The energy transition, decoded. Every week, three industry veterans explore the business models, tech breakthroughs, and market shakeups that are driving the biggest industrial transformation in history. The show offers a rare insider's view of the clean energy market.
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For the past decade, data centers were welcome guests. Communities competed for them with tax breaks, cheap land, favorable permitting because they meant jobs and economic development. That era is over. Community pushback is now the rule, not the exception. Residents are showing up to planning meetings angry about water consumption, rising electricity rates, and industrial campuses dropping into their backyards. Permits are being denied and projects are stalling. The industry's default response ...
Data center opposition is now being called “the most bipartisan issue since beer.” In Indiana, Maine, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and Wisconsin, voters across the political spectrum are turning sharply against the large campuses powering AI. At least 28 of the 38 states that currently offer tax incentives are weighing whether to roll them back. On this episode of Open Circuit , we dig into what's actually driving the revolt, and why it's more complicated than simple NIMBYism. Utilities are at the ce...
As the oil crisis persists, the world is running on borrowed time and borrowed oil. Inventories are draining, and the pain that started in Asian petrochemical plants and Indian cooking fuel shipments is now spreading west. Now, the traders who move the world's oil are saying there's a reckoning coming for the rest of the world. This week, we dive into what happens if this keeps going. Does a shock this big finally weaken the world's oil addiction? Or do we just go right back to where we started?...
What actually kills a clean energy project? It’s not always interconnection delays, permitting, or supply chains. Sometimes, it’s the deal itself. Even after years of development, hundreds of documents, and months of diligence, projects still fall apart late in the process — sometimes just days before closing. Often, it’s because risks aren’t surfaced early enough. The result: capital gets tied up in deals that don’t move forward, developers spend years advancing projects that can’t get financed...
With electricity now the limiting factor in the race to build superintelligence, the tech industry's response has been very Silicon Valley: move fast, break things, and relentlessly scale. The result? An overtaxed grid, a wave of community pushback, and an obsession with jet engines, ship turbines, and small modular reactors that don’t solve today’s problems. In this live episode, recorded at the Transition-AI conferenc e in San Francisco, we stress test three Silicon Valley mantras against the ...
The podcast delves into the radical shift in the energy landscape, where major tech companies are rapidly investing in gigawatts of new natural gas capacity for their AI campuses. This move, driven by unprecedented load growth and the need for quick deployment, challenges prior climate commitments and raises questions about grid optimization, transparency in cost reporting, and potential rate hikes for consumers. The discussion also covers the mismatch between tech company planning cycles and power plant construction timelines, the role of virtual power plants, and the broader implications for the energy transition.
The discussion delves into America's grid challenges, identifying the inability to plan and build at scale as a core issue, rather than just physical constraints. Guest Jane Flegal proposes a grid infrastructure fund to utilize rapid data center expansion as leverage for grid modernization, aligning private capital with public priorities. The hosts debate the political feasibility of such ideas, critiquing the current state of environmental advocacy and emphasizing the need for new strategies, industry political engagement, and broader, more durable coalitions for climate action.
For years, demand-side programs like energy efficiency and demand response were treated as compliance, not real resources. Now, that’s changing. As electricity demand surges, utilities are facing a new reality: they can’t build infrastructure fast enough or affordably enough. So they’re starting to look in a different place for capacity: inside homes and businesses. In this episode, Stephen Lacey speaks with Hannah Bascom, chief growth officer at Uplight, about the rise of the “demand stack” — a...
Open Circuit examines the electricity 'supercycle' driven by massive data center and AI load growth, sparking a critical debate: should the U.S. prioritize better utilization of its existing grid or focus on massive expansion? Featuring insights from industry experts Brian Janous and Caroline Golin, the discussion unpacks a Brattle Group report claiming 100 gigawatts of capacity could be unlocked through utilization, challenging the narrative of power scarcity. The episode also explores the complexities of local versus global energy strategies, the financial hurdles of mega-projects, and concludes with a 'Real or Vibe?' check on current energy narratives, from coal's return to nuclear's promise.
