Conversations in Cleantech

Welcome to Season Ten of Conversations in Cleantech!

This season, we’re deconstructing digital infrastructure - one of the fastest-growing and most influential parts of the energy transition. From hyperscalers and AI demand to talent, capital, software and sustainability, we’ll explore how data infrastructure gets built, powered, financed, staffed and scaled.

As data centre demand accelerates and electricity systems face mounting pressure, the conversation explores how AI, storage and flexible load could reshape the way power is bought, balanced and delivered. Drawing on experience across energy consulting, grid-scale storage and energy trading, David shares how the grid is evolving from a one-way system into a far more dynamic network of generation, demand and real-time optimisation.

From the rise of controllable load resources to the growing role of battery storage and flexible demand, this episode unpacks how digital infrastructure and energy markets are becoming increasingly intertwined - and why smarter coordination may be just as important as new generation capacity.

For anyone interested in where energy software, AI and data centre growth collide, this is a conversation well worth your time.

02:05 - Introduction to David

07:01 - At Brightsmith, we talk about “living your purpose” - what does that mean to you personally?

Connect with your hosts, Jow Riley and Chloe England, on LinkedIn.

Find your guest, David Miller, on LinkedIn.

Thanks for listening to Conversations in Cleantech brought to you by Brightsmith.

This is a Loaded Hype production.

Welcome to Season Ten of Conversations in Cleantech!

This season, we’re deconstructing digital infrastructure - one of the fastest-growing and most influential parts of the energy transition. From hyperscalers and AI demand to talent, capital, software and sustainability, we’ll explore how data infrastructure gets built, powered, financed, staffed and scaled.

In this episode, Jenny Gladman and Ric Ashworth-Lord are joined by Dr Ryan Hatcher, CEO & Founder at Phoenix Semiconductor - a leader working at the intersection of advanced electronics, supply chain resilience and critical infrastructure.

While much of the spotlight falls on cutting-edge chips, Ryan brings attention to a less visible but equally critical layer: legacy semiconductors. These “older” technologies underpin everything from energy systems and transport to defence and data centres - yet their supply chains are increasingly fragile, overlooked, and difficult to replace.

Drawing on experience across Samsung, Lockheed Martin and now Phoenix Semiconductor, Ryan explains why mature-node manufacturing has become strategically important, how decades of optimisation have exposed systemic vulnerabilities, and why resilience across the full semiconductor ecosystem is now essential.

From supply chain shocks and obsolescence risk to the realities of scaling manufacturing and securing long-term capacity, this conversation shines a light on the infrastructure beneath the infrastructure.

01:02 - Introduction to Ryan

Find your guest, Dr Ryan Hatcher, on LinkedIn.

Thanks for listening to Conversations in Cleantech brought to you by Brightsmith.

This is a Loaded Hype production.

Welcome to Season Ten of Conversations in Cleantech!

This season, we’re deconstructing digital infrastructure - one of the fastest-growing and most influential parts of the energy transition. From hyperscalers and AI demand to talent, capital, software and sustainability, we’ll explore how data infrastructure gets built, powered, financed, staffed and scaled.

In this episode, our host Jenny Gladman is joined by Patrick Lynch, Executive Managing Director at CBRE - a market leader with a front-row seat to some of the industry’s biggest infrastructure decisions.

With more than three decades in digital infrastructure, Patrick brings a rare perspective on how the market is evolving under real-world constraint. As demand accelerates and supply struggles to keep pace, he shares how power availability is reshaping site selection, why speed-to-market has changed deal dynamics, and what it now takes to deliver capacity at scale.

From hyperscale growth and edge deployment to supply chain pressure and talent gaps, this conversation offers a practical look at how digital infrastructure is really being built.

For anyone curious about where the market is heading - and what it will take to keep up - this is a conversation well worth your time.

01:01 - Introduction to Patrick

Connect with your host, Jenny Gladman, on LinkedIn.

Find your guest, Patrick Lynch, on LinkedIn.

Thanks for listening to Conversations in Cleantech brought to you by Brightsmith.

This is a Loaded Hype production

Welcome to Season Ten of Conversations in Cleantech!

This season, we’re deconstructing digital infrastructure - one of the fastest-growing and most influential parts of the energy transition. From hyperscalers and AI demand to talent, capital, software and sustainability, we’ll explore how data infrastructure gets built, powered, financed, staffed and scaled.

In this episode, hosts Jenny Gladman and Isabella Rova are joined by Sofie Käll, CIO, and Anna Søndergaard, Co-Founder, Partner & CEO at The Footprint Firm - two investors approaching digital infrastructure not from the centre of the asset, but from the edges of the system.

As data centres place growing pressure on grids, water, cooling and materials, Sofie and Anna offer a different lens on what it means to invest in the future of digital infrastructure. Rather than backing the assets themselves, they focus on the technologies, services and efficiencies that can reshape the ecosystem around them - from grid balancing and energy storage to cooling innovation and software optimisation.

