Factor This
- Episódios
- 278
- Publicação
- várias vezes por semana
- Último episódio
- 13 nov 2026
Sobre o podcast
Launched in 2022, the Factor This Podcast has featured many of the most influential leaders driving the energy transition. From solar and battery storage executives to utility CEOs, the Factor This Podcast brings unique insights and answers to the energy industry’s most pressing challenges. Go beyond high-level trends and mainstream talking points with actionable takeaways.
The Factor This Podcast grew in 2023 with the addition of This Week in Cleantech, a weekly roundup of the biggest stories in climate and clean energy in 15 minutes or less. With new episodes every Friday, Factor This content director Paul Gerke and Mike Casey, a cleantech commentator and president of Tigercomm, bring listeners the most important headlines of the week while featuring the leading journalists behind the stories.
The all-new FactorThis.com is your best source for news, commentary, and analysis of renewable energy and the power grid.
Participantes
Episódios 278
This Week in Cleantech (11/13/2026) - Amid data center pushback, big tech tries a new strategy
Tell us what you think of the show! This Week in Cleantech is a weekly podcast covering the most impactful stories in clean energy and climate featuring Paul Gerke of Factor This and Tigercomm’s Mike Casey.This …
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Tell us what you think of the show!
This Week in Cleantech is a weekly podcast covering the most impactful stories in clean energy and climate featuring Paul Gerke of Factor This and Tigercomm’s Mike Casey.
This week's episode features special guest Clara Hudson from The Wall Street Journal, who discusses how hyperscale data centers are attempting to deal with local opposition by changing their tone.
This week’s “Cleantecher of the Week” is Franco Rodríguez Viau. After family friends in Argentina lost their homes to wildfires, Franco and two buddies launched an AI wildfire early warning system when they were 16. The team says it can spot a fire within its first three minutes, about 35 minutes faster than NASA on average, then alert firefighters by WhatsApp. Last year it helped authorities respond to more than 2,000 wildfires across 21 countries. Congratulations, Franco!
This Week in Cleantech — November 13, 2026
- A nationwide backlash against data centers erupts at the polls — The Washington Post
- Why Everything Should Be Electric, Even If the Power Comes From Coal — Bloomberg
- Distributed energy could save the U.S. power grid $614B — Factor This
- Can green cement decarbonise the data centre building boom? — Financial Times
- Big Tech Is Soft-Launching Data Centers Early, Bracing for Scrutiny — The Wall Street Journal
Energy policy on your mind? Check out all episodes of the Factor This Policycast
Midterms, newsletters, and RE+: A conversation with the SolarWakeup guy
Tell us what you think of the show! If you’ve been around the renewable energy industry for any length of time, it’s likely you’ve stumbled across the SolarWakeup newsletter. Founded and written by industry …
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If you’ve been around the renewable energy industry for any length of time, it’s likely you’ve stumbled across the SolarWakeup newsletter. Founded and written by industry veteran Yann Brandt, the daily digital digest features news, trends, and voices that inform executives and investors across the solar landscape.
Although Brandt admits he isn’t much for routines, he has kept SolarWakeup going for 14 years, even through his stint as president and CEO of a publicly traded solar tracker company, FTC Solar. These days, Brandt is working with former SEIA head Abby Hopper on a podcast called Boots on the Ground, billed as straight talk about the headlines shaping solar and storage.
Factor This content director Paul Gerke had a chance to catch up with Yann just after the US midterm elections, before both of them head to Las Vegas for the annual renewables bachhanalia of RE+. This episode of the Factor This podcast is the bulk of their conversation, ranging from data centers to distributed energy, from the founding of Solar Wakeup to the next president of the United States.
Energy policy on your mind? Check out all episodes of the Factor This Policycast
Understanding the future of VPP market design and technology with Shikhar Pandey
Tell us what you think of the show! While the reliability of the electric grid has long been a point of pride for the entire utility sector, that stability has simultaneously made modernization efforts …
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While the reliability of the electric grid has long been a point of pride for the entire utility sector, that stability has simultaneously made modernization efforts especially challenging. When the status quo is keeping the lights on, why make a major change? However, ever-increasing energy demand as well as weather events that are as newly unpredictable as they are powerful has changed the paradigm. These issues are complicating efforts to both plan for and execute infrastructure updates, but they’re also opening up genuine opportunities for utilities to embrace distributed energy resources (DERs) as an essential part of those planning efforts.
That said, transforming individual DERs and decentralized virtual power plants (VPPs) into reliable assets capable of delivering real-time power is no small feat. Doing so requires navigating legacy distribution hardware, regulatory friction, and the persistent reality that roughly 80% of behind-the-meter capacity is unenrolled in active programs.
Few people understand these challenges from a technical, operational and market perspective as Shikhar Pandey, founder and managing partner of GridCo Group. We talked with him for an episode of the Factor This podcast to explore how he’s been able to bring his perspective on the value of DERs into conversations with utilities that explore operational updates, market realities and policy shifts that will help transform VPPs from emergency assets into foundational pillars for grid planning.
Energy policy on your mind? Check out all episodes of the Factor This Policycast
This Week in Cleantech (11/6/2026) - What does the blue wave mean for clean energy?
Tell us what you think of the show! This Week in Cleantech is a weekly podcast covering the most impactful stories in clean energy and climate featuring Paul Gerke of Factor This and Tigercomm’s Mike Casey.This …
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This Week in Cleantech is a weekly podcast covering the most impactful stories in clean energy and climate featuring Paul Gerke of Factor This and Tigercomm’s Mike Casey.
This week's episode features special guest Kelsey Tamborrino from POLITICO, who discusses how the midterm elections brought permitting reform to the forefront, and how clean energy tax credits could come back to the table.
This week’s “Cleantecher of the Week” is Iain Ward, a solar consultant and longtime cranberry farmer in southeastern Massachusetts. Ward manages two bogs that are the first in the country to grow cranberries under working solar panels. Congratulations, Iain!
