Despite nuclear power’s unmatched ability to produce reliable, carbon-free energy at scale, it is often dismissed by clean energy advocates in favor of renewable resources like wind and solar. Cost arguments and public misconceptions around safety and radioactive waste have kept it out of many mainstream climate strategies. But as Tim Gregory argues in his new book Going Nuclear: How Atomic Energy Will Save the World, this exclusion may be the greatest obstacle to achieving net zero goals. In fact, Gregory says in his book “net zero is impossible without nuclear power.”

“Claiming renewables on their own are enough to replace fossil fuels is underestimating the challenge of achieving net zero,” Gregory said as a guest on The POWER Podcast. “Fossil fuels have basically defined the world order for the last couple of centuries, and to think that we can replace them with wind power and solar power, which are fundamentally tied to the whims of the weather, and the rotation of the planet in the case of solar, is really underestimating the scale of the challenge,” he said.

“We need power that comes in enormous quantities exactly where we need it and when we need it,” Gregory continued. “I don’t want to live in a world without solar panels or wind turbines, but to think that they can do it on their own, I think, is honestly naive. We need something that’s reliable to compensate for the intermittence of renewables, and nuclear power would be absolutely perfect for that.”

Notably, innovative companies and many government leaders around the world are backing nuclear power projects. “Big tech in North America has really cottoned on to these small modular reactors,” said Gregory. “Meta, Google, Microsoft, and Amazon are all going to be using small modular reactors to power their data centers. … This isn’t just a pipe dream—this is actually happening now in real time. … It’s been very, very encouraging watching that unfold.”

Public perceptions on nuclear power are also trending in a positive direction, and the movement seems to be bipartisan. “It’s very, very encouraging that more than half of people in the UK either strongly support or tend to support nuclear power. Strong opposition to nuclear power, according to the latest poll, is actually below 10%,” Gregory reported. “As such, the two major political parties in the UK—that’s the Labor Party, which is kind of our left leaning party, and the Conservative Party, which is our right leaning party—they both support the massive expansion of nuclear power, which is really, really nice actually. It’s maybe something that both sides of the political spectrum can agree on.”

The same is true in the U.S., where both Democrats and Republicans have gotten behind nuclear power. A case in point is the Accelerating Deployment of Versatile, Advanced Nuclear for Clean Energy (ADVANCE) Act, which was signed into law in July 2024. It passed with overwhelming bipartisan support in the Senate with a vote of 88–2, and in the House of Representatives with a vote of 393–13.

“If your politics has you more concerned with environmental stewardship, and climate change, and phasing out fossil fuels, and getting rid of oil from the energy system, then nuclear power is for you. But then at the same time, if your politics has you perhaps more leaning towards economic growth, and the economy, and prosperity, and all that kind of thing, then nuclear power is for you as well, because it provides the energy that enables that economic growth,” Gregory said. “And so, it’s actually very, very encouraging to see that, at least in most countries, nuclear power is not a partisan issue, which is all too rare in the world these days.”

More than 100 of the world’s largest energy companies are betting that artificial intelligence (AI) will revolutionize how electricity gets made, moved, and managed. But they’re not waiting for Silicon Valley to build it for them—they’ve taken matters into their own hands through an EPRI-led consortium.

That initiative is the Open Power AI Consortium, which EPRI launched in March 2025 to drive the development and deployment of an open AI model tailored for the power sector. According to its mission statement, the Open Power AI Consortium “aims to evolve the electric sector by leveraging advanced AI technologies to innovate the way electricity is made, moved, and used by customers. By fostering collaboration among industry leaders, researchers, and technology providers, the consortium will drive the development and deployment of cutting-edge AI solutions tailored to enhance operational efficiencies, increase resiliency and reliability, deploy emerging and sustainable technologies, and reduce costs while improving the customer experience.”

“We’re really looking at building an ecosystem to accelerate the development and deployment, and recognizing that, while AI is advancing rapidly, the energy industry has its own unique needs, especially around reliability, safety, regulatory compliance, and so forth. So, the consortium provides a collaborative platform to develop and maintain domain-specific AI models—think a ChatGPT tailored to the energy industry—as well as sharing best practices, testing innovative solutions in a secure environment, and long term, we believe this will help modernize the grid, improve customer experiences, and support global safe, affordable, and reliable energy for everyone,” Jeremy Renshaw, executive director for AI and Quantum with EPRI, said as a guest on The POWER Podcast.