This conversation explores what early-stage capital can realistically do in a market defined by speed, scale and physical constraint. It also digs into the balance between commercial viability and impact, the challenge of proving deep tech in real-world systems, and why some of the most meaningful opportunities may lie not in the “moonshots”, but in the less glamorous solutions that quietly improve performance at scale.

For anyone curious about how venture thinking, systems change and sustainability intersect in the digital infrastructure buildout, this episode offers a sharp and refreshing perspective.

01:02 - Introduction to Sofie and Anna

Find your guests, Sofie Käll and Anna Søndergaard, on LinkedIn.

Thanks for listening to Conversations in Cleantech brought to you by Brightsmith.

This is a Loaded Hype production.

Welcome to Season Ten of Conversations in Cleantech!

This season, we’re deconstructing digital infrastructure - one of the fastest-growing and most influential parts of the energy transition. From hyperscalers and AI demand to talent, capital, software and sustainability, we’ll explore how data infrastructure gets built, powered, financed, staffed and scaled.

As AI demand accelerates and grid capacity tightens, megawatts have become more than an input; they’ve become the defining constraint on digital infrastructure growth. Drawing on decades in wholesale energy markets, renewables and structured transactions, Gene shares a clear-eyed view of what it really takes to secure, structure and deliver power at hyperscale.

From grid realities and renewable procurement to the complex balancing act between reliability, speed and sustainability, this conversation explores how the energy and data centre worlds are rapidly converging - and why solving the power challenge will require far deeper collaboration across industry, utilities and policymakers.

For anyone curious about what it actually takes to power the next generation of compute, this is a conversation well worth your time.

01:04 - Introduction to Gene

Connect with your hosts, Jenny Gladman and Chloe England, on LinkedIn.

Find your guest, Gene Alessandrini, on LinkedIn.

Thanks for listening to Conversations in Cleantech brought to you by Brightsmith.

This is a Loaded Hype production.

Welcome to Season Ten of Conversations in Cleantech!

This season, we’re deconstructing digital infrastructure - one of the fastest-growing and most influential parts of the energy transition. From hyperscalers and AI demand to talent, capital, software and sustainability, we’ll explore how data infrastructure gets built, powered, financed, staffed and scaled.

In this episode, hosts Jenny Gladman and Isabella Rova are joined by Sue Ennis, Head of Investor Relations & Government Affairs at Hut 8 - a capital markets strategist turned infrastructure insider who has spent the last decade at the edge of disruption.

What begins as a conversation about Bitcoin mining quickly becomes something much bigger: a story about stranded power turning into strategic leverage, about how yesterday’s overlooked assets became today’s AI lifeline, and about why the real currency of this decade may not be data, but electrons.

Sue brings a rare perspective from inside the evolution of crypto, energy arbitrage and now AI infrastructure, cutting through media noise to unpack what’s actually happening across grids, capital flows and supply chains. From copper and cooling to tradespeople and transmission, this episode zooms out from hype and into fundamentals.

If you’re curious about how capital markets thinking meets energy reality and how unexpected players are reshaping the AI race, this conversation offers a fresh and thought-provoking lens.

01:01 - Introduction to Sue

Connect with your hosts, Jenny Gladman and Isabella Rova, on LinkedIn.

Find your guest, Sue Ennis, on LinkedIn.

Thanks for listening to Conversations in Cleantech brought to you by Brightsmith.

This is a Loaded Hype production.

Welcome to Season Ten of Conversations in Cleantech!

This season, we’re deconstructing digital infrastructure - one of the fastest-growing and most influential parts of the energy transition. From hyperscalers and AI demand to talent, capital, software and sustainability, we’ll explore how data infrastructure gets built, powered, financed, staffed and scaled.

In this episode, our hosts Jenny Gladman and Joe Riley are joined by Neha Palmer, the visionary CEO behind TeraWatt Infrastructure - and one of the rare leaders shaping the future of electrification by blending deep energy expertise with Silicon Valley scale.

From utility engineer to data centre strategist at Google, Neha’s story isn’t your typical founder’s arc - and neither is her company. With TeraWatt, she’s reimagining EV charging infrastructure not as hardware, but as high-uptime, capital-intensive platforms built to power fleets and autonomous vehicles at pace.

This conversation unpacks how to build something bankable before the market is ready for it, why uptime is non-negotiable, and how lessons from data centres can fast-track the future of electric mobility. Neha also shares a grounded and empowering take on leadership - as a woman, a founder, and a force in an industry that’s still finding its footing.

For anyone curious about the intersection of infrastructure, capital, innovation, and conviction - this one’s not to be missed.

01:01 - Introduction to Neha

Connect with your hosts, Jenny Gladman and Joe Riley, on LinkedIn.

