S. market, and it was surprisingly optimistic.

The company expects profitable growth despite Trump's efforts to roll back and crush renewables. The U.S. is EDP's core market. Half of its 20.5 gigawatt capacity is here. Sixty percent of its global capex is headed there over the next three years as it aims to capitalize on the data center boom. Despite the accelerated phase out of tax credits since last July, EDP has still locked in 1.4 gigawatts of new capacity.

So let's put in some context here. You'll remember that TotalEnergies abandoned US offshore wind after the Trump administration gave them a nearly $1 billion check of our money to walk away from its two offshore wind leases. Why take power when you can pay people off? Invenergy canceled a 2.4 gigawatt Leading Light wind project off New Jersey last fall. Wood Mackenzie projects the Trump tax bill will result in roughly 100 gigawatts fewer wind and solar installations over the next decade compared to if they had just left things alone.

So I think it's safe to say we're seeing a survival of the fittest moment underway where smaller players get squeezed out while the well-capitalized operators lock in PPAs and find the field cleared actually working in their favor. And EDP is betting on that dynamic.

Story 5

Mike Casey (07:54.355)
Okay, our last story and returning guest, Molly Taft from Wired. “XAI adds 19 new gas turbines despite ongoing lawsuit.” Molly, welcome back. Love the new haircut.

Molly (08:07.746)
Thank you.

Mike Casey (08:20.786)
So I got a ton of questions on this story because it seems to me that if you look at the big, at the macro picture for the last year and a half, it seems really clear that the gas industry is looking at solar plus storage, lowest cost form of energy, and they know that they're in a race to be the default setting for powering data centers. That's the lens I'm looking at your story through. So the question I've got for you is, if you're a betting woman, based on the reporting that you've done for stories like this,

How much of the data center load, say five years from now, is powered by renewables versus powered by nukes versus powered by gas? Just if you had to guess.

Molly (08:59.83)
Man, I think that's like the question that literally everyone I speak to for stories like these is asking. I think if we were going down a logical path, like renewables, storage and some gas makes a lot of sense, right? And I think that a lot of very smart people in this space see that as the clearest path forward. I don't think nuclear is going to be ready for the next couple of years, even though people want it to be. What I am worried about in this reporting is that XAI really set the example for other data center developers as you can do this very quickly by bringing in basically whatever turbines you can find.

And some past reporting I've done, there are some really massive behind-the-meter and siloed power plant buildouts that are being built primarily on gas, if not exclusively gas, some with some solar and storage next to each other.

Mike Casey (09:51.54)
Yeah.

Molly (09:55.84)
And I think that, again, a lot of very smart people in the industry point out that renewables and BESS are a good path forward, and I agree with that. I do question how far ahead a lot of these developers are thinking. I think setting these things up is very expensive, even though they're getting it done more quickly than maybe it would be to connect to the grid. I just don't super see in five years or even two or three years going through all the trouble to set up all of this gas power and then be like, okay, actually, we're gonna replace it with the solar farm we're building.

Especially like, this is not the case with XAI, but a lot of the big gas projects right now are being sited in places like the Permian where gas is like next to free. So you solve a lot of the supply issues there. I think that's the big question and we're seeing an industry.

Mike Casey (10:41.076)
Yeah.

Molly (10:46.764)
that is really racing and not thinking about the intermittent steps. And a lot of them are also kind of like, you know, there's the big Jupiter project in New Mexico. When I reported on their air permits last month even, they had plans for this massive gas buildout. They scrapped it entirely and submitted a new air permit that's gonna be built entirely on Bloom cells, but it's also like...

Mike Casey (11:07.144)
Wow, wow.

Molly (11:11.628)
it's more Bloom cells than Bloom has ever produced, right? So it's like, there's just a lot of wild swings being taken. And I think the rubber is gonna meet the road when like, what compute's actually gonna come online. And that is like, I think what's scary for me is XAI is the one that's managed to do that, right? And they've managed to do that with basically these single cycle turbines and a combination of grid connectivity and these turbines. That's kind of what I'm seeing on the ground, but I don't think anyone really knows what's going on.

