Tough Tech companies span a wide range of industries — energy, manufacturing, materials, biotech — but they all share one essential need: access to the grid.
Whether they’re drawing power to run America’s next generation of factories, or deploying new energy sources to meet surging demand, Tough Tech companies can’t scale without connecting to the grid.
During my six years as Chair of the Energy Committee in the Massachusetts Senate, I saw and struggled with the challenges of connecting to that grid. Later, I experienced those challenges firsthand as an executive at Nexamp working to interconnect our clean energy projects. Now at The Engine, I have helped dozens of Residents understand their future power needs, identify the best sites to build, and navigate the regulatory process.
As an admitted energy nerd, I was thrilled to channel that experience into a panel at this year’s Tough Tech Week focused on a simple but critical question: how do we power Tough Tech? The conversation brought together experts from across the ecosystem, including a special appearance from Rep. Jake Auchincloss, who has been a strong voice in Congress for innovation and infrastructure investment.
The discussion reaffirmed my belief that we have the solutions to streamline the interconnection process and accelerate progress towards solving our greatest challenges. What we need now is shared focus across sectors to move from talk to action.
Here, I’ll touch on the three biggest obstacles to connecting Tough Tech to the grid and how the industry is tackling them — as well as the most exciting new technologies that myself and others on the panel see paving the way for American energy abundance.
Information Asymmetry
The first obstacle to powering Tough Tech is information — or rather, the lack of it. Developers often don’t know where grid capacity exists. Utilities have that data, but it needs to be more transparent and accessible so companies don’t invest time and money pursuing sites that later prove unworkable.
ISO-New England publishes real-time public data on energy pricing, which offers some clues: regions with persistently low or negative prices usually have available headroom on the grid. In Massachusetts, utilities like National Grid and Eversource (both of which were represented at the panel) are often willing to meet informally with developers to discuss potential sites. Those conversations are valuable, but the process remains time-intensive. Understanding that reality early is critical for any company hoping to grow here.
Other states, like New York, Texas and North Carolina, have made interconnection significantly easier through greater transparency and simpler approval processes. Massachusetts has the innovation ecosystem to lead, but we need to match that with clearer data and faster connections.
For founders, one piece of advice stood out: don’t approach utilities assuming you know their problems. Stay open, stay curious, and stay informed — state and federal policy will shape the resource mix and define where and how the next generation of Tough Tech grows.
“If AI can optimize data centers, why not use it to accelerate interconnection studies?”
Permitting: Engaging the Public Sector
Even when companies identify where capacity exists, connecting to it is another story. The permitting process remains one of the biggest obstacles to scaling Tough Tech, delaying interconnection by months or even years.
Policymakers are beginning to recognize this challenge, not just for clean energy developers but for any company that will one day be a major power consumer. In an effort to standardize and accelerate the interconnection process nationwide, the US Department of Energy recently submitted a letter directing the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to assert jurisdiction over large load interconnections over 20 MW, such as those from AI data centers. This is an important step, but many pilot factories and projects will fall below this threshold. How do we help them?
The biggest bottleneck is time: studying the impact of adding new loads or generators to the grid can take years. There was plenty of discussion at Tough Tech Week about AI’s demand on the grid, but not enough talk about how AI can help bring new projects online faster. Emerging tools like Google’s Tapestry project and research from Climate Change AI hint at how AI could help. If AI can optimize data centers, why not use it to accelerate interconnection studies?
Congressman Auchincloss emphasized the need to cut red tape for interconnection: “we need a regulatory framework that gets to ‘yes’ instead of starting with ‘no.’” In the meantime, his advice — echoed by others — was clear for founders: engage early and often with state leadership. Energy prices are quickly becoming a top voter concern: in the most recent election cycle, affordability was a winning message for candidates nationwide. Governors are eager for solutions that lower costs for consumers and boost competitiveness.
Recognizing the critical importance of engaging with the public sector, The Engine has invested directly in public affairs support for Resident companies, including my own role and our partnership with Will Rasky and Mass Ave Strategies. Together, we’re working to bridge the gap between innovators and policymakers, helping founders understand the regulatory process while helping regulators see the potential of the technologies emerging from our community.
