Over the years, a segment of the industry has emerged as what has been referred to as the fourth vertical for solar. It’s not just a phenomenon in the United States, but worldwide, and it’s called Community Solar. Community solar is the model where community members can collectively purchase clean electricity from a central offsite solar array, and this model has been gaining massive attention and momentum of late, offering an option for equitable access to clean energy while helping to reduce c...
Jun 20, 2022•1 hr 2 min•Season 9Ep. 485
When VCs told Catherine Von Burg that she probably wasn’t cut out to run (or raise money for) the kind of business that she had mapped out for SimpliPhi, she could have capitulated and sacrificed her personal dignity & self worth on the altar of company mission & vision. Except, the company mission & vision was something that carried her DNA, her blood, sweat & tears. And, ultimately, she believed that it wasn’t a race to be won (ie, “the exit” is not the destination) but a journ...
Jun 16, 2022•1 hr 8 min•Season 9Ep. 484
Today we’re sharing 2 snippets from the >2hr juggernaut of an interview we had with one of the early EV & solar power electronics pioneers, James Worden. Many of you in the Solar industry might recall James from his Inverter business, Solectria Renewables. But, did you know that technology was birthed from a 2-decades love-affair with electric vehicles? We get into ALL the backstory in the 2-part interview which debuted in late May. But for those of you who didn’t have the stomach to comm...
Jun 14, 2022•39 min•Season 9Ep. 483
SunCast Media has partnered with EDP Renewables to produce a special 5-part series focused on the fundamentals of the fastest growing segment of the solar industry - Community Solar. If you’re a participant in the solar industry, or even if you’re considering where & how to make the plunge into solar, or more specifically, Community Solar, then you’ve no doubt contemplated “What is Community Solar & does it make sense for me?” The Community Solar vertical is complex, but in this series, ...
Jun 13, 2022•2 min•Season 9Ep. 482
Dean Vukovic moved to the US with visions of revolutionizing the way we manufacture and ultimately reuse/repurpose consumer goods. Embracing the circular economy philosophy, he crossed the pond from Oz to help pioneer that movement here in the USA for his prior employer. Now, he’s GM at Terrasmart (the entity formed by Gibraltar’s roll-up of RBI Solar, Terrasmart, Sunfig and SolarBOS) and leads their fixed tilt division (formerly RBI Solar). Dean has such a great story to tell and it’s one that ...
Jun 09, 2022•59 min•Season 9Ep. 481
Today's guest, Robert Sewell, is the founder & CEO of Vespr Solar. I’ve been intrigued with Robert for awhile now, mostly because every time he named one of his advisors it was someone I deeply admire and respect in the solar industry (and I kept asking myself “how the heck is this young guy with zero solar experience got so many of my mentors to back his idea!?”). Like the others in this RE+ NE series, we dig into what trends he’s seeing as he sells across the Utility-scale solar sector, wh...
Jun 07, 2022•23 min•Season 9Ep. 480
This is Part 2 of a 2-part interview with George Hershman, CEO of SOLV Energy. If you missed Part 1, please do queue it up, and I would encourage you to listen to them in order. ;-) George is leading a powerful transformation of the company he helped form & eventually spin out of Swinerton Renewable Energy over the past 13 yrs, and he and his team have positioned the company as a clear frontrunner of the renewable energy economy. As a prominent business leader in the solar industry, George b...
Jun 02, 2022•42 min•Season 9Ep. 479
George Hershman is the CEO of SOLV Energy (formerly known as Swinerton Renewable Energy), a company that, in my tenure in the industry, has grown to become the largest utility-scale solar Engineering, Procurement & Construction (EPC) company in the US. I’ve been impressed at every turn how George, and his all-star team at SOLV, has consistently delivered the highest quality on almost every standard, excels at employee retention & growth, and is generally considered the premium brand when...
Jun 02, 2022•1 hr 1 min•Season 9Ep. 478
It’s time to rally together once again, #SolarWarrior! As you’ll hear in today’s #TacticalTuesday (TT), Carter Lavin and the folks at the California Solar & Storage Association need our help not just to get the word out, but to GET out and be present at this Thursday’s upcoming rallies in California. Carter is one of the folks I find most knowledgeable and compelling in his ability to explain what’s at stake for the industry. So, in today’s TT, we go into what is the premise of Net Energy Me...
May 31, 2022•31 min•Season 9Ep. 477
Part 2. The Pivot! If you listened to Part 1, you’ve got a solid appreciation for James & Solectria Corp’s roots in solar car racing. In this second half of our conversation, we look at how James and his team pivoted their core business to leverage their pioneering energy conversion technology into the soon-to-be-booming solar power industry. James Worden and his wife, Anita, created a “made in America” brand that many installers in the US have relied on, including me! We talk about the quic...
