Solar veteran Dell Jones is the key account manager for TrinaPro, the all-in-one smart solar utility solution offered by Trina Solar. Since 1997, Trina has pioneered sustainable solar energy solutions, including solar modules, tracker systems, and inverters. On today's Tactical Tuesday, Dell explains how to maximize profits when installing or specifying tracker systems for utility-scale or large distributed-generation solar projects. We dive into a checklist of five ways to improve profitability...
Feb 28, 2023•1 hr 8 min•Season 11Ep. 574
Today’s episode guest, Wenbo Shi, goes Deep with me on how he’s built his Boston-based energy startup, including detailed answers on the how, when, why and who of his fundraising strategy like I’ve rarely gotten into with a guest. Wenbo honed his interest in solar and decarbonization during an intensive academic journey stretching from undergraduate studies at Xi'an Jiaotong University in Xi'an to a Ph.D. from UCLA and post-doctoral work at Harvard. He vowed early on to NOT be in the power secto...
Feb 23, 2023•1 hr 34 min•Season 11Ep. 573
Recently in REsource Labs, we’ve been keying in on things from how to measure your carbon footprint to how to invest your hard-earned dollars into climate-tech startups. If you’ve been following me for long, you know that I’ve been involved in a few groups working to unlock retail investor access to capital and I’ve even done a little Angel Investing myself ! Kyle Cherrick is an entrepreneur, past SunCast guest, and has become a bit of a mentor in the world of climate investing. He’s the founder...
Feb 21, 2023•53 min•Season 11Ep. 572
Michael Orshan is a solar expert who has helped implement more than 10 gigawatts worldwide during the past 15 years. In that time, he’s become a trusted advisor and contributor to the growth of the global solar tracker industry. Presently, Mike serves as VP of US Sales for Valencia, Spain-based solar tracker vendor PVH and also is a founding board member at Breeze, a startup using existing oil and gas pipelines for electricity generation with compressed air pipeline systems (CAPS). In today's po...
Feb 16, 2023•1 hr 1 min•Season 11Ep. 571
Miles Braxton is a solar developer who has carved out his own path as an up and coming clean energy leader. Miles has experience in financial modeling, project development and business development and a technical background in environmental science and engineering. When I last interviewed him, he worked for Goldman Sachs Renewable Power Group's solar energy assets, coordinating risk management (insurance and environmental health and safety). He left that role in mid-2022 to take the position at ...
Feb 14, 2023•21 min•Season 11Ep. 570
Serial entrepreneur Alex Stuart is the president of Carbon Block, which he co-founded in 2018, and Standard Carbon, which he launched three years later. An expert in greenhouse gas assurance, small-scale renewable energy and the carbon markets, his companies synergistically support his beliefs in transparent, accurate climate data. They're the latest projects for the busy Canadian, who founded two renewable energy companies and installed wind turbines for the U.S. government earlier in his caree...
Feb 09, 2023•1 hr 2 min•Season 11Ep. 569
Cary Hayes is a solar industry veteran with nearly two decades of sales and business development experience. But his journey was anything but typical. From Ski Bum to Investment Banker, to Tree Climber and finally to Solar with REC Solar. He exudes fun and confidence while remaining among the most fiercely competitive people I know — and has excellent practical advice to share in today's Tactical Tuesday. This is an excerpt from one of our most-downloaded episodes of 2022, and one of the episode...
Feb 07, 2023•26 min•Season 11Ep. 568
Bill Jordan capitalized on decades of experience in renewable energy, building materials and sustainable agriculture markets to create the Troy, New York-based solar development company that bears his name. Since he founded Jordan Energy in 2009, it's grown into a leader in solar photovoltaics (PV) system design, installation, and operations, in particular for the agriculture and dairy industries. Also known as Jordan Energy and Food Enterprises, the company supports many client partners from th...
Feb 02, 2023•1 hr 17 min•Season 11Ep. 567
We might be 1 month into the year, but it’s not too late to tighten up your pla. Today’s Tactical Tuesday brings you Two industry experts — Gustavo Gomes Monteiro and Michelle Davis — who share insights on the state of the global and domestic distributed generation markets and forecast what we can expect throughout 2023. Gustavo is the CEO of the distributed generation business at EDP Renewables North America (EDPR NA DG), a part of EDP Renewables, the world's fourth-largest renewable energy pro...
Jan 31, 2023•1 hr 8 min•Season 11Ep. 566
Kevin Conroy wants to make investing in sustainable assets as simple as buying stock in Robinhood. In 2019, he established Finite to give individuals access to sustainable institutional quality investment opportunities. The minimum initial investment is a mere $500. He describes Finite as the first platform to mobilize investor capital seamlessly into sustainable assets through publicly listed funds, adding that it "transparently invests in tangible assets delivering quantifiable impact and acce...