Among the consortium’s members are some of the largest energy companies in the world, including Constellation, Con Edison, Duke Energy, EDF, Korea Electric Power Corp. (KEPCO), New York Power Authority (NYPA), Pacific Gas and Electric Co. (PG&E), Saudi Electricity Co., Southern Company, Southern California Edison, Taiwan Power Co., and Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA). It also includes entities like Amazon Web Servies (AWS), Burns and McDonnell, GE Vernova, Google, Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) Interconnection Authority, Korea Hydro and Nuclear Power (KHNP), Khalifa University, Microsoft, Midcontinent Independent System Operator (MISO), PJM, Rolls-Royce SMR, and Westinghouse Electric Co.

“For many years, the power industry has been somewhat siloed, and there were not many touch points or communication between global utilities, technology companies, universities, and so forth. So, this consortium aims to facilitate making new connections between these important and impactful organizations to increase collaboration and information sharing that will benefit everyone,” Renshaw explained.

EPRI, together with Articul8 and NVIDIA, has already developed the first set of domain-specific generative AI models for electric and power systems aimed at advancing the energy transformation. Although the technology has not been released publicly, it will be made available soon as an NVIDIA NIM microservice for early access. This development sets the foundation for more to come.

In a special edition of The POWER Podcast, released in collaboration with the McCrary Institute’s Cyber Focus podcast, POWER’s executive editor, Aaron Larson, and Frank Cilluffo, director of the McCrary Institute for Cyber and Critical Infrastructure Security and Professor of Practice at Auburn University, discuss the evolving power grid and cybersecurity challenges.

Specifically, they highlight the shift taking place from centralized power stations to more distributed energy resources, including solar farms and wind turbines. The conversation touches on the importance of a reliable power grid and the need to protect critical infrastructure.

“From a national security standpoint, from an economic standpoint, from a public safety standpoint, if you don’t have power, all these other systems are somewhat irrelevant,” Cilluffo said. “There’s no infrastructure more critical than power.”

Cilluffo noted that artificial intelligence (AI) is requiring increasingly more power, which can’t be ignored. “If we want to be AI dominant, we can’t do that if we’re not energy dominant,” said Cilluffo. “The two are in inextricably interwoven—hand in glove. And if you start looking at where the country wants to be technologically, if we want to lead, we really need to continue to double down, triple down, and look at all sorts of sources of energy as well.”

While renewables are clearly leading when it comes to new generation being added to the grid today, emerging technologies including small modular reactors, fusion power, deep dry-rock geothermal, and space-based solar power, are on the horizon, promising potentially game-changing energy options. “And not to put a fine point on it, but you mentioned so many different forms of energy, and I’m reminded of the old test, the A, B, C, or D, all of the above. This sounds like it is clearly an all of the above,” Cilluffo proposed.

Meanwhile, the enormous energy buildout in China was discussed. China is not just leading, but truly dominating the world in the construction of wind, solar, nuclear, coal, and energy storage projects in 2025, both in terms of capacity and projects under development. This leadership is evident across all five sectors, frequently accounting for the majority, or at least a plurality, of new global construction and installation.

“China is a primary focus of a lot of our [Cyber Focus] podcast discussion, but it’s a race we cannot afford to lose, whether it’s around AI, quantum. And, I think you’re spot on; to get there, they recognize the need to really quadruple down on energy,” said Cilluffo. “I still think that we [the U.S.] want to be at the vanguard driving all of this.”

And while it’s widely known that cybersecurity is critically important to energy systems, it’s often not prioritized the way it should be. “Everyone needs to be cyber aware, cyber informed,” Cilluffo said. “These are issues that we have to invest in. It can’t be an afterthought. It has to be something that everyone thinks through. And the reality is, don’t think it’s someone else’s problem: a) it’s all of our problems, and b) don’t think that it can be looked at after the balloon goes up—you need to be thinking all of this well in advance.”

The name Mike Richter is well-known among hockey fans. Richter spent 15 years in the National Hockey League as a goalie for the New York Rangers, including in 1994 when he was a fixture in the net during the team’s Stanley Cup winning season. Richter was also recognized as the most valuable player for the U.S.’s 1996 gold medal winning World Cup team, as well as a member of three U.S. Olympic teams, including in 2002 when the team won the silver medal. Richter was inducted into the U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame in 2008.

