Catalyst with Shayle Kann

This is a partner episode, brought to you by Bloom Energy.

Long interconnection queues, fragile supply chains, and a lack of grid capacity are pushing a wide range of C&I customers to invest in distributed, on-site power.

But as data centers and other industrial facilities build more power behind the meter, new challenges have emerged. Air quality, noise, and water use are top concerns for local communities, making cleaner solutions like fuel cells much more attractive.

This shift within the data center industry is starting to shape energy decisions in the broader C&I sector across retail, healthcare, higher education, and manufacturing.

In this Frontier Forum, Stephen Lacey talks with Aman Joshi, chief commercial officer at Bloom Energy, about how the scramble for electricity is changing how large energy users plan their power.

In this new landscape for large loads, Aman explains why more customers are planning to permanently stay disconnected from the grid; how the familiar cost-per-megawatt-hour calculation can fall short; and why speed, reliability, and community acceptance are central to power decisions.

This conversation was recorded live as part of Latitude Media’s Frontier Forum with Bloom Energy. You can access the full video here.

Dual-use technologies and the rise of defense tech are having a moment. But how does the defense sector approach innovations in energy that may be necessary to optimize its fleets?

To help answer that question, Shayle turns to the maritime sector to explore how advanced batteries, nuclear propulsion, and autonomous capabilities are shaping the future of defense.

Unlike conventional EVs, maritime vehicles and drones must compete with the challenges presented by the sea in order to complete surveillance and reconnaissance-related missions, as well as direct attacks. Saltwater corrodes hardware, and vehicles at great depths must withstand enormous pressure; to say nothing of the fact that moving through water requires nearly 1,000 times more energy than through air.

To learn how the sector navigates these obstacles, Shayle sits down with Andrew Nuss, the head of growth and strategy in the maritime division at the defense technology company Anduril. They unpack topics including:

- The complicated physics influencing maritime drone design and energy usage

- How lithium-ion cells fare in deep-sea deployment

- Why extreme reliability and long-range capabilities drive the military’s energy requirements compared to commercial shipping

- How surface or subsea recharging depots could reshape vehicle design

- Why both commercial and defense sectors are revisiting nuclear propulsion as a viable option for high-speed, zero-emission surface vessels

Catalyst: The rise of metal fuels

- Catalyst: GM’s big new battery tech push

- Catalyst: Decarbonizing the high seas

- Open Circuit: A five-alarm fire for the grid?

- Latitude Media: Is adaptation ready for growth money?

Credits: Hosted by Shayle Kann. Produced and edited by Max Savage Levenson. Original music and engineering by Sean Marquand. Stephen Lacey is our executive editor.

Catalyst is brought to you by EnergyHub. Peak season puts every grid to the test — and the utilities that pass are the ones that built flexible capacity before they needed it. EnergyHub works with more than 170 utilities to coordinate 2.5 million devices and 3.4 gigawatts of dispatchable flexibility through a single platform designed to perform when it counts most. See what that looks like at https://www.energyhub.com/

Catalyst is brought to you by Bloom Energy. Bloom Energy fuel cells deliver affordable, ultra-reliable onsite power for hospitals, utilities, and data centers – at speed and at scale. Learn more by visiting https://www.bloomenergy.com/

This episode of Catalyst is brought to you by ENGIE, the smarter energy supplier. ENGIE doesn't just provide the power to run your business — they supply the energy to move it forward, with reliable, flexible solutions built for what's next. Learn more at https://www.engieresources.com/.

As we head into the final quarter of this pivotal and dramatic year for the energy sector, Catalyst host Shayle Kann takes stock of 2026 so far – and considers what’s to come – in this AMA-style episode. He discusses the year’s biggest stories, the trends that have surprised him the most, and his hot takes on the current energy landscape.

Shayle dives into topics including:

- The data center backlash and why it has become more bipartisan than he expected

- The impacts of the war in Iran on global EV adoption, and how the rollback of U.S. tax credits has countered that momentum

- Why fuel cell maker Bloom Energy is flourishing amidst the rush for behind-the-meter generation

- Tariff innovations: How big data centers could subsidize retail electricity rates in small utility territories

- Why Shayle thinks predictions of a flattening U.S. solar market are underestimating massive growth potential

- Hot take: why Shayle thinks massive grid capacity is about to hit the system

- Catalyst: What comes after the data center backlash?

- Catalyst: Can AI revolutionize grid operations?

- Catalyst: Why C&I storage is finally taking off

- Catalyst: Enter the electric supercycle

- Catalyst: Inside the global fertilizer crunch

Credits: Hosted by Shayle Kann. Produced and edited by Max Savage Levenson. Original music and engineering by Sean Marquand. Stephen Lacey is our executive editor.

