Watt It Takes

Jigar Shah, a leading force in clean energy, is the former Director of the Department of Energy's Loan Programs Office and a venture partner at Powerhouse Ventures. He shares insights from his tenure at LPO, highlighting the leap in lending authority and the importance of public-private partnerships. Jigar delves into the commercialization challenges of energy technologies and stresses the need for trust and collaboration in fostering innovation. He also reflects on the role of humility in startup success and his commitment to supporting tech entrepreneurs.

There are a handful of people in the clean energy and infrastructure world whose knowledge and voices serve as guiding lights. Shayle Kann is one of those people. Known for his deep expertise, unique perspective, and distinct voice, Shayle has covered and shaped the energy transition for years.While regular listeners will know, we typically feature startup founders. But Shayle’s long-standing influence—from GTM and The Interchange to EIP and Catalyst—made it a true pleasure to turn the mic around.This episode, recorded in front of a live, sold-out audience at SF Climate Week, marked Shayle’s first time as our guest, though he's no stranger to the show. For the first few years of Watt It Takes, starting in 2017, when every episode was recorded in front of a live audience, Shayle would kick off each conversation by setting the industry context and introducing our guest.In this episode, we trace Shayle’s journey, starting with his roots in Madison, Wisconsin, and share how his entrepreneurial spirit and compelling storytelling abilities have been instrumental in his rise as a leader.On a personal note, I’ve known Shayle for nearly a decade. He has been a colleague and a friend, and I’m excited for him to tell his story.SponsorsThis live recording, and this next season of Watt It Takes, is brought to you by our lead sponsor, HSBC Innovation Banking who is proud to bank some of the most exciting companies pioneering the technologies of tomorrow.With specialist financing support, deep understanding of the challenges, and a global network across more than 50 markets, they help clients scale breakthrough innovations, and take them to the world.So, if you’re looking for early-stage funding, or well on your way to FOAK, follow the link below to learn how HSBC Innovation Banking can help on the next stage of your journey.https://www.business.us.hsbc.com/en/innovation-banking-powerhouse-innovationAbout Powerhouse Innovation and Powerhouse Ventures Powerhouse Innovation is a leading consulting firm connecting top-tier corporations and investors, including corporate innovation teams, CVCs, and pensions with cutting-edge technologies and startups that meet their specific criteria for engagement. Powerhouse Ventures backs entrepreneurs building the digital infrastructure for rapid decarbonization. To hear more stories of founders building our energy abundant future, hit the “subscribe” button and leave us a review.

David Bromberg, co-founder and CEO of Pearl Street Technologies, discusses the critical bottleneck in the U.S. grid interconnection process that has left 2.5 terawatts of renewable energy projects stalled. He shares how his company revolutionized interconnections through innovative software, drastically reducing evaluation times. Bromberg reflects on his transition from academia to entrepreneurship, securing partnerships, and the lessons learned about fundraising amidst the pandemic. He also discusses the cultural alignment following their recent acquisition by Inveris, shaping a sustainable energy future.

As a new year unfolds, 2025 has already brought devastating natural disasters. From blizzards to wildfires, climate chaos is impacting our neighbors and communities in real time. My heart goes out to the people of Los Angeles for the profound losses they suffered last month, and for the difficult path of rebuilding that lies ahead. This devastation brings to mind a tragedy that struck even closer to home in 2018.I remember driving through Oakland that year, watching ash fall from the sky as the Camp Fire ravaged Paradise, California. That fire, still the deadliest and most destructive in California’s history, was sparked by vegetation coming into contact with power lines-- a common risk that, coupled with dry conditions, strong winds, and human activity, can ignite a wildfire. That same year, at least 17 additional wildfires in California were triggered by power lines.Across the country and around the world, utilities face ongoing challenges from vegetation. The diversity of trees and their unique characteristics make it difficult to forecast where or when they might encroach on power lines. Traditional monitoring solutions like trucks, helicopters, and even drones cannot effectively or cost efficiently analyze the nearly 7 million line-miles of transmission and distribution that cover the US alone. In response, Indra Den Bakker and Anniek Schouten founded Overstory in 2018 — a software company that partners with utilities to predict and prevent wildfires caused by vegetation encroachment. Powerhouse Ventures is proud to be an early investor in Overstory, joining the team in 2020 via their seed round. It's been inspiring to watch the company grow, even in the face of immense loss.Overstory’s founding CEO Indra tragically passed away in October of last year after a devastating battle with cancer, but his vision lives on. In a world where climate risks are increasing, Overstory's work is more critical than ever. Today, Overstory’s CEO Fiona Spruill and her team are continuing to manifest Indra and Anniek’s vision to reduce wildfire risks and make our grid resilient. This episode is a tribute to Indra, Anniek, and all that they’ve built together.Sponsors:Watt it Takes is brought to you by Powerhouse Innovation. Powerhouse Innovation is a leading consulting firm connecting top-tier corporations and investors - including corporate innovation teams, CVCs, and pensions - with cutting-edge climate technologies and startups that meet their specific criteria for engagement. Are you seeking strategic startup partnership or investment opportunities? Get in touch to see how you can leverage Powerhouse's expert team and vast network, including a database of over 13,000 climate tech startups, to help accelerate your innovation and investing goals. To learn more visit powerhouse.co. About Powerhouse Innovation and Powerhouse Ventures Powerhouse Innovation partners with leading corporations and investors to help them find, partner with, invest in, and acquire the most innovative startups in climate. Powerhouse Ventures backs entrepreneurs building the digital infrastructure for rapid decarbonization. To hear more stories of founders building our energy abundant future, hit the “subscribe” button and leave us a review.

