Invest Like The Best
Episode 434 Powering the Future
Invest Like The Best

Episode 434: Powering the Future

Invest Like The Best

Episode 434

Powering the Future

Zach Dell is the co-founder and CEO of Base. We cover how the energy grid is struggling to keep up with the rising demands of AI compute and the electrification of industry, why batteries solve this problem by allowing energy to move through time, and the vertically integrated distribution framework that lets Base deliver batteries at a lower unit cost.

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Show Notes:

(00:00:00) Introduction and Show Overview

(00:05:06) Understanding the Electrical Grid

(00:09:10) The History and Evolution of the Grid

(00:09:51) Regulation and Deregulation in the Energy Sector

(00:18:25) The Importance of Energy in Human Progress

(00:28:41) Base's Innovative Energy Solutions

(00:38:25) Economic and Operational Insights of Base

(00:44:31) Understanding Electricity Market Variability

(00:45:01) The Boom and Bust of Battery Economics

(00:48:43) Battery Technology and Chemistry

(00:50:56) Global Battery Manufacturing Landscape

(00:54:06) Capital Markets and Financing Strategies

(00:59:56) Vision for the Future of Energy Technology

(01:02:30) Personal Journey and Entrepreneurial Insights

(01:09:48) Lessons from Influential Leaders

(01:16:52) The Kindest Thing Anyone Has Done For Zach

Powering the Future

Introduction

Patrick
My guest today is Zach Dell. Zach is the co-founder and CEO of Base. Base is a modern power company building a reliable and affordable home energy service, powered by distributed batteries. We explore one of the most underappreciated machines in our world, the electrical grid. Zach walks us through the complex world of electricity infrastructure and explains why the 100-year-old grid is woefully unprepared for the explosion in demand coming from AI, electric vehicles, and industrial electrification.

Base's approach involves creating a distributed network of home batteries that provide backup power to customers while serving as grid resources, elegantly solving infrastructure bottlenecks that plague traditional utility-scale projects. We discuss energy as the fundamental enabler of human progress, scaling distributed energy assets, and the vertical integration strategy driving Base's unit economics. Please enjoy my great conversation with Zach Dell.

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