Jan 26, 2023•1 hr 11 min•Season 11Ep. 565
Gregg Patterson is a former Hewlett Packard executive who ran multiple global businesses before jumping into renewables in 2006 — partly, he says, to help "save the world." In today's podcast, he explains how he parlayed a background in engineering, research and development and executive management into a solar career. After successfully leading two solar and energy startups to successful exits, Gregg accepted an offer to join Origami Solar, which intends to reverse the solar industry's reliance...
Jan 19, 2023•1 hr 15 min•Season 11Ep. 564
Today we look back at some of the best moments from our 2022 podcasts. It was a year full of learning and notable contributions from rocket scientists, industry icons, and some of our favorite content partnerships. If these nuggets inspire you, I hope you'll queue up the full episodes featuring: Sergio Blanco, renewable project finance director at Partner Engineering & Science, Inc., an engineering, environmental and energy consulting and design firm; Michael Burz, CEO, president and co-foun...
Jan 17, 2023•42 min•Season 11Ep. 563
Marquis Matthews understands the challenges of dramatic career transitions. He shares his experiences in today's excellent podcast. In 2014, the U.S. Navy veteran and diver refocused from the sea to the sun. After years in the offshore oil and gas industry, he pivoted to solar. Marquis indulged an entrepreneurial itch in 2017, then reinvented himself three years later to work as an employee for Energy Support Services. Annapolis, Maryland-based Energy Support Services, a wholly-owned subsidiary ...
Jan 12, 2023•52 min•Season 11Ep. 562
Each quarter, Tigercomm & SunCast Media convene the brightest stars in cleantech podcasting to discuss what they have been observing vis-a-vis their podcast and industry research. This is the 7th such gathering, and it proved an eventful hour of insights, differing opinions and more than a few laughs. Join hosts Mike Casey & Nico Johnson, along with a lineup of all-star podcasters from across the cleantech spectrum for the Year-end Holiday Special! Our expert panel of cleantech podcaster...
Jan 10, 2023•1 hr 6 min•Season 11Ep. 561
Hugh McDermott is the senior vice president for business development and sales for ESS Inc., a provider of long-duration energy storage (LDES) solutions for commercial and industrial (C&I), utility, microgrid, and off-grid applications. In today's podcast, he explains the critical issue of energy storage, which he warns could impede our quest for a clean, green future. "We can build and have all kinds of generating technologies that can be carbon-free, but we can't go through the night witho...
Jan 05, 2023•1 hr 29 min•Season 11Ep. 560
What percentage increase in productivity would you say would need to be achieved by all the individuals in a building in order to pay for ALL The energy used by that building ? 5%? 20%? Would you believe it if I told you only 1%? Yes, a mere 1% increase in productivity. Curious about the math? Well, today you’ll learn how Daylighting can actually bring just as much ROI to your business as the other way we capture the sun! And we also outline his 3-30-300 rule that supports this claim over on the...
Jan 03, 2023•30 min•Season 11Ep. 559
Josh Porter and Nico Johnson, both veterans of the solar industry and long-time podcasters, discuss the evolution of the medium and its popularity. They both started their own podcasts at a time when podcasting was still in its infancy, and emphasize how the medium fosters genuinely authentic conversations and storytelling. In this live discussion, Josh & NIco talk about their experiences with starting and growing their own businesses (on the back of podcasts). One of the elements they both ...
Dec 30, 2022•41 min•Season 11Ep. 558
Mohammed Abdalla, the founder and CEO of Good Faith Energy, is no stranger to adversity. His father died when he was nine, leaving his mother to rear five children. Mohammed, the middle child, used the childhood challenges to cultivate the grit, determination and fire that now serve him well as an entrepreneur. After a disappointing early career experience in oil and gas — he said he was fired for breaking the rules and possibly asking the wrong questions — he traveled the world searching for hi...
Dec 29, 2022•1 hr 28 min•Season 11Ep. 557
I’m no fan of the hype train and misdirection foisted upon us by much of the traditional fossil fuel industry. So, when I met Tucker Perkins, president and CEO of the Propane Education and Research Council (PERC), I was happy to “entertain” a phone call to hear why he believes renewable propane can be dubbed a clean and sustainable energy source. Truthfully, I had zero intention of ever having him on the show. But after a delightful 30 minute jousting match over zoom, I was convinced that there ...
Dec 27, 2022•53 min•Season 11Ep. 556
It’s a holiday weekend, so I’ll keep the reading short for you. Every so often, I try to convene my close friends who are working in the trenches doing the guerilla and grass roots marketing helping our industry grow. Two-such folks are Tor “Solar Fred” Valenza, and Lauren “Windy Glick” Glickman, and I’ve truly come to admire and respect them both. I ask them a ton of questions in this conversation all about how they help their clients navigate the world of new media, social, podcasts, etc, and ...
