National Energy Emergency
Enabling technological expansion while solving some of the biggest crises of our time.
This is the third in our series about Massive’s focus in 2025. To see more of our thoughts and follow along, please subscribe.
A few staggering facts about energy in the United States:
Upgrading the current grid is estimated to cost between $1.5 - $2 trillion dollars, with some estimates as high as $5 trillion.
Energy demand projections through the end of the decade in states like Georgia, Texas, and Virginia have been adjusted up as much as 17x to account for new data centers.
The energy shortfall between what we have and will need has been estimated to be as high as 50GW.
About half of the United States is at increased risk of power supply shortfalls in the next decade that could lead to major outages nationwide or rolling blackouts as we reserve energy for critical infrastructure. Adapting to the future on earth will require substantial investment in everything from clean energy production to transmission, management, and storage. Carbon and greenhouse gas reduction via numerous mechanisms will slow the rate of planetary heating but only at scale.
In October 2024, the DOE released its first National Transmission Planning Study, forecasting a necessary increase in national transmission capacity to 2.4 to 3.5 times the 2020 level by 2050. This expansion aims to maintain cost efficiency and facilitate the energy transition. It’s clear we need solutions both to meet demand and bring down the costs of meeting that demand either through increased efficiency or simply lowering costs.
It’s also impossible to ignore advanced technology's substantial energy consumption. AI, crypto, hyperscale data, and computer vision all require massive power inputs for compute, storage and analytics. While we will continue to look for solutions using AI in new and innovative ways (see our 10x Disruptors conversation), at Massive we believe it’s critical to also invest in the solutions which will allow the United States’ AI capabilities to expand without total reliance on oil and gas.
There is no denying that the climate industry is facing new headwinds going into 2025 given geopolitical shifts. However, numerous areas of industry related to climate and energy are absolute needs and will require substantial investment and deployment in the near term. Regardless of whether the country chooses to split atoms or burn carbon, we know that aggressive production is only one piece of the puzzle. We need a complete system that includes upgrades to transmission, storage, management, and efficiency (consumption) that all need to be part of next-generation energy solutions.
As “inflection point” investors, Massive is looking for companies at the forefront of these areas that have developed proven technology with early commercial traction.
Areas we are interested in:
Cost-Efficient Power Solutions: Novel energy solutions that can be developed on a timeline and at a cost that will effectively meet power needs, especially in the data center sector.
Grid Modernization Software and Hardware: Scalable solutions for our grid’s needs working across the energy value chain.
Localized & Microgrid Technologies: Solutions that bring electricity generation and storage closer to the consumer.
Power Performance Improvement Solutions: Improving the reliability and performance of existing technologies, with the ability to integrate with new power technologies as they emerge.
Energy Optimization / Efficiency Solutions: Technologies that massively reduce energy consumption or improve the efficiency of existing systems.
Effective solutions in this space will have a clear and substantial positive impact in their domains. They will materially change the performance paradigm such that, at scale, these companies truly make an impact and become huge businesses in the process. This is not an exhaustive list, and we are always excited to learn about new opportunities to meet our energy goals.
Massive Portfolio Examples:
Ocient - hyper-scale data analytics that provides up to a 90% reduction in energy consumption
Ampaire - practical hybrid-electric power systems for flight for today, while helping to develop the all-electric future