2024 was a landmark year for the energy transition. With record-setting investments in climate infrastructure, we saw the price of renewables out-compete just about every electricity source worldwide, we saw advancements in industrial decarbonization (which we’ve featured prominently on this show), and we saw a breakout year for next generation energy storage just to name a few. While momentum is definitely on our side, with the electrification of everything, our industry will face new hurdles in the coming years, including unprecedented demand for critical minerals.  From solar panels, to batteries, to EVs, critical minerals are needed to advance the energy transition. Specifically: copper, lithium, nickel, and cobalt, to name a few. According to our guest today, the amount of newly discovered minerals needed to produce the anticipated number of EVs by midcentury will cost more than $10 trillion dollars. We’ve been extracting minerals for centuries, so you might assume we have it figured out. However, not only are there some serious ethical and environmental concerns, but mineral exploration has, in some ways, actually gotten worse, slower, and more expensive over time. What if there was a way to make critical mineral exploration drastically more efficient? Our guest today, Kurt House, Co-Founder and CEO of KoBold Metals wants to show the world how scientific computing can turn that idea into a reality.  SponsorsWatt It Takes is brought to you by Microsoft.The $1 Billion Microsoft Climate Innovation Fund is investing in innovative technologies that have the potential for meaningful, measurable climate impact by 2030. To date, Microsoft has allocated more than $800M into a global portfolio of over 50 investments including sustainable solutions in energy, industrial, and natural systems. Visit https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/corporate-responsibility/ to learn more about Microsoft’s progress toward their impact commitments. About Powerhouse Innovation and Powerhouse Ventures Powerhouse Innovation provides consulting services to help the world’s leading corporations and investors partner with the most innovative startups in climate tech.Powerhouse Ventures backs entrepreneurs building the digital infrastructure for rapid decarbonization. To hear more stories of founders building our climate positive future, hit the “subscribe” button and leave us a review.

As we touched on in our last episode with John O’Donnell of Rondo Energy, industry is a major contributor to global CO2 emissions, and it is only forecasted to get worse. According to a recent report from Rhodium Group, by 2050, the industrial sector could emit as much CO2 as the power, transportation, and building sectors combined. A term worth highlighting in this month’s episode is “Hard-to-abate”. This term refers to industrial sectors like cement, petrochemicals, and steel that people have continually categorized as too costly, slow, or lacking the necessary technology to decarbonize. For this episode, our focus is on steel. Carbon emissions, air, and water pollution from steel production can be largely attributed to their use of coal-fired blast furnaces, technology created in the 14th century. There are serious challenges to altering any centuries-long established production process, but as our guest today, Henrik Henriksson, CEO of Stegra (formerly H2 Green Steel) knows, when you replace coal with renewable energy, you can produce hydrogen, iron, and steel, with significantly lower emissions.SponsorsWatt It Takes is brought to you by Microsoft.The $1 Billion Microsoft Climate Innovation Fund is investing in innovative technologies that have the potential for meaningful, measurable climate impact by 2030. To date, Microsoft has allocated more than $800M into a global portfolio of over 50 investments including sustainable solutions in energy, industrial, and natural systems. Visit https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/corporate-responsibility/ to learn more about Microsoft’s progress toward their impact commitments. About Powerhouse Innovation and Powerhouse Ventures Powerhouse Innovation partners with leading corporations and investors to help them find, partner with, invest in, and acquire the most innovative startups in climate. Powerhouse Ventures backs entrepreneurs building the digital infrastructure for rapid decarbonization. To hear more stories of founders building our climate positive future, hit the “subscribe” button and leave us a review.

