Listen in as Host Bill Nussey talks with Tom Jensen, CEO and Cofounder of the publicly traded, Luxembourg and Norway based FREYR Battery. FREYR is emerging as a leader in clean, high density battery cell manufacturing. Jensen shares insights into the driving forces that have shaped FREYR to date, the importance of upstream and downstream partnerships, and why the company is committing some $2.6 Billion to the facility envisioned for Coweta County in Georgia. And, since FREYR’s Giga Arctic will b...
Feb 07, 2023•45 min•Ep. 99
One of the world’s largest installers of solar + storage energy systems has a groundbreaking and industry changing proposal to build a neighborhood that runs on local energy. Their proposal is currently in front of the California Public Utility Commission, but naysayers are trying to squelch the conversation. Join host Bill Nussey as he talks with Sunnova’s CEO, John Berger and CMO, Michael Grasso. They share the background on what the clean tech leader is proposing and why; how it will benefit ...
Dec 09, 2022•53 min•Ep. 98
In this episode we learn that one man didn't know exactly what to do at first, but he knew the “where,” the “when,” and the “why,” of the problem he saw. And, that was enough to begin shaping an incredibly bold vision for building a potential unicorn in the clean tech space while simultaneously helping millions of low income Americans. Join us as host Bill Nussey talks with the CEO and founder of Brooklyn based BlocPower, Donnel Baird. Listen in as this visionary leader gives us a peek into a jo...
Oct 30, 2022•48 min•Ep. 97
For over two decades, Acumen and its partners have dared to go where traditional investors feared to tread. Acumen’s pioneering vision and legendary hard work has brought life changing, off-grid electricity to hundreds of millions of people worldwide. And, along the way, their work has inspired and supported intrepid entrepreneurs and innovators in some of the toughest market environments on earth. Now, this clear-eyed, gritty bunch, filled with hard edged hope and armed with proven models and e...
Oct 11, 2022•41 min•Ep. 96
In her inspiring new book, Rural Renaissance , social entrepreneur, author and clean energy non-profit CEO Michelle Moore offers a vision of thriving rural communities where clean power is the spark that leads to greater investment, vitality, and equity. Additionally, Moore argues that we have everything we need in hand today to make this vision a reality. In this wide ranging discussion with Freeing Energy, Moore breaks down the key elements that will shape a rural renaissance. Learn how the wo...
Sep 27, 2022•42 min•Ep. 95
Scalability, high availability, rapid detection and mitigation of failure…just some of the requirements of a highly performant infrastructure managing a massive distributed environment…like Google’s cloud services. Could the same principles and patterns apply to the requirements of managing a rapidly changing electric grid? And, what might that mean for different types of electric utilities in a future defined by decentralized resources like solar, batteries, demand response, and EV charging? Li...
Sep 13, 2022•45 min•Ep. 94
When our guest and her partners launched their business a dozen years ago, she had a vision, a technology, and the determination to stick to the mission. If you have a startup in the clean tech space or just interested in really cool technology, listen in as Catherine Von Burg, CEO and Co-founder of SimpliPhi Power, shares the amazing story of how sticking to the mission resulted in a groundbreaking energy storage solution with SimpliPhi Power’s safe, non-toxic battery systems that are being use...
Aug 30, 2022•51 min•Ep. 93
Our guests today run a global cleantech powerhouse that recently closed $260 million in a series D funding round. They've served 90 million customers so far and they're adding two million households a year at their current connection rates. If that isn't inspiring enough, what makes these two scrappy entrepreneurs even more inspiring is the fact that they have looked beyond the wealthy markets of the US and Europe and built their company in emerging markets like Kenya, Zambia, Uganda, and other ...
Aug 16, 2022•49 min•Ep. 92
Host Bill Nussey dives into the astonishing world of hydropower and marine energy with Jennifer Garson, Director of the Water Power Technologies Office in the US Department of Energy. Garson helps us navigate the well chartered waters of our nation's oldest source of electricity generation and largest source today of energy storage. She shares just how big a role hydropower and marine energy can play and is already playing in shaping the future of clean renewable energy in communities nationwide...
Aug 02, 2022•42 min•Ep. 91
Freeing Energy Podcast Host Bill Nussey joins fellow leading Cleantech podcasters for the 5th in a series of lively roundtable discussions on the most pressing questions and issues facing the transition to a clean renewable energy future. In this episode, these top podcasters chime in on topics such as the impact of the recent U.S. Supreme Court decision, Senator Joe Manchin’s big “no” to climate progress legislation, the ongoing war in Ukraine, and escalating attacks by pro-fossil fuel pundits....