But what is likely lesser known is that Richter is the current president of Brightcore Energy, a leading provider of integrated, end-to-end clean energy solutions to the commercial, institutional, and government markets. The Armonk, New York–headquartered company’s services include high-efficiency geothermal-based heating and cooling systems for both new construction and existing building retrofits, among other things. Brightcore’s turnkey, single-point solution encompasses all project development phases including preliminary modeling, feasibility and design, incentive and policy guidance, construction and implementation, and system performance monitoring.

As a guest on The POWER Podcast, Richter noted that heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) systems for commercial, industrial, and municipal buildings consume an enormous amount of energy in a place like New York City. Furthermore, the emissions associated with these systems can be significant. “If you can address that, you’re doing something important, and that’s really where our focus has been, particularly the last few years,” he said.

Geothermal Heating and Cooling Systems

Traditional geothermal often requires significant open space for the geothermal borefield and can have material time implications in project development. Brightcore says its exclusive UrbanGeo solution combines proprietary geothermal drilling technology and techniques that increase the feasibility of geothermal heating and cooling applicability while reducing construction development timelines.

“We typically go between 500 and 1,000 feet down,” Richter explained. “The ambient temperature of the ground about four feet down below our feet here in New York is 55 degrees [Fahrenheit] year-round.”

The constant and stable underground temperature is the key to geothermal heating and cooling systems. Even when the air above ground is extremely hot or freezing cold, the earth’s steady temperature provides a valuable heating or cooling resource.

A geothermal system has pipes buried underground that fluid is circulated through, and a heat pump inside the building. In winter, the fluid in the pipes absorbs warmth from the earth and brings it inside. There, the heat pump “compresses” this heat, raising its temperature so it can warm the building air comfortably—even when it’s icy cold outside.

In summer, the system works in reverse. The heat pump pulls heat out of the building’s air, sending it through the same underground pipes. Since the earth is cooler than the hot summer air, it acts like a giant heat sponge, soaking up unwanted heat from the building. This process cools the living space easily and efficiently, using a lot less energy than a regular air conditioner because the ground is always cooler than the hot outdoor air.

So, whether it’s heating or cooling, a geothermal system can keep buildings comfortable by moving heat between the building and the earth. “[It’s] pretty straightforward and very, very efficient and effective, particularly—and this is key—at the extremes,” said Richter. “Air source heat pumps are excellent and they continue to get better,” he added.

In the proverbial shadow of the Naughton Power Plant, a station in Kemmerer, Wyoming, that will stop burning coal at the end of this year, TerraPower is constructing what it calls “the only advanced, non-light-water reactor in the Western Hemisphere being built today.” The project represents more than just a new power source—it’s a symbolic passing of the torch from fossil fuels to next-generation nuclear technology.

“We call it the Natrium reactor because it is in a class of reactors we call sodium fast reactors,” Eric Williams, Chief Operating Officer for TerraPower, said as a guest on The POWER Podcast. The Natrium design is a Generation IV reactor type, which is the most advanced class of reactors being developed today. “These designs have a greatly increased level of safety, performance, and economics,” Williams explained.

Williams said the use of liquid metal coolant enhances safety. “Liquid metals are so excellent at transferring heat away from the reactor, both to exchange that heat into other systems to go generate the electricity or to remove the heat in an emergency situation,” he said. “For the Natrium reactor, we can do that heat removal directly to air if we want to, so that provides a very robust safety case for the reactor.”

The design is also safer because it can run at low pressure. “The primary system is at atmospheric pressure; whereas, current pressurized water reactors have to pressurize the system to keep the liquid from boiling—to keep it in a liquid state,” Williams explained. “Liquid metal sodium doesn’t boil until about 800 to 900 degrees Celsius, and the reactor operates down at 500 degrees Celsius, so that can remain a liquid and still be at a very high temperature without having to pressurize it.”

The liquid metal coolant also provides performance benefits. “One of those is the ability to store the energy in the form of molten salt heat coming out of the nuclear island,” said Williams. “That is really giving us the ability to provide basically a grid-scale energy storage solution, and it really matches up well with the current needs of the modern electricity grid.”

Meanwhile, the energy storage aspect also allows decoupling the electricity generation side of the plant—the energy island—from the reactor side of the plant, that is, the nuclear island. That allows the energy island to be classified as “non-safety-related” in the eyes of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC). “That side of the plant has nothing to do with keeping the reactor safe, and that means the NRC oversight doesn’t have to apply to the energy island side of the plant, so all of that equipment can be built to lower cost and different codes and standards,” Williams explained.