Find your guest, Neha Palmer, on LinkedIn.

Thanks for listening to Conversations in Cleantech brought to you by Brightsmith.

This is a Loaded Hype production.

Welcome to Season Ten of Conversations in Cleantech!

This season, we’re deconstructing digital infrastructure - one of the fastest-growing and most influential parts of the energy transition. From hyperscalers and AI demand to talent, capital, software and sustainability, we’ll explore how data infrastructure gets built, powered, financed, staffed and scaled.

In this inaugural episode, our hosts Jenny Gladman and Chloe England are joined by Phillip Sandino, Senior Vice President of Utility Development at Tract - a company building powered land platforms that bring large-scale data centre sites online faster and more responsibly.

With a career spanning field engineering, power systems, utilities, and data centre operations, Phillip brings a rare end-to-end perspective to today’s conversation. He’s been on both sides of the grid - delivering power and demanding it - and now plays a critical role in aligning stakeholders, infrastructure and capital to deliver gigawatt-scale developments.

Together, Jenny, Chloe and Phillip unpack how grid planning must evolve to meet hyperscale demand, why credibility is critical for project viability, and what power procurement really looks like behind the scenes. They explore what it means to build with foresight, how Tract works to de-risk and accelerate utility timelines, and why gigawatt-scale development requires new models of partnership.

It’s a conversation grounded in practical experience - and a timely look at what it truly takes to scale digital infrastructure responsibly, in a market that’s evolving faster than ever.

01:20 - Introduction to Phillip

Connect with your hosts, Jenny Gladman and Chloe England, on LinkedIn.

Find your guest, Phillip Sandino, on LinkedIn.

Thanks for listening to Conversations in Cleantech brought to you by Brightsmith.

This is a Loaded Hype production.

Welcome to Season Nine of Conversations in Cleantech!

This season, we’re going behind the scenes of transition infrastructure - speaking with the investors shaping how, where and why climate capital flows. From decarbonisation and energy security to technology maturity and policy gaps, we’re unpacking what it really takes to fund the systems that underpin a net-zero future.

And we’re closing out the season - and the year - with a guest who has truly shaped the story of clean energy in the US.

In this episode, our host Jenny Gladman is joined by co-host Chloe England to speak with Abby Hopper, President and CEO of the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA) - a trailblazer at the forefront of American solar policy, advocacy and industry transformation.

Since stepping into the role in 2017, Abby has led SEIA through a period of unprecedented growth and volatility - from navigating shifting political winds and trade policy challenges to cementing solar as a mainstream, multi-gigawatt player in the US energy mix.

This conversation is more than a look at policy or project pipelines. It’s a deeply human exploration of what it takes to lead through change - from building trust across opposing interests to showing up with empathy, urgency and resilience in the face of climate and societal challenges.

Abby also reflects on the unique role of solar in the American energy transition, why long-term impact requires more than short-term wins, and how equity and inclusion must sit at the heart of the clean energy future.

Expect a powerful, honest and inspiring end to the season, and a reminder that leadership in cleantech is as much about people as it is about power.

01:06 - Introduction to Abby

Connect with your hosts, Jenny Gladman and Chloe England, on LinkedIn.

Find your guest, Abby Hopper, on LinkedIn.

Thanks for listening to Conversations in Cleantech brought to you by Brightsmith.

This is a Loaded Hype production.

Welcome to Season Nine of Conversations in Cleantech!

This season, we’re going behind the scenes of transition infrastructure - speaking with the investors shaping how, where and why climate capital flows. From decarbonisation and energy security to technology maturity and policy gaps, we’re unpacking what it really takes to fund the systems that underpin a net-zero future.

In this episode, our host Jenny Gladman is joined by co-host Chloe England to speak with Ishan Jaithwa, Vice President of Data Centre and Utility at Cypress Creek Renewables - a leader at the crossroads of clean energy, AI and infrastructure innovation.

From building gigawatt-scale capacity at Amazon Web Services to now bridging the gap between AI growth and grid readiness at Cypress Creek (backed by EQT), Ishan offers a rare inside view of how digital demand is reshaping the energy landscape.

In this conversation, they explore what it takes to deliver real capacity at real speed - from firming strategies and flexible partnerships with utilities, to the rise of private equity-backed developers as key enablers of the digital transition. They also discuss how technology mix, timing, and transparency are redefining what’s possible in power markets.

Expect a fast-paced, future-focused discussion about urgency, ownership and innovation, and why the next frontier of the energy transition may well be powered by data as much as by electrons.

01:16 - Introduction to Ishan

Connect with your hosts, Jenny Gladman and Chloe England, on LinkedIn.

Find your guest, Ishan Jaithwa, on LinkedIn.

Thanks for listening to Conversations in Cleantech brought to you by Brightsmith.

This is a Loaded Hype production.