Mike Casey (11:39.699)
It seems like predicting this thing is almost, you've got several important control dials that are really hard to figure. So you've got how much compute is actually gonna get built. We hear, on this show, very different predictions on that. Number two, shortage of turbines.

The cleantech bulls, people like Jigar Shah, Kerry Hayes, Kevin Smith, they're like, the economics are gonna win. You can't get the turbines fast enough, okay? So that's an interesting factor. And then that's how much behind the meter versus in front of the meter. That seems like another dial.

Is there any other really significant factors that you think complete the dashboard of the factors that are going to really determine the mix five years from now?

Molly (12:35.274)
Yeah, I mean, I think those are all really important points. I think that when it comes to turbine availability, what I see on permits right now, and again, I think the prevailing logic is that a lot of these companies that are building these massive behind-the-meter power structures without grid connectivity are going to jump at the chance to connect into the grid. And also, I think are maybe in favor of policies that would support more private power generation to connect to the grid more easily, right?

But I think I'm seeing a lot of just turbines that they got from wherever, right? It's not like they're building combined cycle gas plants. It's like they are finding whatever they can. And XAI is a great example. They source a lot of these things from the Permian. These are turbines you hook up to drill pads or construction sites and you're meant to use one or two or three of them and they're putting 46 in the turbine site.

Mike Casey (13:34.022)
My gosh.

Molly (13:50.502)
So I don't know. I mean, I really try to like, yeah, Jigar and folks like that are super smart on this, but I do think that there is also this push that, and I've seen this increasingly from tech talking points where they see what Elon did and it was fast and it got the job done and they have a lot of money. So I don't think they're thinking five years in the future in a lot of cases, which is the scary thing to me because we like stability and grid and energy stuff is often a lot more long term.

But they are really thinking like, what can I get online as quick as possible in a lot of ways? And even with the turbine shortages, it's overwhelmingly gas, right?

Mike Casey (14:19.774)
I will humorously assert that you are asserting this is the first time someone has gone thrifting for gas turbines. So, anyway.

Molly (14:26.774)
Yeah, no, absolutely. Yeah, yeah, it's really remarkable. Like I hear crazy things about like Law360 had an article a few weeks ago about how there's like a shadow market for turbines. Like they're just finding kind of anything they can at this point, you know, which is fascinating to watch.

Conclusion

Mike Casey (14:42.88)
So we need to go to our Cleantecher of the Week and this one's a little special here. So our Cleantecher of Week is fourth grader Christian Mango. So at 10 years old, Christian researches electric vehicles, cites facts, writes to his Congresswoman Virginia Foxx of North Carolina.

and he proposes a $5,000 federal EV tax rebate. She responds by reprimanding Christian as foolish and his teachers as propagandists, even after the Congresswoman voted for billions of dollars in subsidies for the oil and gas industry. She asserts that Christian was being foolish because people in the district couldn't afford to buy an EV.

Well, Congresswoman, a couple of suggestions. First, if you're going to shovel your constituents' money at the most powerful and well-capitalized industry on the planet, don't be wagging your finger about affordability. And number two, you're running for reelection. I'm going to suggest you might serve the nation at 82 years old might serve the nation better from a bingo hall than you would in the halls of Congress. But we dither.

I want to thank our wonderful producer Brian Mendez and Alex Petersen and Clare Quirin for helping us identify this week's top stories. And thank you, the listeners, for joining us on this episode of This Week in CleanTech. And a big thanks to Molly Taft for coming back and joining us on this week's episode with an absolutely fascinating string of reporting.

Please subscribe, give us feedback, and share your story suggestions. You can read all the articles we discussed this week by clicking on the links in the episode description. Molly, thanks and listeners, we'll see you next week.