Catalyst with Shayle Kann

Of all the concerns surrounding the AI boom, data center water usage tops the list. Opponents claim that massive hyperscaler facilities threaten local drinking supplies and drain aquifers. Proponents say data centers use a negligible amount of water, at least compared to agriculture or conventional power generation sources.

So who actually has it right?

In this episode, Shayle sits down with Tim Shedd, founder of Ebullient Insights and an expert in data center thermal management. They unpack the history and evolution of data center cooling and consider how high-density chip racks have developers ditching air cooling in favor of single-phase direct-to-chip liquid cooling. The two also discuss:

- Why modern GPU racks (drawing 220 kW to 500 kW+) have rendered traditional air cooling obsolete

- The distinctions between single-phase direct-to-chip, two-phase cooling, and immersion cooling methods

- How collecting heat at higher temperatures inside a server allows data centers to reject heat outside with far less energy and water inputs

- How developers can better communicate with the public about data centers’ water usage and foster local trust amidst rapid buildouts.

- Ebullient Insights

- Catalyst: What comes after the data center backlash?

- Open Circuit: Can data centers regain their social license?

- Open Circuit: A feast of hot takes

- Latitude Media: Data centers' hidden water footprint is linked to the grid

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 GridBeyond. GridBeyond is the world’s leading technology platform for managing distributed and flexible energy resources. Learn more by visiting GridBeyond.com.

Catalyst is brought to you by Antenna Group, the strategic communications and marketing partner behind the biggest names in energy, climate, and infrastructure. For three decades, Antenna has helped breakout companies amplify their stories, build reputation, differentiate from the competition, define new categories and accelerate growth. Learn more at antennagroup.com.

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 230 utilities to coordinate over 2.6 million DERs and more than 3.6 gigawatts of dispatchable flexibility through a single platform designed to perform when it counts most. See what that looks like at EnergyHub.com.

It’s been a wild few years for grid-scale batteries in Texas. At the start of the decade, the Lone Star State was home to roughly 200 megawatts of battery capacity. Today, that number has skyrocketed to seventeen gigawatts…with at least five more gigawatts expected to come online by the end of 2026.

But this rapid buildout quickly led to market saturation. In the past year alone, revenues plummeted by more than 80%, far below the threshold needed for fleet operators to stay in the black.

The future of the battery market in Texas remains murky. Will the depression continue? Or will the imminent, enormous surge of data center load growth reset the state of play and bring volatility back into the mix?

In this episode, Shayle sits down with Brandt Vermillion, U.S. market lead at Modo Energy, to unpack the mechanics of the Texas battery storage market, and consider when the tide could turn back in developers’ favor. They cover topics like:

- The factors behind the recent cratering of the market

- How longer battery durations are able to capture secondary price spikes

- The degree to which weather patterns have contributed to battery demand

- Reconciling currently suppressed revenues with the hundreds of incoming gigawatts of proposed data center demand

- Whether on-site generation for hyperscaler data centers will blunt peak demand spikes and delay the return of grid volatility

- Why off-takers are considering tolling agreements to survive the market downturn

- Catalyst: 2026 trends: Gas turbines, Texas' load queue, and China electrifies

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

- Catalyst: The rise of flexible data centers

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

- Open Circuit: The off-grid data center fantasy

- Open Circuit: A global energy shock and the case for distributed power

- Open Circuit: Power is caught in AI’s doom loop

- Latitude Media: How the AI boom has impacted US battery storage so far

- Latitude Media: Branch Energy heads to PJM to sell battery capacity to data centers

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 GridBeyond. GridBeyond is the world’s leading technology platform for managing distributed and flexible energy resources. Learn more by visiting GridBeyond.com.

Catalyst is brought to you by Antenna Group, the strategic communications and marketing partner behind the biggest names in energy, climate, and infrastructure. For three decades, Antenna has helped breakout companies amplify their stories, build reputation, differentiate from the competition, define new categories and accelerate growth. Learn more at antennagroup.com.

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 230 utilities to coordinate over 2.6 million DERs and more than 3.6 gigawatts of dispatchable flexibility through a single platform designed to perform when it counts most. See what that looks like at EnergyHub.com.

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