Dec 23, 2022•41 min•Season 11Ep. 555
Many folks have heard the term microgrid in the energy transition context, and today's podcast will give you critical insights about their use and potential. Our guest is Adrienne Pierce, CEO of New Sun Road, a Richmond, California-based for-profit public benefit company (PBC). It’s really coincidental that this particular episode publishes the same week that >70K Northern CA residents are without power due to a 6.4 Earthquake! You’ll hear solutions that Adrienne and Co are working on that co...
Dec 22, 2022•1 hr 6 min•Season 11Ep. 554
Today's Tactical Tuesday gives you an overview of regenerative energy — a transformative new standard of excellence for solar power plant design, construction, and operations that normalizes regenerative agriculture practices on solar farm sites. "If you’ve never heard about the amazing potential of regenerative agriculture and land use practices to naturally sequester a critical mass of CO2 in the soil and forests, you’re not alone. One of the best-kept secrets in the world today is that the so...
Dec 20, 2022•35 min•Season 11Ep. 553
Fellow solar warrior and podcaster, Nate Jovanelly, took over the PowerUp Media Zone studio at RE+ to lead the Industry Pulse segment, with support from Enerflo, at Noon each day during the annual conference in September. The segment highlighted the leaders, trends & opportunities in the industry in 10-minute bits of advice and insight. In this compilation episode, we have pulled together several of the interviews that we believe best capture the essence of the Industry Pulse segment so you ...
Dec 16, 2022•46 min•Season 11Ep. 552
Today's conversation is a wide-ranging look at how to provide reliable power using renewables while mitigating intermittency and helping Independent Power Producers (IPPs) deal with the annoying curtailment problem through novel software and hardware solutions. Been wondering when I’d do an episode on Bitcoin mining + Renewables? Buckle up and let’s roll. "Curtailment" occurs when a clean energy electric generating system is prevented from exporting to the grid or is temporarily shut down by the...
Dec 15, 2022•1 hr 42 min•Season 11Ep. 551
Everyone talks about B2B marketing these days, often without a clear understanding of its meaning or importance. So today, we shine a light on business-to-business or B2B marketing to gain a better perspective on the term and, most importantly, strategies for maximizing your B2B renewable energy-focused marketing investments. Our conversation includes top renewable industry marketers Naveed Hasan, director of external affairs and marketing at Sungrow North America; Kathy Heilmann, vice president...
Dec 13, 2022•29 min•Season 11Ep. 550
Homeowners are on a remarkable journey toward more convenient living through connected technology. Adopting things like smart thermostats, lighting, network cameras, door locks, and garage door openers is moving from an early market dominated by innovators and early adopters to the Early Majority — or mainstream — market. We're finally Crossing the Chasm, and today's guests have some relevant insights to share about the future of smart home technology. Our conversation includes industry experts ...
Dec 09, 2022•30 min•Season 10Ep. 549
Jerry Coleman is a serial entrepreneur with a passion (and quite a track record) for developing and growing companies on a national scale. Over the past 20 years, Jerry has co-founded and cultivated multiple real estate-related ventures throughout the US, including Invitation Homes, the $10Billion real estate juggernaut in partnership with Blackstone. So it was no surprise when he turned his attention to solar in 2014, nor that the resulting enterprise has become a successful & respected nat...
Dec 08, 2022•1 hr 10 min•Season 10Ep. 548
Sylvia Leyva Martinez, a senior analyst in Wood Mackenzie's Power and Renewables team, and Shawn Rumery, senior research Director at the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA), discuss significant trends in the U.S. solar market in this timely Tactical Tuesday. The quarterly SEIA/Wood Mackenzie Power & Renewables U.S. Solar Market Insight is the longest-running solar industry trends report. It has been tracking deployments across all four market segments — residential, commercial, utilit...
Dec 06, 2022•27 min•Season 10Ep. 547
Solar industry leader and returning guest, Jim Spano, helped develop the solar market in the mid-Atlantic region — and now he's bringing a new innovative product to market. New York City-based Sol-REIT is a unique solar financing platform that aims to give developers a new option and keep more of the project for themselves while also providing much-needed scaleable financing to the middle market. It's the first investment product to bring the novel model of real estate investment trusts (REITs) ...
Dec 02, 2022•32 min•Season 10Ep. 546
Matt Heider is CEO of Nautilus Labs, which is using artificial intelligence (AI) to create more efficient ocean commerce. While shipping is an adjacent category to our usual renewable focused podcasts, Matt has earned a spot. Before Nautilus, he built sales and account management systems at software startups that have grown to unicorns and worked for IBM on its famous Watson team. Now, he’s trained his attention to advancing the efficiency of ocean commerce (ie, cleaning up the wasteful shipping...
Dec 01, 2022•1 hr 5 min•Season 10Ep. 545
