Catalyst with Shayle Kann21 Loka 2025

Frontier Forum: The new power map for AI infrastructure

As AI reshapes the industrial landscape, companies are questioning whether the grid can keep pace. Permitting delays, transmission constraints, and reliability risks are forcing developers to rethink where power comes from. In this episode, KR Sridhar, CEO of Bloom Energy, lays out a radically different vision. He believes that many data centers will ultimately operate like refineries — powered by captive, off-grid generation that prioritizes resilience, speed, and local control over traditional grid economics. Sridhar argues that solid-state fuel cells have become an ideal solution to meet data center needs at AI speed and scale. They can be deployed in months rather than years, follow digital loads in real time, and integrate with future zero-carbon fuels like hydrogen. “I truly believe that this is a cyclical trend that’s going to continue for well over a decade,” said Sridhar. This episode features an edited version of our live Frontier Forum conversation about what a future-proof AI power strategy really looks like. We talk about the tension between off-grid and grid-connected approaches, the importance of speed to power, carbon capture, and supply chains over the next decade of growth. The conversation also touches on Bloom’s new white paper, Fuel Cells: A Technology Whose Time Has Come, which argues that onsite generation can deliver AI-scale reliability and lower emissions. You can watch the full Frontier Forum conversation with audience Q&A here.

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The truth about data center water usage

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 ...

8 Loka 44min

ERCOT batteries: boom, bust, or rebound?

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 ...

1 Loka 37min

The rush for clean, on-site power [partner content]

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 distr...

28 Syys 31min

Anduril's vision for powering maritime defense

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 tha...

24 Syys 32min

AMA: Fuel cells, geopolitics, and the solar growth curve

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 episo...

17 Syys 23min

Do data centers actually increase electricity prices? No...and yes

You don’t have to look far to see the vitriol and backlash ignited by the rapid expansion of hyperscaler data centers. While critics and activists tend to focus their ire on resource consumption and r...

10 Syys 42min

What comes after the data center backlash?

In their early days, data centers were largely welcomed by communities who saw their arrival as an economic boost. Today as concerns around noise levels, power prices, water use, and AI grow, they fac...

3 Syys 47min

The rise of metal fuels

Diesel generators remain ubiquitous because they offer an unusually powerful combination of low cost, high energy density, long-duration storage, and reliable off-grid power. But their pollution, nois...

27 Elo 40min