Arvin Ganesan, CEO of Fourth Power and former Head of Global Energy and Environmental Policy at Apple, sits down with Rohit Yadav in this "AI meets the Physical World" Series episode to walk through where the energy storage market actually stands today across long duration storage, lithium-ion, supply chain dynamics, hyperscaler demand, and the broader grid transformation underway.

Whether you are a founder, operator, investor, or simply curious about where physical AI and the energy transition intersect, this episode will sharpen how you think about long duration energy storage as a category.

Chapters:

00:00 — Introduction: The Series and the energy transition

00:46 — Why the grid is being reshaped by load growth, generation diversity, and weather05:01 — Inside Fourth Power's thermal battery technology

06:56 — Electricity versus industrial heat as a use case

07:23 — Rethinking the short duration versus long duration label

08:43 — A theory of abundance: building from petroleum coke

10:05 — Pilot project, commercial timeline, and 25 megawatt modules

10:46 — Mapping the full flexibility stack across storage technologies

13:10 — How long duration storage attributes shape end use cases

14:21 — Hyperscalers, utilities, and the two customer segments for storage

17:29 — AI, peakers, and the long term gas exposure question

20:31 — The global supply chain equation in storage

22:10 — Supply chain as a proxy for scalability and investor confidence

23:21 — Moving from pilot to commercial: lessons from the storage boom and bust

25:00 — Hardware versus software: how deep tech founders navigate the capital gap

26:47 — Where most hardware startups struggle to scale

27:43 — Closing worldview on the future of energy and storage

🔑 Key Insights You'll Walk Away With:

➡️ The three structural forces reshaping how the grid operates compared to thirty years ago

➡️ Why the short versus long duration storage debate misses the real question of grid value

➡️ How Fourth Power's thermal battery stores energy in carbon at extreme temperatures

➡️ Why building from abundant materials changes the scalability profile of a storage company

➡️ Why supply chain has become a primary signal investors and customers look at in hardware

➡️ How hyperscalers and utilities operate on different clocks but represent two durable customer segments

➡️ Why the first commercial project is the hardest capital leap for deep tech hardware founders

➡️ Why discipline on technology risk before scaling manufacturing separates survivors from casualties

➡️ Why the next decade may be a golden time for energy technologies that deliver on what they promise

Links:

Arvin Ganesan: https://www.linkedin.com/in/arvin-ganesan-40562a1/

Fourth Power: https://gofourth.com/

Rohit Yadav: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rohityadav23/

Newsletter: https://yadavrohit.substack.com/