Jul 28, 2022•1 hr 2 min•Ep. 90
Innovators, entrepreneurs, investors, in fact, anyone serious about the business of climate, listen up! In this episode, host Bill Nussey catches up with Kim Zou and Sophie Purdom, the founders of Climate Tech Venture Capital, which, in just two short years, has become one of the world’s leading sources for data driven analysis and insights into the world of climate venture investing. This brilliant and dynamic duo gives us an insider's peek into their clear-eyed and data-rich analysis of ventur...
Jul 19, 2022•1 hr 13 min•Ep. 89
Listen in as host Bill Nussey talks with Greg Wetsone, the President and CEO of the Washington DC powerhouse, American Council on Renewable Energy, or as it is popularly known, ACORE. Together, Bill and Greg wade into the mind-boggling labyrinth of state and federal policies that are shaping, or in most cases, impeding our transition to renewable energy. If you want to understand how local energy, nuclear power, and giant transmission lines fit into ACOREs view of our renewable energy future, cl...
Jul 05, 2022•39 min•Ep. 88
What is community solar? How does it work? What are the benefits? Host Bill Nussey drills into the critical role community solar plays in a clean local energy future with Jeff Cramer, President and CEO of the Coalition for Community Solar Access, CCSA. Jeff dives into the nitty gritty of how it all works, who it serves and the business models that make it a reality. Plus, Jeff shares where community solar is growing across the United States, where it is being held back and why and the efforts CC...
Jun 21, 2022•52 min•Ep. 87
If you've wondered what role AI can play in the clean energy transition, this is an episode to listen to. Host Bill Nussey nerds it out a little with Titiaan Palazzi, Co-Founder and COO of Myst AI. Myst AI is the artificial intelligence platform that is shaking up electricity supply and demand forecasting with highly localized time series data that dramatically improves the reliability and costs for systems of all sizes, even microgrids. Titiaan shares insights into how Myst tackles the massive ...
Jun 07, 2022•32 min•Ep. 86
Host Bill Nussey catches up with Arshad Mansoor, President and CEO of the Electric Power Research Institute, the world's preeminent independent, non-profit energy research and development organization. Mansoor shares the vision his global organization has for a safe, clean, resilient energy future for people and communities worldwide and the critical role local energy plays in a rapidly emerging shared energy economy. Listen and learn what is driving this transition, the underlying technologies ...
May 24, 2022•36 min•Ep. 85
Our guest, Jigar Shah, is an innovator, entrepreneur, author, podcast superstar and now Director of the powerful US Department of Energy’s Loan Programs Office with $40 Billion in its coffers. Shah joins host Bill Nussey in a fascinating and revealing conversation about the extraordinary efforts the DOE, and the LPO in particular, are making to reach out to clean tech companies in its efforts to accelerate the transition to a clean energy economy and particularly local energy. Shah explores how ...
May 10, 2022•49 min•Ep. 84
Our guest spent his early years without grid electricity and now he is a driving force behind the first fully integrated whole-home, plug and play, solar power solution. Host Bill Nussey talks with Ben Polito, President of Energy Storage Systems at Generac, the leader in secure home power systems. Polito shares the background and vision of how his company is shifting from fossil fuel based systems to a home energy storage platform that connects solar PV, smart batteries, loads, and the grid. And...
Apr 26, 2022•37 min•Ep. 83
Host Bill Nussey catches up with prolific author, professor, energy expert, co-founder of the global powerhouse, RMI, and “the Einstein of Energy Efficiency”, Amory Lovins. Lovins takes us back to the future, sharing what inspired the seminal work, Small is Profitable, and what surprises him most as he looks at the changes that have taken place since its publication twenty years ago. Lovins offers powerful insights on why local energy makes even more sense today in social, political, and economi...
Apr 12, 2022•28 min•Ep. 82
Listen in as host Bill Nussey talks with Bryan Hannegan, President and CEO of Holy Cross Energy, the Electric Membership Cooperative serving Western Colorado, including the famous ski resorts of Vail and Aspen. Holy Cross Energy is well on its way to achieving an aggressive goal of 100% clean energy by 2030. And, Bryan shares how Holy Cross is making local energy a central part of its strategy and dramatically reimagining its relationship with its customers.
Mar 29, 2022•51 min•Ep. 81
Listen in and learn the story behind the very first Exchange-Traded Fund focused on local energy. Gabriela Herculano , CEO and Co-Founder of iClima Earth shares with host Bill Nussey how the fund evolved, the transparent model for the underlying index, and a simple way for everyday investors to bet on local energy, DERs, and as iClima refers to it, Smart Energy.
