POWER SURGE: Report on this one-day conference

An important conversation hosted by Doon Insights

Doon Insights, an investment-focused group organized by Howard Chao, convened dozens of subject-matter experts as speakers (see the list below) across many disciplines in Santa Cruz, California to address trends and issues impacting demand for and supply of energy in the coming years and decades. Energy, which is what makes today's technologically-dependent society possible, is a very large and important topic and was a lot to cover. But in an ambitious, rapid-paced one-day conference titled "POWER SURGE: Solving for Unprecedented Energy Demand," dozens of people laid out the fundamentals and discussed the key questions around both what is driving demand and how will we meet that demand. Questions tackled included:

Demand Side

Why projections for US power needs now greatly exceed what would have been predicted only a couple of year ago
Why the exceptional needs of AI Data Centers and the electrification of diverse parts of the economy are driving energy demand
What are the challenges of building, financing and operating new data centers?
How much more power will these new facilities require? Where will they be located and what is the attitude of utilities, state and federal government towards supporting them?
How will the rapidly changing AI competitive landscape affect these power projections? Does the advent of very cheap, highly efficient, smaller SLMs, open source models and Chinese competitors mean that investors have overestimated the need for huge data centers?
How will the electrification of vehicles, buildings, industry and transactions (blockchain and cryptocurrencies) further accelerate and add significant incremental power demand?
What are the primary challenges to meeting these power demands of these expanding use cases in the coming years and what will be the main challenges to implementation, including the need to expand the transmission capabilities of the grid?
Will the new administration's renewed emphasis on fossil fuels result in a slowdown in electrification?
What will be the impact of the tariffs on the buildout of all these projects?
How will the new administration's energy policies impact all of these areas? Will we be able to unleash power generation sufficient to sustain the foreseeable economic growth while also continuing to reduce carbon emissions?

Supply Side

What are the near and longer-term challenges and solutions to the surge in power demand?
Will growing renewables and batteries be sufficient?
Will fossil fuels experience a resurgence, with all that drilling?
Will the sexiest and biggest solutions—nuclear fission and fusion—be coming on stream faster than most people believe?
What are the short, medium and long-term prospects for these new technologies?
Will the "privatization" of nuclear innovation and the prevalence of an industry being led by fast-moving private companies, pleasantly surprise us with their speed to market?
What will be the near-term and longer-term mix of energy solutions?
How will a patchwork of revamped legacy technologies, including fuel cells, wind, solar, distributed generation, energy storage, energy time-of-use shifting and other behind-the-meter solutions help in the short-term?
How are advancements in small modular nuclear reactors (SMRs), which offer enhanced safety features, reduced construction times, and the flexibility to be deployed in diverse locations, going to contribute?
Given that major technology companies like Google and Amazon are investing in SMRs to power their expansive data centers, how will this accelerate commercialization?
Fusion energy—which is experiencing a wave of breakthroughs, with multiple companies and research initiatives racing to develop and commercialize multiple technologies, such as high-temperature superconductors, improved plasma confinement techniques, and novel neutron flux applications—is beginning to generate revenues but has yet to complete a power-generating reactor design. Will the new administration help accelerate progress towards practical fusion power with pilot plants within the decade or is this game-changing technology still decades away?

The Nuclear Option

Valerie Gardner, Nucleation's managing partner, moderated the day's fission panel, called "The Nuclear Option: Generation IV and Small Modular Reactors," which looked at the role of fission innovation and the coming wave of small, modular reactors (SMRs), that were poised to bring nuclear power into the 21st century. She and her panelists, Leah Crider from Westinghouse (seated on the left), representing the eVinci design, and Clayton Scott from NuScale Power (in the center), which has the first NRC-certified advanced fission design, discussed how and why next-generation nuclear will be the ideal clean energy solution that few think is possible.

While the Fission panel had a full 45 minutes (and probably went over-time) to cover a lot of ground, including reviewing nuclear's status as a major source of today's clean energy, the fact that nuclear is turning into a "technology" product that can be manufactured in factories and shipped to locations, and how a growing assortment of energy buyers like Google, Amazon and Dow Chemical see advanced nuclear as solving their energy needs better than other solutions, because the subject matter was so expansive, Valerie and her panel were able to cover many but definitely not all of the important points. Nevertheless, the fact that this conference's supply-side conversation included nuclear fission at all was a huge victory. This inclusion reflects the fact that nuclear energy is no longer seen as the taboo topic it was long deemed to be, at least up until the last couple of years. For too long, nuclear fission was excluded and no one considered it a vital part of the clean energy solution set. But times have changed and especially among investors looking to understand key long-term trends and be able to invest into them at an early stage.

According to Howard Chao, each panel of the conference, by design, was too short, leaving a lot of unfinished conversations. Nucleation Capital was honored to have been included in this discussion and we look forward to continuing to see interest in advanced nuclear broaden.

