Suncast

John Berger is a renewable energy veteran deep in the heart of “Energy” country, as we discussed back in Episode 465. And he’s built more than one successful renewable energy company, but most of you will recognize him as the CEO of Sunnova Energy, the publicly traded solar giant that has helped usher in the modern residential solar revolution. He founded Sunnova in 2012 and has served since as CEO, president and board chair. An energy entrepreneur with more than two decades of industry experience, he supports free market competition, consumer choice and the advancement of technology to power energy independence. Houston-based Sunnova is an Energy-as-a-Service (EaaS) provider that wants to make clean, renewable energy more accessible, reliable, and affordable by providing "better energy service at a better price."Today's podcast focuses on the perspective of one of the most influential solar services companies in the United States and arguably the world. We'll explore his thoughts on ener

Today's special edition podcast offers practical, tactical advice on getting the most from your customer relationships. Through an all-star panel discussion led by Bodhi CEO Scott Nguyen, you'll learn how to double the value of your solar customers through follow-on sales. Join us for insights from Ryan Barnett, market development officer at Palmetto; Preston Booker, head of strategic accounts at BayWa r.e. Solar Systems; Adam Hinckley, vice president, Corporate Development at Enphase Energy; and Mark Liffmann, co-founder and CEO of Omnidian.You'll hear excellent perspectives on follow-up sales for solar companies and discover how solar installers can help cultivate more sales through thoughtful customer relations.This Bodhi Media Zone Takeover was part of the RE+ PowerUp Media Zone, a live production of SunCast Media.If you want to connect with today's guest, you’ll find links to his contact info in the show notes on the blog at https://mysuncast.com/suncast-episodes/.Our Platinum Presenting

Piper Foster Wilder is the co-founder and CEO of 60Hertz Energy, the first maintenance software purpose-built for distributed energy resources (DER). DERs are physical and virtual assets deployed across the distribution grid, typically close to load and usually behind the meter, and used individually or in aggregate to provide value to the grid, individual customers, or both.Anchorage, Alaska-based 60Hertz's remote management platform enables maintenance personnel to optimize the potential of solar, wind, battery energy storage systems (BESS), microgrids and backup diesel assets. In today's podcast, Piper and I explore the growth of 60Hertz and her commitment to creating meaningful work. Her company supports the energy transition while making the best of existing diesel-fueled microgrids. Regular listeners may recall her appearance on Episode 457 when she advised how to work with electric cooperatives.Piper is a thoughtful entrepreneur. She has an interesting role as a non-technical found

In today's Tactical Tuesday, we talk with Andy Redinger, head of the Utilities, Power & Renewable Energy Group at KeyBanc Capital Markets (KBCM).  KBCM is Cleveland-based KeyCorp's corporate and investment banking arm. It's North America's leading renewables project finance lender and provides services to clean technology firms in the power generation, smart grid, energy management, and pollution control sectors. Andy discusses KeyBank's response to a spate of fast followers in the renewable energy lending space, examines the role of construction and term debt and equity, and looks at lessons learned from the unfortunate demise of yieldcos. (Yieldcos are tools for financing clean energy projects with cheap stock market capital from a diverse pool of dividend-focused investors, and it was once a very popular option for wind and solar development platforms.)Andy gives his perspective on the US Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), which includes extensions and enhancements to existing tax

Hawaii native Aric Saunders is a clean energy champion well versed in reaching low to moderate-income communities, creating innovative products, and integrating storage into the grid. Aric is the executive vice president of sales and marketing for Electriq Power, a battery storage company in San Leandro, California. He joined the company as director of business development in 2017 to advise their residential energy storage and go-to-market strategy. Electriq has developed a smart home battery storage solution for homes and small businesses that helps owners harness the power of smart batteries to achieve a more renewable energy solution. A serial entrepreneur, Aric leverages more than a decade of renewable experience built on a foundation of real estate development. Before Electriq, he founded three companies in Hawaii and brought a first-for-Hawaii residential financing product to the market, which we discuss in today's episode. You'll hear how he has incorporated sales operations,

