Maria Robinson, outgoing Director of the Grid Deployment Office at the U.S. Department of Energy, joins us to share insights from her impactful tenure. Since stepping into the role in 2022, Maria has overseen $22 billion in federal funding to drive the development of new and upgraded electric infrastructure nationwide.

Recorded in person at the recent Deploy conference in Washington, DC, hosted by the DOE, Maria and Cody discuss her background, the mission of the Grid Deployment Office, and the initiatives she’s championed. We also dive into the complexities of the U.S. electric grid, including transmission, interconnect queues, permitting reform, and enhancing grid resilience amidst extreme weather and climate challenges.

In this episode, we cover: 

• [4:57] Maria’s background and work with Rep. Jay Inslee
• [7:33] The complexity of the U.S. electric grid
• [10:19] Funding sources for transmission projects
• [11:54] Renewables’ impact on grid design
• [15:13] The role of NEPA in grid projects
• [22:37] Powering data centers and grid distribution
• [25:37] Interconnect queue backlogs
• [27:08] The benefits of reconductoring
• [28:15] Grid resiliency and local utilities
• [33:34] Maria’s vision for the next administration
• [35:09] Cybersecurity challenges for the grid
• [36:32] Federal permitting reform for transmission

Episode recorded on Dec 5, 2024 (Published on Dec 19, 2024)

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Arvin Ganesan is the CEO of Fourth Power, which is developing a flexible-duration thermal energy system designed to meet the needs of an electrical grid increasingly powered by renewables. Their system heats liquid tin to extremely high temperatures, circulates it through carbon blocks for heat storage, and converts that heat back to electricity on demand via thermal photovoltaics. The technology aims to address both short-duration energy storage (5–10 hours) and long-duration needs (100 hours or more), with the ability to discharge power within seconds.

At the end of last year, Fourth Power raised a Series A led by DCVC, with participation from Breakthrough Energy Ventures. Arvin’s fascinating career includes time in the U.S. Senate as a senior policy advisor to the late Senator Frank Lautenberg, over five years at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, and nearly six years at Apple as the head of global energy and environmental policy.

In this episode, we explore Arvin's career path, his decision to join Fourth Power, and why the company’s work matters for the future of energy storage.

In this episode, we cover: 

• [1:49] Arvin's career journey: From the EPA to Apple and beyond
• [8:13] Why Arvin chose to become CEO of Fourth Power
• [10:29] Focusing on electricity storage over industrial heat
• [12:06] Fourth Power’s thermal energy storage system explained
• [17:11] How Fourth Power uses photovoltaics for efficient energy conversion
• [20:36] Trade-offs between Fourth Power's technology and lithium-ion batteries
• [25:03] Co-location strategies and powering renewable energy
• [28:21] Collaborating with utilities to meet grid demands
• [31:09] Fourth Power’s milestones and current progress
• [32:57] Arvin’s transition to a CEO role and what he’s learning
• [34:59] Market optimism and the potential impact of Fourth Power’s solution

Recommended Listening: 

• Onshoring Clean Energy with Giulia Siccardo, MESC

Episode recorded on Aug 20, 2024 (Published on Dec 12, 2024)

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Hannah Bebbington is the Head of Deployment at Frontier, an advanced market commitment created in 2022, that aims to purchase $1 billion or more of permanent carbon removal by 2030. 

Founded by Stripe, Alphabet, Shopify, Meta, and McKinsey, Frontier has quickly become a leading force in the carbon removal space. Its portfolio includes a "who’s who" of innovators pushing the boundaries of what’s possible in carbon removal—many of whom have been guests on this show. 

Cody catches up with Hannah to explore how Frontier’s program is structured, what they’ve learned so far, and her perspective on the state of carbon removal today.

