The Clean Energy Edge

Data centers need massive amounts of electricity. But what happens when the power grid can't keep up? With AI and cloud computing driving electricity demand higher, data-center developers are facing a growing challenge: getting enough reliable power when they need it. And there's another controversy. Should homeowners and businesses have to pay higher electricity bills to support these massive fac...

America needs more electricity. So why does so much proposed power generation never get built? According to Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, approximately 75% of the generating capacity that entered U.S. interconnection queues between 2000 and 2020 had been withdrawn by the end of 2025. Only about 13% had reached commercial operation. That's a staggering amount of proposed generation that ne...

America needs more electricity. Developers are proposing hundreds of gigawatts of new generation and battery storage. So why can it take more than five years for a new power project to go from an interconnection request to commercial operation? In this episode of the Clean Energy Edge Podcast, Russ breaks down what actually happens when a large power project tries to connect to the grid. We look a...

Battery storage is being added to the U.S. electric grid at a remarkable pace. But understanding what a battery can actually do requires understanding two numbers: megawatts and megawatt-hours. In this episode of the Clean Energy Edge Podcast, Russ Bates breaks down the difference between MW and MWh, why battery duration matters, and what it really means when we describe a battery as a two-hour, f...

America needs more electricity. Natural gas already provides a major share of U.S. power, so why not just build more natural gas power plants? The answer is more complicated than it sounds. In this episode of the Clean Energy Edge Podcast, Russ draws on his experience building natural gas power plants to look at the challenges facing new gas generation today, including turbine backlogs, rising equ...

Utility-scale solar has changed dramatically over the years, but the way we build it in the field still relies heavily on assembling thousands of individual components across hundreds of acres. What if there’s a better way? In this episode, we look at how the 5B Maverick system uses factory assembly and rapid deployment to reduce field labor, accelerate construction and simplify how utility-scale...

A utility-scale solar project can look great on paper - but what happens when the schedule becomes the problem? Whether you're targeting a specific commercial operation date, working toward an incentive deadline, or simply trying to get generation online faster, construction strategy can have a major impact on whether that schedule works. And that's something that needs to be considered early in p...

Finding suitable land is one of the biggest challenges facing utility-scale solar development. But what if some of the best opportunities aren't undeveloped greenfields at all? In this episode of The Clean Energy Edge Podcast, Russ explores how brownfields, landfills, former mine sites, coal ash sites, and other previously disturbed properties could become the next generation of utility-scale sola...

America needs a lot more electricity — and sooner than many people realize. NERC’s latest projections show 10-year summer peak demand growth at 224 GW, more than 400% of what it was projecting just three years earlier. But having new generation proposed doesn’t mean that power will actually be online when we need it. New gas plants, nuclear facilities, transmission projects and even grid interconn...

Tesla may be getting passed by competitors when it comes to EV innovation, but there's one area where it still has a major advantage: charging. As a longtime Tesla owner, I've used the Supercharger network for years - and compared with many third-party charging experiences, it just works. In this episode of The Clean Energy Edge, I look at why Tesla's Supercharger network continues to lead in cust...

What if large sections of a utility-scale solar farm could arrive at the project site inside standard shipping containers—factory assembled, prewired, and ready to deploy? That's exactly what the Maverick system is designed to do. Instead of shipping thousands of individual components to a project site and relying on large construction crews to assemble them over months in the field, Maverick shif...

Tesla didn't just help create the modern EV market - it completely disrupted the automotive industry. But somewhere along the way, the company that forced everyone else to innovate seems to have stopped doing much of it itself. In this episode of The Clean Energy Edge Podcast, Russ looks at what's happened to Tesla's vehicle lineup and why competitors, particularly companies in China, are moving s...

America needs more electricity - but generating it is only part of the challenge. We also have to move that electricity to where it's needed. In this episode of The Clean Energy Edge Podcast, Russ breaks down why transmission infrastructure has become another critical piece of America's energy puzzle, why new transmission can take years to build, and how grid constraints can slow everything from u...

Nuclear power is back in the spotlight. As artificial intelligence, massive data centers, manufacturing, and electrification continue driving electricity demand higher, many believe Small Modular Reactors (SMRs) could be the next generation of nuclear power. But how close are we really? In this episode, we take a balanced look at: What SMRs are and how they differ from traditional nuclear plants W...

As electricity demand continues to grow, difficult questions are beginning to emerge. -What happens if the grid can't keep up? -Who gets priority when new data centers, manufacturers, and growing communities all need more power? In this episode of The Clean Energy Edge Podcast, Russ explores how rising demand, aging infrastructure, and the race to build more generation could impact electric bills,...

Every solar, battery storage, and data center developer knows that finding the right site is only half the battle. The bigger challenge is identifying the hidden risks that can derail a project BEFORE you've already invested significant time and money. In this episode of The Clean Energy Edge Podcast, Russ sits down with Jaimie Henderson, Founder of SitePath, to discuss why so many promising proje...

Building a utility-scale solar project isn't just about selecting the right equipment—it's about reducing complexity. Every additional delivery, material handoff, and on-site assembly step creates another opportunity for delays, labor shortages, logistics challenges, and cost overruns. In this episode of The Clean Energy Edge Podcast, Russ shares why simplifying construction can reduce project ris...

Solar panels on water may sound unusual, but they're becoming one of the fastest-growing innovations in clean energy. In this episode, Russ explains why floating solar is attracting attention around the world, where it's being deployed, and how it can generate clean electricity while making smarter use of existing infrastructure.

As electricity demand continues to grow, one of the most common criticisms of utility-scale solar is that it requires too much land. But what if that's no longer true? In this episode of The Clean Energy Edge Podcast, Russ explores how innovative utility-scale solar deployment approaches are helping developers generate significantly more power from the same footprint while opening opportunities on...

Solar and agriculture don't have to compete for the same land. In this episode of The Clean Energy Edge Podcast, Russ explores agrivoltaics—a growing approach that combines farming with solar energy. Learn how farmers can continue raising crops or livestock while generating electricity, creating new revenue opportunities, and making better use of their land. It could be one of the most practical e...

Electricity demand is growing rapidly. AI. Data centers. Manufacturing. Grid modernization. Electrification. Everyone is talking about the need for more power generation. But there's a question that doesn't get asked often enough: How fast can we actually build it? In this episode of The Clean Energy Edge Podcast, Russ Bates explores one of the biggest challenges facing the energy industry today—d...

Everyone is talking about the need for more electricity. AI. Data centers. Manufacturing. Grid expansion. But almost nobody is talking about the equipment required to actually build the infrastructure that delivers that power. From transformers and substations to steam turbine generators and switchgear, critical equipment shortages and long lead times are becoming a growing challenge across the po...

As electricity demand continues to grow from AI, data centers, manufacturing, electrification, and grid modernization, the energy industry faces a challenge that doesn't get nearly enough attention: Who's going to build it all? In this episode of The Clean Energy Edge Podcast, Russ discusses the growing labor constraints impacting utility-scale solar and energy infrastructure projects across North...

Have you looked at your electric bill lately and wondered what happened? You're not alone. Across the country, households and businesses are seeing higher electricity costs, and many are looking for answers. The reality is that several major trends are colliding at the same time—from growing electricity demand and aging infrastructure to AI, data centers, and the need for new generation. In this e...

Electricity is no longer just a utility expense—it's becoming a strategic business issue. As AI, data centers, electrification, and rising electricity demand place increasing pressure on the grid, organizations face growing risks related to reliability, resilience, and energy costs. Yet many business leaders still aren't thinking about energy strategically. In this episode of The Clean Energy Edge...