Crossover with Volts: Data Centers Could Win Over Neighbors for Pennies. They'd Rather Fight

Dave Roberts spent years covering energy for Grist and Vox before building Volts into one of the most influential independent energy podcasts in the country. His last conversation with Jigar, on Volts, was about doing data centers the dumb way. The comments haven't stopped since.

For this crossover, Jigar and Deploy Action's Arnab Pal talk with Dave (Jamie listened in and weighs in on the debrief) about why the data center backlash is a trust problem, not a PR problem, and why $130 billion in projects sits blocked when the community benefits that would unblock them cost a rounding error.

Along the way: a rare NERC grid alert, the case that "everything is batteries," why gas gets called firm while solar gets called feminine, and what 36 governors' races this fall mean for anyone building anything on the grid.

Plus: why Texas gets 19% of its peak from batteries while PJM sits at 0.2%.

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