When you start something big like the clean energy transition, you have to think big and take risks. If you're an energy professional, want to become one, or want to understand how ripples turn into tsunamis, you'll enjoy today's guest, Tom Weirich. Tom is the author of "We Took the Risk," a book that chronicles the pioneers who made wind, solar, and energy storage happen in the US. Tom Weirich is the head of Marketing & Stakeholder Relations at EDP Renewables. His book, We Took the Risk: Th...
Nov 15, 2022•42 min
Our guest today is Kiya Segni, the founder and CEO of Aduu Solar Engineering. Aduu solar provides exceptional solar construction permit plansets within a fast turnaround and quality workmanship. Contact Kiya at www.aduusolar.com for a free consultation. Enter "BHON1ZA" in the "Have a coupon?" field to get 25% off your first order! We're tripling the solar industry in the next five years, so speed is vital for the installers and EPCs that form the backbone of the solar industry. Enter Aduu Solar ...
Nov 09, 2022•33 min
Three-phase string inverters are the workhorses of distributed solar projects. CPS America is the market-leading manufacturer of commercial and utility string inverters with over 10,000 operating sites in North America. Their 125 kW product is extremely popular in community solar and now they are launching 250 and 275 kW products ideal for 5 to 150 MW projects. CPS America is the maker of North America’s number one 3-phase string inverter, with over 6GW shipped in the US. They recently released ...
Nov 08, 2022•37 min
On the weekly clean power news and views, we bring you the latest cleantech and clean energy news, thought leaders, and innovators. Our motto is ‘Speeding the Energy Transition!’ This week John Weaver and I discuss, 1. The Two Falcon Heavy rockets that landed within moments of each other this week. 2. Sunnova's plan seeking to develop ‘electricity micro-utilities’ in California for 500-2,000 customer communities - ~7.7 kWdc+10-20 kWh batteries per house, neighborhood battery of 2 MWh+300 kW sola...
Nov 04, 2022•1 hr 2 min
Our guest today is Anthony Star, the former Director of the Illinois Power Agency (IPA). The IPA is the authority that oversees renewable energy implementation in Illinois. It was established in 2007 by Public Act 95-0481. In 2017, they established the Illinois Solar program as mandated by the Future Energy Jobs Act (FEJA). The Illinois solar program has risen from 80 MW in 2017 to over 1.5 GW of solar installations in 2021. In Sept 2021, the Climate and Equitable Jobs Act (CEJA) became the law ...
Nov 01, 2022•31 min
On the weekly clean power news and views, we bring you the latest cleantech and clean energy news, thought leaders, and innovators. Our motto is ‘Speeding the Energy Transition!’ This week we were joined by Dave Rosenberg, vice president of sales and business development at Heliene solar. He joined John Weaver and me to discuss the following; 1. What’s the impact of the Inflation Reduction Act on the company? 2. What’s the current capacity available for the company? 3. Do you think it’s going to...
Oct 28, 2022•56 min
What if you could measure the full benefits of your wind, solar, and battery storage projects and see beyond C02 emissions reductions? When you take into account the additional benefits of decarbonizing the economy and count human health and wellbeing, ecosystem services, and biodiversity impacts, you see much greater value. Now project developers, asset owners, and off-takers can add these dimensions to their initiatives with a platform called Quantum EC. The positive impacts of decarbonization...
Oct 26, 2022•41 min
The growth of the solar industry depends on contractors, EPCs, and developers who are bringing residential and commercial solar to scale across the US. GRNE Solar is one such solar EPC, founded in Chicago and recently acquired by financial services company Nelnet. On this episode of the Clean Power Hour, we bring you Eric Peterman the founder and CEO of GRNE - a residential and commercial EPC working across five midwestern states (Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Missouri, Nebraska) and soon many more. ...
Oct 25, 2022•46 min
On the weekly clean power news and views, we bring you the latest cleantech and clean energy news, thought leaders, and innovators. Our motto is ‘Speeding the Energy Transition!’ This week we discuss, 1. Greece says its entire electrical grid ran on 100% renewables for the first time 2. South Australia was 100% solar powered from 10 am to 4 pm - 90% via rooftop solar 3. New BloombergNEF analysis projects rapid growth in global battery storage capacity through 2030 4. Climate law, IRA, spurs ‘big...
Oct 21, 2022•1 hr
On this live, we bring you the latest news in cleantech and clean energy news, thought leaders, and innovators. Our motto is ‘Speeding the Energy Transition!’ The podcast is available on Youtube and audio platforms like Spotify, Apple, Google, and Amazon. Each week, we bring you interviews with cleantech entrepreneurs, investors, manufacturers, and energy professionals writ large. What technologies are trending? Why are we excited about agrivoltaics or dual-use solar? What are the challenges and...