This Week in Cleantech — November 6, 2026
- How the biggest renewable energy project in US history finally got built — Vox
- Old, Polluting Jet Engines Are Being Scavenged to Power Data Centers — The New York Times
- Does it matter that OpenAI is aiming to protect the grid? — Latitude Media
- Spain saved $26 billion on gas imports thanks to renewables boom, IEA says — Reuters
- Democratic deluge sweeps over energy world — POLITICO
Energy policy on your mind? Check out all episodes of the Factor This Policycast
Why federal permitting reform is a generational opportunity for energy | Factor This Policycast
Tell us what you think of the show! A long-awaited piece of legislation, now before the Senate, is being billed as a "generational opportunity" to improve how the United States builds large-scale energy …
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A long-awaited piece of legislation, now before the Senate, is being billed as a "generational opportunity" to improve how the United States builds large-scale energy infrastructure. The Bipartisan American Affordability and Jobs Act of 2026, or BAAJA, has been in the works for more than a year. Its spiritual predecessors have haunted halls on Capitol Hill for far longer.
BAAJA promises to accelerate generation and transmission development while making the electricity grid cleaner and more reliable. The legislation mandates regional and interregional planning and requires joint cost allocation. It forces utilities to deploy cost-effective advanced transmission technologies and streamlines permitting reviews for renewables. It protects ratepayers from data center grid upgrade costs, makes it easier for batteries to participate in wholesale markets, and so much more.
By establishing a more predictable path to construction, the American Clean Power Association estimates BAAJA will inspire more than $800 billion in new energy infrastructure, including 350+ gigawatts (GW) of clean generation, and increase access to lower-cost, local energy.
That all sounds lovely, but the devil is in the details, ain't it? We dive headfirst into BAAJA on this episode of the Factor This Policycast, presented in partnership with the national industry association Advanced Energy United.
Can this much-ballyhooed bill really deliver its promised benefits? And equally important: can it pass both the Senate and the House? Host Paul Gerke of Factor This welcomes special guests Liza Reed, vice president of policy and director for climate and energy at the Niskanen Center, the nonpartisan think tank, and Dylan Reed, managing director of political affairs at Advanced Energy United, to tackle those questions and more.
Energy policy on your mind? Check out all episodes of the Factor This Policycast
This Week in Cleantech (10/30/2026) - Can this battery clean up industrial heat?
Tell us what you think of the show! This Week in Cleantech is a weekly podcast covering the most impactful stories in clean energy and climate featuring Paul Gerke of Factor This and Tigercomm’s Mike Casey.This …
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Tell us what you think of the show!
This Week in Cleantech is a weekly podcast covering the most impactful stories in clean energy and climate featuring Paul Gerke of Factor This and Tigercomm’s Mike Casey.
This week's episode features special guest Brad Plumer from The New York Times, who discusses a new type of battery that can store heat for industrial processes.
This week’s “Cleantecher of the Week” is Andrew Redd, founder of Endurance Energy. The former SpaceX engineer just tested the world’s first subsea geothermal power plant at an active underwater volcano off the coast of Oregon. It only produced net-positive power for 8.7 seconds, but that was enough to prove it works, and Endurance is now planning its first commercial project in Tonga. Congratulations, Andrew!
This Week in Cleantech — October 30, 2026
- What the coming copper crunch means for the global economy — Financial Times
- ‘It’s offensively cheap’: How solar power is quietly becoming bigger than nuclear — BBC
- Why EVs aren’t powering America’s electric grid yet — Axios
- How solid-state transformers could help power the AI boom — MIT Technology Review
- A New Kind of Battery Is Taking Off. This One Stores Blistering Heat. — The New York Times
Energy policy on your mind? Check out all episodes of the Factor This Policycast
California left the nation's largest VPP in limbo. What's next? | Factor This Policycast
Tell us what you think of the show! The most robust virtual power plant (VPP) program in the United States is running out of funding at a time when the grid needs it more than ever.Launched in 2022 …
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The most robust virtual power plant (VPP) program in the United States is running out of funding at a time when the grid needs it more than ever.
Launched in 2022, California's Demand Side Grid Support (DSGS) program coordinates more than 1 gigawatt (GW) of dispatchable capacity from more than 200,000 unique customer sites enrolled across every single legislative district in the state. The program leverages customer-sited resources like home batteries, solar systems, and smart thermostats, bringing clean, flexible, and responsible energy resources online during grid emergencies. Since the DSGS program began, the California Independent System Operator (CAISO) has avoided blackouts and hasn't issued a single Flex Alert, its call for voluntary energy conservation, in more than four years.
Despite its impact, the DSGS program was never intended to be permanent, and California's last legislative session ended without dedicating new funding. While still operational through the end of the year, its fate in 2027 and beyond is uncertain at a critical moment: the nexus of rising electricity demand, more frequent extreme weather, and mounting affordability challenges.
This edition of DTECH's Factor This Policycast, presented in partnership with national business association Advanced Energy United, explores the future of the DSGS program. Hosted by Factor This content director Paul Gerke, the episode features special guests Brandon García, Advanced Energy United's California director, and Lauren Nevitt, senior director of California policy and energy markets at Sunrun.
They react to a new report evaluating how VPPs can lower utility costs and share details of recent record-breaking VPP dispatches. This episode of the Factor This Policycast also addresses critical questions including: Can California's policymakers establish a durable, long-term market pathway to support the nation's leading VPP? What role do distributed energy resources (DERs) play in the state's energy future? And what can California's next Governor do to buoy DSGS before it can't pay its participants?
Energy policy on your mind? Check out all episodes of the Factor This Policycast
Reliability in action: Littleton’s Hendrix ACS success story
Tell us what you think of the show! Utilities face mounting pressure to improve reliability and reduce power outage frequency while meeting rising electricity demand.For the Littleton Electric Light & Water …
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Utilities face mounting pressure to improve reliability and reduce power outage frequency while meeting rising electricity demand.
