The hyperscalers are racing to secure power, pouring billions into new plants, nuclear, even fusion. But interconnection queues still run for years. This week's guest can cut that wait to six to twelve months without building a single transmission line or power plant.

Amit Narayan is the founder and CEO of GridCARE. His thesis: America doesn't have a power shortage, it has a visibility problem. The grid runs at only about a third of its capacity, and GridCARE uses AI to scan it the way an MRI scans a body, finding power utilities simply cannot see with planning tools built decades ago. The company has unlocked more than a gigawatt in the last six months and is actively analyzing over ten. Narayan's bet: 300 gigawatts are reachable on existing infrastructure within three to five years.

Jigar Shah and Jamie Nolan dig into why the grid sits so underused, and the detail that captures the whole problem: hyperscalers are so power-starved they're eyeing data centers in space, when the power they need is already on the grid at home.

Links:

Get Energy Empire merch: https://energy-empire.bonfire.com/

Submit a question to Ask Jigar: https://octopusenergy.com/ask-jigar

S2G Investments: https://www.s2ginvestments.com/insights/podcast-global-energy-order

Octopus Energy: https://octopusenergy.com/faas

Data centers have become one of the most charged political issues in the country, and it cuts across both parties. Electricity bills are climbing, 36 states are electing governors who will have to answer for it, and the question is the same in red states and blue: how do you welcome the investment without handing residents the bill?

Few people are better placed to answer than Jennifer Granholm, two-term governor of Michigan and the 16th Secretary of Energy, who oversaw the largest expansion of energy manufacturing in a generation and now advises governors on this exact problem. Jigar and Jamie talk with her about the playbook every governor needs, the energy sovereignty lesson the world drew from the Strait of Hormuz, and who is actually driving up your electricity bill.

Along the way: why a data center should buy your neighborhood batteries and pay you to use them, the acronym BYONCE, the utility business model that rewards building things nobody needs, and the Puerto Rico story she can't shake.

Links:

Get Energy Empire merch: https://energy-empire.bonfire.com/

Submit a question to Ask Jigar: https://octopusenergy.com/ask-jigar

S2G Investments: https://www.s2ginvestments.com/insights/podcast-global-energy-order

Octopus Energy: https://octopusenergy.com/faas

Powering the AI Economy report from the Centre for Net Zero: https://poweringai.centrefornetzero.org

Four generations of Daniel Dus's family have worked in American energy. His great-grandfather was a coal-mine engineer who became president of Michigan Tech; his grandfather built power transformers at General Electric. Daniel pivoted into renewables — and now runs Cleantech Industry Resources, the company he founded after running the US arm of one of the world's largest renewable energy firms.

Jigar and Jamie talk with Daniel about how he built one of the quietest, most efficient operations in clean energy, why he refuses to charge what the market would pay, what AI is doing to the people who used to do this work, and the boxing-themed fundraiser he runs every year for the industry.

Along the way: how a Vermont team plus AI agents can deliver solar work for a tenth of what consulting firms charge. Why cheaper energy means more jobs, not fewer. And the new platform Daniel started to push back on what he refuses to call "misinformation."

Links:

Learn more about CIR: https://cleantechir.com/products

Clean Tech Fact Check: https://cleantechfactcheck.org/factcheck

Submit a question to Ask Jigar: ⁠https://octopusenergy.com/ask-jigar

⁠S2G Investments: ⁠https://www.s2ginvestments.com/insights/podcast-global-energy-order

Octopus Energy: ⁠https://octopusenergy.com/faas⁠