Mar 15, 2022•39 min•Ep. 80
Host Bill Nussey talks with Erwin Spolders, CEO and Founder of Redavia Solar Power. Redavia, based in Germany, Kenya, and Ghana, provides pre-configured, containerized solar power generation systems to small and medium sized businesses across Africa. Learn how this company’s innovations are leading to these cost-effective solutions and proving to be easy to ship, set-up, scale, and redeploy as needed for minimal upfront investment, all using time-tested rental contracts. Plus, learn how crowdsou...
Mar 01, 2022•50 min•Ep. 79
Clean tech entrepreneurs, listen up! Host Bill Nussey talks with Danny Kennedy, a founder and CEO of New Energy Nexus. Kennedy shares his journey from activist to entrepreneur, and how his firm is using a dramatically different theory of change and a massively broad engagement model to pave a significantly faster on-ramp for climate tech startups in California and around the world. Plus, hear from the executives of two startups which have benefited from New Energy Nexus and one of it’s partnersh...
Feb 15, 2022•39 min•Ep. 78
Join in as host Bill Nussey catches up with the global energy thought leader, strategist, business advisor, and founder of The Future Is Electric, Michael Barnard. Barnard shares his positive, pragmatic, and colorful views on a range of clean energy technologies and which ones he would place his bets on in the global race to a clean and affordable energy future.
Feb 01, 2022•1 hr 16 min•Ep. 77
Listen in as host Bill Nussey catches up with two term Georgia Public Service Commissioner, Tim Echols, for a very timely discussion. Echols breaks down the important role played by the public service commission. He shares his part in promoting net metering in Georgia, and the valuable lessons learned from other states wrestling with this important market mechanism in the transition to local renewable energy.
Jan 18, 2022•49 min•Ep. 76
Listen in as renowned clean tech leader and host of the top clean energy podcast SunCast, Nico Johnson, shares outtakes from two days of in-depth discussions with Freeing Energy author Bill Nussey. Johnson teases out major themes and insights from Nussey in this wide ranging discussion, distilled down into one fascinating interview for Freeing Energy Podcast followers. Plus, Nico shares his top takeaways and a surprising story of his journey into the world of tequila and how it relates to Freein...
Jan 04, 2022•1 hr 8 min
In this special year end episode, Bill Nussey and Sam Easterby are joined by the brilliant standup comedian, Esteban Gast, host of the Comedians Conquering Climate Change Podcast, which is sponsored by Generation 180. The trio takes a look back at the biggest headlines impacting local energy, shares some favorite quotes from 2021 guests and offers a peek into what 2022 might bring. Plus, we learn about Estebans’s very original approach to the often difficult climate discussion. Esteban weaves hi...
Dec 21, 2021•58 min•Ep. 74
Listen in as author and entrepreneur Bill Nussey and his wife, Melinda, reveal the arc of the journey that is Freeing Energy. This is the story behind what Kirkus reviews calls, “an unfailingly realistic and doggedly clear-eyed blueprint for the billion dollar opportunities that will reshape how we generate, store, and consume clean local renewable electricity.” Written for innovators, entrepreneurs, and advocates for clean energy, Freeing Energy, the book, is now available.
Dec 07, 2021•1 hr 3 min•Ep. 73
Host Bill Nussey talks with Bryan Hassin, Co-Founder and CEO of the “rocket ship” accelerator for climate tech innovation, Third Derivative (D3). This new startup accelerator was born from a collaboration of two pioneering firms, RMI (previously Rocky Mountain Institute) and New Energy Nexus. Hassin shares how D3 is bringing startups, investors, and corporations together with regulatory and policy experts in radical new ways to increase the speed to market and long term success for climate innov...
Nov 30, 2021•51 min•Ep. 72
Midwest solar and storage leader and Clean Power Hour podcast host, Tim Montague, shares with host Bill Nussey how clashing titans in Illinois crafted a grand legislative bargain taking big steps toward a clean renewable energy future. Plus, Montague shares insights on how the simple economics of solar power and storage is changing minds in both boardrooms and around kitchen tables across the state.
Nov 23, 2021•35 min•Ep. 71
In this episode host Bill Nussey talks with Andy Klump, founder and CEO of Shanghai-based Clean Energy Associates, the leading global solar and storage supply chain management and engineering services firm. Klump walks us through how and why the economics of solar are shifting in the short term and the impact an energy crisis in China as well as backlogs in global shipping are having on US solar and battery projects. Klump shares views on when this crisis might end and the critical need for a ho...
Nov 09, 2021•34 min•Ep. 70