In this episode, we cover: 

• [2:03] What is Frontier? An intro to its $1B commitment to carbon removal
• [7:00] The scale of the carbon removal challenge and future funding needs
• [10:42] Gaps in the industry: demand, investment, and measurement
• [13:21] Hannah’s background and role as Head of Deployment
• [16:10] Frontier’s advanced market commitment model explained
• [18:05] How Frontier supports early-stage companies through pre-purchases
• [21:32] Tips for startups applying to Frontier’s programs
• [27:19] Frontier’s offtake track for scaling larger projects
• [30:16] The importance of measurement, reporting, and verification (MRV)
• [35:05] Frontier’s criteria for funding: scale, cost, and permanence
• [42:14] Microsoft’s role as a leader in carbon removal
• [47:24] Key terms in Frontier’s offtake agreements
• [55:08] The impact of the data center boom on carbon removal
• [57:01] Carbon removal’s bipartisan support and policy outlook

Recommended Listening:

• MCJ Startup Series: Charm Industrial
• Permanent Geologic Carbon Storage with Vaulted Deep
• Enhanced Rock Weathering with Lithos Carbon
• Carbon Removal and Climate Policy with Heirloom and Senator Scott Wiener

Episode recorded on Nov 22, 2024 (Published on Dec 9, 2024)

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Dr. Naomi Boness is the managing director of the Natural Gas Initiative and co-managing director of the Hydrogen Initiative at Stanford University. With a Ph.D. in Geophysics from Stanford and over 13 years in technical and management roles at Chevron, Dr. Boness combines deep scientific knowledge with real-world experience in energy operations.

In this episode, we dive into the molecule side of energy, focusing on the evolving roles of natural gas and hydrogen in a decarbonizing world. Topics range from geopolitics and energy security to emissions challenges and the future of these key resources in the energy mix.

In this episode, we cover: 

• [1:38] Dr. Boness' work and focus at Stanford 
• [5:10] Corporate involvement: utilities, investment firms, and oil majors
• [7:12] Natural gas in the global energy mix and its role as a coal alternative
• [9:09] Addressing the critical issue of methane leaks
• [11:42] Incentives for midstream players to participate 
• [13:53] Dr. Boness' pov on the idea of halting oil and gas production entirely
• [16:04] Geopolitical dynamics of natural gas production and exportation
• [20:59] Breakdown of the global gas production mix
• [22:55] Effects of Russia's invasion of Ukraine on the European gas market
• [27:10] DPower vs. heat transition and natural gas' role
• [29:49] Vision for the future of natural gas in a renewable energy landscape
• [33:55] Challenges and trade-offs in transitioning from natural gas and investing in infrastructure
• [39:25] Potential role of hydrogen in decarbonizing hard-to-abate sectors
• [43:38] Environmental impacts of hydrogen as a potential greenhouse gas
• [47:33] Policy and regulatory hurdles for clean hydrogen production
• [50:39] Issues surrounding the "45V rule" in the Inflation Reduction Act
• [54:21] Dr. Boness' top policy priorities and wish list

Episode recorded on Aug 14, 2024 (Published on Nov 21, 2024)

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Jason Marks is the Co-founder and CEO at TELO. TELO is developing EV pickup trucks in the footprint of a Mini Cooper with a bed the size of a Toyota Tacoma and the power of a mainstream truck. 

They're focused on urban use cases for pickup trucks, whether that be a weekend adventurer who lives in a city or an organization whose employees need trucks for work in urban environments but are fed up with navigating giant vehicles through traffic, parking, and underground lots.

We were eager to hear Jason’s perspective on why now is the right time to build an electric vehicle from the ground up, what makes TELO’s approach uniquely positioned for a significant market opportunity, and why existing truck manufacturers haven’t pursued this segment. Plus, we dive into the fascinating history of why today’s pickup trucks have become so massive in the first place.

MCJ is proud to support TELO as an investor through our venture capital fund, backing founders like Jason who are reshaping industries to be cleaner, more profitable, and more resilient.

In this episode, we cover: 

• [2:26] Jason's background in automotive
• [4:37] An overview of TELO and its purpose
• [6:13] How pickups have grown significantly larger over the past 15-20 years
• [11:15] The current EV truck market
• [12:47] Truck density in urban environments and challenges
• [15:51] TELO's approach to building EV an pickup
• [17:58] China's EV phenomenon and landscape
• [23:08] Current US EV market
• [24:51] TELO's unique approach to EV pickups
• [28:09] The company's battery chemistry
• [29:49] TELO's progress to date
• [32:05] Big milestones Jason and his team are working towards including homologation
• [35:59] TELO's go to market
• [38:20] Jason's vision for the future of his business
• [39:24] TELO's latest Seed Round led by Neo
• [41:08] Where TELO needs help
• [41:44] Biggest surprises in building a vehicle company

Episode recorded on Oct 4, 2024 (Published on Nov 21, 2024)

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Mark Lundstrom is the founder and CEO of Radia.