Catalyst is brought to you by EnergyHub. Peak season puts every grid to the test — and the utilities that pass are the ones that built flexible capacity before they needed it. EnergyHub works with more than 170 utilities to coordinate 2.5 million devices and 3.4 gigawatts of dispatchable flexibility through a single platform designed to perform when it counts most. See what that looks like at ⁠https://www.energyhub.com/⁠

Catalyst is brought to you by Bloom Energy. Bloom Energy fuel cells deliver affordable, ultra-reliable onsite power for hospitals, utilities, and data centers – at speed and at scale. Learn more by visiting ⁠https://www.bloomenergy.com⁠

This episode of Catalyst is brought to you by ENGIE, the smarter energy supplier. ENGIE doesn't just provide the power to run your business — they supply the energy to move it forward, with reliable, flexible solutions built for what's next. Learn more at ⁠https://www.engieresources.com

You don’t have to look far to see the vitriol and backlash ignited by the rapid expansion of hyperscaler data centers. While critics and activists tend to focus their ire on resource consumption and residents’ electricity bills, the reality of data center economics is far more complex.

In this episode of Catalyst, host Shayle Kann sits down with Andy Lubershane, head of research at Energy Impact Partners, to unpack the nuances. They crunch the numbers behind utility rate structures, consider the "denominator effect" that can lower customers’ rates, and dig into the supply chain crunches pushing global power system costs higher.

Shayle and Andy discuss:

- Why a new data center can reduce utility rates for locals while contributing to rising costs elsewhere

- How data centers impact utility tariff rates

- Separating public perception of data centers from the reality of the grid

- How soaring demand for transformers, switchgear, conductors, gas turbines, and labor is driving systemic cost increases across the power sector

- Strategies to mitigate rising global grid costs, from load flexibility and distributed energy resources (DERs) to energy efficiency hardware

- Catalyst: What comes after the data center backlash?

- Catalyst: Enter the electric supercycle

- Catalyst: Can AI revolutionize grid operations?

- Catalyst: Inside the AI power wars

- Open Circuit: As midterms approach, electricity bills are on the ballot

- Open Circuit: Data centers have a Texas-sized energy problem

- Latitude Media: The great home battery financing experiment

Credits: Hosted by Shayle Kann. Produced and edited by Max Savage Levenson. Original music and engineering by Sean Marquand. Stephen Lacey is our executive editor.

Catalyst is brought to you by EnergyHub. Peak season puts every grid to the test — and the utilities that pass are the ones that built flexible capacity before they needed it. EnergyHub works with more than 170 utilities to coordinate 2.5 million devices and 3.4 gigawatts of dispatchable flexibility through a single platform designed to perform when it counts most. See what that looks like at https://www.energyhub.com/

Catalyst is brought to you by Bloom Energy. Bloom Energy fuel cells deliver affordable, ultra-reliable onsite power for hospitals, utilities, and data centers – at speed and at scale. Learn more by visiting https://www.bloomenergy.com

This episode of Catalyst is brought to you by ENGIE, the smarter energy supplier. ENGIE doesn't just provide the power to run your business — they supply the energy to move it forward, with reliable, flexible solutions built for what's next. Learn more at https://www.engieresources.com

In their early days, data centers were largely welcomed by communities who saw their arrival as an economic boost. Today as concerns around noise levels, power prices, water use, and AI grow, they face fierce opposition.

In this episode, Shayle speaks to Brian Janous, co-founder and chief commercial officer of Cloverleaf Infrastructure. Together, they unpack the data center backlash and explore how the industry can approach the problem differently.

Shayle and Brian dive into specifics like:

- Communities’ shift from “red carpets to pitchforks” on data center development

- How misleading information about data center energy and water usage has led to the AI sector losing the public relations battle

- Distinctions between data centers’ micro-level benefits and macro-level price inflation on power grids

- The potential, and pitfalls, of "bring-your-own-capacity" and behind-the-meter generation

- The viability of taking data centers off-grid, off-land, or off-planet

- The emerging market for distributed edge compute facilities

Resources:

- Catalyst: When to colocate data centers with generation

- Catalyst: Explaining the ‘Watt-Bit Spread’

- Open Circuit: The off-grid data center fantasy

- Open Circuit: Utilities are in the crosshairs of the data center backlash

- Latitude Media: In Indiana, an anatomy of data center opposition

Credits: Hosted by Shayle Kann. Produced and edited by Max Savage Levenson. Original music and engineering by Sean Marquand. Stephen Lacey is our executive editor.

Catalyst is brought to you by EnergyHub. Peak season puts every grid to the test — and the utilities that pass are the ones that built flexible capacity before they needed it. EnergyHub works with more than 170 utilities to coordinate 2.5 million devices and 3.4 gigawatts of dispatchable flexibility through a single platform designed to perform when it counts most. See what that looks like at https://www.energyhub.com/

Catalyst is brought to you by Bloom Energy. Bloom Energy fuel cells deliver affordable, ultra-reliable onsite power for hospitals, utilities, and data centers – at speed and at scale. Learn more by visiting BloomEnergy.com.

This episode of Catalyst is brought to you by ENGIE, the smarter energy supplier. ENGIE doesn't just provide the power to run your business — they supply the energy to move it forward, with reliable, flexible solutions built for what's next. Learn more at engieresources.com.