Insights

The Gist is the monthly newsletter of The Ad Hoc Group that covers everything at the intersection of climate tech and policy. Subscribe at the link here to have The Gist mailed to your inbox each month.

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The Ad Hoc Gist: AI is Transforming Weather Forecasting

Weather forecasting is undergoing a period of rapid transformation driven by AI and surging demand for more precise, local, and actionable information. In an age of increasingly destructive extreme weather, the right weather intelligence can be the difference between safety and calamity.

In this month’s Gist, we spoke with meteorologist Sunny Wescott and Matt Stein, CEO of Salient Predictions, about why utilities still get caught off-guard by predictable storms, how AI is reshaping risk assessment and complementing physics-based models, and what it really takes to embed weather intelligence into daily operations.

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The Ad Hoc Gist: The Urgent Need for Data Center Flexibility

Data centers. They are the inescapable energy topic of the moment. Can we build them fast enough to meet surging AI demand? Do we have the power and grid infrastructure to support them? What will they do to customer bills?

In this month’s Gist, my colleague Matt Anderson explains why some of the assumptions around data center demand are likely wrong and how a combination of new technology and creative regulation could make data center demand more flexible and drive down costs significantly.

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The Ad HocĀ Gist: Can States Defend and Advance Climate Progress?

Now that Congress has gutted much of the Inflation Reduction Act, attention turns back to the states that have historically provided a “climate firewall” when the federal government backslides.

In 2016 when Trump was first elected, climate-forward states united in common cause to flex the power that the federalist system gave them to continue to drive the energy transition forward.

In this month’s Gist, we interview Will Toor, who leads Colorado Governor Polis’ energy office, to find out if states will step up again and what’s different about 2025.

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People as Moat – Ad Hoc Expands into Search

In climate tech, we talk a lot about, well, technology. But talk with most CEOs and they’ll share that the hardest part of their job is figuring out how to hire and retain the right people. In my experience, a company’s ability to hire and effectively onboard the right people is what differentiates successful businesses from those that falter. Because, as a CEO, you can have a great vision, but if you don’t have the right people, you can’t execute it.

A Conversation withĀ Vida and Devin

We invited two leaders, Devin Hampton, CEO of UtilityAPI, and Vida Asiegbu, principal at Energy Impact Partners, for a candid conversation on equity and representation in the energy transition.

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Supporting the Next Wave of Climate Tech Startups

A wave of extreme weather this year has left Jim Kapsis questioning whether utilities are prepared for more frequent, intense weather events in the future. There's a growing group of startups that are more than ready to provide solutions, but they've struggled to break into the space. They need help figuring out a business model that works in the unique market that is the utility industry. 

Jim's response? A new company called the Ad Hoc Group, founded in 2016 with the goal of helping those newcomers succeed.

Hear More on With Great Power

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Climate Disasters are Revealing a Blind Spot

Where Angelo Campus grew up in northern California, evacuations and power outages caused by wildfires were routine. At college, he worked in a lab developing small solar-powered electric grids for places hit by natural disasters or high fire-risk areas to reduce the odds of an errant spark from a conventional transmission line. After graduation, he founded a startup called BoxPower to commercialize the technology, setting up his first system in Puerto Rico after Hurricane Maria in 2017.

Read More @ Semafor

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Anti-China Fervor Casts a Dark Cloud Over Solar and U.S. Climate Goals

In Congress, there is sudden bipartisan momentum to reinstitute tariffs on Chinese components. The U.S. solar industry is alarmed.

Read More @ Washington Post

Hear more from our leadership on My Climate Journey and Technopolis.

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