Podcast Summary: The a16z Show

Episode: How Radiant and Heron Are Rethinking Power Generation and Delivery
Date: March 31, 2026
Participants:

• Podcast Host (A16z)
• Doug Bernauer, CEO/Founder, Radiant
• Drew Baglino, CEO/Founder, Heron
• Sam Altman (commentary and questions)

Main Theme

This episode explores how two startups—Radiant and Heron—are reimagining the future of power generation and delivery, responding to soaring electricity demand driven by data centers, industrialization, electrified transport, and AI. The discussion focuses on technology, manufacturability, grid bottlenecks, and the emerging paradigms of decentralized, resilient, and software-driven energy infrastructure.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. The Energy Bottleneck: Delivery, Not Generation

• Current Grid Challenges:
  • Rising demand from AI, data centers, and industry is straining the grid.
  • More generation is coming online; the real challenge lies in delivering power where it's needed.
• Quote:

  "New power is not the problem. Delivery is the problem." – Drew Baglino (00:09)

2. Evolution of Grid Architecture

• Old vs. New Models:
  • The U.S. traditionally relied on centralized power plants and one-way transmission (Edison’s original grid model).
  • Now, the need is for flexibility, resilience, and edge-based, decentralized systems.
• Quote:

  "The grid itself is civilization... Civilization can regrow off of a new architecture of moving power." – Doug Bernauer (00:39)

3. Origins and Missions of Radiant & Heron

• Radiant (Doug Bernauer):
  • Inspired by power challenges in space exploration and Mars colony design at SpaceX.
  • Pivoted to micro nuclear solutions due to limits of solar; focused on portable, trailer-sized reactors for off-grid use (e.g., military, disaster relief).
  • Manufacturability, modularity, and safety (meltdown-proof fuel, quick deployment, no on-site waste) are core.
  • Quote:

    "We're doing nuclear reactors as products for the first time ever." (29:13)

• Heron (Drew Baglino):
  • Stemmed from two decades at Tesla, studying worldwide electrification.
  • Focus on solid-state power electronics (Heronlink)—modular, bidirectional converters for modern distribution and microgrids.
  • Manufacturability at scale: aim for a 40 GW/year factory producing high-efficiency, rugged, fail-operational units.
  • Quote:

    "We're building our first product... a 5 megawatt bi-directional solid state transformer... It's power semiconductors and software." (18:46)

4. Why Now – Demand and Policy Drivers

• Energy Demand Rebounds:
  • After decades of flat demand thanks to efficiency, electrification (AI, transport, industry) is rapidly increasing electricity needs.
• Impact of AI:
  • AI-driven infrastructure is a "forcing function"—pushing the U.S. to re-invest and rebuild energy systems.
  • Resiliency and flexibility (behind-the-meter, microgrid, hybrid/off-grid) are increasingly vital.

5. The Case for Manufacturability & Modularity

• Factory-Built Power:
  • Both founders stress benefits of factory manufacturing: speed, cost, scale, quality, simplified logistics, easier permitting, and rapid deployment.
  • Lessons from SpaceX and Tesla manufacturing playbooks.
• Quote:

  "Think about doing it all in a factory. And that's our entire approach." – Doug Bernauer (29:04)
  "If you look at our module size and you look at [a] 60 second takt time, it sort of works out to 40 gigawatts." – Drew Baglino (27:59)

6. Modularity/Scale: Microreactors and Building Blocks

• Radiant:
  • Microreactors fill a niche between diesel and large nuclear for challenging, high-cost, or off-grid sites.
• Heron:
  • Modular solid-state power electronics as plug-and-play components for reconfigurable, resilient distribution.
• Quote:

  "What is a modular reactor?... This is like the definition of SMR [small modular reactor], 1 megawatt..." – Drew Baglino (25:44)

7. Grid of the Future: Software, DC, & Edge Growth

• DC Microgrids & Software-Defined Infrastructure:
  • Discusses the emerging vision where batteries, compute, solar, and microreactors—all natively DC—combine in microgrids.
  • Solid-state power electronics and software enable new architectures, flexibility, and ease of managing bidirectional flows.
  • Quote:

    "It could be demonstrated at some military installation or some other place... It could be like megawatt-hour battery packs, a few megawatts of solar for during the day and a reactor for at night." – Doug Bernauer (24:39)

• Leapfrogging Mechanical Systems:

  "Let's use software and electronics rather than mechanical systems to accomplish our power distribution." – Drew Baglino (22:57)

8. Market Focus and Complementarity

• Radiant:
  • Serves off-grid or edge customers, not competing with large central plants. Example: remote areas, islands, or military—places with high diesel costs.
• Heron:
  • Supports grid resilience and modular upgrades, complements both microgrids and central infrastructure.

