Rebuilding solar manufacturing in the U.S. is not just about capital or policy. It is about making the right bets at the right time. It comes down to timing, experience, and the critical decisions. Alex Zhu has spent nearly two decades inside the global solar manufacturing system—from the early rise of Chinese production to failed U.S. factory attempts, and now to building one of the few solar cell manufacturing facilities in America through ES Foundry. In this conversation, Alex explains why he...
Apr 30, 2026•1 hr 6 min•Season 18Ep. 927
Are data centers starting to bypass the grid? A growing share of planned projects are pairing with behind-the-meter generation, and the shift has happened quickly. At the same time, there’s still real debate about how much of this will actually materialize. Michael Thomas, founder of Cleanview, tracks what moves through interconnection queues, permitting timelines, and development pipelines. His data highlights how developers are responding to rising demand, tighter timelines, and increasing gri...
Apr 28, 2026•23 min•Season 18Ep. 926
Most people [who have been in the industry awhile] have opinions about SunEdison. This is one of the first times Ahmad Chatila and Jigar Shah have sat down together to compare notes on how it actually played out. Both were inside it. Both made the bets. Both saw things others didn’t. In this conversation, the two leaders who helped build one of solar’s most ambitious companies sit down to examine how it actually worked and why it did not hold. They walk through the operating logic that made SunE...
Apr 23, 2026•26 min•Season 18Ep. 925
Dean Solon has always been a pattern matcher. Across projects, conversations, and time in the field, he’s constantly picking up on what’s changing — where pressure is building, where systems start to strain, and where the next opportunity is taking shape. But seeing the pattern is only half the story. Joseph Fahrney is the one who has to turn those signals into real products, real partnerships, and real projects — while protecting focus and making sure the right ideas actually get built. Live fr...
Apr 21, 2026•26 min•Season 18Ep. 924
You can now plug solar panels into a wall outlet in some states. No permits. No installer or electrician even required? Just… plug it in. So who’s responsible when that system starts sending power back into your home, or the grid? Plug-in solar is moving faster than the standards designed to govern it. And right now, the rules are still being written. In this conversation, Nico Johnson sits down with two experts at the center of the process. One is helping shape the National Electrical Code, the...
Apr 18, 2026•29 min•Season 18Ep. 923
What does it actually take to earn trust at the highest levels of utility-scale solar? Tyler Nelson has a perspective few in the industry can claim. As founder of Revamp Engineering, his team has been embedded in the design and execution of a massive share of utility-scale solar and storage projects across the U.S. — working alongside the developers and EPCs shaping the grid in real time. But this conversation isn’t about scale for the sake of scale. It’s about how that kind of trust is built. W...
Apr 16, 2026•1 hr 21 min•Season 18Ep. 922
Most energy professionals believe the data will win. John Szoka did too. After a career in the military and time in the North Carolina legislature, Szoka followed the facts and became a clean energy advocate. But what he learned next is what matters. Data might change your mind. It doesn’t change most people’s. In this special conversation, **Jigar Shah and I co-host a discussion with Szoka on how decisions actually get made in energy—from state legislatures to local communities—and why storytel...
Apr 14, 2026•27 min•Season 18Ep. 921
If it takes more than one meeting to explain what you do, you have a messaging problem. In this live conversation from Intersolar North America, Nico Johnson sits down with Spenser Meeks of Apex Presentations to unpack why so many clean energy teams struggle to clearly communicate their value—and how that confusion shows up as longer sales cycles, more meetings, and missed opportunities. Spenser, a former engineer turned messaging strategist, breaks down a simple shift: say less, but make it mat...
Apr 11, 2026•26 min•Season 18Ep. 920
Nico had the chance to sit down in person with today’s guest — and as you’d expect, that face-to-face conversation brings a level of depth, candor, and nuance you don’t always get. Emilie Flanagan, Founder and CEO of Carson Power, has built her career across Southeast Asia, Europe, and the U.S. — from advising on energy markets at KPMG to working inside a European family office, and eventually leading more than 200 megawatts of community solar development in New York before launching her own pla...
Apr 09, 2026•1 hr 10 min•Season 18Ep. 919
Every year, the industry says the same thing. “C&I solar is about to take off!” And yet, it never quite scales the way we expect. Could this year finally be the year? In this live panel from Intersolar, Nico Johnson sits down with Joe Ross (CPS America), Rob Smith (ABC Supply), Tim Montague (Clean Power Consulting), and Jim Wood (SEG Solar) to unpack what’s really happening in the commercial and industrial market. The opportunity is real—but it’s uneven, complex, and highly dependent on wher...
Apr 07, 2026•22 min•Season 18Ep. 918
What do you do when your entire market disappears? That’s not a thought experiment for Michael Bergey . It’s the story of his career. Long before solar dominated rooftops, distributed wind was solving real problems across rural America — lowering energy costs for customers who didn’t care about climate narratives, only outcomes. Then policy support vanished. Oil prices collapsed. And later, cheap solar took over. Most companies didn’t survive. Bergey Windpower did. In this conversation, Michael ...
