Welcome to our first Constructive newsletter, clocking in at ~3m20s reading time! (with a hat-tip to the masters of smart brevity at Axios)

Dear friends,

Firstly, thank you for the tremendous support around our late July launch—we’re still feeling energized by it! The messages, sign-ups, and encouragement from this community have strengthened our conviction that there is real need for what we do: building alignment toward shared outcomes while amplifying and connecting with the important work already underway.

Now to business: read on for the latest DERVOS updates, team travel to Climate Week NYC and RE+, highlights from recent conversations with legislative staff, introductions to our brilliant new team members, and more.

We’re excited to keep finding ways to #beConstructive and drive alignment toward clean energy abundance. As always, get in touch if you’d like to explore partnership opportunities. And if you haven’t yet, follow our page on LinkedIn!

With gratitude,

Susan  Kish, CEO
Jonah  Wagner, President

Get your tickets for DERVOS 2025 now

Distributed energy is ramping up - come to DERVOS in NYC on October 16-18 to help make it happen! 

Key energy players are now recognizing that Distributed Energy Resources (DERs) are critical to solving US energy woes – load growth, capacity shortfalls, and skyrocketing prices — without hiking up emissions. 

DERVOS will convene the leading actors in distributed energy to share how DERs are meeting the challenge and strategize on how to speed and scale up deployment.

Co-produced with Constructive for the first time, the DER Task Force’s 4th unique annual gathering will be the biggest yet, featuring speakers from the frontlines of distributed and clean energy:

• Cully Cavness, Co-Founder & COO of Crusoe

• Hallie Carrao from Google’s Advanced Energy Labs

• Sean Jones, Tesla’s lead for Megapack at Data Centers

• Tyler Norris, recent co-author of Rethinking Load Growth

• Duncan Campbell, co-host of the DER Task Force podcast and VP of Data Center Solutions at Scale Microgrids

• And more!

Agenda preview

Leadership Day / Oct 16 at NewLab, NYC

• Bringing together top thinkers and doers in the space to explore the future of DERs through a series of interactive “wargames”

• Invite only summit hosted by DER Task Force & Jigar Shah

Main Day / Oct 17 on Governor’s Island, NYC

• ThunDERdomes (that’s “panels” for the uninitiated!) on data centers, permitless plug-ins, electro v. petrostates, and why DERs are fast becoming mainstream resources

• Showcases of the most exciting new technologies and products in distributed energy

• Demo Day featuring top DER startups

Music Fest / Oct 18 on Governor’s Island, NYC

• 100% powered by solar + battery storage

• A full program of amazing acts - to be announced soon!

DERVOS is always a standout event in the energy calendar – the place to find cutting edge insights, technologies, and takeaways that you won’t get anywhere else.

Get your tickets now and contact us if you’d be interested in partnership or sponsorship opportunities.

Constructive @ RE+, European Venture Fair, and Climate Week NYC

The team is out and about in Zurich, Las Vegas and New York this month – if you are/will be at any of these events, let us know!

• Liz and Jason are in Las Vegas for RE+ this week until tomorrow (Sept 11)

• Susan is emceeing at the European Venture Fair in Zurich today and tomorrow

• Susan, Jonah, and Liz will be at Climate Week NYC September 21-28

Constructive Conversations with The Hill

Private sector voices are critical to shaping successful energy policy, which is why Constructive is focused on sustaining the public-private dialogue that underpinned DOE initiatives like Deploy and the Liftoff reports. 

To that end we’ve recently briefed staff from the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, House Energy & Commerce Committee, House Energy & Water Appropriations Subcommittee, Conservative Climate Caucus, and Climate Solutions Caucus.

The key takeaway: Despite uncertainty, there remain substantial bipartisan opportunities to maintain private sector-led, public sector-enabled momentum in clean energy – whether it’s leveraging flexible, distributed resources, unlocking next-gen geothermal to meet load growth, or mitigating cybersecurity risks around electrification.

A very hearty welcome to our new Program Manager Liz Manero and Executive Assistant Emma Broad! We’re thrilled to have them on the team. You can read their bios here.

Our first Constructive team retreat in Washington D.C. was a productive and celebratory week. It was lovely to see friends and family at our happy hour – thanks for coming!

In case you missed it, check out…

• Our interview with Latitude Media

• Our exclusive announcement with Axios 

• This shout out in the Open Circuit podcast (thank you Jigar!)

• How Big Things Get Done by Bent Flyvbjerg & Dan Gardner – A practical exploration of why big projects succeed or fail, offering insights on how planning, data, and stakeholder alignment help deliver ambitious ideas more effectively.

• The Light Eaters by Zoë Schlanger – A revelatory book about the behavior and intelligence of plants and their relationships with other life forms, sparking fresh ways to think about systems, networks, and resilience.

Thanks for reading! If you were forwarded this email, sign up for future Constructive updates here.

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