“Energy prices are quickly becoming a top voter concern: in the most recent election cycle, affordability was a winning message for candidates nationwide. Governors are eager for solutions that lower costs for consumers and boost competitiveness.”
Infrastructure & System Planning
Even with better data and faster permitting, Tough Tech can’t scale without modern infrastructure upgrades. Specifically, we need more transmission and long-duration storage capacity.
Our current transmission capacity is inadequate for the electrification of the economy, and we’ll need more to connect new resources to the grid. On that front, several Tough Tech companies are developing technologies to expand and optimize transmission capacity. VEIR, for example, is pioneering superconducting transmission lines that deliver 5-10 times more power than conventional lines at the same voltage level, maximizing the capacity of existing power corridors and reducing the need for new transmission lines. Meanwhile, LineVision’s dynamic line rating system helps utilities optimize their transmission networks for reliability and affordability.
Long-duration storage will also be critical for the transition to clean energy and electrification. Solar power is abundant and affordable, but storage must keep pace to keep it reliable. Panelists agreed that pumped storage — one of our oldest and most effective tools — remains underused. But new battery technologies will also be critical.
Battery technologies are advancing rapidly with support from new state and federal incentives, and Tough Tech companies are pioneering new approaches that are more efficient, cost effective, and reliable. Form Energy, for example, is developing an iron-air battery capable of storing energy for 100 hours at a time. We need to make sure projects like these can interconnect quickly enough to support the energy transition and the buildout of new electrified manufacturing sites.
As Kate Tohme of New Leaf Energy noted, today’s grid planning is mostly reactive. We need to plan proactively — starting from our decarbonization goals and working backward to identify where upgrades are required. Massachusetts is leading on long-term system planning; now, those results must be transparent and actionable for early-stage teams.
New Technologies Promise Energy Abundance
Despite the challenges, the technologies needed to build a resilient, decarbonized grid are already showing momentum — many within The Engine’s own ecosystem.
Panelists were especially excited about innovations that expand grid capacity and flexibility, like those mentioned earlier from VEIR and LineVision. Meanwhile advances in hydrogen and synthetic fuels, like those developed by The Engine alumni Emvolon and Residents 1S1 Energy, offer cleaner, dispatchable power for heavy industry and transport. Thermal energy storage is another promising frontier: teams like Calectra, an alumni of The Engine’s Blueprint program, are developing systems that heat and store energy in solid materials, effectively creating batteries made of rock
Several panelists emphasized the importance of carbon capture for natural gas, which still supplies half of Massachusetts’ energy. Mantel’s molten-salt system, prototyped in The Engine’s industrial space, captures CO₂ from high-temperature processes found inside factories and power plants and returns usable heat, showing that emissions reduction doesn’t have to come at the expense of affordability or reliability.
Rep. Auchincloss highlighted the strategic importance of nuclear and geothermal energy — both sources of abundant clean energy that were incentivized by the OBBB. Companies like Blue Energy are reimagining nuclear to be more scalable, safer, and more cost-effective, while Quaise Energy’s gyrotron-powered drilling platform can repurpose existing fossil fuel infrastructure to dig deeper and hotter than was previously possible, unlocking clean geothermal energy with power density comparable to fossil fuels.
These technologies, taken together, paint an optimistic picture: a future where Tough Tech doesn’t just plug into the grid — it transforms it.
Building Toward Abundance
The best energy policy is simple: deliver cheap, abundant, and clean power — and do it fast. Our focus should be on getting more energy onto the grid as quickly as possible. Other nations, particularly China, are moving faster on infrastructure buildout and supply chain control for renewables and batteries. We can’t afford to fall behind.
The conversation at Tough Tech Week made one thing clear: solving these challenges requires everyone at the table, innovators, utilities, policymakers, and investors alike. The Engine’s role is to convene those stakeholders, identify the bottlenecks, and find solutions to accelerate the buildout of the technologies that will power our future.
The path to energy abundance won’t be simple, but it’s achievable. The tools are here, the talent is here, and the will is growing. What remains is the work, and the commitment to move faster, together.
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The Engine convenes stakeholders from across industry, academia, investment capital, and the public sector to support Tough Tech companies pioneering solutions to our greatest challenges. To support our mission, meet with Resident companies, and discuss other ways to collaborate, please get in touch.
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