Jesse D. Jenkins
@jessedjenkins.com
Macro-energy systems engineering, optimization & policy. Associate professor at Princeton University. Leads the ZERO Lab. Co-hosts SHIFT KEY podcast. Time100 Next & TIME100 Climate honoree. More at linkedin.com/in/jessedjenkins & zero.lab.princeton.edu
Pinned
Jesse D. Jenkins
@jessedjenkins.com
· Oct 20
I recently co-founded Firma Power w/Scott Burger & Brent Alderfer, a new venture assembling portfolios of clean resources to deliver firm, load-enabling power to hyperscale data centers and other large loads.
World-class analytics is our edge, and we want YOU to join the team. 🔌💡
World-class analytics is our edge, and we want YOU to join the team. 🔌💡
The first batteries rolled off the production line at Toyota’s new $14 billion battery plant in Liberty, North Carolina. The plant will produce batteries for hybrid, plug-in hybrid & electric models, which Toyota plans to make up 70% of its sales by 2030 electrek.co/2025/11/17/t... 🔌💡 🔌🚗
Toyota's 1,850-acre EV battery plant is live, but the company says this is just the start
Toyota’s $14 billion US battery plant is now up and running. The mega site spans 1,850 acres, or about 121...
electrek.co
November 25, 2025 at 4:11 PM
The first batteries rolled off the production line at Toyota’s new $14 billion battery plant in Liberty, North Carolina. The plant will produce batteries for hybrid, plug-in hybrid & electric models, which Toyota plans to make up 70% of its sales by 2030 electrek.co/2025/11/17/t... 🔌💡 🔌🚗
Reposted by Jesse D. Jenkins
Very interesting episode of the Shift Key podcast on what AI boom is doing to clean energy and what might happen if it is a bubble that leaves bankrupt data center companies and potentially unused grid capacity.
podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/h...
🔌💡
podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/h...
🔌💡
How Clean Energy Could Prepare for an AI Bubble
Podcast Episode · Shift Key with Robinson Meyer and Jesse Jenkins · 11/19/2025 · 1h 19m
podcasts.apple.com
November 25, 2025 at 4:00 PM
Very interesting episode of the Shift Key podcast on what AI boom is doing to clean energy and what might happen if it is a bubble that leaves bankrupt data center companies and potentially unused grid capacity.
podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/h...
🔌💡
podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/h...
🔌💡
Nuclear reactor developer X-Energy closed a $700m funding round, bringing its total haul over the past 13 months to $1.4b, as it races to bring online a new reactor design and fulfill offtake agreements with Amazon, Dow etc. www.ft.com/content/59d9... 🔌💡
Amazon’s X-energy gets backing from Jane Street as investors bet big on nuclear
Reactor developer closes fundraising round as markets expect atomic energy will power the AI boom
www.ft.com
November 24, 2025 at 2:33 PM
Nuclear reactor developer X-Energy closed a $700m funding round, bringing its total haul over the past 13 months to $1.4b, as it races to bring online a new reactor design and fulfill offtake agreements with Amazon, Dow etc. www.ft.com/content/59d9... 🔌💡
First Solar just opened a $1.1 billion integrated solar PV manufacturing plant in Louisiana capable of producing 3.5 gigawatts of panels each year. The plant will employ >700 people electrek.co/2025/11/21/f... 🔌💡
First Solar opens a Louisiana factory that’s 11 Superdomes big
First Solar opens a massive $1.1 billion solar factory in Louisiana, adding 3.5 GW of new US capacity and more than 800 well-paid jobs.
electrek.co
November 22, 2025 at 7:31 PM
First Solar just opened a $1.1 billion integrated solar PV manufacturing plant in Louisiana capable of producing 3.5 gigawatts of panels each year. The plant will employ >700 people electrek.co/2025/11/21/f... 🔌💡
Reposted by Jesse D. Jenkins
On this week's SHIFT KEY:
@robinsonmeyer.bsky.social and @jessedjenkins.com wonk out with @advaitarun.bsky.social about project financing for data centers. Is it a bubble? And if so, what will that mean for clean energy?
Listen to find out:
podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/s...
@robinsonmeyer.bsky.social and @jessedjenkins.com wonk out with @advaitarun.bsky.social about project financing for data centers. Is it a bubble? And if so, what will that mean for clean energy?
Listen to find out:
podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/s...
How Clean Energy Could Prepare for an AI Bubble
Podcast Episode · Shift Key with Robinson Meyer and Jesse Jenkins · 11/19/2025 · 1h 19m
podcasts.apple.com
November 19, 2025 at 10:03 PM
On this week's SHIFT KEY:
@robinsonmeyer.bsky.social and @jessedjenkins.com wonk out with @advaitarun.bsky.social about project financing for data centers. Is it a bubble? And if so, what will that mean for clean energy?