May 26, 2022•1 hr 19 min•Season 9Ep. 476
Part 1. The Beginning. In 1996, after years of “can’t be done” grumbling from the major automakers, Solectria announced the development of the sporty Sunrise electric car under the leadership of CEO James Worden, calculating that the price could be as low as $20,000 if they got 20,000 orders. Ahead of his time in every way, James inspired an EV revolution, laying the foundation for innovation in not one but two industries, and we get to his contribution to the solar industry in Part 2 of the con...
May 26, 2022•1 hr 18 min•Season 9Ep. 475
Today's guest, Doug Pierce, is Director of Sales for Sungage Financial, a platform I know many of you use to offer financing to your resi & commercial customers. Today, we get insight from Doug on what’s trending for 2022 and where he sees opportunity for growth, as well as the lightbulb moment for him in his sales journey with most customers. If you haven’t heard Doug’s take on financing before, I’d recommend you queue up our Great Debate from last year , (episode 375 of SunCast) or, even b...
May 24, 2022•18 min•Season 9Ep. 474
Jeff McAulay and Jim Bowen are back on SunCast to discuss how we can reach more Commercial & Industrial (C&I) customers and accelerate the adoption curve for this critical segment of the industry. I’ve had Jeff on the show before talking about how, through their company Energetic Insurance, they have helped developers improve the credit rating of their solar clients such that they are able to do more projects more quickly. Today Jeff & Jim talk about how the solar market is evolving ...
May 19, 2022•35 min•Season 9Ep. 473
This week’s Tactical Tuesday guest is a returning SunCast collaborator & guest, Scott Nguyen of Bodhi Solar. If you haven’t heard his executive profile, I’d highly recommend you queue that up to listen to next, it’s episode 357 from 2021. In that discussion we go deep into Scott’s use of design thinking in developing his software platform focused on improving the solar customer journey. There really is nobody I know in the industry that’s more focused on driving customer engagement and lever...
May 17, 2022•18 min•Season 9Ep. 472
Paul Webb is an Energy Expert and Technical Adviser with 40 years’ experience helping businesses understand how to manage their energy consumption and implement strategic ways to reduce monthly/yearly costs. You’ll love his stories and his in-the-trenches approach which incorporates all stakeholders of an organization, from the boardroom to the shop floor, and educates and motivates people to achieve the organisation's goals and targets. He’s one of my favourite global energy experts on more tha...
May 12, 2022•1 hr 7 min•Season 9Ep. 471
Today's guest Spencer Oberan is co-founder of one of the solar software companies that seems to be on everybody’s lips lately, Enerflo. If you haven’t heard of Enerflo, don’t worry, I hadn’t either until January of this year, but they’re a fast-growing startup that’s been in relative stealth mode but seems to be integrating with virtually every platform out there to make proposals and financing for residential solar projects easier & faster. We caught up with Spencer face to face to hear his...
May 10, 2022•22 min•Season 9Ep. 470
Time for #FlashbackFriday! Each quarter, Mike Casey (CEO, Tigercomm) and I convene the top podcasters covering cleantech sectors for a rich, one-hour discussion of trends, developments, challenges and opportunities. Join us in hearing from the people who help shape the view of your company and your sector for investors, markets, and policymakers! This was our 4th Quarterly podcaster’s roundtable. Nico is joined by: Mike Casey (Tigercomm), Tim Montague (Clean Power Hour), Marie Burgquist (GRNE So...
May 06, 2022•59 min•Season 9Ep. 469
Matt LeDucq has 15+ Years of experience in renewables, specifically in developing solar for some of the biggest names in the industry like Nextera. He’s overseen more than $5Billion in transactions in EPC, OEM and long term investments, and has deep experience leading transactions for utility scale solar, community solar, stand alone storage, electric vehicle, fuel cell & microgrids. If you’re like me, you’re probably wondering “what would this guy who’s had such a macro view on the rise of ...
May 05, 2022•1 hr 14 min•Season 9Ep. 468
Have you been wondering how to get into the booming solar industry? Curious about the path that someone might take who’s currently doing the job you’d like to have? Where if that job is in solar project development or management then take notes today! My guest, Isha Rege, has risen through the ranks at one of the leading solar development companies in the US, New Energy Equity. In today’s career profile breakdown, we get details from Isha all about how she made the transition from erstwhile stud...
May 03, 2022•39 min•Season 9Ep. 467
Six years ago, after reading an article in Time Magazine calling energy poverty the worst kind of poverty, Simon Doble was driven to take action, and SolarBuddy was born. But, Simon is a true serial entrepreneur. By his early 20’s he was a successful businessman, investor & developer and has always sought to impact the built environment around him. It wasn’t until he began to visit UN refugee camps that he truly understood the magnitude of the problem energy poverty presents for nearly a Bil...