Michael Cembalest of JP Morgan discusses his "Fighting Words" report, highlighting the intense debates in energy, from tariffs affecting the transition's pace to the contentious role of AI data centers on the grid. The conversation delves into the geopolitical fallout from the Strait of Hormuz conflict, the future of global LNG, and the economic viability of electrification in emerging markets versus continued reliance on fossil fuels. It also touches on the challenges for technologies like SMRs, CCS, and green hydrogen, emphasizing the need to balance decarbonization, energy security, and affordability.
President Trump’s war with Iran has rattled global energy markets. Oil prices have surged, LNG markets are tightening, and shipping through the Strait of Hormuz — a chokepoint that carries roughly 20% of the world’s oil supply — has been severely disrupted. Tankers are stalled, shipping costs are soaring, and energy markets are bracing for one of the largest oil supply disruptions in history. The result: higher fuel prices, rising electricity costs, and a reminder of how vulnerable modern econom...
The politics of AI and electricity came to the White House this week. On Wednesday, the biggest tech companies in the world — Amazon, Google, Meta, Microsoft, OpenAI, and Oracle — gathered in Washington to sign what the administration is calling a “ratepayer protection pledge.” The promise: data centers will pay for their own power and grid integration costs. But is anything actually changing? Or is it just political theater? This week, we’ll look at the politics and intention of the announcemen...
When President Trump kicked off an aggressive trade war, a lot of people predicted economic doom. But it didn’t happen. We’re seeing something similar in clean energy right now with ever-shifting tariffs, half-written rules on foreign sourcing, and the weaponization of permitting. But capital hasn’t fled. In fact, it increased last year. So what is happening here? According to new market intelligence from the clean energy finance platform Crux, project finance, construction lending, and bridge l...
This episode features Cindy Taff, CEO of Sage Geosystems, discussing their groundbreaking "gravity fracking" technology that stores energy deep underground, similar to pumped hydro but inverted. This innovation addresses the critical need for long-duration energy storage to support intermittent renewables like solar, enabling 24/7 power generation. The discussion covers their first commercial facility, challenges with grid interconnection, and strategic partnerships aiming to scale this transformative geothermal solution globally.
This year alone, the biggest tech companies plan to spend more than $600 billion on physical infrastructure — eclipsing the railroad boom, the interstate highway system, and the Apollo space program. But are investors starting to flinch? This week, we examine the negative market reaction to tech earnings. Is Wall Street reacting to the infrastructure bottlenecks that stand in the way of building at that scale? Or are they worried about the tech industry’s approach to solving them? Then we turn t...
2026 could be the year of the mega-IPO, with OpenAI, SpaceX, and Anthropic all rumored to be eyeing public markets. But for energy nerds and hot-rock lovers, there’s another IPO to watch : Fervo Energy. With Fervo preparing for a long-anticipated IPO, the geothermal sector is heading into a moment of price discovery. It’s a test of whether next-generation geothermal has finally crossed a new commercialization threshold and becoming bankable, repeatable infrastructure. Over the past few years, ov...
The episode delves into the 2026 energy affordability crisis, contrasting the Trump administration's top-down approach—keeping coal plants open and forcing big users to pay for new power—with state-led initiatives. It examines the complexities and potential pitfalls of PJM market interventions, emphasizing the need for practical execution beyond political signaling. Additionally, the discussion highlights the emerging role of virtual power plants and distributed resources in states like Illinois and Virginia, assessing their viability and the challenges in scaling these innovative solutions to meet growing demand and ensure grid reliability.
It’s been nearly a year since a national energy emergency was declared, with big promises on prices and reliability. So we’re asking a simple question: how’s that going? In this live episode of Open Circuit , recorded at the Power Resilience Forum in Houston, we take stock of a power system under growing strain. Outages are up, prices are up, markets are stressed, and grid reliability experts are warning of a “five-alarm fire.” We’ll start with a look at how accelerating load growth, tighter res...
Meta just unveiled the biggest-ever corporate deal for nuclear power. It’s a sprawling set of contracts for both existing plants and next-generation reactors that totals 6.6 gigawatts. Just a few years ago, the conversation in the U.S. was about which nuclear plants were going to shut down next. Now, some of the world’s largest technology companies are trying to lock them up under long-term contracts, while building new ones. But critics argue that parts of Meta’s deal don’t add new capacity fas...