Perhaps you’ve noticed, but over the past year, I've built a strong friendship with the folks at Sungrow, the leading global inverter solution supplier for renewables. SunCast is presented by Sungrow, afterall,  and they are the world’s most bankable inverter brand. But I have known many people who work at nearly all the other inverter manufacturers, and we’ve been sponsored by some of them here at SunCast. But I wondered, what is it that makes Sungrow unique? Why are they the most bankable, and most preferred brand by so many EPCs and Project owners?Sungrow has installed more than 224 GW globally since it was founded in 1997 — and 47 GW in 2021 alone. And it turns out, Sungrow is also the leader in the research and development (R&D) of solar inverters with the largest dedicated R&D team in the industry and a broad product portfolio offering photovoltaic (PV) inverter solutions and energy storage systems for utility-scale, commercial and industrial (C&I), residential and floating P

Kimberlee Centera is one of the few female CEOs of a privately held, privately funded utility-scale renewable energy consulting practice. As the founder and CEO of San Diego-based TerraPro Solutions, she's earned an enviable reputation as a risk management expert for developing and financing large-scale energy projects. She and her team have financed more than 12 gigawatts of wind, solar, and energy storage projects valued at more than $6 billion. For Kimberlee, renewables are personal — and her objective is to protect families, communities and Mother Earth. And her real-life stories, anecdotes and checklists prove not only incredibly valuable but instructive and entertaining to us as well as her many clients who are saving the planet one clean energy power plant at a time.In today’s podcast, we dig into practical and specific ways to mitigate risk in your projects and learn from Kimberlee's decades-long experience (seriously, she was responsible for land acquisition for AES!). You'll benefit

Stanford Business School grads Chris Hopper and Sam Adeyemo founded Aurora Solar in 2012 with a mission to reduce solar design costs. They created software that quickly and accurately designs rooftop panels through aerial photos, eliminating the need for the installer to climb on the roof with a tape measure. And it fast-became the industry standard digital tool that every residential solar installer needed in order to empower their increasingly digital-first sales orgs. In today's Tactical Tuesday, a live conversation from our recent PowerUp Media Zone at RE+ in September, Chris, Aurora's CEO, and Sam, its Chief Revenue Officer, talk about the Menlo Park, California-based company's incredible track record and the origin of its industry-leading software platform. Now a leading software for residential and commercial PV sales and design, Aurora is used in about 100,000 PV systems designs every month by more than 7,000 installers across the globe. And, they recently hit 2 huge milestones - their

Geoff Ferrell is vice president of virtual power plants (VPP) and commercial and industrial (C&I) project business at sonnen, a German-based global energy storage provider fully owned by Royal Dutch Shell.A pioneer for intelligent lithium-based energy storage, sonnen offers customers energy storage and digital energy services like the sonnenBatterie, which optimizes residential solar power and supplies energy at night using stored solar power generated during the day. It built a reputation by pioneering storage technology and combining it with new business models for a decentralized energy system, like virtual power plants.In today's podcast, Geoff talks about evolving his role from a buyer of sonnen products to one of its top executives. Before joining sonnen in 2020, Geoff was chief technology officer at Mandalay Homes, where he championed technological innovations in home building and building science. Mandalay Homes is an energy-efficient production home builder in Northern Arizona, an

Kiran Kumaraswamy is a high-caliber energy storage executive focused on the commercialization of technology — specifically, architecting the techno-economic analysis and justification of deployment of hardtech like batteries. He’s had a lot of practice, which contributed in-part to his rise to Vice President of Growth and Head of Commercial Business at Fluence, a global energy storage technology and services company created and backed by Siemens and AES.Kiran is an engineer who can translate technology to make it easy for customers to understand and teams to model and deploy. I was lucky enough to get an Hour with him at the recent RE-Plus show, so I dig into precisely how he has helped bring such transformative products and business models to life.So, it’s a longer Tactical Tuesday than usual, but well-worth the investment.After earning his bachelor's degree in electrical engineering from the University of Madras in India and a master's in engineering from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, he t