Listen to find out:
podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/s...
@robinsonmeyer.bsky.social and @jessedjenkins.com wonk out with @advaitarun.bsky.social about project financing for data centers. Is it a bubble? And if so, what will that mean for clean energy?
Listen to find out:
podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/s...
Battery export boom: China has exported approximately $60 billion in battery energy storage systems and components in the first three quarters of 2025, up 24% from last year www.reuters.com/markets/comm...
US export comparisons in 2024: Soy, $25b. LNG, $28.9b. Auto exports, $59.2b. 🔌💡
US export comparisons in 2024: Soy, $25b. LNG, $28.9b. Auto exports, $59.2b. 🔌💡
www.reuters.com
November 20, 2025 at 1:57 PM
Battery export boom: China has exported approximately $60 billion in battery energy storage systems and components in the first three quarters of 2025, up 24% from last year www.reuters.com/markets/comm...
US export comparisons in 2024: Soy, $25b. LNG, $28.9b. Auto exports, $59.2b. 🔌💡
US export comparisons in 2024: Soy, $25b. LNG, $28.9b. Auto exports, $59.2b. 🔌💡
Excited to share real-world progress from two companies I advise.
1. Eavor is ready to 'fire up' their first of a kind closed loop geothermal combined heat and power plant in Bavaria in December.
share.google/3A9DOhmyE0LF... 🔌💡
1. Eavor is ready to 'fire up' their first of a kind closed loop geothermal combined heat and power plant in Bavaria in December.
share.google/3A9DOhmyE0LF... 🔌💡
Eavor set to begin start-up of closed-loop geothermal pilot
Eavor aims to bring its closed-loop geothermal pilot in Geretsried, Germany online before year-end, marking a cautious step toward next-generation geothermal.
share.google
November 14, 2025 at 9:45 PM
Excited to share real-world progress from two companies I advise.
1. Eavor is ready to 'fire up' their first of a kind closed loop geothermal combined heat and power plant in Bavaria in December.
share.google/3A9DOhmyE0LF... 🔌💡
1. Eavor is ready to 'fire up' their first of a kind closed loop geothermal combined heat and power plant in Bavaria in December.
share.google/3A9DOhmyE0LF... 🔌💡
Solar and wind are covering ALL new power demand worldwide in the first three quarters of 2025 electrek.co/2025/11/13/s...
#upshift 🔌💡
#upshift 🔌💡
November 14, 2025 at 2:27 AM
Solar and wind are covering ALL new power demand worldwide in the first three quarters of 2025 electrek.co/2025/11/13/s...
#upshift 🔌💡
#upshift 🔌💡
Reposted by Jesse D. Jenkins
The podcast Article of Interest did a fascinating podcast episode on the zipper. It's a complicated piece of technology whose existence is new and not a given - we had plenty of other fasteners - snaps and buttons. And while YKK is now the world's largest zipper maker the zipper was invented in NJ
November 7, 2025 at 3:10 PM
The podcast Article of Interest did a fascinating podcast episode on the zipper. It's a complicated piece of technology whose existence is new and not a given - we had plenty of other fasteners - snaps and buttons. And while YKK is now the world's largest zipper maker the zipper was invented in NJ
SPP (the Southwest Power Pool, serving the central Great Plains states) approved a new regional transmission plan with $8.6 billion in projects, including ~950 miles of ultra-high voltage 765 kV lines, and with estimated benefits 18X the costs www.spp.org/documents/75... More of this please! 🔌💡
November 7, 2025 at 3:09 PM
SPP (the Southwest Power Pool, serving the central Great Plains states) approved a new regional transmission plan with $8.6 billion in projects, including ~950 miles of ultra-high voltage 765 kV lines, and with estimated benefits 18X the costs www.spp.org/documents/75... More of this please! 🔌💡
Reposted by Jesse D. Jenkins
There’s 40 gigawatts of spare capacity sitting around in Americans’ driveways. Why aren’t we using it to keep down electricity rates? On this week’s episode of Shift Key, @jessedjenkins.com and I chat with the cofounder and CEO of a company trying to do just that: heatmap.news/podcast/shif...
How EVs Can Actually Help the Electricity Crisis
Rob and Jesse touch base with WeaveGrid CEO Apoorv Bhargava.
heatmap.news
November 6, 2025 at 6:09 PM
There’s 40 gigawatts of spare capacity sitting around in Americans’ driveways. Why aren’t we using it to keep down electricity rates? On this week’s episode of Shift Key, @jessedjenkins.com and I chat with the cofounder and CEO of a company trying to do just that: heatmap.news/podcast/shif...