Radia is developing the WindRunner, the world’s largest aircraft, specifically designed to transport massive offshore wind turbine blades—some reaching the length of football fields—to onshore sites. This capability, termed "GigaWind," could redefine the scope and scale of onshore wind projects. Radia isn’t stopping at building these groundbreaking aircraft; they also plan to develop wind energy projects to catalyze the GigaWind transformation. 

This episode dives into Radia’s verticalized approach to addressing a major challenge in wind energy: the physical limitations of transporting turbine blades via the U.S. interstate highway system. By circumventing these constraints, Radia envisions a future where wind farms can reach unprecedented scales.

In this episode, we cover: 

• [2:13] Mark's background in aerospace 
• [6:27] Logistics of wind turbines on land today
• [9:03] Onshore vs. offshore wind energy in terms of turbine size, logistics, and economics 
• [14:04] China's wind energy generation
• [15:53] An overview of Radia's WindRunner aircraft 
• [20:57] Radia's plan to become a power provider
• [24:07] Siting and permitting process for Radia's projects 
• [28:23] Radia's progress to date 
• [30:20] Capital stack needed to fund Radia's WindRunner
• [35:05] Radia's decision to come out of stealth
• [38:32] Who Radia wants to hear from and hire 
• [39:43] How Radia's solution can address AI power demands

Episode recorded on Sept 19, 2024 (Published on Nov 13, 2024)

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Tom Montag, CEO of Rubicon Carbon, joins us to discuss the world of carbon credits. Tom has had an illustrious career, previously serving as Chief Operating Officer at Bank of America, President of Global Banking and Markets, and a member of the executive management team. He joined Merrill Lynch as Executive Vice President and Head of Global Sales and Trading in 2008, just before its merger with Bank of America. Before that, he was with Goldman Sachs, co-heading the Global Securities Business and serving on its management committee. He currently serves on the board of directors of Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and is a board member of Northwestern University, NYU Langone Medical Center, the Hispanic Federation, Deschutes Land Trust, and the Japan Society. He is also a former BlackRock board member.

In this episode, we dive into why, after such an accomplished career, Tom chose to dedicate his next chapter to carbon markets. We have a fascinating conversation about the current state of voluntary carbon markets and how Tom views them in relation to the financial services industry when he started his career in the 1980s. We explore why carbon credits matter, the circumstances under which companies should use them, and the origin of Rubicon Carbon, including the role of TPG’s Rise Fund. Tom also discusses Rubicon's approach to bundled credit offerings and addresses some of the trust challenges facing the carbon markets today, as well as where he believes they are headed.

In this episode, we cover: 

• [2:19] Tom's financial background and career pathway to Rubicon 
• [5:21] The state of the voluntary carbon market, including its size and growth potential
• [7:41] Parallels between the early derivatives market and the current carbon markets
• [11:41] Challenges around additionality, financial hedging, and trust in the carbon markets
• [13:41] An overview of Rubicon Carbon
• [20:55] Regulatory and compliance considerations around carbon markets
• [26:30] The need for more standardization and risk adjustment in the VCM
• [33:44] Examples of Rubicon Carbon's projects and partnerships
• [36:08] Role of oil and gas in the future of VCM
• [40:12] Bull and bear cases for the future of carbon markets

Episode recorded on Aug 22, 2024 (Published on Nov 11, 2024)

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Hannan Parvizian is Co-founder and CEO of Exowatt. Exowatt turned heads earlier this year when it announced a $20 million Seed round with backers including Andreessen Horowitz, Atomic, and Sam Altman, the CEO of OpenAI. The company has developed a novel combined solution for energy generation and storage that concentrates heat from the sun, stores it as thermal energy, and converts it on demand to electricity.