POWER SURGE: List of Speakers

Ps speakers 1
Ps speakers 2 Ps speakers 3

March 25, 2025

POWER SURGE: Solving for Unprecedented Energy Demand

Announcing a Doon Insights Workshop

Power surge

Doon Insights, hosted by Howard Chao, is convening dozens of experts to address trends and discuss issues impacting demand for and supply of energy in the coming years and decades. This one-day conference is being held on April 30th, 2025 in Santa Cruz, at the Boardwalk's Cocoanut Grove Resort. This is Doon Insights first energy-focused workshop, so the event will bring investors up to speed on the topic of energy and how we will meet that demand. It is not too late to register to attend. The conference is titled "POWER SURGE: Solving for Unprecedented Energy Demand."

Ray Rothrock, renowned venture capitalist and Nucleation Capital advisor, will give a keynote talk about the solutions to the demand surge in conversation with Howard Chao. Valerie Gardner, Nucleation Capital's managing partner, is moderating an afternoon panel on Long Term Supply Side Solutions from Nuclear Fission: Specifically Gen IV and Small Modular Reactors. Following that, Matt Trevithick of Leitmotif Ventures, will moderate a panel on Fusion. For the complete event overview and agenda, see thePOWER SURGE website.

Official Event Description

Doon Insights is pleased to announce our Power Surge Workshop: Solving for Unprecedented Energy Demand!

Our Power Surge Workshop will convene an exclusive gathering of industry leaders, investors, technologists, and innovators to explore one of the most pressing challenges of our time: meeting the surging demand for energy in a scalable and sustainable way.

As data centers, the electrification of everything, crypto mining, and other emerging energy-intensive applications create an unprecedented spike in demand, the energy sector is facing a pivotal moment. This perfect storm of demand must be addressed with both more conventional power generation, better power management and revolutionary new technologies.

Why Attend?

This Workshop is a must-attend event for energy innovators, investors, technologists, energy, manufacturing, mobility and other energy industry executives. Engage in in-depth discussions, network with industry leaders, and discover actionable insights into our energy future. And enjoy the beach and mountains of Santa Cruz!

Event Details:

Date:April 30, 2025 - 8 am

Location:The Boardwalk's Classic Cocoanut Grove Ballroom, 400 Beach Street, Santa Cruz, CA (Workshop); Bonny Doon, CA (Reception and Dinner)

Join us to explore the technologies, strategies, and collaborations that will define the next generation of energy systems. Secure your spot today!

Very much looking forward to seeing everyone in Santa Cruz!

February 7, 2024

First private British nuclear power plant

The first fully privately-fund nuclear power plant is in development in the U.K., with the goal of providing power to up to two million homes. The project is being developed by a group called Community Nuclear Power, which has already selected and secured a site.

The plan is to deploy four Westinghouse AP300 small modular reactors on a site on the north bank of the River Tees, in Teesside, U.K. The local authorities are backing the company's plan to locate the new plant on a site was previously home to a chemical plant and adjacent to the renowned Saltholme bird reserve. The new facility may be welcomed, in fact, as a way to help clean up both the air and the water in the area, since nuclear power emits no toxic chemical or carbon dioxide emissions.

Community Nuclear Power evaluated options from a number of SMR developers, most likely including Rolls-Royce and EDF, which is developing an SMR based largely on reactors already being built and used for nuclear-powered submarines. The company, however, is reported as having inked a deal with Westinghouse, although the formal announcement has to be made.

According to a company representative, the plan will be fully privately financed and will not be seeking government or taxpayer support. Nevertheless, it is a step along the path that was recently set out by the U.K. government's recently issued Civil Nuclear Roadmap, originally championed by former prime minister, Boris Johnson, which references SMRs and their advantages for expediting deployment because they are smaller and can be made in factories and shipped in modules to the construction site, making construction faster and less expensive.

According to Jonathan Leake, writing in The Telegraph (and reposted by Yahoo Finance), there is a definite chance that the Community Nuclear Power project, if successful, could be in operation ahead of both Hinkley Point C, already in construction in Somerset but delayed, and Sizewell C, already being planned for the Suffolk coast and putting 1.5 Gigawatts of power onto the grid by the early 2030s. It would likely benefit from the government's commitment to accelerate the deployment process towards achieving a quadrupling of U.K. nuclear power.

This is an exciting development for those working to commercialize SMRs and will most certainly be a boost to others looking to accelerate the deployment of clean energy around the world with privately financed SMR projects.

Read more at Yahoo Finace "First ‘private’ nuclear reactor to power 2m British homes," by Jonathan Leake, February 7, 2024.