Apr 02, 2026•48 min•Season 18Ep. 917
The residential solar playbook did not just change. It got torn up. If you are still operating like yesterday’s incentives, product assumptions, and sales motions will carry you forward, this episode is a reality Margins aren’t disappearing overnight. They’re leaking — in places most contractors don’t even notice. In this live conversation from IESNA 2026, Nico Johnson sits down with Rob Smith and Eric Cieslak of ABC Supply to break down where solar contractors are quietly losing profit — and wh...
Mar 31, 2026•41 min•Season 18Ep. 916
Long duration energy storage has spent years sitting in the “we’ll need it someday” category. Not anymore. As grid strain grows, data center demand surges, and reliability becomes a boardroom issue, long duration storage is starting to move from interesting concept to urgent solution. Recorded live at Intersolar and Energy Storage North America, this panel brings together Anna Siefken of the LDES Council , Aric Saunders of Noon Energy , Tristan Bannon of CellCube , and Andrew Friedenthal of E-Zi...
Mar 28, 2026•28 min•Season 18Ep. 915
Most conversations about agrivoltaics stay at the surface. Rebekah Pierce didn’t set out to become a voice for solar. She was trying to solve a much simpler problem: How do you make a small farm financially viable… without giving it up? What followed was a shift — from seeing solar as a “necessary evil” to recognizing it as a tool that might fundamentally reshape how farms survive. In this conversation, we unpack what’s actually happening on the ground: 🔹 What exactly is the business of solar g...
Mar 26, 2026•1 hr 2 min•Season 18Ep. 914
AI isn’t just increasing demand for electricity - it’s changing how power behaves. In this Tactical Tuesday, Nico Johnson sits down with Jon Parrella of Terraflow Energy to break down a problem few people are talking about: modern AI data centers don’t draw power like traditional loads. They ramp rapidly, swing unpredictably, and introduce volatility that existing infrastructure wasn’t designed to handle. That shift is putting real strain on generators, batteries, and the grid itself - accelerat...
Mar 24, 2026•1 hr 12 min•Season 18Ep. 913
Russell Gold has spent years explaining the energy transition from the outside. First as one of The Wall Street Journal’s leading energy reporters, and now from inside one of clean energy’s fastest-growing new entrants, T1 Energy . At The Wall Street Journal, his award-winning work covered the fracking boom, Deepwater Horizon, and the investigation into the Camp Fire in California. He also wrote The Boom and Superpower , digging into the people, decisions, and forces shaping modern energy. Now, ...
Mar 21, 2026•27 min•Season 18Ep. 912
Most C&I solar projects don’t fall short because of the solar itself. They struggle because deals aren’t structured correctly, markets are misunderstood, or developers take on opportunities that were never a fit to begin with. In this episode of SunCast, Nico Johnson sits down with Aaron Wilson , co-founder and CEO of Solar One , to unpack what actually separates projects that get built and deliver long-term value - from the ones that stall, get delayed, or fail to meet expectations. Aaron d...
Mar 19, 2026•1 hr 26 min•Season 18Ep. 911
Clean energy is winning on cost. Solar and storage are cheaper than ever. Deployment is accelerating. The economics are undeniable. So why does it still feel like the industry is losing the broader public narrative? In this live conversation, Nico Johnson sits down with journalist Sammy Roth to explore the gap between technical success and cultural influence. After more than a decade covering energy and climate for the Los Angeles Times , Sammy now writes the independent newsletter Climate-Color...
Mar 17, 2026•24 min•Season 18Ep. 910
If you want to understand where the energy industry is heading, pay attention to the journalists tracking it every day. Thankfully, we get to sit down with three of the most plugged-in reporters covering the energy transition: Sammy Roth of Climate-Colored Goggles (formerly w/ LA Times), Julian Spector of Canary Media, and Darrell Proctor of POWER Magazine . What signals are shaping the market right now — from capital flowing into new energy projects to grid bottlenecks, AI-driven electricity de...
Mar 14, 2026•30 min•Season 18Ep. 909
What does serious capital actually look for in the energy transition? In this episode, Nico sits down with Brendan Bell , Co-Founder of Aligned Climate Capital and a former member of the U.S. Department of Energy’s Loan Programs Office , to discuss how experienced investors evaluate energy companies, infrastructure projects, and management teams. Brendan shares a practical look at: • why raising capital has become more selective • the common mistakes founders make when pitching investors • what ...
