Grid modernization

Aug 18, 2026

Elon's Former Battery Chief on Making Transformers 100x Smaller | Drew Baglino, Heron Power

Drew Baglino, former Tesla Powertrain & Energy head and now CEO of Heron Power, reveals why the current electricity grid is inadequate for the explosive growth of AI data centers. He explains how Heron Power's wideband gap power semiconductors will revolutionize grid-to-chip infrastructure, cutting power losses by half, shrinking massive transformers by 100x, and transforming data centers into grid-positive assets for a more efficient and sustainable energy future.

May 13, 2026

The Founders Who Left Tesla to Rebuild America | a16z

Erin Price-Wright, Turner Caldwell (Mariana Minerals), and Drew Baglino (Heron Power) discuss closing America's critical minerals gap and modernizing the power grid for the AI economy. They cover how automation, reinforcement learning, and lessons from Tesla can accelerate mining, refining, and grid infrastructure development to compete with China and enable re-industrialization.

Oct 15, 2025

No Priors Ep. 136 | Base Power CEO and Co-Founder Zach Dell

Base Power CEO Zach Dell explains that the explosive energy demand from AI and other industries is creating a crisis for the electric grid. He outlines Base Power's mission to lower electricity costs through a vertically integrated model, building a distributed power plant using smart batteries in homes. This approach tackles the rising cost of energy transmission and modernizes the grid for an era of energy abundance.