For the Littleton Electric Light & Water Departments (LELWD), Hendrix Aerial Cable Systems (ACS) by Marmon Utility has become an important part of building a stronger, more resilient overhead network for today and tomorrow.
In this episode of the Factor This podcast, host Paul Gerke is joined by Ted Gardner, application engineer for overhead solutions at Marmon Utility, and David Ketchen, assistant general manager of LELWD. Together, they explore how electrical utility providers can strengthen reliability through thoughtful distribution system design, discuss the role Hendrix ACS plays in Littleton Electric's reliability strategy, and share practical insights for utilities facing today's evolving infrastructure challenges.
Ketchen reveals the factors that led Littleton to adopt Hendrix ACS, the performance improvements the utility has experienced over time, and how the system has helped reduce outages in tree-heavy and neighborhood service areas. Together, Ted and David examine the operational benefits of improved reliability, readiness for greater demand, and long-term system hardening that supports both utility operations and customer satisfaction.
As Hendrix celebrates 75 years of serving the utility industry, this conversation also highlights the value of engineering expertise, collaborative partnerships, and proven field performance in helping utilities modernize their overhead distribution systems. Whether you're a utility executive, engineer, operations professional, or public power leader, this episode offers practical insights into strengthening distribution system reliability and building a more resilient electric grid.
Energy policy on your mind? Check out all episodes of the Factor This Policycast
Transforming public trust into an operating asset for utilities with Greg Cornett
Tell us what you think of the show! While utilities of all types and sizes have recognized that affordability is a top-of-mind issue and are doing what they can to ease customer bill pressure, few fully grasp …
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While utilities of all types and sizes have recognized that affordability is a top-of-mind issue and are doing what they can to ease customer bill pressure, few fully grasp how ratepayers interpret these rising costs. When monthly bills increase, most customers focus on the name on the envelope rather than the complex mix of market forces, policy mandates, and grid modernization efforts that are ultimately driving those increases. Closing this gap requires energy providers to rethink traditional corporate messaging and actively show how system investments deliver value to people in the present while also enabling long-term resilience.
It's something that Greg Cornett, President of Rhode Island Energy, has positioned as a cornerstone of his leadership strategy. It’s also something he’s written about and talked about at events like DTECH Northeast, underscoring the importance of the topic across the sector.
Once again, Cornett is going to be taking the stage at DTECH Northeast as part of a keynote panel with executive leaders from Eversource and the Massachusetts Department of Public Utilities. Before doing so, we connected with Cornett to capture some of his insights about this strategy, why it’s important to treat public trust as a vital operational asset, and more.
Energy policy on your mind? Check out all episodes of the Factor This Policycast
This Week in Cleantech (10/09/2026) - Is the future of commuter rail battery powered?
Tell us what you think of the show! This Week in Cleantech is a weekly podcast covering the most impactful stories in clean energy and climate featuring Paul Gerke of Factor This and Tigercomm’s Mike Casey.This …
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This Week in Cleantech is a weekly podcast covering the most impactful stories in clean energy and climate featuring Paul Gerke of Factor This and Tigercomm’s Mike Casey.
This week's episode features special guest Benton Graham from Grist, who discusses the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority's plans to electrify Boston’s Fairmount Line with battery-powered trains.
This week’s “Cleantecher of the Week” is Christopher Galarza, a longtime chef and co-founder of EcoChef, which certifies sustainable commercial kitchens. Christopher co-authored a new peer-reviewed study and recruited most of the kitchens in it, finding that 70% of gas-fired restaurant kitchens had nitrogen dioxide levels above EPA and WHO safety limits, even with commercial ventilation. He says working in all-electric kitchens was the first time in his career he could do what he loved without feeling like he was dying. Congratulations, Christopher!
This Week in Cleantech — October 9, 2026
- The energy transition is starting to feed itself — Reuters
- How to keep the lights on in an electrified world — The Financial Times
- What if the world hadn't built wind and solar? — The Climate Brink
- US Solar Panel Makers Try to Catch China With a Big Leap in Technology — The New York Times
- The future of commuter rail could be taking shape in Boston — Grist
Energy policy on your mind? Check out all episodes of the Factor This Policycast
PJM's energy emergency | Factor This Policycast
Tell us what you think of the show! PJM Interconnection, the largest wholesale electricity market and grid operator in the United States, is at a crossroads. Demand is surging across its footprint, accelerated …
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PJM Interconnection, the largest wholesale electricity market and grid operator in the United States, is at a crossroads.
Demand is surging across its footprint, accelerated by the needs of artificial intelligence data centers, and PJM is struggling to keep up- to put it lightly- spurring some rather existential examinations of the grid operator’s processes, markets, and even its governance. It’s clear that changes are needed, but what those changes should be and who should have input- like PJM states, for example- is much murkier.
There’s no time to waste. PJM predicts a 6.8 gigawatt (GW) capacity shortfall as soon as 2028, underscoring the need to bring more generation online as soon as possible. Many of the 67 million customers under PJM’s 13-state-plus-Washington-D.C.- purview would agree. They’re seeing electricity prices march upward, in part because recent power auctions got so out of control that PJM, with federal approval, had to cap them.
Interconnection bottlenecks and market barriers have also inhibited deployment of some of the cheapest and often quickest-to-power solutions, like renewables, energy storage, and demand-side resources. PJM is trying to make it easier for data center developers to come online with their own power supply- but how should that work?
This episode of the Factor This Policycast, presented in partnership with Advanced Energy United, tackles the PJM energy emergency. How can the nation’s largest grid operator modernize its operations in time to avoid a capacity cliff while simultaneously satisfying a diverse group of stakeholders clamoring for affordability?
