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PODCAST

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.

technology investing

All Episodes

36:05

Digging deep for super hot geothermal

Catalyst with Shayle Kann ·

2026/03/05

Despite its ability to deliver ample carbon-free energy, the potential of geothermal and EGS is limited by the number of drilling sites close enough to the earth’s surface.But a few pioneering companies have landed on a potential solution: dig way deeper. In this episode, Shayle speaks with Carlos Araque, the founder of Quaise Energy. The company has developed millimeter-wave drills to vaporize rock, allowing them to dig up to twelve miles underground in search of water around 800 degrees

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64:33

Volts crossover: Six big energy questions

Catalyst with Shayle Kann ·

2026/02/25

They’re at it again. Two years after they last teamed up for a Volts/Catalyst crossover episode, David Roberts joins Shayle for another far-ranging conversation exploring the future of energy. Their prompt was simple: Each host brought three critical questions they want to see answered in the next decade. From “data center fever” to closed-loop critical mineral economics, Shayle and David take the opportunity to dive deep into a myriad of second-order effects of the clean energy transition. In

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50:29

The rise of grid power electronics with Drew Baglino

Catalyst with Shayle Kann ·

2026/02/19

For decades, the physical equipment underpinning the electric grid has remained largely unchanged: passive, "dumb" devices installed as far back as the 1970s that lack much real-time control. But today, in the face of skyrocketing energy demand, a new class of technologies has emerged.In this episode, Drew Baglino, the founder and CEO of Heron Power, returns to the show to discuss his company’s new generation of solid-state transformers, or SSTs. After a 17-year career at Tesla — where he led

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40:08

PJM and ERCOT navigate a capacity rollercoaster

Catalyst with Shayle Kann ·

2026/02/12

Last year, the PJM capacity crunch became a focal point for an entire industry struggling to navigate the explosive growth of hyperscaler data centers. Yet even in the first two months of 2026, capacity prices have continued to skyrocket, and the economics of energy generation have only become more tenuous. In this episode, Shayle Kann talks to Paul Segal, the CEO of LS Power. A major player in the space, LS Power owns a diverse portfolio of generation, storage, and transmission assets across the

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34:44

The path to market for new nuclear reactors

Catalyst with Shayle Kann ·

2026/02/05

Spurred by a suite of executive orders and investments from the federal government, new nuclear reactors are coming soon. Or the announcements are at least. The advanced nuclear sector has found itself in the spotlight as companies race to acquire licenses and permits aimed at achieving "criticality.” But what do these milestones signify? And is hitting the deadlines even feasible? In this episode, Shayle talks to Katy Huff, former assistant secretary for nuclear energy at the Department of

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35:51

The rise of permissionless DERs

Catalyst with Shayle Kann ·

2026/01/29

Distributed batteries are having a big moment. On one hand, companies like Base Power and Tesla have leaned into large residential batteries that export power back to the grid, but need permits and inspections to operate. At the same time, however, a new category has emerged: small, "plug-in" batteries that don’t require an electrician or complex installation, let alone a permit. In this episode, Shayle talks to James McGinniss, co-founder and CEO of David Energy (yes, the biblical reference is

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25:39

More 2026 trends: Solar costs, oil oversupply, and...

Catalyst with Shayle Kann ·

2026/01/22

We are back for Part 2 of Shayle’s double header conversation with the veteran energy analyst Nat Bullard, dissecting his annual presentation on the state of decarbonization.If you missed it, we recommend you go back and listen to Part 1, which was released last week. In this episode, Shayle and Nat shift their focus from data centers to exploring other intriguing trends found in the data that Nat assembled—from the surprising resilience of clean energy stocks to the rising costs of solar

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19:48

A ‘rain delay’ for the energy transition [partner...

Catalyst with Shayle Kann ·

2026/01/20

In 2024, Tom Burton described the clean energy transition as entering its “third inning” — a phase defined by execution and scale. A year later, the game looks very different.In this episode, produced in partnership with Mintz, Stephen Lacey sits down with Burton to revisit that framework and assess the state of play for U.S. energy infrastructure heading into 2026. Burton, who chairs Mintz’s sustainable energy and infrastructure practice, brings nearly 3 decades of experience advising

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46:25

2026 trends: Gas turbines, Texas’ load queue and...

Catalyst with Shayle Kann ·

2026/01/15

It’s a new year, which means the veteran energy analyst Nat Bullard has dropped another annual, data-rich presentation on the state of energy and decarbonization.And per what has become tradition, Nat is back on Catalyst – for the fourth time – to discuss some of Shayle’s favorite slides, cherry-picked from the 200-page deck. In part one of their two-part conversation, they cover topics like: The significance of China’s rapid electrification Why the proportion of GDP spent on

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52:42

The VC case for 'full stack deeptech'

Catalyst with Shayle Kann ·

2026/01/08

For “deep tech” or industrial tech investors, a captivating idea on paper doesn’t always translate into a sustainable or viable business. Even a remarkable technological breakthrough isn’t guaranteed to survive the long sales cycles of the industrial world.So which companies are worth the investment? Ian Rountree, founder and partner at the venture firm Cantos, wrote a bare-bones thesis on X that offers guidance on this question. In it, Rountree lays out a stark list of the companies he invests

