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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PJM and ERCOT navigate a capacity rollercoaster
<p>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. </p> <p>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 U.S.</p> <p>Shayle and Paul dive into the volatility currently defining the t...
The path to market for new nuclear reactors
<p>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. </p> <p>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?</p> <p>In this episode, Shayle talks to Katy Huff, former assistant secretary for nuclear energy at the Department of Energy and current associate professor at the University of Illinois. They unpack the wave of new nuclear anno...
The rise of permissionless DERs
<p>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. </p> <p>In this episode, Shayle talks to James McGinniss, co-founder and CEO of David Energy (yes, the biblical reference is intentional). David Energy is deploying these nimble, permissionless systems today for both residential customers and small bus...
More 2026 trends: Solar costs, oil oversupply, and the startup slump
<p>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.</p> <p>If you missed it, we recommend you go back and listen to Part 1, which was released last week.</p> <p>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 installations in the US.</p> <p>Shayle and Nat dig into more topi...
A ‘rain delay’ for the energy transition [partner content]
<p>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.</p> <p>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. </p> <p>Burton, who chairs Mintz’s sustainable energy and infrastructure practice, brings nearly 3 decades of experience advising developers, investors, and operators across clean energy and digital infrastructure.</p> <p>They begin with the immediate market picture: a surge of...
2026 trends: Gas turbines, Texas’ load queue and China electrifies
<p>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.</p> <p>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. </p> <p>In part one of their two-part conversation, they cover topics like:</p> <p>The significance of China’s rapid electrification</p> <p>Why the proportion of GDP spent on electricity has remained flat while oil has proven volatile</p> <p>The massive bac...
The VC case for 'full stack deeptech'
<p>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.</p> <p>So which companies are worth the investment?</p> <p>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 in—and the ones he passes on.</p> <p>In this episode, Shayle and Ian un...
How AI is changing weather forecasting
<p>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.</p> <p>And it’s already happening. But how exactly does AI get used in weather forecasting, and how does it actually lead to improvements?</p> <p>In this episode, Shayle talks to Peter Battaglia, senior director of research at Google DeepMind’s sustainability program, which launched a new AI-powered weather forecasting model in November 2025. They cover topics like:<...
The gas turbine crunch
<p>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. </p> <p>Lead times are stretching to four years and sometimes more. Costs are climbing. So what’s behind the bottleneck?</p> <p>In this episode, Shayle talks to Anthony Brough, founder and CEO of Dora Partners, a consulting firm focused on the turbine market. Shayle and Anthony cover topics like: </p> <p>Why previous boom-bust cycles in turbine manufacturing have left the industry s...
Will inference move to the edge?
<p>Today virtually all AI compute takes place in centralized data centers, driving the demand for massive power infrastructure.</p> <p>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 inference might even shift to our devices. </p> <p>So how likely is a shift like this, and what would need to hap...