This is an episode with a lot of firsts: the first show of the year, the first full show on video, and the first with our new co-host, Caroline Golin. In 2026, we’re launching a new chapter for Open Circuit as we sharpen our focus on the physical constraints shaping the energy transition — exploding power demand, grids that can’t keep up, tech companies reshaping electricity markets in real time, and investors trying to figure it all out. This is no longer a conversation about whether clean ener...
After more than 40 years in the energy industry, Katherine Hamilton is retiring. And that means she’s also retiring from the podcast after a decade behind the microphone. In this farewell episode, Katherine shares insights into a career that spanned one of the most transformative periods in energy history. We’ll reflect on her accidental entry into grid engineering at Dominion Virginia Power in the 1980s, where she learned to design distribution circuits, calculate load, and build early efficien...
This year, the energy industry changed faster than we could talk about it. We collectively said more than 225,000 words on this show — some of them were informed takes, some speculation. So how did they age? This week, Stephen reaches into a stocking stuffed with quotes from past episodes, and Jigar and Katherine must decide to defend, update, or disown their own words. Then, we honor the storylines and surprises that defined the year. The categories include: The biggest plot twist The breakout ...
Three years after ChatGPT ignited the AI race, the assumptions driving the trillion-dollar data-center boom are starting to shift. The belief that endlessly scaling large language models will unlock AGI — and justify unprecedented growth in electricity demand — is now being questioned by some of the field’s most influential voices. At the same time, utilities are planning roughly a trillion dollars in grid upgrades, much of it based on speculative data-center proposals and a still-evolving under...
This year in energy has had the vibes of a dysfunctional family gathering: everyone showed up with big feelings, and no one agreed on the menu. To celebrate Thanksgiving, we’re processing the chaos right at the dinner table. In this holiday special, the team matches classic Thanksgiving guest archetypes with the biggest energy storylines of 2025. Who is the drunk uncle sucking up all the oxygen in the room? Who is the pragmatic parent holding the family together? And who is the rebellious teenag...
Utilities are facing a collision of pressures: extreme weather, rising load, affordability concerns, and growing regulatory friction. Everyone agrees the grid needs to be hardened. But the real question is: how much resilience should we pay for? On one side, utilities are confronting unprecedented stress from storms, wildfires, flooding, and heat. On the other, they’re under pressure from regulators and customers to keep rates down — even as costs spike from inflation, supply chain delays, and l...
After Bill Gates dropped a new climate manifesto, the internet did what it always does: lost its mind. Conservatives claimed victory, progressives accused him of selling out, and somewhere in the middle was a real debate about how the energy transition actually happens. This week, in our episode recorded live at Greentown Labs, we’re jumping into the fray. What does the debate say about the state of climate tech in 2025? We’ll start with a look at the debate over Bill Gates’ latest letter on cli...
Here’s something surprising: in states like North Dakota and Texas, the surge of new industrial and data center load has actually moderated electricity prices. The very thing many people blame for higher power bills has, in some cases, had the opposite effect. According to a new report from Lawrence Berkeley National Lab, load growth has slightly lowered retail electricity prices on average over the past five years. So what’s really driving them up? The answer isn’t renewables or AI. The study f...
After years of U.S. restrictions on advanced semiconductors, Beijing is fighting back by cutting off exports of the raw materials that make those chips possible: rare earths, graphite, gallium, germanium — the invisible ingredients inside motors, power electronics, defense systems, and data centers. The move caught Washington off guard. The Treasury Secretary compared it to “pointing a bazooka at the industrial base of the entire free world.” These minerals only make up hundreds of millions of d...
The AI economy isn’t coming. It’s already here. In the first half of 2025, investment in AI infrastructure outpaced all U.S. consumer spending. Tech companies are now building the equivalent of an Apollo program every ten months, while data centers are drawing capital away from nearly every other sector. As money floods into chips, servers, and substations, the “B word” is suddenly on everyone’s lips: bubble. This week, Azeem Azhar, founder of Exponential View and one of the sharpest analysts of...
Distributed energy resources have never looked stronger. Fleets of batteries are now performing like gas plants, virtual power plants are dispatched daily, and hyperscalers are supporting new models to finance capacity around their data centers. But investor-owned utilities? The Edison Electric Institute says they’re planning more than a trillion dollars in new infrastructure over the next decade to support historic load growth — with no mention of DERs or flexibility as solutions. So which worl...