Published by Nucleation Capital in Advanced Nuclear, Advanced Nuclear Customers, Capital reallocation, Construction costs, Future of Energy, Great British Nuclear, History Timeline, History-making, International support for nuclear, Investor activity, LINKS, Nuclear competitiveness, Nuclear financing, Private companies, Solving climate, UK Climate Policy, Zero emission energy

March 28, 2022

Katy Huff

D r. Kathryn D. Huff serves as the Acting Assistant Secretary and Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for the Office of Nuclear Energy. Prior to her current role, she was an Assistant Professor in the Department of Nuclear, Plasma, and Radiological Engineering at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign where she led the Advanced Reactors and Fuel Cycles Research Group. She was also a Blue Waters Assistant Professor with the National Center for Supercomputing Applications.

Before joining the Department of Energy, Dr. Huff was an Assistant Professor in the Department of Nuclear, Plasma, and Radiological Engineering at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign where she led the Advanced Reactors and Fuel Cycles Research Group and taught reactor theory and the future of energy. She was also a Blue Waters Assistant Professor with the National Center for Supercomputing Applications. She was previously a Postdoctoral Fellow in both the Nuclear Science and Security Consortium and the Berkeley Institute for Data Science at the University of California - Berkeley.

Dr. Huff received her Ph.D. in Nuclear Engineering from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 2013 and her undergraduate degree in Physics from the University of Chicago. Her research focused on modeling and simulation of advanced nuclear reactors and fuel cycles.

She is an active member of the American Nuclear Society, Chair of the Nuclear Nonproliferation and Policy Division, a past chair of the Fuel Cycle and Waste Management Division, and recipient of both the Young Member Excellence and Mary Jane Oestmann Professional Women's Achievement awards. Through leadership within Software Carpentry, SciPy, the Hacker Within, and the Journal of Open Source Software, she also advocates for best practices in open, reproducible scientific computing.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YnsOPodptHQ&t=86s

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Sources:

University of Illinois Alumni: In Class Power Source: Nuclear engineer Katy Huff on teaching with IPythons, reactor theory and the future of energy
DOE Office of Nuclear Energy: Dr. Kathryn Huff, Senior Advisor, Office of the Secretary.

Published by editor in Brilliant thinkers, History-making, Nuclear R&D, Women in Nuclear, WOMEN IN NUCLEAR GRID

March 1, 2022

Rita Baranwal

Dr. Rita Baranwal was nominated by the President to serve as the Assistant Secretary for the Office of Nuclear Energy (ONE) and was confirmed by the U.S. Senate on June 20, 2019 (by a vote of 86 to 5), becoming the first woman to ever lead the Office of Nuclear Energy.

In that role, Dr. Baranwal directed programs to promote research and development (R&D) on existing and advanced nuclear technologies that sustain the existing U.S. fleet of nuclear reactors, enable the deployment of advanced nuclear energy systems, support nuclear technology for space and defense applications, and enhance the U.S.A.'s global commercial nuclear energy competitiveness. She also:

Launched innovative programs to demonstrate advanced nuclear reactor designs, launched a new U.S. reactor innovation center, and a unique private-public partnership to develop new U.S. nuclear testing capabilities
Collaborated with U.S. intergovernmental agencies (e.g. Departments of State, Commerce, and Treasury, National Security Council, Office of Science & Technology Policy, Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Development Finance Corporation) to globally deploy new U.S. civil nuclear technology.
Implemented civil nuclear agreements with two countries; initiated civil nuclear agreement discussions with eleven countries.
Partnered with NASA on nuclear technology and expertise for space exploration. Contributed to the National Strategy for Space Nuclear Power and Propulsion, Executive Order on Reactors for Space Exploration, and DOE’s Space Strategy.
Managed Congressionally-enacted budget of $1.5B (FY20).
Served as the Equity in Energy Champion for DOE’s Office of Economic Impact and Diversity.

Following her service as the #1 at ONE, Dr. Baranwal served as the VP of Nuclear and Chief Nuclear Officer for the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) for over a year. As of 2022, Dr. Baranwal has returned to Westinghouse as the Chief Technology Officer.

Prior to her appointment to the ONE, Dr. Baranwal served as the director for the DOE's Gateway for Accelerated Innovation in Nuclear (GAIN) since 2016, an initiative hosted at Idaho National Laboratory. GAIN is the way the U.S. Government connects industry with national laboratories to help commercialize nuclear technologies. Under her leadership, GAIN positively impacted 112 projects and companies.

Before that, Dr. Baranwal worked for Westinghouse in the nuclear fuel division, leading a number of research and development programs. She started her career at Bettis Atomic Power Laboratory helping to develop advanced nuclear fuel materials for US naval reactors.

Dr. Baranwal has a bachelor’s degree from Massachusetts Institute of Technology in materials science and engineering and a master’s degree and Ph.D. in the same discipline from the University of Michigan.

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Sources:

LinkedIn: Dr. Rita Baranwal
NayaFace: Rita Baranwal sworn in as 1st woman US Assistant Secretary for Nuclear Energy at DOE, July 25, 2019.

Published by editor in Brilliant thinkers, History-making, Nuclear R&D, Women in Nuclear, WOMEN IN NUCLEAR GRID