Field notes The Energy Transition for the Rest of Us

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Manufacturing capacity

23 notes · Catalyst 14 · Critical Capital 4 · Steel For Fuel 5

  1. Critical Capital · 1 Sep 2026 What it takes to build in America again with Erin Price-Wright, general partner at Andreessen Horowitz, investing in energy, mining and heavy industry for the firm’s American Dynamism practice; previously an engineer at Palantir Now that capital has arrived for factories, mines and grid hardware, what actually decides whether they get built in the United States?
  2. Catalyst · 11 Jun 2026 How China is reshaping the global auto market with Michael Dunne, CEO, Dunne Insights China now exports more cars than any country ever has, to everywhere except the United States. What is actually driving that, and is the American wall real protection or just delay?
  3. Critical Capital · 26 May 2026 The clean energy transition has a hardware problem with Drew Baglino, founder and CEO, Heron Power; previously nearly two decades at Tesla, where he was powertrain architect for the Model S and later led the global charging and energy business If the world has to build several times as much electricity system as it has today, what is actually holding up the build, and can the equipment that moves the power be replaced with something that scales faster?
  4. Critical Capital · 7 May 2026 Can US industrial trade policy stay on course? with Sarah Bianchi, senior managing director and chief strategist of international political affairs and public policy, Evercore; previously Deputy US Trade Representative, responsible for Asia, Africa, the energy transition and critical minerals Now that both parties agree the United States should build more at home, can trade and industrial policy hold a course steady enough for investors to put money behind it?
  5. Critical Capital · 28 Apr 2026 Atoms, bits, and the trillion-dollar manufacturing race with Aidan Madigan-Curtis, partner, Eclipse Ventures; previously at Apple, then five or six years at Samsara Who wins when the digital economy runs into the physical one, and what would the United States have to do to compete again at making, powering and moving things?
  6. Catalyst · 2 Apr 2026 Building a domestic nuclear fuel supply chain with Scott Nolan, founder and CEO, General Matter If the US is going to build a lot of nuclear, where is its fuel supply chain actually broken, and can the broken part be rebuilt in time?
  7. Catalyst · 19 Mar 2026 Scaling America’s domestic solar supply chain with Scott Moskowitz, VP of market strategy and public affairs, Qcells; board chair, Solar Energy Industries Association The US has reshored solar module assembly. Can it build the rest of the supply chain, and what is actually stopping it?
  8. Catalyst · 19 Feb 2026 The rise of grid power electronics with Drew Baglino with Drew Baglino, founder and CEO, Heron Power What changes if the grid’s transformers stop being passive lumps of steel and become controllable power electronics, and why is that finally possible now?
  9. Catalyst · 14 Aug 2025 The case for sodium-ion with Landon Mossburg, founder and CEO, Peak Energy Sodium-ion cells still cost more per kilowatt-hour than the lithium chemistry that dominates grid storage. So what is the bullish case for building grid batteries out of them?
  10. Catalyst · 17 Jul 2025 Five big questions emerging from the OBBB with Andy Lubershane, partner and head of research, Energy Impact Partners The One Big Beautiful Bill has passed and rewrites much of the Inflation Reduction Act. What are the open questions it leaves, sector by sector?
  11. Steel For Fuel · 7 Jul 2025 The EV revolution will NOT be subsidized by Andy Lubershane, Partner and Head of Research, Energy Impact Partners If the United States withdraws its electric-vehicle subsidies and mandates, does the transition to electric cars stall?
  12. Steel For Fuel · 30 Jun 2025 Full Steam Ahead by Addison Stark, CEO and co-founder, AtmosZero Why is industrial steam still raised by burning fossil fuel, and what would it take to change that?
  13. Catalyst · 26 Jun 2025 GM’s big new battery tech push with Kurt Kelty, vice president of battery, propulsion and sustainability, General Motors General Motors says a manganese-rich cathode chemistry it calls LMR will give it close to high-nickel driving range at lithium iron phosphate cost. What is it, and why should anyone treat this announcement differently from every other battery announcement?
  14. Catalyst · 5 Jun 2025 The gas turbine crunch with Anthony (Tony) Brough, president, Dora Partners Gas turbines are suddenly impossible to get and increasingly expensive. What is actually causing the bottleneck?
  15. Steel For Fuel · 9 Feb 2025 A tale of two energy superpowers by Andy Lubershane, Partner and Head of Research, Energy Impact Partners Will geopolitics, and specifically conflict between the United States and China, derail the energy transition?
  16. Catalyst · 12 Dec 2024 What happened at Northvolt? with Sam Jaffe, principal, 1019 Technologies Northvolt raised more money than almost any private company in Europe to become its homegrown answer to the Asian battery giants, then filed for bankruptcy. What actually went wrong, and what is the right lesson to draw?
  17. Steel For Fuel · 9 Dec 2024 The geopolitics of electrification by Andy Lubershane, Partner and Head of Research, Energy Impact Partners What does China’s rise to top passenger-vehicle exporter mean for energy geopolitics?
  18. Steel For Fuel · 4 Nov 2024 Why clean energy policy is probably more robust than you think by Andy Lubershane, Partner and Head of Research, Energy Impact Partners Is US clean energy policy as easy to unwind as an election result suggests?
  19. Catalyst · 10 Oct 2024 Unpacking China’s cheap battery costs with James Frith, principal, Volta Energy Technologies How much cheaper is it really to manufacture battery cells in China than in the West, and what actually explains the gap?
  20. Catalyst · 20 Jun 2024 Demystifying the Chinese EV market with TP Huang, pseudonymous writer covering Chinese electric vehicles, clean energy and technology on Substack What is actually going on inside China’s electric vehicle market: what drove the sudden acceleration, who is winning, and is the export threat the one Western tariffs are aimed at?
  21. Catalyst · 26 Feb 2024 Understanding the electric transformer shortage with Tim Mills, CEO, ERMCO Why did lead times for distribution transformers stay at one to two years long after the rest of the post-COVID supply chains cleared?
  22. Catalyst · 1 Feb 2024 What’s really happening in the US EV market? with Corey Cantor, senior associate and EV analyst, BloombergNEF Mainstream coverage says the US electric vehicle market is losing momentum while sales are growing fast. Which is it, and what is actually going on?
  23. Catalyst · 12 Oct 2023 How has US industrial policy impacted climatetech investment? with Trevor Houser, partner, Rhodium Group A year after the Inflation Reduction Act, has US industrial policy actually moved money into clean energy, or is it still mostly announcements?