Hat tip @wilsonar.bsky.social for this! 🤣
November 6, 2025 at 12:49 AM
Hat tip @wilsonar.bsky.social for this! 🤣
How's this for energy abundance? Millions of Aussies will start receiving three hours of free power each day in 2026. This is what happens when you make rooftop solar less than a buck a watt!!
"Rooftop solar installations cost about $840 (U.S.) per kilowatt of capacity before rebates." 🤯
🔌💡
"Rooftop solar installations cost about $840 (U.S.) per kilowatt of capacity before rebates." 🤯
🔌💡
November 6, 2025 at 12:46 AM
How's this for energy abundance? Millions of Aussies will start receiving three hours of free power each day in 2026. This is what happens when you make rooftop solar less than a buck a watt!!
"Rooftop solar installations cost about $840 (U.S.) per kilowatt of capacity before rebates." 🤯
🔌💡
"Rooftop solar installations cost about $840 (U.S.) per kilowatt of capacity before rebates." 🤯
🔌💡
Today on SHIFT KEY: will EVs be bad or good for the grid? It all depends on how we coordinate charging (or don't), and today's guest is leading the charge to make charging cleaner, cheaper, and grid friendly. Listen wherever you get your podcasts or @heatmap.news heatmap.news/podcast/shif... 🔌💡
How EVs Can Actually Help the Electricity Crisis
Rob and Jesse touch base with WeaveGrid CEO Apoorv Bhargava.
heatmap.news
November 5, 2025 at 1:43 PM
Today on SHIFT KEY: will EVs be bad or good for the grid? It all depends on how we coordinate charging (or don't), and today's guest is leading the charge to make charging cleaner, cheaper, and grid friendly. Listen wherever you get your podcasts or @heatmap.news heatmap.news/podcast/shif... 🔌💡
Cost estimates for new gas power plants just keep rising! www.utilitydive.com/news/gas-pow... 🔌💡
November 4, 2025 at 6:26 PM
Cost estimates for new gas power plants just keep rising! www.utilitydive.com/news/gas-pow... 🔌💡
A tour of global geothermal power projects under development www.reuters.com/markets/comm... 🔌💡
Going underground: A tour of global geothermal projects in progress
Breakthroughs in drilling methods and heat extraction techniques are widening the appeal of geothermal power systems across the world, and geothermal generation capacity is on track to double once projects currently in development are completed.
www.reuters.com
November 4, 2025 at 11:49 AM
A tour of global geothermal power projects under development www.reuters.com/markets/comm... 🔌💡
Reposted by Jesse D. Jenkins
Tariff rate on China is still something like 45%, fyi
October 30, 2025 at 12:22 PM
Tariff rate on China is still something like 45%, fyi
Woah. High altitude tethered wind turbines maybe finally a thing? Chinese company Sawes just demonstrated a 1 megawatt turbine operating at 1,000 feet!
www.linkedin.com/posts/kaiser...
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www.linkedin.com/posts/kaiser...
🔌💡
Sawes Energy breaks record with airborne wind turbine | Kaiser Yang posted on the topic | LinkedIn
In September, a wind turbine the size of a basketball court floated 1,000 feet above the Xinjiang desert and generated 1 megawatt of power.
It wasn't mounted on a tower. It was suspended in the air b...
www.linkedin.com
October 30, 2025 at 1:29 PM
Woah. High altitude tethered wind turbines maybe finally a thing? Chinese company Sawes just demonstrated a 1 megawatt turbine operating at 1,000 feet!
www.linkedin.com/posts/kaiser...
🔌💡
www.linkedin.com/posts/kaiser...
🔌💡
There's an important battle going on behind the scenes that will change how big companies buy clean energy and report their emissions. @wilsonar.bsky.social & @energykillian.bsky.social explain what's at stake and why these changes are important on @volts.wtf www.volts.wtf/p/the-escala... 🔌💡
The escalating battle over renewable energy certificates (RECs)
Wilson Ricks and Killian Daly on the wonky but crucial shift to hourly accounting for clean energy claims, which will better reflect the fact that being "100 percent clean" is genuinely difficult.
www.volts.wtf
October 29, 2025 at 5:30 PM
There's an important battle going on behind the scenes that will change how big companies buy clean energy and report their emissions. @wilsonar.bsky.social & @energykillian.bsky.social explain what's at stake and why these changes are important on @volts.wtf www.volts.wtf/p/the-escala... 🔌💡
In the spirit of Halloween: nuclear reactors are rising from the dead!
Google & NextEra working restart Duane Arnold in IA. Santee Cooper looking to sell site of incomplete VC Summer reactors. 🧟♂️⚛️ 🔌💡
www.utilitydive.com/news/santee-...
Google & NextEra working restart Duane Arnold in IA. Santee Cooper looking to sell site of incomplete VC Summer reactors. 🧟♂️⚛️ 🔌💡
www.utilitydive.com/news/santee-...
