Catalyst with Shayle Kann

Eyal Cohen, founder and CEO of Humble Robotics and former Apple and Uber autonomy lead, discusses building cabless electric autonomous trucks from the ground up. He explains why freight autonomy differs from passenger cars. He covers camera-first perception and visual language models, the hub-to-hub business model, electrification and charging, and regulatory challenges for cabless trucks.

George Hershman, CEO of SOLV Energy, a leader in U.S. utility-scale solar and storage construction. He discusses rising load-driven demand for solar and storage. He explains how SOLV scales gigawatt projects with automation and lifecycle services. He highlights logistics as the main scaling constraint and describes AI-driven simulations for site and crew optimization.

Amin Vahdat, Google’s chief technologist for AI infrastructure who designs data centers, chips, and power systems. He talks about Google’s massive 2026 CapEx and the shift from training to distributed inference. Conversations cover rethinking reliability to favor more compute, using on-site power as a bridge, microgrids and software control, and co-designing chips, buildings, and models.

Zach Dell, co-founder and CEO of Base Power, runs a company that manufactures, owns, installs, and operates residential batteries while selling electricity. He explains Base’s vertically integrated, gen-tailer approach and how home batteries provide backup plus grid services. They discuss cost advantages versus utility-scale, partnerships with utilities, installation design choices, and plans for rapid scaling.

Varun Sivaram, CEO of Emerald AI and expert in aligning data centers with power grids. He discusses tapping unused grid capacity and why power flexibility is becoming profitable. They explore differences between training and inference flexibility, the role of batteries and turbines in a mini dispatch curve, and plans for a 100 MW power‑flexible AI factory.

Katie Bays, Head of Research at Crux, breaks down evolving financing tools and compliance workarounds. Alfred Johnson, CEO of Crux, explains booming transferable tax credit markets and manufacturing-driven capital flows. They discuss why capital kept moving, how deal structures broadened, and which players benefited in a volatile 2025.

Scott Nolan, CEO of General Matter, a leader building U.S. uranium enrichment capacity. He breaks down the five-step fuel chain and why enrichment is a critical choke point. They discuss U.S. reliance on Russian enrichment, differences between LEU and HALEU, the HALU supply gap for advanced reactors, and General Matter’s Paducah strategy and timeline.

Sean McAvoy, President and Chief Product Officer at GridBeyond North America, builds AI that connects distributed assets to electricity markets. He discusses turning battery patents into market-facing AI, integrating site controls with optimization, and how data centers and solar+storage factor into grid flexibility. He also covers forecasting, saturation, and strategies for faster interconnection.

Dr. Jen Schaefer, a nuclear fuel-cycle expert and professor at Colorado School of Mines, breaks down what spent fuel is and which isotopes drive long-term risk. She walks through storage methods from pools to dry casks. The conversation covers Yucca Mountain, recycling versus disposal, how advanced reactor fuels change the problem, and novel take-back ideas for microreactors.

Scott Moskowitz, VP of market strategy and public affairs at Qcells and chair of the SEIA board, discusses U.S. efforts to reshore solar manufacturing. He digs into which supply-chain steps are coming back, why clustering and scale matter, and how costs, policy incentives, and permitting shape competitiveness. The conversation highlights chokepoints from polysilicon to modules and the politics behind industrial policy.