What if your solar system could earn far more by powering AI compute than by selling electricity back to the grid?

In this episode of Clean Power Hour, Tim Montague talks with Karl Andersen, founder and CEO of Lektra, about a different approach to the growing power demands of AI. Lektra places GPU servers alongside distributed energy resources such as solar and batteries, turning homes, businesses, and other energy sites into small-scale data centers.

Instead of exporting excess solar to the grid, an energy host can use that electricity to power GPU workloads and earn revenue from the compute generated. Karl says Lektra typically gives energy hosts 80% of the resulting revenue while retaining 20% for providing the compute marketplace and infrastructure.

The conversation explores why rapidly growing AI demand is exposing limitations in today's electric grid, and whether distributed energy, microgrids, batteries, and edge computing could form part of a more decentralized Grid 2.0.

In this episode, Tim and Karl discuss:

• Why AI is creating a new market for distributed energy

• How Lektra turns solar and other energy assets into edge-scale data centers

• The economics of selling compute instead of electricity

• How Lektra's 80/20 revenue-sharing model works

• Why edge computing could benefit autonomous vehicles, robotics, logistics, and physical AI

• How distributed compute could help address data-center grid constraints

• Lektra's approach to data sovereignty and on-premises AI

• What a more decentralized energy system could look like over the next several decades

The future of AI will require enormous amounts of energy. This conversation explores whether some of that demand can be met where energy is already being generated, and whether compute can provide the economic incentive to build a more distributed and resilient energy system.

Connect with Karl Andersen, Lektra

Karl Andersen | LinkedIn

Lektra - Powering Intelligence

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The Clean Power Hour is produced by the Clean Power Consulting Group and created by Tim Montague. Contact us by email: CleanPowerHour@gmail.com

Corporate sponsors who share our mission to speed the energy transition are invited to check out https://www.cleanpowerhour.com/support/

The Clean Power Hour is brought to you by CPS America, maker of North America’s number one 3-phase string inverter, with over 6GW shipped in the US. With a focus on commercial and utility-scale solar and energy storage, the company partners with customers to provide unparalleled performance and service. The CPS America product lineup includes 3-phase string inverters from 25kW to 275kW, exceptional data communication and controls, and energy storage solutions designed for seamless integration with CPS America systems. Learn more at www.chintpowersystems.com

America may need more than 230 GW of new power capacity through 2030. Regulated utilities are expected to deliver only about 93 GW. So where does the rest come from?

Tim Montague takes that question to Sylvia Leyva Martinez, Director of North America Utility-Scale Solar at Wood Mackenzie, on a crossover with her show Interchange Recharged. They work the gap from opposite ends of the industry: utility-scale generation versus C&I, community solar, storage, and microgrids.

They cover safe harbor strategy under the ITC phase-out, how projects get financed, and how the AI data center boom reshapes demand. Tim makes his case that distributed energy deploys faster than the interconnection queue allows, and lands on his thesis that the future grid is a grid of microgrids.

Tim and Sylvia work the gap between what the U.S. needs and what utilities will build:

• Where does utility scale end and distributed generation begin?
• How does the ITC phase-out drive the safe harbor rush?
• Why do most C&I projects skip PPAs for commercial loans?
• What does the 230 versus 93 gigawatt gap mean for developers?
• Which states give community solar its strongest footing?
• Why does Tim believe the future is a grid of microgrids?

Links
Interchange Recharged | Wood Mackenzie
Climate Restoration Book — Peter Fiekowsky
Sylvia Leyva Martinez | LinkedIn

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Connect with Tim

Clean Power Hour
Clean Power Hour on YouTube
Tim on Twitter
Tim on LinkedIn

Email tim@cleanpowerhour.com

Review Clean Power Hour on Apple Podcasts

The Clean Power Hour is produced by the Clean Power Consulting Group and created by Tim Montague. Contact us by email: CleanPowerHour@gmail.com

Corporate sponsors who share our mission to speed the energy transition are invited to check out https://www.cleanpowerhour.com/support/

The Clean Power Hour is brought to you by CPS America, maker of North America’s number one 3-phase string inverter, with over 6GW shipped in the US. With a focus on commercial and utility-scale solar and energy storage, the company partners with customers to provide unparalleled performance and service. The CPS America product lineup includes 3-phase string inverters from 25kW to 275kW, exceptional data communication and controls, and energy storage solutions designed for seamless integration with CPS America systems. Learn more at www.chintpowersystems.com

G&W Electric's vanadium flow + flywheel microgrid matched a full year of frequency regulation revenue in under three months

Vanadium flow batteries rarely anchor a commercial microgrid, but G&W Electric built one around a solar, battery, and flywheel system at its Bolingbrook, Illinois headquarters. John Gounaris, VP of Global Marketing, and John Pederson, Principal Staff Engineer and the project's manager, walk Tim Montague through the build.

G&W Electric manufactures switches, reclosers, and grid automation gear used across US utility grids, and its 121-year-old campus needed resilient power to protect production. The project runs on Intelligent Generation's earn, save, protect framework: earn through frequency regulation, save on capacity charges, protect with backup power. Tim presses the guests on capex, opex, and why they skipped lithium-ion.

The conversation covers real storm performance in 2026, revenue swings, and how domestic vanadium sourcing shaped the battery choice.

Gounaris and Pederson explain the choices behind one of the few flywheel microgrids in operation:

• Why did G&W skip lithium-ion for a vanadium flow battery?
• How does a flywheel hold full building load for 62 seconds?
• What earned G&W more in 10 weeks than all last year?
• How much of an industrial bill do capacity charges reach?
• Which US source supplied the vanadium, and why does it matter?
• How did the microgrid perform during the 2026 Chicago storms?

Connect with Guests

John Gounaris | LinkedIn

John Pederson | LinkedIn

G&W Electric | Innovative Power Grid Solutions & Electrical Systems

Support the show

Connect with Tim

Clean Power Hour
Clean Power Hour on YouTube
Tim on Twitter
Tim on LinkedIn

Email tim@cleanpowerhour.com

Review Clean Power Hour on Apple Podcasts

The Clean Power Hour is produced by the Clean Power Consulting Group and created by Tim Montague. Contact us by email: CleanPowerHour@gmail.com

Corporate sponsors who share our mission to speed the energy transition are invited to check out https://www.cleanpowerhour.com/support/

The Clean Power Hour is brought to you by CPS America, maker of North America’s number one 3-phase string inverter, with over 6GW shipped in the US. With a focus on commercial and utility-scale solar and energy storage, the company partners with customers to provide unparalleled performance and service. The CPS America product lineup includes 3-phase string inverters from 25kW to 275kW, exceptional data communication and controls, and energy storage solutions designed for seamless integration with CPS America systems. Learn more at www.chintpowersystems.com