9. Supply Chain Resilience

• Both companies are working to secure and reshore critical supply—especially for nuclear fuel cycles and electronic materials (ferrite, capacitors).
• Quote:

  "I'm working to bring [ferrite manufacturing] back... could be brought back with some coaxing." – Drew Baglino (40:32)

10. Data Centers: Grid Impact & Opportunity

• Perceived Challenge: Data centers shutting off in events can cause grid instability.
• Solution: Better software and dynamic power electronics (grid-forming inverters) can make data centers grid stabilizers.
• Economic Impact: High, steady data center loads actually improve grid economics and utilization.
• Quote:

  “The data center customer is like the ideal customer. They're consuming near their max power almost all the time... so the more loads we have like data centers... the cost of serving electricity to everybody will go down.” – Drew Baglino (45:59)

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

| Timestamp | Speaker | Quote | |-----------|---------|-------| | 00:09 | Drew Baglino | “New power is not the problem. Delivery is the problem.” | | 00:39 | Doug Bernauer | “The grid itself is civilization. Electric power is civilization.” | | 12:22 | Sam Altman | “…the AI moment in time … is forcing us to remember how to build large scale infrastructure in the US again and reminding us that energy is really important.” | | 14:52 | Doug Bernauer | “It sounds a little sensationalist, but there is no nuclear industry… it’s almost like we’re getting excited about flight before Kitty Hawk.” | | 18:46 | Drew Baglino | “Our first product is Heronlink…a 5 megawatt bi-directional solid state transformer…power semiconductors and software.” | | 29:13 | Doug Bernauer | “We’re doing nuclear reactors as products for the first time ever.” | | 45:59 | Drew Baglino | “The data center customer is like the ideal customer… the cost of serving electricity to everybody will go down.” |

Detailed Segment Timestamps

| Timestamp | Segment | Notes | |-----------|---------|-------| | 00:00–03:02 | Icebreaker: The broken grid | Grid as civilization, past bottlenecks | | 03:02–04:23 | Origin stories: SpaceX, Tesla, Hyperloop | Founders’ past working with Elon Musk | | 04:33–08:15 | Motivations for founding Radiant & Heron | Problem statements, scaling electrification | | 12:22–14:33 | A16z’s investment thesis | AI as macro forcing function, grid modernization | | 14:52–18:41 | The turning tide on nuclear | Microreactors, regulatory and market progress | | 18:46–22:57 | Heron’s solid-state transformer tech | Modularity, manufacturability, market sizing | | 23:02–26:23 | Microgrids, DC power, and grid architecture | Combining nuclear, batteries, solar at the edge | | 27:02–34:35 | Manufacturability and factory scale | Lessons from Tesla/SpaceX, going from tent to factory | | 35:00–37:43 | Microreactors vs. central generation | Market segmentation, edge cases, diesel alternatives | | 38:00–41:59 | Supply chain: nuclear and electronics | Onshoring/nearshoring, strategic implications | | 44:10–47:50 | Data centers: Friend or foe? | Grid impact, rates, delivery bottlenecks |

Conclusion

Radiant and Heron represent two cutting-edge pushes towards a more flexible, modular, and resilient energy future. Both rooted in Silicon Valley’s manufacturing mindset, they’re tackling not just technical but system-level challenges—complementing each other. Microreactors fill off-grid needs once served by diesel, while next-generation power electronics modernize grid delivery and enable distributed, software-defined energy systems. The episode offers optimism: with AI as an accelerant, and with new approaches to infrastructure and supply chains, the U.S. could regain the capability—and the will—to meet surging energy needs in sustainable, civilizational ways.