Oct 19, 2022•28 min
Industrial heat is a major source of carbon emissions and there is an emerging ecosystem of next-generation solar thermal technologies targeting this sector. Phoenix Solar Thermal is one such company. Their single-axis tracker concentrating solar collectors produce high temperatures, providing heat and steam to replace fossil fuel. They are initially targeting university campuses (combined heat and power), breweries, and food processing, and then secondarily pulp and paper, and mining and minera...
Oct 18, 2022•40 min
Community solar allows households to tap into a local shared solar farm and see savings on their electric bill. This spreads the cost and enables a broader consumer audience to enjoy the benefits of greening the grid. Camelia Miu is the Chief Financial Officer of Nautilus Solar Energy, a leading owner-operator of community solar projects throughout the United States. Nautilus Solar has been in the solar industry since 2006 and, through its Community Solar initiative, is making solar energy avail...
Oct 12, 2022•27 min
With the Inflation Reduction Act signed into law, the solar industry is set to grow at 40% over the baseline projections by 2027. However, this growth is hindered by the lack of enough skilled laborers in the solar industry. The solution is developing an automation platform to reduce the cost and increase the scalability of utility-scale solar. Terabase Energy is a technology solutions company on a mission to reduce costs and accelerate deployment by digitizing and automating solar power plants'...
Oct 11, 2022•37 min
Subscribe: https://bit.ly/cph-sub The Clean Power Hour live brings you the latest cleantech and clean energy news, thought leaders, and innovators. Our motto is ‘Speeding the Energy Transition!’ The podcast is available on Youtube and audio platforms like Spotify, Apple, Google, and Amazon. Each week, we bring you interviews with cleantech entrepreneurs, investors, manufacturers, and energy professionals writ large. Listen, like, comment, and share! Get all of our content at www.CleanPowerHour.c...
Oct 07, 2022•58 min
Solar inspection in an industrial solar farm is an enormous task, even for large companies. It takes days or even weeks for teams to do a complete sweep of the solar project from the ground. Aerial solar inspection has become the easiest and best way to inspect solar. Mark Culpepper is the general manager of DroneBase, the leader in intelligent aerial imaging and data analytics for the entire lifecycle of renewable energy assets. Dronebase uses manned and unmanned drones with thermal and RGB (vi...
Oct 05, 2022•30 min
According to the International Energy Agency, three quarters of the energy used by industry is not in the form of electricity. It's in the form of heat. And that industrial heat accounts for about a quarter of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions. But what if we could turn low-cost, intermittent wind and solar energy into continuous heat and successfully decarbonize industrial heat? John O’Donnell serves as CEO of Rondo Energy , a company delivering the world’s lowest cost zero-carbon industrial...
Oct 04, 2022•45 min•Season 1Ep. 105
Historically, it has been challenging for solar and wind developers to find an appropriate parcel of land, conduct an accurate valuation, and then make contact with the landowner. But now there is a marketplace for land resources where developers can go to find parcels that meet their buy criteria and connect with landowners who want to get a deal done. Yoann Hispa is Founder and CEO of LandGate , a data intelligence platform and marketplace for land and its resources. An experienced entrepreneu...
Sep 27, 2022•33 min•Season 1Ep. 104
When a grid gets congested, the excess energy generated at renewable plants is wasted. But what if there was something we could do to mitigate that curtailment and monetize our excess wind, solar or hydroelectric power? John Belizaire is Founder and CEO at Soluna Computing , the leading developer of green data centers for batchable computing, powered by wasted renewable energy. With 25 years of experience as an enterprise software entrepreneur, John is passionate about using flexible computing t...
Sep 20, 2022•23 min•Season 1Ep. 103
With the signing of the Inflation Reduction Act , the solar industry is projected to grow by leaps and bounds in the next several years. But such rapid growth is not without its challenges. How do we address the labor shortage in clean tech? And make sure that the abundance of new solar projects are built with a focus on quality? Michael Eyman is Managing Director at Origis Services , a subsidiary of Origis Energy that delivers on the promise of clean power via operations and maintenance and ass...
Sep 13, 2022•44 min•Season 1Ep. 102
In the early days of solar development, we built solar farms and then locked the gate and walked away, completely missing the opportunity to the use the land under the panels for a productive, long-term purpose. Enter agrivoltaics or dual-use solar, a technique where solar farms are built to allow for grazing or growing crops, creating a win-win situation for the farmer, the solar developer and the community at large. Michael Marsch is Chief Development Officer at BlueWave Solar , a DG-scale reg...