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44:40

How AI is changing weather forecasting

Catalyst with Shayle Kann ·

2026/01/02

Weather forecasting drives billions of economic decisions — from grid operations to evacuation planning. Better forecasting could improve supply chain planning, disaster warnings, and renewable integration. The industry has decades of satellite observations and ground measurements, making it ripe for AI-driven advancements.And it’s already happening. But how exactly does AI get used in weather forecasting, and how does it actually lead to improvements? In this episode, Shayle talks to Peter

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38:58

The gas turbine crunch

Catalyst with Shayle Kann ·

2025/12/26

Demand for turbines is growing fast, but so are lead times — causing serious headaches for developers and even cancellations. In Texas, one of six cancelled projects cited “equipment procurement constraints” as the reasons for its withdrawal. Lead times are stretching to four years and sometimes more. Costs are climbing. So what’s behind the bottleneck? In this episode, Shayle talks to Anthony Brough, founder and CEO of Dora Partners, a consulting firm focused on the turbine market. Shayle and

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47:47

Will inference move to the edge?

Catalyst with Shayle Kann ·

2025/12/18

Today virtually all AI compute takes place in centralized data centers, driving the demand for massive power infrastructure.But as workloads shift from training to inference, and AI applications become more latency-sensitive (autonomous vehicles, anyone?), there‘s another pathway: migrating a portion of inference from centralized computing to the edge. Instead of a gigawatt-scale data center in a remote location, we might see a fleet of smaller data centers clustered around an urban core. Some

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35:01

Can AI revolutionize EPC?

Catalyst with Shayle Kann ·

2025/12/11

Big construction projects in the U.S. are notoriously unpredictable, often finishing over budget and behind schedule. Part of the problem is the inherent complexity of these kinds of projects, like data centers and first-of-a-kind plants. But there’s another problem: the companies that actually build these projects — called EPC firms for engineering, procurement, and construction — often lack strong incentives to control costs or deliver on time. That’s the thesis behind Unlimited Industries, a

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34:56

Who benefits from the AI power bottleneck?

Catalyst with Shayle Kann ·

2025/12/04

The bottleneck holding back AI is a scarcity of power, or so goes the story. That may be true — and plenty of reporting backs it up — but different actors in the space face varying incentives to play up or play down that narrative. So what incentives are at play, and how do they shape each player's story? In this episode, Shayle talks to Shanu Mathew, senior vice president and portfolio manager-analyst for U.S, sustainable equity at Lazard. Last month on X, he posted a breakdown of the actors —

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29:15

Looking for a turnaround in transmission

Catalyst with Shayle Kann ·

2025/11/20

After years of stalled transmission buildout, there are new signs of progress. Earlier this month, SPP approved $8.6 billion in transmission projects across 14 states. Major plans are emerging in MISO, PJM, and ERCOT. Despite the DOE canceling its loan guarantee, the Grain Belt Express is still moving forward. And regardless of court battles, so is the New England Clean Energy Connect. Are these signs that the U.S. could start building transmission at scale again? In this episode, Shayle talks to

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31:15

New Mexico proves America can still build [partner...

Catalyst with Shayle Kann ·

2025/11/18

Across the country, people are asking the same question: why is it so hard to build in America?From transmission lines to clean energy factories, projects are taking longer, costs are rising, and frustration is growing. But in New Mexico, two cabinet secretaries are trying to show that it doesn’t have to be this way. Together, Economic Development Secretary Rob Black and Environment Secretary Jim Kenney are helping redefine how state agencies work with industry. Their model blends speed, access,

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41:28

Driving down the cost of green hydrogen

Catalyst with Shayle Kann ·

2025/11/13

A few years ago, industry and political leaders embraced hydrogen as a solution to a laundry list of hard-to-abate decarbonization challenges — steel production, ammonia production, and more. But hydrogen failed to come down in costs and policymakers pulled back support. Ultimately, the bubble burst. So what does it take to drive down the costs of low-carbon hydrogen and rebuild momentum? In this episode, Shayle talks to Raffi Garabedian, co-founder and CEO of Electric Hydrogen. (Shayle is on the

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36:26

Inside a $300 million bet on AI for physical R&D

Catalyst with Shayle Kann ·

2025/11/06

A big problem with using artificial intelligence to discover new materials? It struggles to predict beyond its training data. That means AI might be better at optimizing known materials than discovering entirely new ones — like a room temperature superconductor or carbon-capture sorbents. But since we last covered the topic in September 2024, a few things have changed. OpenAI released its powerful O1 reasoning model. Large language models have also gotten better at math, physics, and coding. And

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40:37

Unpacking DOE's proposal to transform data center...

Catalyst with Shayle Kann ·

2025/10/30

Last Thursday, Energy Secretary Chris Wright directed the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to consider rulemaking to fast-track interconnection for large loads — as long as they agree to be curtailable or colocate with dispatchable generation.So what does this proposal actually mean for interconnection? In this episode, Shayle talks with Allison Clements, former FERC commissioner and current partner with digital infrastructure advisory firm ASG. Allison is also principal of 804 Advisory

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