Notably, this also permits the grid operator to dispatch electricity without changing anything on the nuclear island. “That allows a different kind of integrating with the grid for a nuclear plant that hasn’t been achieved yet in the U.S.,” Williams said. “We’re very excited about that—the safety, the performance, and economics—and it really gives us the ability to have a predictable schedule, and construction will be complete in 2030.”

While there is clearly a lot that needs to be done, and first-of-a-kind projects rarely go off without a hitch, Williams seemed pleased with how the project was progressing. “We’re really excited to be working in the state of Wyoming. It is just an outstanding state for developing any kind of energy project, including nuclear energy. The people in the community are really welcoming to us. The state legislators are always looking for ways to remove any obstacles and just explain to us how to get the permits we need and everything. So, the project has been going really well from that standpoint,” he said. In the end, Williams appeared confident that TerraPower would hit its current target for completion in 2030.

The world’s electricity grids are facing unprecedented strain as demand surges from electrification, data centers, and renewable energy integration, while aging infrastructure struggles to keep pace. Traditional approaches to grid expansion—building new transmission lines and substations—face mounting challenges including sometimes decade-long permitting processes, escalating costs that can reach billions per project, and growing public resistance to new infrastructure. This mounting pressure has created an urgent need for innovative solutions that can unlock the hidden capacity already embedded within existing transmission networks.

What Are GETs and What Do They Do?

Grid enhancing technologies (GETs) represent a transformative approach to this challenge, offering utilities the ability to safely increase power flows on existing transmission lines by up to 40% in some cases without the need for new construction. These advanced technologies—including dynamic line ratings (DLR) that adjust capacity based on real-time weather conditions, high-temperature advanced conductors that can carry significantly more current, and sophisticated power flow controllers that optimize electricity routing—work by maximizing the utilization of current infrastructure. Rather than building around bottlenecks, GETs eliminate them through smarter, more responsive grid management.

On an episode of The POWER Podcast, Anna Lafoyiannis, program lead for the integration of renewables and co-lead of the GET SET (Grid Enhancing Technologies for a Smart Energy Transition) initiative with EPRI, explained that GETs can be either hardware or software solutions. “Their purpose is to increase the capacity, efficiency, reliability, or safety of transmission lines. So, think of these as adders to your transmission lines to make them even better,” Lafoyiannis said.

“Typically, they reduce congestion costs. They improve the integration of renewables. They increase capacity. They can provide grid service applications. So, they’re really multifaceted—very helpful for the grid,” she said. “At EPRI, we think of them as kind of like a tool in a toolbox.”

The economic and environmental implications are profound. Deploying GETs can defer or eliminate the need for costly new transmission projects while accelerating the integration of renewable energy resources that are often stranded due to transmission constraints. As utilities worldwide grapple with the dual pressures of modernizing their grids and meeting ambitious clean energy targets, GETs offer a compelling path forward that leverages innovation over infrastructure expansion to create a more resilient, efficient, and sustainable electricity system.

As the world transitions toward renewable energy sources, geothermal power has emerged as one of the most promising, yet underutilized, options in the clean energy portfolio. Unlike solar and wind, geothermal offers consistent baseload power generation capacity without intermittency challenges, making it an increasingly attractive component in the renewable energy mix.

The geothermal sector has shown increasing potential in recent years, with technological innovations expanding its possible applications beyond traditional volcanic regions. These advances are creating opportunities to tap into moderate-temperature resources that were previously considered uneconomical, potentially unlocking gigawatts of clean, renewable power across the globe.

It's within this expanding landscape that companies like Gradient Geothermal are pioneering new approaches. As a guest on The POWER Podcast, Ben Burke, CEO of Gradient Geothermal, outlined his company’s innovative approach to geothermal energy extraction that could transform how we think about energy recovery from oil and gas operations.

Modular and Mobile Geothermal Solutions

Gradient Geothermal differentiates itself in the geothermal marketplace through its focus on modular, portable equipment designed specifically for oil field operations, geothermal operators, and potentially data centers. Unlike traditional geothermal installations that require permanent infrastructure, Gradient’s equipment can be moved every six to 18 months as needed, allowing clients to adjust their thermal capacity by adding or removing units as requirements change.

“The advantage of mobility and modularity is really important to oil and gas operators,” Burke said. The company’s solution consists of two main components: an off-the-shelf organic Rankine cycle (ORC) unit and a primary heat exchanger loop. This system can handle various ratios of oil, gas, and water—even “dirty” water containing sand, brines, and minerals—and convert that heat into usable power.