Hosted by Factor This content director Paul Gerke, the show features special guests Adam Stern of clean energy developer Clearway Energy and Kimaya Abreu of virtual power plant operator Voltus, alongside Advanced Energy United senior director Jon Gordon, a nationally sought-after PJM expert. The assemblage addresses PJM's looming capacity shortfall, identifies roadblocks to speed-to-power, and opines on how to mitigate the impacts of large load growth on the system. Also up for debate: PJM's backstop auction, interconnection queue, and governance.
Energy policy on your mind? Check out all episodes of the Factor This Policycast
Unlocking grid capacity through operational intelligence and dynamic distribution with Switch Source CEO Charles Murray
Tell us what you think of the show! Grid resilience isn’t a new concept, but the way utilities achieve it is changing dramatically. Traditionally, hardening the grid meant building bigger physical …
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Grid resilience isn’t a new concept, but the way utilities achieve it is changing dramatically. Traditionally, hardening the grid meant building bigger physical infrastructure. But as Switched Source CEO Charles Murray has outlined, meeting upcoming grid demands cost-effectively requires utilities to think differently and embrace new capabilities.
Heavy capital hardware upgrades are no longer a standalone fix. Today, grid resilience is all about operational agility and dynamic power-flow control to keep the power on. But what does doing so mean on a practical level? What happens when high-level operational intelligence is paired with real-time grid automation? How should utilities newly think about their resilience strategy? On the latest episode of the Factor This Podcast, we caught up with Murray to get answers to these questions and much more.
Energy policy on your mind? Check out all episodes of the Factor This Policycast
This Week in Cleantech (10/05/2026) - Inside the Senate's bipartisan permitting reform package
Tell us what you think of the show! This Week in Cleantech is a weekly podcast covering the most impactful stories in clean energy and climate featuring Paul Gerke of Factor This and Tigercomm’s Mike Casey.This …
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This Week in Cleantech is a weekly podcast covering the most impactful stories in clean energy and climate featuring Paul Gerke of Factor This and Tigercomm’s Mike Casey.
This week's episode features special guest Jillian Goodman from Heatmap, who breaks down the Bipartisan American Affordability and Jobs Act, a new permitting reform package meant to lower energy costs and make it easier to build infrastructure.
This week’s “Cleantecher of the Week” is James Worden, founder of Worden Marine. James has been building solar-powered vehicles since the 1980s, starting with a wood-and-cardboard solar go-kart that won the Massachusetts state science fair. He went on to help start MIT's Solar Electric Vehicle Team and co-founded Solectria with his late wife, Anita. Now he's taking that vision to the water. His startup's TruSolar20 boat, named Anita in her honor, can run all day on six solar panels at about eight miles an hour, and a bigger version built for ferries and river tours is on the way. Congratulations, James!
This Week in Cleantech — October 5, 2026
- Why Won’t the Clean Energy Industry Play Dirty? — Washington Monthly
- Trump Sharply Scales Back Fuel Economy Rules for New Cars — The New York Times
- Fix it or trash it? How to decide how long to keep your car and home appliances. — The Washington Post
- Plug Power Inks Electrolyzer Deal for Denmark Jet Fuel Project — Bloomberg
- The Senate’s Big Bipartisan Permitting Deal, Explained — Heatmap News
Energy policy on your mind? Check out all episodes of the Factor This Policycast
Modernizing grid strategy across New England with Damir Novosel and Chris Root
Tell us what you think of the show! We get excited about new technologies that have the capability to transform utility operations, which is easy to do because the value they can create is real. However, the …
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We get excited about new technologies that have the capability to transform utility operations, which is easy to do because the value they can create is real. However, the irony is that these innovations are often the least important part of the effort to create that value. Real efficiencies, especially ones that can scale, are driven by people and processes. Unlocking the true value of any innovation requires an independent, vendor-agnostic strategy that cuts across technical, business, and regulatory domains.
And that’s exactly why Dash Power Partners was created.
Co-founded by Dr. Damir Novosel, who is also the CEO and a recognized pioneer in power grid reliability, Dash Power provides services and solutions for utilities, ISOs, developers, data centers, and more. The company pairs deep technical expertise with leadership from experienced executives like Chris Root, who brings over 45 years of utility sector leadership.
Dr. Novosel and Root will be bringing this expertise to DTECH Northeast in Boston this November, where they’ll lead the Strategic Alignment & Scalable Energy Solutions workshop that is designed to deliver actionable strategies rather than high-level theory. We connected with both and with Wayne Bishop, Executive Vice President of Energy at Clarion Events, for an in-depth interview to explore some of the grid modernization challenges that the energy sector is working through and how they’re specifically impacting the Northeast.
Energy policy on your mind? Check out all episodes of the Factor This Policycast
This Week in Cleantech (09/25/2026) - Iran war energy crisis backs Bangladesh into a corner
Tell us what you think of the show! [Reupload]This Week in Cleantech is a weekly podcast covering the most impactful stories in clean energy and climate featuring Paul Gerke of Factor This and Tigercomm’s Mike …
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[Reupload]
This Week in Cleantech is a weekly podcast covering the most impactful stories in clean energy and climate featuring Paul Gerke of Factor This and Tigercomm’s Mike Casey. On this episode, Clarion Events Content Director Jeremiah Karpowicz is filling in for Paul Gerke.
This week's episode features special guest David Fickling from Bloomberg, who discusses how the Bangladesh's garment industry is coping with the Iran war's disruption of the energy supply chain.
This week’s “Cleantecher of the Week” is Dr. Joe Romm, a physicist and one of the most influential voices in the fight against climate change, who passed away unexpectedly this month. Joe served at the Department of Energy under President Clinton and turned his focus to climate after his brother lost his home in Hurricane Katrina. He founded the blog Climate Progress, which Time called the web's most influential climate-change blog, and he was chief science advisor for the Emmy-winning series Years of Living Dangerously. Rest in peace, Joe.
