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Factor This

Launched in 2022, the Factor This Podcast has featured many of the most influential leaders driving the energy transition. From solar and battery storage executives to utility CEOs, the Factor This Podcast brings unique insights and answers to the energy industry’s most pressing challenges. Go beyond high-level trends and mainstream talking points with actionable takeaways.

The Factor This Podcast grew in 2023 with the addition of This Week in Cleantech, a weekly roundup of the biggest stories in climate and clean energy in 15 minutes or less. With new episodes every Friday, Factor This content director Paul Gerke and Mike Casey, a cleantech commentator and president of Tigercomm, bring listeners the most important headlines of the week while featuring the leading journalists behind the stories.

The all-new FactorThis.com is your best source for news, commentary, and analysis of renewable energy and the power grid.

Latest Episodes:

This Week in Cleantech (04/24/2026) - Why the effects on the Iran conflict will be felt on the US grid Apr 24, 2026

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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 Bianca Giacobone of Latitude Media, who discussed how Iran's strikes on aluminum smelters in the UAE and Bahrain last month pushed prices up 11% to their highest level since Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine.

This week’s “Cleantecher of the Week” is Michael Chanin, CEO of Cherry Street Energy. Through Shine On, Cherry Street’s Solar School partnership with the nsoro Foundation, they prepare young adults aging out of Georgia’s foster care system for careers in power infrastructure. He highlights Emmanuel, who recently transitioned out of foster care and now helps build and maintain solar at Delta Air Lines’ rooftop at Hartsfield-Jackson.

This Week in Cleantech — April 24, 2026

Swedish Green Steel Startup Stegra Gets $1.65 Billion Funding to Complete New Plant – The Wall Street Journal
Data centers’ mad dash for the Texas grid – POLITICO
Renewable energies overtook global electricity demand last year, led by solar growth in China, India – The Associated Press
Why the U.S. Is Such an Outlier on EVs – The Wall Street Journal
Why the US grid will end up paying for Iran’s aluminum strikes – Latitude Media

Energy policy on your mind? Check out all episodes of the Factor This Policycast

How intelligence augments infrastructure to unlock latent grid capacity Apr 20, 2026

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Headlines talking up the surge in energy demand driven by AI and connected to data center development highlight how much has changed across the sector. But what if the capacity to meet this demand is already there, just hidden behind outdated assumptions?

To better understand what it means to utilize the existing capacity of the grid to meet this demand, we connected with Shaneez Mohinani, Head of Strategy and Operations at GridCARE. She talked through what it means to utilize the hidden capacity in the grid, the importance of moving beyond worst-case scenario planning, how all of it impacts affordability, and much more.

Energy policy on your mind? Check out all episodes of the Factor This Policycast

This Week in Cleantech (04/17/2026) - Utilities are on a spending frenzy to power the AI boom Apr 17, 2026

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Tell us what you think of the show!

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 Jennifer Hiller of The Wall Street Journal, who wrote about U.S. utilities' plans to spend about $1.4 trillion over the next five years to upgrade the aging power grid and meet surging electricity demand driven largely by AI data centers.

This week’s “Cleantecher of the Week” is Kerry Bowie, President and Founder of Browning the Green Space, or BGS, a nonprofit in Massachusetts that creates job and business opportunities in clean energy for people of color through training programs, startup support, and career pipelines. It also brings together companies and partners to remove barriers and expand access to affordable, equitable energy solutions. Congratulations, Kerry!

This Week in Cleantech — April 17, 2026

Stung by Iran war, countries are turning against U.S. fossil fuels — The Washington Post
US power and natgas prices turn negative in Texas and California as mild weather cuts demand — Reuters
Michigan regulators to utilities: Incorporate virtual power plants, or else — Factor This
Great Britain households to be urged to use more power this summer as renewables soar | Renewable energy — The Guardian
Utilities Plan to Spend $1.4 Trillion Over Next Five Years to Power AI Boom — The Wall Street Journal

Energy policy on your mind? Check out all episodes of the Factor This Policycast

This Week in Cleantech (04/10/2026) - Federal permits are slowing down clean energy development Apr 10, 2026

Show notes

Tell us what you think of the show!

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 Kelsey Tamborrino from POLITICO, who wrote a story in E&E News about a new survey of renewable energy developers that found federal permitting requirements are significantly slowing clean energy deployment.

This week's “Cleantechers of the Week” are Sam and Juliana Bendek, co-founders of Elastic Energy. The company developed a new tech that stores energy using natural tree sap. Congratulations Sam and Juliana!

This Week in Cleantech — April 10, 2026

Wisconsin city passes nation’s first anti-data center referendum — POLITICO
Exclusive: Record funding for fusion power lands as Trump eyes cuts — Axios
State Climate Laws Targeted Around US as Iran War Spikes Gas Prices — Bloomberg
Will the Iran war derail the energy transition? — The Financial Times
Federal permitting obstructs clean energy deployment, survey finds — E&E News

Energy policy on your mind? Check out all episodes of the Factor This Policycast

Redefining the utility transformation roadmap Apr 06, 2026

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There’s no shortage of talk about the hardware and AI-driven transformations that will define the grid of the future. However, the true driver of success is about a strategic mindset that’s focused on change management, which is inherently more about people and process than it is technology and tools. Andy Quick lived and enabled this reality during a nearly 30-year career at Entergy, a journey that culminated in him serving as the utility's first-ever Chief AI Officer. Today, he’s taken that experience to the grid edge as Senior Industry Advisor for Noteworthy AI, where he helps utilities define and redefine their transformation roadmaps.