One of the most compelling aspects of Gradient’s technology is its ease of installation. “Installation takes one day,” Burke explained. “It’s two pipes and three wires, and it’s able to sit on a gravel pad or sit on trailers.” This quick setup contrasts sharply with traditional geothermal plants that can take years to construct.

The units come in three sizes: 75 kW, 150 kW, and 300 kW. The modular nature allows for flexible configurations, with units able to be connected in series or parallel to handle varying water volumes and temperatures.

U.S. President Donald Trump was sworn into office for the second time on Jan. 20, 2025. That means April 30 marks his 100th day back in office.

A lot has happened during that relatively short period of time. The Trump administration has implemented sweeping changes to U.S. energy policy, primarily focused on promoting fossil fuels while curtailing renewable energy development. The administration declared a “national energy emergency” to expedite approvals for fossil fuel infrastructure and lifted regulations on coal plants, exempting nearly 70 facilities from toxic pollutant rules. Coal was officially designated a “critical mineral,” with the Department of Justice directed to investigate regulatory bias against the industry. Additionally, the administration ended the Biden-era pause on approvals for new liquefied natural gas (LNG) export facilities, signaling strong support for natural gas expansion.

On the environmental front, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Lee Zeldin announced 31 deregulatory actions designed in part to “unleash American energy.” The administration is also challenging the 2009 EPA finding that greenhouse gases endanger public health—a foundational element of climate regulation. President Trump announced the U.S.’s withdrawal from the Paris Climate Agreement, effective in early 2026, and terminated involvement in all climate-related international agreements, effectively eliminating previous emissions reduction commitments.

Renewable energy has faced significant obstacles under the new administration. A six-month pause was imposed on offshore wind lease sales and permitting in federal waters, with specific projects targeted for cancellation. The administration issued a temporary freeze on certain Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) and Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL) funds designated for clean energy projects. Policies were implemented to weaken federal clean car standards, potentially eliminate electric vehicle (EV) tax credits, and halt funding for EV charging networks—indirectly affecting power generation by potentially reducing electricity demand from EVs.

Yet, the administration’s tariff policy may end up impacting the power industry more than anything else it has done. “One thing in particular that I think would be hard to argue is not the most impactful, and that’s the current status of tariffs and a potential trade war,” Greg Lavigne, a partner with the global law firm Sidley Austin, said as a guest on The POWER Podcast.

In April, President Trump declared a national emergency to address trade deficits, imposing a 10% tariff on all countries and higher tariffs on nations with large trade deficits with the U.S. These tariffs particularly affect solar panels and components from China, potentially increasing costs for renewable energy projects and disrupting supply chains.

Meanwhile, the offshore wind energy industry has also taken a hard hit under the Trump administration. “My second-biggest impact in the first 100 days would certainly be the proclamations pausing evaluation of permitting of renewable projects, but particularly wind projects, on federal lands,” said Lavigne. “That is having real-world impacts today on the offshore wind market off the eastern seaboard of the United States.”

Despite the focus on traditional energy sources, the Trump administration has expressed support for nuclear energy as a tool for energy dominance and global competitiveness against Russian and Chinese nuclear exports. Key appointees, including Energy Secretary Chris Wright, have signaled a favorable stance toward nuclear power development, including small modular reactors.

All these actions remain subject to ongoing legal and political developments, with their full impact on the power generation industry yet to unfold.

The power industry supply chain is facing unprecedented strain as utilities race to upgrade aging infrastructure against a backdrop of lengthening lead times and increasing project complexity. This supply chain gridlock arrives precisely when utilities face mounting pressure to modernize systems. As the industry confronts this growing crisis, innovations in procurement, manufacturing, and strategic planning are essential.

“Utilities can optimize their supply chain for grid modernization projects by taking a collaborative approach between the services themselves and how they can support the projects, as well as having a partner to be able to leverage their sourcing capabilities and have the relationships with the right manufacturers,” Ian Rice, senior director of Programs and Services for Grid Services at Wesco, explained as a guest on The POWER Podcast. “At the end of the day, it’s how can the logistical needs be accounted for and taken care of by the partnered firm to minimize the overall delays that are going to naturally come and mitigate the risks,” he said.

Headquartered in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Wesco is a leading global supply chain solutions provider. Rice explained that through Wesco, utilities gain access to a one-stop solution for program services, project site services, and asset management. The company claims its tailored approach “ensures cost reduction, risk mitigation, and operational efficiencies, allowing utilities to deliver better outcomes for their customers.”