In the same way that “Climate Change” and “Global Warming” went from scientific terms to colloquial ones, “Decarbonization” is slowly permeating modern discourse. Decarbonization is the process of significantly reducing or eliminating CO2 and other GHG emissions that result from human activity. “Human activity” encompasses a lot of different sectors. From agriculture and forestry, to transport and industry, we are emitting a lot of greenhouse gasses. And with the demand for industrial materials only projected to increase as more countries industrialize, emissions from industry are predicted to rise faster than any other emitting sector. When I say “industrial” or “industry”, I’m referring to processes used to extract and refine raw materials. These processes include mining, manufacturing, construction and waste processing. According to the U.S. Department of Energy and Environmental Protection Agency, the industrial sector is responsible for 24% of global carbon emissions and 1/3 of U.S. direct and indirect emissions. For many industrial processes, process heating is a critical component. Process heating is used to raise and maintain the temperature of materials in manufacturing processes. Heating materials above 1,000 degrees Fahrenheit allows for the transformation of raw materials like limestone, metallic ore, and silica into materials we depend on everyday like cement, iron, and glass. But across the manufacturing sector, process heating is responsible for the largest energy demand and highest greenhouse gas emissions, accounting for over 30% of total industrial emissions. Most efforts to decarbonize the industrial sector have historically targeted non-heating operations, but if we could find a way to decarbonize process heat, we stand a chance to make a large dent on total global emissions. My guest today, John O’Donnell, Co-founder and Chief Innovation Officer of Rondo Energy is doing exactly that. SponsorsWatt It Takes is brought to you by Microsoft.The $1 Billion Microsoft Climate Innovation Fund is investing in innovative technologies that have the potential for meaningful, measurable climate impact by 2030. To date, Microsoft has allocated more than $700M into a global portfolio of over 50 investments including sustainable solutions in energy, industrial, and natural systems. Visit https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/corporate-responsibility/ to learn more about Microsoft’s progress toward their impact commitments. About Powerhouse and Powerhouse VenturesPowerhouse is an innovation firm that works with leading global corporations and investors to help them find, partner with, invest in, and acquire the most innovative startups in clean energy, mobility, and climate.Powerhouse Ventures backs seed-stage startups building innovative software to rapidly decarbonize our global energy and mobility systems. You can learn more at powerhouse.fund, and you can subscribe to our newsletter at powerhouse.fund/subscribe.To hear more stories of founders building our climate positive future, hit the “subscribe” button and leave us a review.

Matanya Horowitz, the visionary Founder and CEO of AMP, dives into the pressing crisis of waste management. He reveals staggering statistics about global trash production, emphasizing the paradox of declining recycling rates despite growing public demand. Matanya discusses how AI and innovative technologies, like the Air Jet device, are transforming sorting practices and boosting efficiency. He also shares his personal journey from a curious child in Denver to an entrepreneur tackling environmental challenges, highlighting the importance of community engagement and innovation.

Sean Kelly, co-founder and CEO of Amperon, shares insights from the cutting-edge energy solutions sector. He addresses the urgent need for improved energy demand forecasting to tackle extreme weather events like Hurricane Beryl. Kelly highlights innovative AI-driven strategies to enhance grid reliability and decarbonization efforts. He also reflects on his unique educational journey, the challenges of securing funding for a SaaS startup, and the importance of listening to customer feedback in shaping effective energy solutions.

Carbon is everywhere, not just in the air around us, but also in the materials we use everyday.We talk a lot about reducing the overall amount of carbon in the atmosphere through approaches like avoided emissions or removal. But, what do we do in a world where GHG avoidance and removals are not at the scale required to tackle all of the emissions that come from heavy industry like agriculture and steel?Research from the Ellen McArthur Foundation shows that switching our energy use to more efficient and renewable sources would only prevent 55% of global greenhouse gas emissions. In order to truly decarbonize, how do we tackle the other 45% of emissions?Can we recycle carbon dioxide and monoxide? Instead of the linear fossil fuel based - make, use, waste life cycle, what if we could take CO and CO2, produced by heavy industry and turn it into the building blocks of our everyday lives, like the plastic container holding your cosmetics, your clothes, or the fuel powering your flight. In a truly circular economy, we could produce many of the materials we need from greenhouse gasses, like carbon, thus eliminating waste and pollution, and reducing greenhouse gasses across the supply chain. In order to achieve this vision, we need solutions that take emissions and byproducts of industries like agriculture and steel, and turn them into usable materials. And that is exactly what Jennifer Holmgren, CEO of LanzaTech, is building.  SponsorsWatt It Takes is brought to you by Microsoft.The $1 Billion Microsoft Climate Innovation Fund is investing in innovative technologies that have the potential for meaningful, measurable climate impact by 2030. To date, Microsoft has allocated more than $700M into a global portfolio of over 50 investments including sustainable solutions in energy, industrial, and natural systems. Visit https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/corporate-responsibility/ to learn more about Microsoft’s progress toward their impact commitments. About Powerhouse and Powerhouse VenturesPowerhouse is an innovation firm that works with leading global corporations and investors to help them find, partner with, invest in, and acquire the most innovative startups in clean energy, mobility, and climate.Powerhouse Ventures backs seed-stage startups building innovative software to rapidly decarbonize our global energy and mobility systems. You can learn more at powerhouse.fund, and you can subscribe to our newsletter at powerhouse.fund/subscribe.To hear more stories of founders building our climate positive future, hit the “subscribe” button and leave us a review.