This Week in Cleantech — September 25, 2026
- The New Clean Tech Meta and Google Are Turning to Power AI — Bloomberg
- Senate inches closer to US infrastructure permitting reform bill — Reuters
- Africa's cement boom signals next great shift in global energy use — Reuters
- Iran war causes global pain at the pump — Axios
- Your $30 Jeans Are Running Out of Cheap Power in Bangladesh — Bloomberg
Energy policy on your mind? Check out all episodes of the Factor This Policycast
Scaling DERs for reliability and resilience | Factor This Policycast
Tell us what you think of the show! Utilities and grid operators face immense pressure to meet rising electricity demand, harden systems against extreme weather, upgrade and replace aging infrastructure, adapt …
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Utilities and grid operators face immense pressure to meet rising electricity demand, harden systems against extreme weather, upgrade and replace aging infrastructure, adapt to changing state and federal policies, and keep rates affordable. It's a juggling act, and with all of those balls in the air, the 'old-school' utility method of building more supply-side solutions just doesn't cut it anymore.
As a result, distributed energy resources (DERs), or customer-sited technologies, are moving beyond the margins of reliability planning to the center of attention. This episode of the Factor This Policycast, presented in partnership with national business association Advanced Energy United, explores how mostly behind-the-meter tools like batteries, smart thermostats, backup generators, microgrids, rooftop solar, and flexible load can be aggregated and operated as dependable grid assets.
Extending a conversation that began at DTECH Reliability & Resiliency 2026 in Chicago, Illinois, moderator Paul Gerke leads a discussion alongside Emma Heins, policy principal at Advanced Energy United, about what it takes to scale virtual power plants and other DER programs. The conversation, featuring Bart Jackson of Sunrun, ENERGYHUB's Maxwell Burke-Scoll, and Kahri Gerke at Alliant Energy, highlights practical lessons from states and utilities moving past pilots to full-scale implementation, focusing on how DERs can improve reliability, reduce peak demand, support resilience during emergencies, and lower customer costs. Also on the table: utility partnerships, market design, customer enrollment, dispatch performance, interconnection, data visibility, and compensation.
Energy policy on your mind? Check out all episodes of the Factor This Policycast
How academic research and utility partnerships can enable grid modernization and decarbonization
Tell us what you think of the show! As increasing energy demand and affordability challenges reshape the electric grid, bridging the gap between academic research and real-world utility execution has never been …
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As increasing energy demand and affordability challenges reshape the electric grid, bridging the gap between academic research and real-world utility execution has never been more important. What works in the lab doesn’t always translate in the field, but at the same time, developments like rapid electrification and inverter based resources have pushed the grid passed the limits of legacy modeling. It’s why utilities rely on universities and national labs to deliver the field-ready tools, training frameworks, and specialized insights needed to modernize the grid.
That process is something that Dr. Leo Jiang, Associate Professor of Electrical Engineering and Director of the Center for Electric Power Systems Research at Clarkson University, will be exploring in detail at DTECH Northeast during the Standardizing Power Quality Modeling for DER Grid Compatibility at Scale session. We caught up with him for the latest episode of the Factor This Podcast to get a sense of how utilities can leverage university research to modernize legacy assets, what it means to refine dynamic modeling, how to cultivate the technical talent needed for a resilient grid and much more.
Energy policy on your mind? Check out all episodes of the Factor This Policycast
This Week in Cleantech (09/18/2026) - Is Trump's EPA going too far?
Tell us what you think of the show! This Week in Cleantech is a weekly podcast covering the most impactful stories in clean energy and climate featuring Paul Gerke of Factor This and Tigercomm’s Mike Casey.This …
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This Week in Cleantech is a weekly podcast covering the most impactful stories in clean energy and climate featuring Paul Gerke of Factor This and Tigercomm’s Mike Casey.
This week's episode features special guest Jake Spring from The Washington Post, who discusses the EPA's move to repeal Biden-era limits on carbon pollution from power plants.
This week’s “Cleantecher of the Week” is Dulcie Madden, co-founder and CEO of Dig Energy. Her small startup spent five years developing its technology in a New Hampshire barn, and this month it completed its first commercial job, drilling a set of geothermal wells for a Boston office building using a high-pressure water jet that cut water use by 90%. The approach could cut geothermal drilling costs by up to 80%, and the company's already booked with jobs into mid-2027. Congratulations Dulcie!
This Week in Cleantech — September 18, 2026
- A solar industrial complex is turning Republicans into believers — POLITICO
- Tech giants launch flexible-power coalition for data centers — Axios
- Oil Executives Say the Great Fuel Crisis Is Here — The Wall Street Journal
- There is no ‘one size fits all’ solution for the energy transition — The Financial Times
- Trump’s EPA is ending one of the nation’s biggest climate protections — The Washington Post
Energy policy on your mind? Check out all episodes of the Factor This Policycast
This Week in Cleantech (09/11/2026) - China's solar gambit pays off
Tell us what you think of the show! This Week in Cleantech is a weekly podcast covering the most impactful stories in clean energy and climate featuring Paul Gerke of Factor This and Tigercomm’s Mike Casey.This …
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This Week in Cleantech is a weekly podcast covering the most impactful stories in clean energy and climate featuring Paul Gerke of Factor This and Tigercomm’s Mike Casey.
This week's episode features special guest Tim McDonnell of Semafor, who discusses how solar has overtaken coal as China's top power source for the first time, after a massive build-up.
This week’s “Cleantecher of the Week” is Kofi Asante, founder and CEO of Bluecore Energy. Just two months after launching out of stealth, Asante's startup closed an oversubscribed $50 million seed round this week to build small nuclear reactors mounted on floating barges, generating clean power for ports and nearby infrastructure without needing a fixed site.