“We take a really comprehensive approach to this,” said Rice. “In the utility market, we believe pricing should be very transparent.” To promote a high level of transparency, Wesco builds out special recovery models for its clients.

“What this looks like is: we take a complete cradle-to-grave approach on the lifecycle of the said project or program, and typically, it could be up to nine figures—very, very large programs,” Rice explained. “It all starts with building that model and understanding the complexity. What are the inputs, what are the outputs, and what constraints are there in the short term as well as the long term? And, really, what’s the goal of that overall program?”

The answers to those questions are accounted for in the construction of the model. “It all starts with demand management, which closely leads to a sourcing and procurement strategy,” Rice said. “From there, we can incorporate inventory control, and set up SOPs [standard operating procedures] of how we want to deal with the contractors and all the other stakeholders within that program or project. And that really ties into what’s going to be the project management approach, as well in setting up all the different processes, or even the returns and reclamation program. We’re really covering everything minute to minute, day to day, the entire duration of that project, and tying that into a singular model.”

But that’s not all. Rice said another thing that sets Wesco apart from others in the market is when it takes this program or project approach, depending on the scale of it, the company remains agnostic when it comes to suppliers. “We’re doing procurement on behalf of our customers,” he said. “So, if they have direct relationships, we can facilitate that. If they’re working with other distributors, we can also manage that. The whole idea here is: what’s in the best interest of the customer to provide the most value.”

As the presidential inauguration loomed on the horizon in January this year, the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) Loan Programs Office (LPO) published a “year-in-review” article, highlighting accomplishments from 2024 and looking ahead to the future. It noted that the previous four years had been the most productive in the LPO’s history.

“Under the Biden-Harris Administration, the Office has announced 53 deals totaling approximately $107.57 billion in committed project investment––approximately $46.95 billion for 28 active conditional commitments and approximately $60.62 billion for 25 closed loans and loan guarantees,” it said.

Much of the funding for these investments came through the passing of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL) and the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA). The LPO reported that U.S. clean energy investment more than doubled from $111 billion in 2020 to $236 billion in 2023, creating more than 400,000 clean energy jobs. The private sector notably led the way, enabled by U.S. government policy and partnerships.

“There were 55 deals that we got across the finish line,” Jigar Shah, director of the LPO from March 2021 to January 2025, said as a guest on The POWER Podcast, while noting there were possibly 200 more projects that were nearly supported. “They needed to do more work on their end to improve their business,” he explained. That might have meant they needed to de-risk their feedstock agreement or their off-take agreement, for example, or get better quality contractors to do the construction of their project.

“It was a lot of education work,” Shah said, “but I’m really proud of that work, because I think a lot of those companies, regardless of whether they used our office or not, were better for the interactions that they had with us.”

A Framework for Success

When asked about doling out funds, Shah viewed the term somewhat negatively. “As somebody who’s been an investor in my career, you don’t dole out money, because that’s how you lose money,” he explained. “What you do is you create a framework. And you tell people, ‘Hey, if you meet this framework, then we’ve got a loan for you, and if you don’t meet this framework, then we don’t have a loan for you.” Shah noted that the vast majority of the 400 to 500 companies that the LPO worked closely with during his tenure didn’t quite meet the framework.

Still, most of those that did have progressed smoothly. “Everything that started construction is still under construction, and so, they’re all going to be completed,” said Shah. “I think all in all, the thesis worked. Certainly, there are many people who had a hard time raising equity or had a hard time getting to the finish line and final investment decision, but for those folks who got to final investment decision and started construction, I think they’re doing very well.”

Notable Projects

When asked which projects he was most excited about, Shah said, “All of them are equally exciting to me. I mean, that’s the beauty of the work I do.” He did, however, go on to mention several that stood out to him. Specifically, he pointed to the Wabash, Montana Renewables, EVgo, and Holtec Palisades projects, which were all supported under the LPO’s Title 17 Clean Energy Financing Program, as particularly noteworthy.

Perhaps the most important of the projects Shah mentioned from a power industry perspective, was the Holtec Palisades endeavor. Valued at $1.52 billion, the loan guarantee will allow upgrading and repowering of the Palisades nuclear plant in Covert, Michigan, a first in U.S. history, which has spurred others to bring retired nuclear plants back online. “[It’s] super exciting to see our first nuclear plant being restarted, and as a result, the Constellation folks have decided to restart a nuclear reactor in Pennsylvania, and NextEra has decided to restart a nuclear reactor in Iowa. So, it’s great to have that catalytic impact,” said Shah.