EP 22 — Activate Capital's Eric Meyer on Portfolio Construction for Energy Edge

The convergence of AI load growth and distributed generation is creating a once-in-a-generation opportunity for commercial real estate owners. Eric Meyer, Partner at Activate Capital, reflects on how, after a decade of utilities fighting distributed solar, 4% annual demand growth is forcing an "all solutions on deck" mentality that changes the competitive landscape.

 

Eric outlines Activate's unique approach to climate investing for Sean: rather than betting on early-stage technologies, they target growth-stage businesses with proven product-market fit and real revenue streams. Their portfolio construction strategy around distributed energy assets provides a blueprint for understanding how the energy transition will actually unfold at scale.

 

Topics discussed:

• AI-driven load growth is ending the utility "death spiral" narrative and creating collaborative opportunities between utilities and distributed generation developers.
• A growth-stage investment approach targeting businesses with real product-market fit rather than early-stage climate technologies, requiring billion-dollar exit potential.
• The portfolio construction strategy around distributed energy assets, spanning financing, flexibility, power electronics, and asset management to capture the full value chain.
• Why battery storage adoption in commercial applications significantly lags residential deployment despite similar economic fundamentals and potential solutions.
• How interconnection queue bottlenecks favor solar and wind over natural gas generation, creating 2-year versus 5-year development timelines.
• Why Omnidian represents a unique "snowflake" position in distributed asset management, providing IoT-enabled monitoring and maintenance that traditional approaches cannot match economically.
• How public equity markets are currently mispricing climate risk and opportunity, with infrastructure equipment providers trading at 10x book value while renewable energy platforms trade near book value.
• The emergence of distributed capacity procurement programs where utilities rate-base billions in distributed infrastructure to bypass traditional siting constraints.
• Why firming intermittent renewable resources through battery storage represents the next phase of grid evolution beyond pure generation deployment.