Sep 06, 2022•43 min•Season 1Ep. 101
Even if they want to go solar, most middle-income Americans can’t afford it. Or maybe they rent or move frequently and can’t take rooftop solar with them when they go. And those who live in areas with frequent natural disasters worry about the cost of replacing solar panels that get damaged or destroyed. But what if solar energy was both inexpensive and portable? What if you could fold up your system and either store it safely or take it with you during a hurricane or wildfire? Antonia Ginsberg-...
Aug 30, 2022•30 min•Season 1Ep. 100
The entire infrastructure of our economy depends on a reliable grid. And the work we are doing to decarbonize will only increase demands on the grid moving forward. So, how do we look into the future? What are we doing to upgrade the grid? To make it stronger and more adaptable? And most importantly, how do we get solar and wind energy facilities connected to the grid in a timely manner? Jay Caspary serves as Vice President at Grid Strategies, a power sector consulting firm based in Washington, ...
Aug 23, 2022•49 min•Season 1Ep. 99
Lead-acid batteries are heavy and highly toxic. Lithium-ion is lighter but tends to catch fire and requires a thermal management system to regulate its temperature. So, Michael Burz, President and CEO at Enzinc , is developing a next-generation rechargeable zinc battery that is safer for people and the planet. With a background in aerospace engineering, Michael is on a mission to apply his expertise to the green tech revolution. He was introduced to 3D zinc technology by the US Naval Research La...
Aug 16, 2022•37 min•Season 1Ep. 98
Solar is an unpredictable industry. Government incentives drive an uptick in the market for a few years. And then high-profile bankruptcies and severe tariffs put the brakes on development for a year or two. But those of us committed to renewables for the long term keep moving forward, developing the grit it takes to navigate the ups and downs of what we call the solarcoaster. Nobel Chang is Cofounder and Managing Partner at Palladium Energy , a utility-scale solar investor and developer headqua...
Aug 09, 2022•51 min•Season 1Ep. 97
Solar asset managers are dealing with a number of variables, among them soiling, shading, weather conditions and the degradation of equipment. And while supervisory control and data acquisition or SCADA systems support the decision-making process, they can’t conduct the kind of advanced analytics asset managers need to significantly improve a plant’s performance. Sharat Singh is Founder and CEO of Quadrical AI , a software solution that leverages artificial intelligence to help asset managers im...
Aug 02, 2022•28 min•Season 1Ep. 96
6 Powerful Cleantech Podcasters On Biden, Ukraine and the Energy Transition Today we're sharing our fifth quarterly podcaster's roundtable, which offers a rich, one-hour discussion of energy trends, developments, challenges and opportunities. We’re joined by some impressive industry voices. These roundtables are organized and produced by my friends Mike Casey and Nico Johnson . Mike is the president and founder of Tigercomm , a cleantech public relations, marketing communications and public affa...
Jul 26, 2022•1 hr 5 min
The communities that contribute the least to climate change are impacted by it the most. And that’s a disheartening thing for Gen Zers to discover. But the antidote to anxiety is action. So, what can young people do to advocate for environmental justice? How can we all work together for an equitable transition to the net-zero carbon economy? McKenna Dunbar serves as Building Electrification Lead and Community and Engagement Coordinator at Sierra Club . She is also Founder of the Environmental Ju...
Jul 26, 2022•47 min•Season 1Ep. 95
It’s awe-inspiring to consider that renewable energy transforms weather into electrons and then into dollars. And yet, many asset managers are still operating with spreadsheets, notebooks and post-its. So, how do we encourage the adoption of digital tools in the renewable energy space? And how can solar, wind and hydro operators benefit from technology like asset management software? Etienne Lecompte is Founder and CEO of PowerHub , a SaaS company building asset management software for the renew...
Jul 12, 2022•24 min•Season 1Ep. 94
Get a 10% discount to attend Solar Plaza Asset Management Texas with discount code: CPH22. https://www.solarplaza.com/event/solarplaza-summit-asset-management-texas-2022/ Bringing solar professionals together in-person is Solar Plaza’s specialty; they’ve organized over 150 solar events in 60 cities, in 41 countries and six continents. Since 2004, Solar Plaza has been inviting clean energy industry professionals from all aspects of a solar project together under one roof. From Madrid to Rome to A...
Jul 05, 2022•31 min•Season 1Ep. 93
Get a 15% discount to attend Midwest Solar Expo with discount code: CPH15. www.MidwestSolarExpo.com/ , the premier B2B solar and clean energy event in the region. The beauty of a microgrid is that it connects with the traditional grid but works autonomously when necessary. This is especially beneficial for critical process facilities that can’t afford a shutdown and growing operations that need a power upgrade. So, how does a microgrid system leverage multiple renewable energy sources to keep th...
Jun 28, 2022•41 min•Season 1Ep. 92