Google-NextEra, Santee Cooper announcements signal new life for defunct nuclear projects
“Restarting a once fully operational plant is the fastest path to unlock large-scale nuclear power to meet AI growth in the near-term,” Google said Monday.
www.utilitydive.com
October 29, 2025 at 4:52 PM
In the spirit of Halloween: nuclear reactors are rising from the dead!
Google & NextEra working restart Duane Arnold in IA. Santee Cooper looking to sell site of incomplete VC Summer reactors. 🧟♂️⚛️ 🔌💡
www.utilitydive.com/news/santee-...
Google & NextEra working restart Duane Arnold in IA. Santee Cooper looking to sell site of incomplete VC Summer reactors. 🧟♂️⚛️ 🔌💡
www.utilitydive.com/news/santee-...
Reposted by Jesse D. Jenkins
And one more reason to support the GHGP Scope 2 proposal for time- and location-matching of clean energy deliveries for emissions inventories #energysky
You can comment on proposals here: ghgprotocol.org/blog/release...
You can comment on proposals here: ghgprotocol.org/blog/release...
October 26, 2025 at 1:46 AM
And one more reason to support the GHGP Scope 2 proposal for time- and location-matching of clean energy deliveries for emissions inventories #energysky
You can comment on proposals here: ghgprotocol.org/blog/release...
You can comment on proposals here: ghgprotocol.org/blog/release...
This adds to a growing body of literature that very clearly shows the use of short run marginal emissions rates is NOT a credible measure of consequential emissions impacts of various actions. Here, it's rooftop solar... 🔌💡
October 25, 2025 at 12:48 PM
This adds to a growing body of literature that very clearly shows the use of short run marginal emissions rates is NOT a credible measure of consequential emissions impacts of various actions. Here, it's rooftop solar... 🔌💡
Reposted by Jesse D. Jenkins
On this new episode of Shift Key, @jessedjenkins.com and I talk to Dulcie Madden, the CEO of Dig Energy, which is building small rigs to build geothermal heat pumps for single-family homes and businesses.
Listen at Heatmap: heatmap.news/podcast/shif...
Or wherever: shows.acast.com/65bac3af0334...
Listen at Heatmap: heatmap.news/podcast/shif...
Or wherever: shows.acast.com/65bac3af0334...
The Startup Trying to Put Geothermal Heat Pumps in America’s Homes
Rob and Jesse hang with Dig Energy co-founder and CEO Dulcie Madden.
heatmap.news
October 22, 2025 at 9:04 PM
On this new episode of Shift Key, @jessedjenkins.com and I talk to Dulcie Madden, the CEO of Dig Energy, which is building small rigs to build geothermal heat pumps for single-family homes and businesses.
Listen at Heatmap: heatmap.news/podcast/shif...
Or wherever: shows.acast.com/65bac3af0334...
Listen at Heatmap: heatmap.news/podcast/shif...
Or wherever: shows.acast.com/65bac3af0334...
Google will buy power from what may be the first large-scale gas power plant with CCS in the US blog.google/outreach-ini...
Google has previously backed enhanced geothermal, advanced nuclear and long duration storage.
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Google has previously backed enhanced geothermal, advanced nuclear and long duration storage.
🔌💡
Our first carbon capture and storage project
An overview of our support for a first-of-its-kind gas power plant with carbon capture and storage.
blog.google
October 24, 2025 at 1:21 PM
Google will buy power from what may be the first large-scale gas power plant with CCS in the US blog.google/outreach-ini...
Google has previously backed enhanced geothermal, advanced nuclear and long duration storage.
🔌💡
Google has previously backed enhanced geothermal, advanced nuclear and long duration storage.
🔌💡
Electra announces deals with Meta, Nucor to scale its clean iron tech www.canarymedia.com/articles/gre...
"The Colorado-based startup unveiled its new demo plant and announced agreements with major steel users. The facility could start churning out clean iron by mid-2026." 🔌💡
"The Colorado-based startup unveiled its new demo plant and announced agreements with major steel users. The facility could start churning out clean iron by mid-2026." 🔌💡
Electra announces deals with Meta, Nucor to scale its clean iron tech
The Colorado-based startup unveiled its new demo plant and announced agreements with major steel users. The facility could start churning out clean iron…
www.canarymedia.com
October 22, 2025 at 1:34 PM
Electra announces deals with Meta, Nucor to scale its clean iron tech www.canarymedia.com/articles/gre...
"The Colorado-based startup unveiled its new demo plant and announced agreements with major steel users. The facility could start churning out clean iron by mid-2026." 🔌💡
"The Colorado-based startup unveiled its new demo plant and announced agreements with major steel users. The facility could start churning out clean iron by mid-2026." 🔌💡