Bianca Giacobone

New York

Journalist at Freelance

Journalist New York/Milano

Articles

Utilities are facing an AI-cybersecurity paradox

1 month ago | latitudemedia.com | Bianca Giacobone

At the Georgia Institute of Technology, a team of researchers spend their days scouring the internet for vulnerable solar inverters and panels. These panels tend to be installed by well-meaning homeowners, looking to cut their energy bills and embrace renewables. They’re cheap and easy to buy online — but their security can be wonky, with authentications and passwords often set to the manufacturer default, if they’re used at all.
This data center developer is betting on Alberta to solve the power backlog

1 month ago | latitudemedia.com | Bianca Giacobone

When it comes to building large data centers to power artificial intelligence, the main challenge is “definitely, without a doubt, 100% power.”That’s according to Josh Schertzer, the newly appointed CEO of data center developer Beacon AI. The startup, which originated from Nadia Partners, an investment firm headquartered in New York specializing in AI and infrastructure, emerged from stealth in January 2025.
Verrus successfully demos its flexible data center technology

1 month ago | latitudemedia.com | Bianca Giacobone

Verrus, which develops data centers designed to be flexible grid assets, announced today that it has successfully run a demonstration of its technology in collaboration with the National Renewable Energy laboratory. The company, a venture of Alphabet’s spinout Sidewalk Infrastructure Partners, emerged from stealth in early 2024.
These startups are mining cobalt from unusual places

1 month ago | latitudemedia.com | Bianca Giacobone

It took Xerion Advanced Battery Corp. over a decade to pinpoint its process for developing lithium-ion batteries using molten salts, which are hard to work with because of their highly caustic nature. And the whole time, the Ohio-based manufacturer obtained refined cobalt as a byproduct. Up until recently, however, John Busbee, Xerion’s co-founder and CEO, didn’t think much of that resulting cobalt.
This infrastructure fund is doubling down on community solar

1 month ago | latitudemedia.com | Bianca Giacobone

Aligned Climate Capital’s latest infrastructure fund dedicated to community solar was oversubscribed, at $240 million. And in a difficult fundraising environment, CEO Peter Davidson thinks that’s a sign of the resilience of renewables, and of solar in particular, despite this moment of political uncertainty. Aligned Solar Partners 6 closed at $40 million over the fund’s original target —and is about five times bigger than its predecessor, Aligned Solar Partners 5, back in 2022.
Do microgrids make sense for data centers?

1 month ago | latitudemedia.com | Bianca Giacobone

Microgrids were initially a way for large customers and utilities to keep connected when the grid suddenly became unavailable: during power outages, inclement weather or operational failures. Today, however, an era of surging demand and new load growth is prompting a reassessment of microgrids’ potential. Some data center developers have been looking at them not only as resilience solutions, but also as assets that could supplement, or potentially even substitute, their need for a grid connection.
The evolving symbiosis between utilities and hyperscalers

1 month ago | latitudemedia.com | Bianca Giacobone

The relationship between utilities and hyperscalers is evolving into a symbiotic one. While utilities have been cornerstone players in the energy landscape for generations, hyperscalers have only recently emerged as dominant energy stakeholders. Now, both sectors face the shared challenges of unprecedented load growth and grid constraints. And the resulting dynamic involves a balance of competition with mutual opportunity.
Why Schneider keeps betting on the clean energy tax credit transfer market

1 month ago | latitudemedia.com | Bianca Giacobone

Schneider Electric has facilitated $1.7 billion in tax credit transfer transactions over 18 deals since late 2023, the company announced today. The Inflation Reduction Act enabled transferability of clean energy tax credits. Since 2023, companies have been able to sell those credits for cash, allowing any corporate buyer with tax liability to buy them and participate indirectly in the financing of clean energy projects. While the market started out small, it grew quickly over the course of 2024.
NextEra CEO feels ‘very good about tariffs’

2 months ago | latitudemedia.com | Bianca Giacobone

NextEra is largely insulated from the direct effects of the many tariffs imposed by President Trump, said CEO John Ketchum during the company’s first-quarter earnings call earlier this week. “I feel very good about tariffs,” he said.
Demand for electrical engineers is surging

2 months ago | latitudemedia.com | Bianca Giacobone

The AI boom isn’t happening as fast as it could be. As a recent International Energy Agency report on energy and AI lays out, the shortcomings of the existing power infrastructure are one of the main reasons why the sector might not expand as quickly as initially anticipated; approximately 20% of planned data center projects because of grid congestion. But skilled labor shortages are also bottlenecks.