Factor This

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This Week in Cleantech is a weekly podcast covering the most impactful stories in clean energy and climate featuring Paul Gerke of Factor This and Tigercomm’s Mike Casey.
This week's episode features special guest Mark Chediak from Bloomberg, who breaks down Trump's new 15% tariffs and price floors on imported polysilicon and its derivatives, including wafers, cells and modules.
This week’s “Cleantecher of the Week” is Kumo Sharma, founder of Arkaya Energy. His company's milk-source heat pump pulls heat straight out of fresh milk as it's chilled for cheesemaking, then uses that heat to make near-boiling water for washdown — cutting England’s Barber's Farmhouse Cheesemakers' electricity use in half and saving them about $94,000 a year. Congratulations, Kumo!
This Week in Cleantech — August 14, 2026 
Zach Dell Is Raising Money to Put a Battery in Your Backyard — WSJ
Trump waged war on EVs. Now he’s helping them out. — E&E News
Some Nebraska communities are cashing in on renewables. Others are being left behind. — Grist
Federal Judge Orders Pentagon to Lift Freeze on Wind Power — The New York Times
How the US Is Trying to End Solar Tariff Whack-a-Mole — Bloomberg
Energy policy on your mind? Check out all episodes of the Factor This Policycast

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It's been a rough summer for soft serve ice cream cone enthusiasts. In most parts of the United States, hot and humid weather has visited and overstayed its welcome, which is no treat for the power grid, either. Elevated temperatures mean increased electricity consumption and accompanying higher prices, the cherry on top amidst a nationwide surge in demand fueled by data centers, manufacturing, and mass electrification.
So far, we've seen grid operators issue a few alerts and calls for conservation, particularly in constrained PJM Interconnection territory, where emergency conservation measures kept electricity demand ​from eclipsing an all-time high set in 2006. Down in Texas, the record book is being rewritten this summer. ERCOT has shattered its all-time demand mark more than once, but has also thus far kept power prices reasonable by leveraging an influx of renewables and battery energy storage to break generation records, too.
In general, serving peak demand is extremely expensive, and the peakier the system, the pricier it is for the average ratepayer. As most of the country copes with higher electricity bills, finding ways to curb costs is paramount. Thankfully, utilities have a variety of tools at their disposal to improve grid utilization and peak load management, including flexible home electrical equipment, smart electric vehicle charging, and managing distributed energy resources through virtual power plants. And since transmission and distribution system infrastructure is designed to accommodate the few hours of the year when the system is taken to its limits, there is almost always spare capacity on power lines, which can be leveraged via advanced transmission technologies, as we discussed in the previous episode of the Factor This Policycast.
This edition of the podcast, presented in partnership with Advanced Energy United, explores demand-side solutions for surviving summer peaks. Host Paul Gerke leads a discussion highlighting the tools available to keep the lights on and bills manageable, and how utilities can use them to get more out of our existing grid without investing in costly, time-consuming infrastructure upgrades. Richard Caperton, vice president for public policy at SPAN, and Sarah Steinberg, managing director at Advanced Energy United, outline the metrics that matter, share how early legislation is leaning, and explain why demand-side solutions work for utilities.
Energy policy on your mind? Check out all episodes of the Factor This Policycast

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This Week in Cleantech is a weekly podcast covering the most impactful stories in clean energy and climate featuring Paul Gerke of Factor This and Tigercomm’s Mike Casey.
This week's episode features special guest Heather Clancy from Trellis, who discusses why some data center companies see fuel cells as an attractive option for onsite power.
This week’s “Cleantecher of the Week” is is Aytaç Yilmaz, Co-founder & CEO of Ore Energy. The Amsterdam-based startup just closed a $43 million Series A for its iron-air batteries, which store renewable power for up to 100 hours by rusting and unrusting iron electrodes, no lithium or cobalt required. Ore's also just signed the largest long-duration storage deal in continental Europe, a 1 gigawatt-hour agreement with Dutch utility Budget Thuis. Congratulations, Aytaç!
This Week in Cleantech — August 7, 2026 
Solar to Soon Pass Coal as China’s Top Power Capacity Source — Bloomberg
How Solar Donors Helped Take Down a Trump-Backed Republican –– Politico
The World Crossed a Major Solar Milestone. No One Noticed –– Bloomberg
This Is What the New Rush to Mine America Looks Like –– TIME Magazine
Why data center companies Equinix and Oracle are buying fuel cells – Trellis
Energy policy on your mind? Check out all episodes of the Factor This Policycast

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 In an era defined by compounding wildfire risks, rapid digitalization, and unprecedented demand growth, utilities need to redefine their playbook. Sumeet Singh, CEO of Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E) and EVP for Energy Delivery, is doing exactly that for one of the country’s largest energy enterprises while both improving local communities and setting an operational benchmark for the wider industry.
In this episode of the Factor This podcast, Singh details how utility leaders can balance cultural shifts with the economic imperative to maximize underutilized grid capacity and lower customer rates. He breaks down how PG&E processes billions of pieces of data to help predict wildfire risks in advance, and how AI-enabled camera networks can shave critical minutes off emergency response times. 
From deploying machine learning to accelerating customer interconnections, Singh details how data amplifies frontline expertise rather than replacing it. Grounded in a philosophy of selfless service and value-based safety ownership, this conversation provides a blueprint for combining innovative technology with engineering discipline to cultivate a community trust that is foundational to the grid of the future.
Energy policy on your mind? Check out all episodes of the Factor This Policycast

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This Week in Cleantech is a weekly podcast covering the most impactful stories in clean energy and climate featuring Paul Gerke of Factor This and Tigercomm’s Mike Casey.
This week's episode features special guest Clara Hudson from the Wall Street Journal, who breaks down Heineken's plan to use a renewable-powered heat battery to release steam for its beer brewing in Portugal.
This week’s “Cleantechers of the Week” are Tim Shepherd and Sylvain Marseille from Pelton Shepherd Industries, which makes Nutri Ice – ice packs that you can use to feed plants. It is the only truly compostable gel pack and offers the same performance as a regular gel pack. Congratulations Tim and Sylvain!
This Week in Cleantech — July 31, 2026
Cracks appear in the vision of off-grid AI data centers — Axios
Trump administration admits grants for clean energy were canceled based on politics – The Associated Press
BP nears deal to sell solar business Lightsource to Kuwait-backed group – Financial Times
Trump admin bans ‘new’ foreign-made inverters. What does that mean? — Canary Media
Heineken Is Trying a Heat Battery to Generate Steam for Its Brewing — The Wall Street Journal
Energy policy on your mind? Check out all episodes of the Factor This Policycast