Shannon Miller is the chief executive officer and co-founder of Mainspring Energy — a Menlo Park, California company that sees itself as part of the affordable, reliable, net-zero carbon grid of the future. She leads the design, manufacture, and commercialization of the Mainspring Linear Generator, whose fuel-agnostic design enables it to adjust dynamically for varying fuel quality and different types of fuels. Those fuels include renewables such as biogas, green ammonia, and green hydrogen — which is why many of you solar warriors will want to listen to this podcast.This innovative generator aims to increase grid reliability and resilience while accelerating the transition to clean fuels. How does it do that? Where did the idea originate? And how did Mainspring grow from zero in 2010 to near unicorn status? We'll explore all those questions in today's conversation with Shannon, a remarkable woman who holds a bachelor's, master's and a Ph.D. in mechanical engineering from Stanford Univers

The AES Corporation has dominated almost every category it's ever embraced, and clean energy is no exception. In today's Tactical Tuesday, you'll learn how the Arlington, Virginia-based global power company is building on an innovative work culture to grow its renewable energy portfolio.Woody Rubin, Chief Development Officer (CDO) at AES's wholly-owned clean energy development business, credited the company's success to a "straight climb up of incremental growth" at an "unbelievable scale." He also points to the company’s cultural focus on innovation and ability to embrace new technology risk as key elements of the success AES has garnered in transitioning from a traditional fossil fuel power company to a clean energy powerhouse.Woody joined AES in 2014 when it moved into the distributed solar market with the acquisition of Main Street Power. Woody was a senior vice president and general counsel for Boulder, Colorado-based Main Street, a distributed solar project developer in the 300-kilowatt to 5-

Six leading clean energy advocates join me and my friend Mike Casey on Episode 6 of our quarterly Cleantech Podcaster’s Roundtable. The rich, one-hour discussion about energy trends, developments, challenges and opportunities is brought to you by Tigercomm, a cleantech public relations and marketing firm, and my company, SunCast Media.What are the leading trends in renewables and clean energy? Tune in for insights from the hosts of notable podcasts like Watts Up, Climate Positive, Clean Power Hour, Freeing Energy, The Solar Coaster, Political Climate, ScalingClean and, of course, SunCast.From thermal and hydrogen to micro grids, hybridization and US policy changes, the conversation is lively, informed and well worth your time.If you want to connect with today's guest, you’ll find links to his contact info in the show notes on the blog at https://mysuncast.com/suncast-episodes/.Our Platinum Presenting Sponsor for SunCast is CPS America!SunCast is proudly supported by Trina Solar.You can learn m

I like to believe that SunCast opens the door for both you and our guests to be vulnerable with the stories that drive us forward. Today’s episode is one of the more vulnerable and impactful stories I’ve had the privilege of recording, and I’m grateful for the opportunity to help our guest, Nobel Chang, discuss the underlying motivations and life lessons that inform how he lives, works and seeks to better the world around him. A special thank you to Nobel for trusting me with his story, and to you dear listener for trusting that we will honor your most important investment, your time. Nobel Chang is a co-founder and managing partner of Jacksonville, Florida-based Palladium Energy, a utility-scale solar investor and developer. Since its founding in 2019, the company has built upon the track records of its principals to develop, finance, construct, and operate solar, wind, gas and biomass projects in the US and internationally.Palladium's core team collectively has more than 50 years of experien

Jeff Ressler explained how he learned to leverage data and software to improve customers' lives in SunCast Episode 221. He returns for today's Tactical Tuesday to tell us how his company's cloud software services are powering the energy transformation.Jeff is the CEO of Clean Power Research, which provides cloud solutions for utility workflow automation, customer engagement and solar data services. I reconnected with Jeff and met his company's product manager, Akanksha Bhat, at the September 2022 RE+ conference in Anaheim, California. RE+ is the clean energy industry's largest and most comprehensive event in North America, and SunCast was proud to sponsor its PowerUp Media Zone.Before taking the CEO role in 2017, Jeff spent 10 years leading the company's software team. He built Clean Power Research into a trusted Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) provider that informs, streamlines and values energy-related decisions and processes for utilities, energy professionals and consumers worldwide. Aka