We caught up with Quick to talk through how he helps utilities navigate the "how" and "when" of tech integration, what it means to move past the hype to make difficult choices about which tools will truly modernize legacy processes, the importance of an organization's willingness to transform its human-centric workflows, and much more.

Energy policy on your mind? Check out all episodes of the Factor This Policycast

This Week in Cleantech (04/03/2026) - Could this huge CA solar+storage project help farmers cope with water shortages? Apr 03, 2026

Show notes

Tell us what you think of the show!

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 Jeff St John from Canary Media, who reported on a 21 gigawatt solar and battery storage project in California, which is potentially the largest project of its kind in the world.

This week's "Cleantechers of the Week" are Tim Sahay and Kate Mackenzie, hosts of the brand new podcast, The Polycrisis. This podcast will cover geopolitics, climate change, finance and industry.

This Week in Cleantech — April 03, 2026

What Americans Really Pay For Electricity — Heatmap News
Top energy developer warns on overbuilding power supplies for AI — The Financial Times
US AI Data Center Expansion Relies on Chinese Electrical Equipment Imports — Bloomberg
A Winter Without Snow Depletes Europe’s Clean Energy Reservoir — Bloomberg
‘We’re harvesting the sun’: A huge solar project grows in California — Canary Media

Energy policy on your mind? Check out all episodes of the Factor This Policycast

This Week in Cleantech (03/27/2026) - Iran conflict highlights perils of fossil fuel dependence Mar 27, 2026

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Tell us what you think of the show!

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 "Cleantecher of the Week" is Robert Piconi, CEO of Energy Vault. This week, the company officially acquired the 175 MW McMurtre battery storage project in ERCOT North, taking its global portfolio of owned, operating, and under-construction assets to 715 MW. Congratulations, Robert!

This Week in Cleantech — March 27, 2026

Could a global economy dependent on renewable energy see less war? Experts explain — ABC News
Asia Turns Back to Coal as War Chokes Off Natural Gas — The New York Times
JPMorgan Warns Aging US Power Grids Pose National Security Risk — Bloomberg
How to get Big Tech to pay your energy bills — The Washington Post
Britain responds to Iran war energy shock by requiring solar panels and heat pumps in all new homes — CNBC

Energy policy on your mind? Check out all episodes of the Factor This Policycast

Why shifting from AMI 2.0 to NextWave AMI could define the future of grid intelligence Mar 23, 2026

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Terms like “AMI 2.0” often mean different things to different teams, depending on a utility’s current infrastructure and future goals. This lack of consensus is why Matt Wakefield, Director of Information, Communication & Cyber Security at EPRI, argues that the industry may need to shift from hardware versions to core capabilities. By positioning AMI as a cross-cutting platform for grid visibility and DER integration, utilities can move far beyond simple meter-to-cash functions.

The “NextWave AMI” framework is designed to provide that capability-based lens, focusing on long-term value rather than the integration of a specific tool. Matt joins the Factor This podcast to explore how aligning people and processes with high-value AMI use cases allows utilities to achieve "stacked benefits" that address mounting pressures like affordability and grid resilience. He unpacks the limitations of viewing AMI 2.0 as a fixed technology stack and shares the resources available to help utilities plan their next transformational upgrades.

Energy policy on your mind? Check out all episodes of the Factor This Policycast

This Week in Cleantech (03/20/2026) - A rare victory for offshore wind Mar 20, 2026

Show notes

Tell us what you think of the show!

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 Jennifer McDermott from the Associated Press, who reported on Revolution Wind, an offshore wind project targeted by Trump administration that is now sending power to the New England grid.

This week's "Cleantechers of the Week" are Martin Mulvihill, a partner at Safer Made, and Arlene Blum, a chemist, mountaineer and executive director of the Green Science Policy Institute. Safer Made is a venture capital fund that invests in companies reducing human exposure to harmful chemicals, including through PFAS-alternatives, and the Green Science Policy Institute is a nonprofit that advocates for safer use of chemicals.

This Week in Cleantech — March 20, 2026

How Ann Arbor, Michigan, is creating its own clean energy utility — Grist
Trump Officials Weigh New Plan to Stop Offshore Wind Farms — The New York Times
Surging Gas Prices Reignite EV Interest — Bloomberg
Oil and gas prices are soaring. Some countries are ready with solar panels and EVs — NPR
Offshore wind project targeted by Trump administration starts sending power to the New England grid — The Associated Press

Energy policy on your mind? Check out all episodes of the Factor This Policycast

This Week in Cleantech (03/13/2026) - Can this new coalition help bring down energy costs? Mar 13, 2026

Show notes

Tell us what you think of the show!

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 Chuck McCutcheon from Axios, who wrote about a new coalition of companies, including tech giants like Google and Tesla, which is aiming to make better use of underutilized capacity on the U.S. power grid

This week's "Cleantecher of the Week" is Samir Pendse, CEO at Coral. New York–based Coral provides instant rebates for energy and HVAC upgrades and recently raised $7.5 million in pre-seed and seed funding. The company is working to expand access to affordable financing for sustainable home upgrades at a time when energy bills are rising. Congratulations, Samir!

This Week in Cleantech — March 13, 2026

Jefferies Makes the Case to Double Down on Clean Tech Investments — Bloomberg
Demand for AI Data Centers Sends Prospectors Hunting for Land and Power – The New York Times
Solar group takes revenge on Chip Roy over tax credits — E&E News
The Electric: Its Sales Sliding, BYD Fights Back With a New Battery — The Information
Exclusive: Google, Tesla unite to fight energy costs — Axios

Energy policy on your mind? Check out all episodes of the Factor This Policycast

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