Watt It Takes

Michael Baker is the Co-Founder and CEO of Tyba, which builds the software that models and operates energy storage assets so developers, owners, and operators can optimize performance in increasingly complex power markets. Emily spoke with Michael about his path from growing up across several continents, where he first saw how energy shapes opportunity, to discovering storage and the gaps in the industry’s tools that ultimately led him to start Tyba. Since then, the company has grown from early prototypes to working with customers ranging from global energy companies to leading solar-plus-storage developers, and is now on track to manage two gigawatts of customer assets by the end of the year.

Jennifer Granholm is the former U.S. Secretary of Energy, where she led an unprecedented wave of investment in clean energy deployment and manufacturing. In this live conversation, recorded in San Francisco after the Powerhouse Ventures Annual General Meeting, Emily spoke with Governor Granholm about her journey from emigrating to California as a child to discovering her calling in politics and public service. They discussed how her early experiences shaped her leadership, the lessons she’s learned from decades in government, and what it takes to stay grounded while driving systemic change.

Brian Janous is the Co-Founder and CCO of Cloverleaf Infrastructure, a company developing “powered land” by bringing together utilities, grid operators, and data centers so new capacity can come online faster and with more certainty. Emily spoke to Brian about his path, from a quintessential 80s childhood in Mississippi and Texas to more than a decade at Microsoft leading a 100-person energy strategy team, where he began envisioning new ways to connect power with the world’s expanding computing needs. That path led him to co-found Cloverleaf Infrastructure, which in less than two years has raised $300 million, closed its first major deal — Project Red Granite, a 1.3 GW development representing $8 billion in investment and 2 million square feet — and is now in the process of selling a second large project expected to close this year.

Sheldon Kimber is the Co-Founder and CEO of Intersect Power, a clean energy company that develops, owns, and operates some of the world’s largest grid-tied projects, delivering American-made, low-carbon solutions for global markets and co-located industrial facilities. Emily spoke to Sheldon about his journey from growing up in South Africa and Ohio, to studying at Kenyon College and going to business school, and eventually working in the trenches of clean energy development, where he formed a vision for fast, flexible infrastructure that challenges the status quo. That vision became Intersect Power, which he founded in 2016 to deliver large-scale clean electricity to the industries that need it most. Intersect has raised over $2 billion in equity, operates $4 billion in assets—including one of the largest battery fleets in the country—and is breaking ground on $9 billion more, with major customers like Google and Microsoft.

Cody Finke is the Co-Founder and CEO of Brimstone, a company working on the most impactful decarbonization solutions for the industrial sector. Brimstone’s breakthrough process delivers multiple industrial materials, including Portland cement, Supplementary Cementitious Materials (SCM) and Smelter-Grade Alumina. Emily spoke to Cody about his journey; from growing up in Seattle and Idaho to earning a PhD at Caltech and working in environmental research, where he learned the importance of developing solutions that can scale. That path ultimately led Cody to co-found Brimstone, a company that has raised over $60 million, and signed a partnership with Oklahoma company Dolese Bros. Co. to supply the materials for its commercial-scale plant.