The Solar Startup Aiming to Transform Data Centers

The Solar Startup Aiming to Transform Data Centers

From Data Center Richness by Rich Miller

March 24, 2026 · 43 min

About this episode

The episode discusses solar-powered data centers and features an interview with Nic Bustamante from Exowatt.

Let's talk about solar-powered data centers. A lot of the recent discussion of data center power has focused on strategies supported by natural gas, or perhaps small modular nuclear reactors. But what about renewable energy? Today my guest is Nic Bustamante, who has held data center leadership positions at several hyperscale players. Nic is the Chief Data Center Officer at Exowatt, a renewable energy company with an innovative approach to delivering clean power around the clock for data center campuses. It combines several existing technologies - thermal solar, Fresnel concentrating lenses, and the Stirling engine - to create a module that provides solar power and energy storage without lithium batteries. We talk about the current state of data center energy, Exowatt's thermal solar technology, and the opportunity for solar in the AI boom. Here's an overview of our conversation: 00:00 - The Solar Opportunity for AI Data Centers 01:20 - Nic Bustamante and his Data Center Journey 03:15 - A Box of Hot Rocks: What's Different About Exowatt? 09:30 - How Much Land Does Solar Need (at AI Scale) 18:00 - The Geography of Solar Data Centers 25:00 - Community Relations and Solar 32:00 - How…

People in this episode

Host: Rich Miller

Guest: Nic Bustamante

Topics covered

  • solar power
  • data centers
  • renewable energy
  • AI
  • energy storage
  • thermal solar technology

Keywords

  • solar-powered data centers
  • renewable energy
  • Exowatt
  • thermal solar
  • AI boom
  • energy storage

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Exowatt

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