Apr 28, 2022•1 hr 1 min•Season 9Ep. 466
The annual CERAweek hosted in Houston, TX by S&P Global has been hailed as “the Davos for Energy” by some, and it didn’t disappoint. In March, I attended the conference to see whether there would be much focus on the Energy Transition, and to my great surprise there was much discussion indeed. It was wholly unexpected to find not just hallway chatter but many of the formal event panels discussing the role of the various industries and participants in the Energy Transition. Unlike the solar e...
Apr 26, 2022•32 min•Season 9Ep. 465
While Deborah Knuckey’s resume says plenty about her more than 20 years of strategy and marketing experience in the renewables sector, she’s more defined by her career breaks to learn mountaineering, do polar expedition training, study photography and complete a graduate program in documentary filmmaking with the hope of retracing her father’s expedition through the Antarctic. Deb writes about climate, energy and the Antarctic, with occasional forays into climate fiction and satire. Her wit and ...
Apr 21, 2022•1 hr 13 min•Season 9Ep. 464
Today's featured clean energy entrepreneur is Ankit Sheoran, Founder at Wattmonk. I’ve been getting to know Ankit and his team at Wattmonk over the last few months, and it was delightful to meet him in person finally in Boston! Special thanks to our mutual friend Anthony Conklin for making the connection and for bringing Wattmonk to my attention. Ankit’s team is quite literally moving mountains for their clients as one of the fastest growing offshore system design & permitting companies in t...
Apr 19, 2022•21 min•Season 9Ep. 463
I said it when we released the episode with Cary Hayes back in January (Ep 438 btw) that the REC Solar “mafia” has deep roots. Today’s guest, Catlin Mattheis, is proof as he and his co-founders are one of the many “alumni organizations”, as we might call them, from that long heritage REC has given us in California. When you hear the origin story of his company, Fracsun, you’ll get a sense of appreciation for the level of attention to detail, forward-thinking and courage Catlin and his team have ...
Apr 14, 2022•1 hr 4 min•Season 9Ep. 462
Today's guest, John Chaimanis, is CEO of Kendall Sustainable Infrastructure. John is a returning SunCast guest & you can hear his original executive profile back in episode 196 of SunCast when we discussed his approach to what we referred to then as “Value-added finance” for solar project development. John’s team and reputation have grown substantially in the sector since our chat back in 2019, so I was supremely grateful for some time with him face to face in Boston recently to see how 2022...
Apr 12, 2022•16 min•Season 9Ep. 461
I’ve gotta give NASA credit. It turns out the space program has delivered many many more terrestrial benefits and innovations than might be assumed at first observation. There’ve been a few folks lately on the show who’s original pursuits & passions took them closer to the moon than the average person. Today’s guest is among that elite group, having spent time in deep research for NASA’s space-walking astronauts; his co-founder worked for SpaceX. You can say these guys are used to shooting f...
Apr 07, 2022•59 min•Season 12Ep. 460
Jon Powers , is a true [Solar]Warrior. From serving the US Army in Iraq, to becoming the first-ever Chief Sustainability Officer under the Obama administration, Jon has demonstrated passion & leadership in renewables. He was able to parlay that expertise into a strong brand and portfolio in the clean economy vis a vis his company, Clean Capital. Since I first interviewed him way back in Episode 181 , Jon and team have grown to become one of the largest C&I developers & asset owners i...
Apr 05, 2022•16 min•Season 9Ep. 459
A year ago, the industry was mildly shocked to learn that Jigar Shah, Industry Icon, Entrepreneur, Investor & Visionary would be joining the US Department of Energy to head the infamous Loan Program office(LPO). The LPO is notably responsible for the Title XVII program that invested in companies like Tesla, Ford, Nissan and a large number of solar energy companies/projects. A year on, I wanted to check-in with Jigar to learn how his first year went, where he’s seeing the trends for 2022 &...
Mar 31, 2022•42 min•Season 9Ep. 458
Piper Wilder has been working with electric cooperatives for decades and has keen insight into how to partner with (and sell to) them compared with the functional process with the more traditional utility structure. How many electric cooperatives there are in the United States? What percentage of the total (of electric utilities) that represents? What differences exist between working with Cooperatives versus traditional Utilities? And how might you position yourself or identify how to work with...
Mar 29, 2022•25 min•Season 9Ep. 457
Dana Clare Redden is the founder and CEO of Solar Stewards, a social enterprise connecting corporate social responsibility initiatives with schools and universities, affordable and senior housing, places of worship, and nonprofits in marginalized communities. Today, Dana and Nico discuss: What is energy burden? (And how might we best work towards alleviating it?) The challenges of entrepreneurship as a female founder Solar Stewards’ role in bringing solar solutions and accessibility to historica...
Mar 24, 2022•1 hr 13 min•Season 9Ep. 456