They've primarily focused their go-to-market around the data center boom driven by AI and argue that their solution is purpose-built for the massive energy need of data centers. We were eager to hear from Hannan as the rapid increase in energy demand from hyperscalers and AI remains a huge topic in the energy space, especially as we work to transition away from fossil fuels while also meeting AI-fueled demand.

In this episode, we explore Hannan's insights on the limitations of "traditional" solar PV and lithium-ion battery storage in meeting these needs—and how Exowatt aims to bridge this gap.

In this episode, we cover: 

• [2:01] An overview of Exowatt
• [4:56] Exowatt's technology and approach
• [6:29] Reasons for pursuing a thermal energy storage solution
• [14:46] Hannan's previous startup experience
• [16:45] How Exowatt's Seed round came together
• [20:07] Response to skepticism about Exowatt's technology
• [24:41] Technical details on the Exowatt P3 system
• [29:09] Geographical and land use considerations
• [34:33] Comparison of Exowatt's approach to other thermal energy storage solutions
• [38:59] Exowatt's manufacturing and deployment strategy
• [41:48] Pricing and economics of the company's system
• [43:10] Current deployments and future growth plans
• [43:44] Hannan's perspectives on Exowatt's competitive advantages and challenges
• [46:02] Where Exowatt needs help

Episode recorded on Oct 10, 2024 (Published on Nov 7, 2024)

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By now, you’ve likely noticed our refreshed look. We’re evolving the show to focus on the inevitable impacts of climate change and the groundbreaking solutions shaping our future.

To kick off this next chapter our first guest on Inevitable is Tom Steyer, Co-executive Chair at Galvanized Climate Solutions, a multi-strategy investment firm focused exclusively on the climate transition. A little over a year ago, Galvanize announced the final close of its Innovation + Expansion Fund at over $1 billion, one of the largest climate venture funds ever raised. Tom is also the recent author of the New York Times bestselling book, "Cheaper, Faster, Better: How We'll Win the Climate War," and he wrote the Forward to Project Drawdown.

In 2020, Tom was a Democratic presidential candidate with a climate-focused policy agenda, and he participated that year on the primary debate stage alongside now President Joe Biden and now VP Kamala Harris, among many other notable Democratic party leaders. He's the founder of NextGen America, the largest youth voter organization in the USA, which he created in 2013. But Tom hasn't always been focused on the energy transition and climate change. In 1986, he founded Farallon Capital Management, a multi-strategy hedge fund that he ran for over 25 years and grew to hundreds of employees and $20 billion in assets under management. His story of having incredible success in one field and then feeling the inevitable pull to work on the biggest problem of our time is exactly the type of pathway that we plan to explore on this show. 

*We recorded this episode live during Climate Week NYC, in front of a fantastic audience. We'd like to thank them for joining as well as the folks at ethic for lending their beautiful space and JP Morgan for helping to sponsor the event. 

In this episode, we cover: 

• [4:55] Tom's book theme: "do the obvious thing"
• [9:58] Tom's book theme: "the status quo will not go on forever"
• [13:53] Energy is wealth and how we can collectively retire fossil energy with renewables
• [17:06] Tom's decision to dedicate his career to climate and his early pathway
• [21:34] NextGen and the org's origins
• [23:32] Sharpening your bullshit detector
• [25:03] What prompted Tom's 2020 presidential run
• [26:05] The catalyst to Galvanize
• [29:26] The firm's different focus areas and strategy
• [34:45] Tom's "five plus one" approach to investing
• [38:01] The model Tom would like O&G companies to take in the transition
• [40:45] Thoughts on the "climate war"
• [44:13] What happens when climate tech is no longer a category
• [46:56] Tom's thoughts on permitting halting clean energy progress
• [49:59] Rapid fire topics including China and India
• [53:13] Hyperscalers and AI
• [55:01] Tom's policy wish list
• [59:29] His call to action for listeners

Episode recorded on Sept 24, 2024 (Published on Nov 4, 2024)

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Climate change is inevitable. It's already here. 

But at the same time, the energy transition–the rewriting of industries to be cleaner, more profitable, and more resilient–is also inevitable.

Join MCJ Managing Partner Cody Simms each week as sits down with experts across sectors to explore the groundbreaking innovations and extraordinary people shaping the transition of energy and industry.  

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