It's no surprise that Sandhya Ganapathy describes herself as a passionate proponent of clean energy. Sandhya is the CEO of EDP Renewables North America (EDPR NA) and a member of the Management Team of EDP Renewables (EDPR).EDPR is a global leader in renewable energy and the world's fourth-largest wind energy producer. Working there, Sandhya said, is a chance to constantly uncover new ways to put "seed into the ground" — and "harness the powers of the sun and the wind and make a difference for a better tomorrow."Sandhya joined EDPR in 2012 as Head of Investments and Mergers and Acquisitions (M&A) North America. It was a pivot from her earlier roles in banking. "I wanted to be where the world was moving towards in terms of not only energy but also focus and infrastructure investment. And then I started thinking about renewables, obviously," she recalled.From 2017 to her CEO appointment in early 2022, she served as Global Head of Investments and M&A, responsible for M&A, investment and cap

The American-Made program is your fast track to the clean energy revolution. Funded by the U.S. Department of Energy, it incentivizes innovation through prizes, training, teaming, and mentoring, connecting the nation’s entrepreneurs and innovators to America’s national labs and the private sector. The prize, now in its 6th round, recently awarded the 5th round of innovators with millions of dollars to help bring their startup ideas to the world.James Nagel and David Penalva, Co-Founders of HelioVolta were two of the American-Made Solar Prize winners. They joined Nico Johnson and Sarah Gomach on the PowerUp Media Zone stage at RE+ in Anaheim, CA on September 21st. The founders discussed the purpose of HelioVolta and how they plan to use the cash award (and non-cash prizes) to continue building their company. SolarGrade, developed by HelioVolta, is a field work management software that helps decrease downtime and increase uptime. They plan to grow the team and continue to implement their technology i

SMA has been a cornerstone of renewables for nearly four decades. While their counterparts, like Tesla, didn’t have solar divisions until much more recently, SMA has gradually built one of the largest install-bases of solar customers in the world. With all those installs come hundreds of thousands of satisfied homeowners, many of whom are now eager to embrace the future of the electrified home. How do they remain relevant in this new modern solar+ economy where every manufacturer is tempted to expand its offerings, in an effort to increase share of wallet, extend brand value, and keep up in an ever-changing industry? This and more are part of the discussion in today’s RE+ PowerUp Media Zone replay, which was recorded live from the Anaheim show floor only a couple of weeks ago on September 21st, 2022. In Jan Van Laethem’s own words, it all started in 1981 with three university students who wanted to do things differently. They wanted to do electronics with a good cause. The mission of protectin

Many of you have heard one of my close friends & repeat podcast guest, Mike Silvestrini, on how he “and his team” grew Greenskies to be the largest C&I Player in the US (then successfully sold it to Goldman.) However, the story yet-told is the other half of that team, the guy down in the dirt actually drumming up all those sales to iconic companies like Wal-Mart and Target Corporation…Mr. Andrew Chester.  He’s been on my Must-Get list for about 5 years now (seriously, it takes the patience of Job to podcast these days! hah), but I’m so grateful that Andrew has finally opened up to the interview, and I promise you won’t be disappointed.Andrew spent nine years growing the Greenskies Renewable Energy portfolio into the country's largest commercial and industrial solar company, successfully exiting the company with Mike after its 2017 acquisition. He’s never talked about it publicly, until now.In today’s founder profile, we get to journey with Andrew through the highs & lows of en

Today’s guest is a veritable expert on solar and climate change, and has recently served as a lead author for the IPCC’s 6th assessment report. He made his name a few years ago in the energy sector writing a book which explains how we got to the level of low-cost solar we presently enjoy - what was the combination of entrepreneurial effort, technology, and policy that got us here? Further, he explores how that is relevant for future solar & whether the lessons learned can extrapolate to other technologies. Gregory Nemet is an author and a professor at the University of Wisconsin, where he teaches courses in energy systems analysis, policy analysis, and international environmental policy. His research focuses on understanding the process of technological change and how public policy can affect it. Dr. Nemet received a master’s and Ph.D in energy and resources from the University of California, Berkeley, and a BA in geography with economics from Dartmouth College. From 2013-18 he c