Mar 12, 2026•1 hr 17 min•Season 18Ep. 908
From Davos to data centers, Axios reporter explains the new rules of power. Amy Harder is one of the most widely read and respected reporters covering the intersection of energy, climate, and policy. As the national energy correspondent for Axios and author of the Harder Line newsletter, she helps industry leaders understand what’s actually happening inside the energy system. In this conversation with Nico Johnson, Amy breaks down the forces reshaping the global energy landscape. Artificial inte...
Mar 10, 2026•30 min•Season 18Ep. 907
For nearly a decade, Abby Hopper served as President and CEO of SEIA, the Solar Energy Industries Association, representing the U.S. solar industry through one of its most transformative periods. From trade wars and policy battles to the rise of domestic manufacturing and record industry growth, Abby had a front-row seat as solar moved from the margins of the energy system to the center of it. In this conversation, Abby reflects on the challenges she inherited, the progress the industry made, an...
Mar 05, 2026•1 hr 41 min•Season 18Ep. 906
Every year, there is a new “crisis” in solar. And yet… the industry keeps growing. With leadership transition underway at the Solar Energy Industries Association, Darren Van’t Hof steps in as Interim President and CEO at a pivotal moment. Policy uncertainty. Permitting bottlenecks. Election year noise. And a projected $25 billion flowing into storage in 2026 alone. So where do we really stand? In this candid conversation recorded live at Intersolar & Energy Storage N.A., Darren shares why so...
Mar 03, 2026•19 min•Season 18Ep. 905
Most energy projects look solid on paper. Fewer stay on track in the field. Brandon Moss sees the difference every day. Energy demand is rising. Load growth is real. Timelines are tightening. So what actually keeps large energy projects on track? In this conversation, Brandon Moss, CEO of Shoals, shares what he sees from the center of utility-scale deployment. Shoals touches a significant portion of U.S. solar projects, giving Brandon a rare vantage point into how projects are planned, where the...
Feb 26, 2026•1 hr 1 min•Season 18Ep. 904
Listen to the full 2.5 hour episode here: https://suncast.media/episodes/900 Most companies don’t fail because of strategy. They fail because standards slip. In this 13-minute vignette, T.J. Rodgers breaks down the management system he’s used across more than 25 acquisitions to build and scale billion-dollar companies — and why discipline, not charisma, determines whether a business survives. Inside: • Why 19 out of 20 decisions in your company are made without you • Why quality must be enforced...
Feb 24, 2026•19 min•Season 18Ep. 903
Battery storage is scaling fast. But scaling portfolios exposes weaknesses most owners never see coming. As projects move from single sites to gigawatt-hour fleets, many IPPs discover something uncomfortable: they have dashboards - but not decision-grade visibility. In this Episode, Lennart Hinrichs, EVP and General Manager of the Americas at TWAICE, explains what actually changes once batteries begin operating at scale. We discuss: Why state of charge (SOC) is foundational — but insufficient Ho...
Feb 21, 2026•1 hr 2 min•Season 18Ep. 902
“This is not an offensive play. It’s a defensive play. It’s a must win.” That’s how Sheldon Kimber describes AI for companies like Google. If your business depends on organizing and serving information, AI isn’t optional. It’s existential. And if AI is existential, power becomes strategic. In this conversation — recorded before Google’s acquisition of Intersect Power — Sheldon lays out the durable thesis that led here: The U.S. grid isn’t collapsing. It just can’t scale. Transmission is stalled....
Feb 17, 2026•14 min•Season 18Ep. 901
T.J. Rodgers has built — and rebuilt — billion-dollar companies across semiconductors, energy, storage, and manufacturing. In this 2.5-hour Episode 900 deep dive, he walks through the operating principles behind that track record — in detail. This isn’t a surface-level conversation. It’s a masterclass in how durable companies are actually constructed. We unpack: 🔹 The mental models he uses to evaluate technologies and markets 🔹 The acquisition and integration process he’s deployed dozens of ti...
Feb 12, 2026•2 hr 33 min•Season 18Ep. 900
Conference season is back, and if you are heading to Intersolar and Energy Storage North America 2026, this episode is your unfair advantage. Nico Johnson sits down with the people who know the show better than anyone. Event Director Beckie Kier, Solar Games mastermind Shannon Twombly, and Conference Chair Gene Hunt. Together, they break down how to get the most value from your time in San Diego, whether this is your first Intersolar or your tenth. This is more than a show preview, it’s a snapsh...
Feb 10, 2026•37 min•Season 17Ep. 899
Modern founders spend years building toward a hopeful exit or liquidity event. Almost no one talks about what comes after the acquisition. In this episode, Nico Johnson sits down with Andy Klump, founder of Clean Energy Associates (CEA), for a thoughtful conversation about leadership after transition. After fifteen years growing CEA and completing a multi-year earn-out, Andy is in a rare season of pause — stepping back from the CEO seat and reflecting on what actually mattered. Rather than revis...
Feb 05, 2026•1 hr 21 min•Season 17Ep. 898
