In this episode of The Dynamo Show, Madelyn O’Farrell speaks with Megan Mauter, Stanford professor and Research Director at the National Alliance for Water Innovation, about how water and power systems can work together. They explore how flexible water treatment operations could help balance grid demand and lower utility energy costs, including a Santa Barbara desalination demonstration that reduced monthly power bills by about 15%. Megan also discusses the challenges of utility adoption, the role of electricity tariffs, fit-for-purpose water reuse, and how distributed treatment and trusted digital tools can support more resilient water systems.

Highlights from their conversation include:

• Megan’s Background and the Water-Energy Connection (0:42)
• How Water Systems Can Support Grid Flexibility (2:08)
• Industrial Load Growth and the Value of Flexible Operations (4:19)
• Comparing Water Assets and the Santa Barbara Desalination Example (6:52)
• Why Utility Adoption Requires More Than Technology (11:49)
• NAWI’s Mission and Research Portfolio (15:40)
• Distributed Water Treatment and San Francisco’s Reuse Model (20:09)
• Electricity Tariffs and Incentives for Flexibility (21:50)
• A Vision for Water Facilities as Active Grid Participants (25:10)

Dynamo Ventures is a venture firm backing founders upgrading the physical economy. As intelligence moves into critical infrastructure and technology collides with physics, industry is entering a new era of transformation - the industrial renaissance.

Born from the dirt and grit of supply chains and shaped by operations, not spreadsheets, Dynamo focuses on the complex realities of building in the real world. We invest in companies transforming infrastructure, manufacturing, logistics, transportation, and the systems that power global commerce.

Dynamo works closely with founders who combine ambition with a bias to action, bringing a builder mindset to venture capital through deep operational insight, systematic pressure-testing and hands-on partnership.

Our purpose is simple: to back the relentless shaping the industrial renaissance. Learn more at www.dynamo.vc.

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