This Week in Cleantech — September 11, 2026
- Massachusetts Will Require New Data Centers to Use Clean Energy — Bloomberg
- Carbon Capture Won’t Save Us Anytime Soon — The New Republic
- Why California Is Reconsidering Its Decision to Shun Nuclear Power — The New York Times
- China’s cleantech exports are widening the “energy dominance” gap — Latitude Media
- China's solar beats coal — Semafor
Energy policy on your mind? Check out all episodes of the Factor This Policycast
This is CITAP: Accelerating transmission permitting | Factor This Policycast
Tell us what you think of the show! In April 2024, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) announced a final permitting reform rule to streamline the authorization process for large electric transmission projects …
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In April 2024, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) announced a final permitting reform rule to streamline the authorization process for large electric transmission projects without sacrificing environmental reviews. The Coordinated Interagency Transmission Authorizations and Permits (CITAP) program uses the Federal Power Act to establish the DOE as a coordinating entity between federal agencies and the state and local stakeholders responsible for permitting decisions needed to site transmission lines. CITAP sets a binding two-year schedule for a process that has historically taken four years or longer. It also requires developers to submit a comprehensive public participation plan to ensure that communities and key stakeholders are included in the permitting process.
By acting as the lead agency, DOE aims to reduce duplication of effort that would otherwise be expended across several distinct agencies, processes, and procedures. Ultimately, by enabling faster buildout of new electric transmission infrastructure, CITAP promises to increase access to a diversity of energy sources, reduce transmission congestion and energy prices, and deliver reliable, affordable power to consumers when and where they need it.
More than two years have passed since the final rule was issued- so where is the first wave of streamlined transmission projects?
This episode of the Factor This Policycast, the latest in a series presented in partnership with national business association Advanced Energy United, explores that question. Hosted by Factor This content director Paul Gerke, the podcast features Advanced Energy United managing director Dylan Reed and Ashley Kang, senior director of external affairs and communications for transmission developer Grid United. They dive into the details of the CITAP program and share why community engagement plays a critical role. The group discusses the value of grid-to-grid projects and gets into why they're so tricky to build. They also highlight the early fruits of the feds' efforts, including the North Plains Connector project, which just broke a record for the fastest turnaround on an environmental impact statement.
Energy policy on your mind? Check out all episodes of the Factor This Policycast
This Week in Cleantech (09/04/2026) - Why is a Trump donor profiting from offshore wind cancellations?
Tell us what you think of the show! This Week in Cleantech is a weekly podcast covering the most impactful stories in clean energy and climate featuring Paul Gerke of Factor This and Tigercomm’s Mike Casey.This …
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This Week in Cleantech is a weekly podcast covering the most impactful stories in clean energy and climate featuring Paul Gerke of Factor This and Tigercomm’s Mike Casey.
This week's episode features special guest Evan Halper from The Washington Post, who breaks down new drama surrounding the Trump administration's settlement requiring RWE to abandon offshore wind leases in exchange for $1.2 billion.
This week’s “Cleantecher of the Week” is Emily McAteer, co-founder and CEO of Odyssey Energy Solutions, which just closed $74 million to scale a platform that connects more than 6,000 solar installers and EPCs across 50-plus countries in Africa, Asia, and Latin America with financing and bulk equipment procurement. The company's already facilitated $3.6 billion in capital and unlocked 1.5 gigawatts of distributed solar projects, with activity in India up 205% over the past year.
This Week in Cleantech — September 4, 2026
- Meet the super PAC working to crush clean energy's political foes — Canary Media
- Data Center Backlash Reaches the Ballot Box — Data Center Knowledge
- Is electricity dimming oil’s political power? — POLITICO
- Fervo bets big on geothermal energy — CNBC
- $900 million from a canceled wind deal will benefit a Trump donor — The Washington Post
Energy policy on your mind? Check out all episodes of the Factor This Policycast
How autonomous BVLOS drones and physical AI are transforming grid reliability with Trevor Perrott
Tell us what you think of the show! Modern grid management is about much more than routine efficiency. Utility teams are under pressure to enable proactive wildfire mitigation, rapid storm response, and …
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Modern grid management is about much more than routine efficiency. Utility teams are under pressure to enable proactive wildfire mitigation, rapid storm response, and continuous oversight across thousands of miles of aging infrastructure, but maintaining and scaling these tasks can be a major challenge when teams are constrained by traditional field inspection methods that are slow, expensive, and visually limited. How are autonomous, long-range drone platforms and Beyond Visual Line of Sight (BVLOS) operations transforming grid monitoring across massive service territories? And what does it actually take to deploy and scale these capabilities?
Trevor Perrott, CEO and Co-Founder of Censys Technologies, sat down with us to answer those questions and more. He breaks down the operational realities of moving from reactive maintenance to predictive asset management, explores how utilities can achieve "asset omniscience" to protect critical infrastructure, and outlines strategies for turning massive aerial datasets into actionable intelligence. Perrott also outlines how to navigate ever-evolving FAA regulations, what approaches are being used to scale pilot programs into high-ROI enterprise deployments, and more.
Energy policy on your mind? Check out all episodes of the Factor This Policycast
This Week in Cleantech (08/28/2026) - Rooftop solar takes a huge hit
Tell us what you think of the show! This Week in Cleantech is a weekly podcast covering the most impactful stories in clean energy and climate featuring Paul Gerke of Factor This and Tigercomm’s Mike Casey.This …
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This Week in Cleantech is a weekly podcast covering the most impactful stories in clean energy and climate featuring Paul Gerke of Factor This and Tigercomm’s Mike Casey.
This week's episode features special guest Dan Gearino from Inside Climate News, who lays out how new tariffs and the phaseout of federal tax credits have dealt a heavy blow to the rooftop solar industry.
This week’s “Cleantecher of the Week” is Richard Wang, CEO and co-founder of Voya Energy, which just raised $35 million to turn scrap aluminum into backup power for data centers. Instead of diesel generators, Voya's system runs an electrochemical reaction that pulls energy out of aluminum with zero carbon pollution, aiming to be quieter, smaller, and cleaner than the diesel backup that's become a flashpoint in local data center opposition. The company plans to have generators ready for on-site testing by the end of 2027, with nearly a dozen companies already lined up for pilot demonstrations.
