AI Is Breaking the Grid. A Flywheel Could Fix It.

<p><strong>AI data centers make power demand jump in milliseconds. The grid can&#39;t keep up, and ratepayers get the bill.</strong></p><p><br></p><p>Nate Walkingshaw, founder and CEO of Torus, has a fix already spinning: a multi-ton steel flywheel in a vacuum, one of TIME&#39;s Best Inventions of 2024, now part of a 500-megawatt agreement with PacifiCorp.</p><p><br></p><p>Nate was a paramedic making $7.14 an hour when he started inventing. Stryker bought his company when he was 29. Then came the Pluralsight IPO, a Christmas tree farm that could make its own power but couldn&#39;t store it, and a flywheel equation his sons worked out at home.</p><p><br></p><p><strong>In this episode:</strong></p><ul><li>The argument with a utility CEO that redirected the company: &quot;You have no idea what you have.&quot;</li><li>Why a GPU load looks like an EKG, and why a power plant 300 miles away can&#39;t keep up with it</li><li>From 33 dispatches a year to 500: how one utility went from teacher to biggest customer</li><li>The 33 gigawatts Nate says we could free up tomorrow, without building a single power plant</li><li>Inside GigaOne, where new hires go from $22 an hour to six-figure programming jobs</li><li>&quot;We&#39;re the Sudafed of the grid&quot;</li></ul><p><br></p><p><br></p><p>Submit a question to Ask Jigar: <a href="https://octopusenergy.com/ask-jigar" target="_blank" rel="ugc noopener noreferrer">https://octopusenergy.com/ask-jigar</a><br></p><p>S2G Investments: <a href="https://www.s2ginvestments.com/insights/report-illusion-of-crowds" target="_blank" rel="ugc noopener noreferrer">https://www.s2ginvestments.com/insights/report-illusion-of-crowds</a><br></p><p>Octopus Energy: <a href="https://octopusenergy.com/faas" target="_blank" rel="ugc noopener noreferrer">https://octopusenergy.com/faas</a><br></p><p>Energy Empire Merch: <a href="https://energy-empire.bonfire.com/collection/all-products" target="_blank" rel="ugc noopener noreferrer">https://energy-empire.bonfire.com/collection/all-products</a></p>