This Week in Cleantech — August 28, 2026
- Exclusive: 75% of Americans Now Oppose Local Data Center Development — Heatmap
- The Clean Energy Transition Has A Grid Problem. Here’s How To Fix It. — Atmos
- US building twice as much gas-fired capacity as China in AI boom, analysis finds | Fossil fuels — The Guardian
- Hyperscalers’ Off-Grid Power Push Comes With Risks — The Wall Street Journal
- Rooftop Solar Is Having a Rough One — Inside Climate News
Energy policy on your mind? Check out all episodes of the Factor This Policycast
Supporting the grid with managed EV charging and V2G technology | Factor This Policycast
Tell us what you think of the show! While some students enjoy summer break, their school buses are still hard at work. Rather than transporting pupils, they're hauling electrons and supporting the grid …
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While some students enjoy summer break, their school buses are still hard at work. Rather than transporting pupils, they're hauling electrons and supporting the grid during critical periods of peak electricity demand.
Such is one of the tantalizing promises of vehicle-to-grid, or V2G, technology, and it's far from fantasy. More than 30 utilities across 21 U.S. states currently have V2G school bus projects, from California to Connecticut, North Carolina up to Massachusetts. Since they can charge their beefy batteries of 200 kilowatt-hours or more when power prices are low, the peak-shavers-on-wheels are proving to be a valuable tool for utilities, especially as demand surges and affordability discussions grow louder.
And applications go beyond buses. More broadly, vehicle-to-everything (V2X) technology enables batteries to communicate with and be discharged to external systems, whether that's an electric vehicle (EV) or something else. Such virtual power plant (VPP) programs are still in their infancy, and regulatory frameworks and standards to support them are far from established, but early studies are beginning to tease out the enticing possibilities for managing EV charging and smart battery dispatch.
On this episode of the Factor This Policycast, the latest in a series presented in partnership with national business association Advanced Energy United, we dive into a world where smart charging plays a critical role in grid reliability and keeping electricity prices manageable.
Host Paul Gerke leads a discussion between electrifying transportation policy principal Elizabeth Stears of Advanced Energy United and Leah Brams, market development manager at Highland Fleets, an electrification-as-a-service provider helping school districts, local governments, and commercial fleet owners affordably convert their traditional diesel vehicle fleets to EVs. They outline the policy reforms needed to unlock V2X's potential and identify the roadblocks to wider adoption. Brams and Stears identify how utilities can best leverage such technologies and share learnings from pilots- what works, what doesn't, and how we can refine policy to roll idling electric buses into peak-demand squashers.
Energy policy on your mind? Check out all episodes of the Factor This Policycast
This Week in Cleantech (08/21/2026) - Data center backlash is cross-partisan
Tell us what you think of the show! This Week in Cleantech is a weekly podcast covering the most impactful stories in clean energy and climate featuring Paul Gerke of Factor This and Tigercomm’s Mike Casey …
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This Week in Cleantech is a weekly podcast covering the most impactful stories in clean energy and climate featuring Paul Gerke of Factor This and Tigercomm’s Mike Casey. Jeremiah Karpowicz, Content Director at Clarion Events, is filling in for Paul this week.
This week's episode features special guest Molly Taft from WIRED, who discusses the growing, cross-partisan backlash against AI data centers.
This week’s “Cleantecher of the Week” is Drew Baglino, founder and CEO of Heron Power. His company builds solid-state transformers that don't rely on the steel causing shortages, and Heron just closed a $140 million round to build a U.S. factory capable of producing 40 gigawatts of the gear a year. Congratulations, Drew!
This Week in Cleantech — August 21, 2026
- OpenAI Locks In Lease for Huge Data Center in Ohio With Backing From Nvidia — The Wall Street Journal
- The Blackout That Could Devastate America — The New York Times
- Big Batteries to Bolster the Grid Are Stuck Waiting to Plug In — Bloomberg
- DOE says we need more transmission, decides building less is fine — Factor This
- How Data Centers Broke American Politics — WIRED
Energy policy on your mind? Check out all episodes of the Factor This Policycast
Solar, storage, and staying ahead: OCI Energy’s growth story
Tell us what you think of the show! U.S. solar photovoltaic and battery energy storage developers are well positioned to serve unprecedented electric load growth spurred by data centers, putting the people and …
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U.S. solar photovoltaic and battery energy storage developers are well positioned to serve unprecedented electric load growth spurred by data centers, putting the people and companies who spearhead power projects in the driver's seat- or so you'd think. The reality is a little more complicated than that.
On this episode of the Factor This podcast, Sabah Bayatli, president and CEO of San Antonio-based OCI Energy, lends insights into what it's like to develop utility-scale solar and battery energy storage projects in Texas and beyond. In a conversation with host Paul Gerke of Factor This, Bayatli shares OCI Energy's growth story and what makes it different from other independent power producers, leaning on what he has learned through collaboration with utilities, financial institutions, technology providers, and infrastructure investors.
Bayatli outlines OCI Energy's development strategy and argues that interconnection remains the biggest bottleneck to getting projects online. He weighs in on how grid operators are managing their queues and opines on how developers can continue to advance projects amid policy, permitting, and market uncertainty. Plus: Bayatli's perspective on the future of energy storage, grid reliability, and energy growth over the next five years.Energy policy on your mind? Check out all episodes of the Factor This Policycast
This Week in Cleantech (08/14/2026) - Can Trump's new solar tariffs help the domestic supply problem?
Tell us what you think of the show! This Week in Cleantech is a weekly podcast covering the most impactful stories in clean energy and climate featuring Paul Gerke of Factor This and Tigercomm’s Mike Casey.This …
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Tell us what you think of the show!
This Week in Cleantech is a weekly podcast covering the most impactful stories in clean energy and climate featuring Paul Gerke of Factor This and Tigercomm’s Mike Casey.
This week's episode features special guest Mark Chediak from Bloomberg, who breaks down Trump's new 15% tariffs and price floors on imported polysilicon and its derivatives, including wafers, cells and modules.
This week’s “Cleantecher of the Week” is Kumo Sharma, founder of Arkaya Energy. His company's milk-source heat pump pulls heat straight out of fresh milk as it's chilled for cheesemaking, then uses that heat to make near-boiling water for washdown — cutting England’s Barber's Farmhouse Cheesemakers' electricity use in half and saving them about $94,000 a year. Congratulations, Kumo!
This Week in Cleantech — August 14, 2026
- Zach Dell Is Raising Money to Put a Battery in Your Backyard — WSJ
- Trump waged war on EVs. Now he’s helping them out. — E&E News
- Some Nebraska communities are cashing in on renewables. Others are being left behind. — Grist
- Federal Judge Orders Pentagon to Lift Freeze on Wind Power — The New York Times
- How the US Is Trying to End Solar Tariff Whack-a-Mole — Bloomberg
Energy policy on your mind? Check out all episodes of the Factor This Policycast
Surviving summer with demand-side solutions | Factor This Policycast
Tell us what you think of the show! It's been a rough summer for soft serve ice cream cone enthusiasts. In most parts of the United States, hot and humid weather has visited and overstayed its welcome …
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It's been a rough summer for soft serve ice cream cone enthusiasts. In most parts of the United States, hot and humid weather has visited and overstayed its welcome, which is no treat for the power grid, either. Elevated temperatures mean increased electricity consumption and accompanying higher prices, the cherry on top amidst a nationwide surge in demand fueled by data centers, manufacturing, and mass electrification.
So far, we've seen grid operators issue a few alerts and calls for conservation, particularly in constrained PJM Interconnection territory, where emergency conservation measures kept electricity demand from eclipsing an all-time high set in 2006. Down in Texas, the record book is being rewritten this summer. ERCOT has shattered its all-time demand mark more than once, but has also thus far kept power prices reasonable by leveraging an influx of renewables and battery energy storage to break generation records, too.
In general, serving peak demand is extremely expensive, and the peakier the system, the pricier it is for the average ratepayer. As most of the country copes with higher electricity bills, finding ways to curb costs is paramount. Thankfully, utilities have a variety of tools at their disposal to improve grid utilization and peak load management, including flexible home electrical equipment, smart electric vehicle charging, and managing distributed energy resources through virtual power plants. And since transmission and distribution system infrastructure is designed to accommodate the few hours of the year when the system is taken to its limits, there is almost always spare capacity on power lines, which can be leveraged via advanced transmission technologies, as we discussed in the previous episode of the Factor This Policycast.
This edition of the podcast, presented in partnership with Advanced Energy United, explores demand-side solutions for surviving summer peaks. Host Paul Gerke leads a discussion highlighting the tools available to keep the lights on and bills manageable, and how utilities can use them to get more out of our existing grid without investing in costly, time-consuming infrastructure upgrades. Richard Caperton, vice president for public policy at SPAN, and Sarah Steinberg, managing director at Advanced Energy United, outline the metrics that matter, share how early legislation is leaning, and explain why demand-side solutions work for utilities.
Energy policy on your mind? Check out all episodes of the Factor This Policycast
This Week in Cleantech (08/07/2026) - With speed to power in mind, data centers are eyeing fuel cells
Tell us what you think of the show! This Week in Cleantech is a weekly podcast covering the most impactful stories in clean energy and climate featuring Paul Gerke of Factor This and Tigercomm’s Mike Casey.This …
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Tell us what you think of the show!
This Week in Cleantech is a weekly podcast covering the most impactful stories in clean energy and climate featuring Paul Gerke of Factor This and Tigercomm’s Mike Casey.
This week's episode features special guest Heather Clancy from Trellis, who discusses why some data center companies see fuel cells as an attractive option for onsite power.
This week’s “Cleantecher of the Week” is is Aytaç Yilmaz, Co-founder & CEO of Ore Energy. The Amsterdam-based startup just closed a $43 million Series A for its iron-air batteries, which store renewable power for up to 100 hours by rusting and unrusting iron electrodes, no lithium or cobalt required. Ore's also just signed the largest long-duration storage deal in continental Europe, a 1 gigawatt-hour agreement with Dutch utility Budget Thuis. Congratulations, Aytaç!
This Week in Cleantech — August 7, 2026
- Solar to Soon Pass Coal as China’s Top Power Capacity Source — Bloomberg
- How Solar Donors Helped Take Down a Trump-Backed Republican –– Politico
- The World Crossed a Major Solar Milestone. No One Noticed –– Bloomberg
- This Is What the New Rush to Mine America Looks Like –– TIME Magazine
- Why data center companies Equinix and Oracle are buying fuel cells – Trellis
Energy policy on your mind? Check out all episodes of the Factor This Policycast
Redefining the utility playbook with PG&E’s Sumeet Singh
Tell us what you think of the show! In an era defined by compounding wildfire risks, rapid digitalization, and unprecedented demand growth, utilities need to redefine their playbook. Sumeet Singh, CEO of …
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In an era defined by compounding wildfire risks, rapid digitalization, and unprecedented demand growth, utilities need to redefine their playbook. Sumeet Singh, CEO of Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E) and EVP for Energy Delivery, is doing exactly that for one of the country’s largest energy enterprises while both improving local communities and setting an operational benchmark for the wider industry.
In this episode of the Factor This podcast, Singh details how utility leaders can balance cultural shifts with the economic imperative to maximize underutilized grid capacity and lower customer rates. He breaks down how PG&E processes billions of pieces of data to help predict wildfire risks in advance, and how AI-enabled camera networks can shave critical minutes off emergency response times.
From deploying machine learning to accelerating customer interconnections, Singh details how data amplifies frontline expertise rather than replacing it. Grounded in a philosophy of selfless service and value-based safety ownership, this conversation provides a blueprint for combining innovative technology with engineering discipline to cultivate a community trust that is foundational to the grid of the future.
Energy policy on your mind? Check out all episodes of the Factor This Policycast
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