392: Listen to your Customer: A Lesson from Daryl Parker on Customer Engagement

Welcome back Solar Warriors,

Today's Tactical Tuesday is a part of the previous episode with Clean Energy Associates' VP Sales & Mktg, Darryl Parker. In this episode, Darryl helps us how to understand the customer better. How do we know we are listening to our customer and not to our own listening? What are the steps in engaging to your customers properly?

Resources:

Connect with Darryl Parker on LinkedIn

Follow Clean Energy Associates (CEA) on LinkedIn and Twitter, and check out their website.

Check out the full episode with Darryl Parker here.

Books Mentioned in previous episode:

The Customer Revolution Patricia B. Seybold

The Peebles Principles: Tales and Tactics from an Entrepreneur's Life of Winning Deals, Succeeding in Business, and Creating a Fortune from Scratch

Text Nico and start a conversation! +1 (310) 634-1780

You can connect with me, Nico Johnson, on Twitter, LinkedIn or email

391: GRID Alternatives' 20 yrs of Impact - Erica Mackie, CEO & Co-founder

Welcome back, Solar Warriors!

In today’s episode, we speak with a true solar pioneer, a well-known entrepreneur, Erica Mackey of GRID Alternatives. We break down her two decades of growth, entrepreneurship, and influence. Erica gives us a sense of the origin of the GRID Alternatives. She talks about how she co-founded it way back in 2001 and how it evolved massively to become a major national nonprofit and off­-grid solar installation company. As the California-based company started opening offices in Los Angeles and San Diego, they created jobs and successfully installed off-grid solar systems that work on affordable residential housing and community solar, serving more than 20,000 families!

She shares her passion about future-facing goals and impactful solutions around climate using the incredible work of technology. We dive into some of the more critical elements of running a business and discuss the details of good leadership strategies and connection among employees.

We also talked about:

Preventing systemic racism and white supremacy culture in the industry.

How transparency around collective decisions make pathways for growth.

Erica’s involvement in President Biden's Climate Summit.

Connect with Erica Mackie on LinkedIn.

Visit GRID Alternatives’ Website.

390 - Have a customer-centered business; Darryl Parker, Clean Energy Associates' VP Sales & Mktg

You're gonna love this one, Solar Warriors.

Today’s guest is CEA’s Vice President in Sales and Marketing, Darryl Parker. Based in San Francisco, CA, Darryl Parker brings more than 35 years of extensive high tech, manufacturing and power electronics experience to his role now in the clean energy revolution. He currently leads sales and marketing, solving clients, solar and storage challenges at clean energy associates.

In this episode, Darryl and I cover the gamut of his deep tech expertise from Sun Microsystems early days to Satcon powers, rapid expansion and beyond. He's helped multiple startup companies, particularly in hardware, grow past that first $100 million revenue marker and I dig into just how Darryl sees the clean economy evolving, and where you can use his insights to make your big impact. His customer-centered approach is a practical look at how sales & marketing is evolving and what you should be thinking about in your own business!

Resources:

Connect with Darryl Parker on LinkedIn

Follow Clean Energy Associates (CEA) on LinkedIn and Twitter, and check out their website.

Books Mentioned:

The Customer Revolution Patricia B. Seybold

The Peebles Principles: Tales and Tactics from an Entrepreneur's Life of Winning Deals, Succeeding in Business, and Creating a Fortune from Scratch

Text Nico and start a conversation! +1 (310) 634-1780

You can connect with me, Nico Johnson, on Twitter, LinkedIn or email

389 - The value of data on solar project finance, a Roundtable with industry experts Heidi Larson, Hao Shen & Skip Dise

Late last year, kWh Analytics released a report titled 2020 Solar Risk Assessment suggesting that Recent assessments of the solar industry’s pre-construction production estimates have found evidence of “an industry wide bias towards aggressive predictions,” noting that “when a typical solar project performs at the official “P90, equity cash yield drops by 50%.” This revelation has the potential to impact cash flows across the industry, as these over optimistic assumptions are netting a measured underperformance of about 2% on P50 revenue.

Today, we’ll offer you the opportunity to learn from three highly experienced solar experts on the past, present and future of solar project financing.

• Heidi Larson, ICF

• Hao Shen, kWh Analytics

• Skip Dise, Clean Power Research

Today we will touch on:

• How to know what your solar project’s really worth

• What does Bankability really mean?

• What's the difference between common solar finance terms like p50 and p90

• How does Turning dials on the financial model actually affect the overall project outcomes

• and what data does or perhaps should be going into those models to ensure we are not overshooting our valuations?

Are there underperforming assets in your portfolio? If you’re a project owner, You’re likely bleeding equity and you don’t even know it. As one of the guests says, "All models are wrong - some models are useful".

I hope today you learn some of the critical elements to success and how we need to evolve as an industry.

Resources:

Connect with Heidi Larson on LinkedIn

Follow ICF on LinkedIn and Twitter, and check out their website.

Connect with Skip Dise on LinkedIn

Follow Clean Power Research on LinkedIn and Twitter, and check out their website.

Connect with Hao Shen on LinkedIn

Follow kWh Analytics on LinkedIn and Twitter, and check out their website.

Text Nico and start a conversation! +1 (310) 634-1780
You can connect with me, Nico Johnson, on Twitter, LinkedIn or email

388 - Solar Pioneer Michele Magee on how to Give Power to the world

Hey there, Solar Warrior!

Today's entrepreneur is an inspirational business builder, Michele Magee, President of GivePower Foundation. She launched and scaled seven businesses, including being a key member of one of the early solar finance companies, and has led teams as large as 1400 people over the course of her career. She’s a sales, marketing and operations all-star with a lot of experience to share.

At 26, a young Michele and her husband started their first businesses while she was busy with her day job at CBS Radio. And that was before she even got into the solar industry, which itself was a serendipitous moment she tells all about in the discussion. When asked what guiding principle helped her work well with her husband (and others), her advice was "Know your strengths, be respectful of your partner's strengths, and stay in your lanes."

But it was Michele's fortuitous meeting with Hayes Barnard in 2005 that changed the course of her career. After a rapt discussion about radio strategy (Hayes was a customer at the time), Hayes asked one question that convinced her to leave a 13-year career in the radio industry. We get into that moment, and how that key question brought her to the mortgage company that eventually launched Loanpal, now known as GoodLeap. Her focus has been on helping hardworking families save money. And that through-line has consistently driven her vision through multiple key marketing & operations roles.

A 2007 conversation with Hayes about building schools in Africa ultimately became the business model that is, today, GivePower. It was the internal philanthropy initiative from Paramount Equity through to SolarCity, and as Paramount (and later SCTY) grew rapidly and did exceptionally well they were able to fulfill their dreams of giving energy equality to thousands of families in developing nations.

Today there are nearly three and a half billion people on the planet that don't have consistent access to electricity and clean water. In June 2020, GivePower went live in Likoni, Kenya to provide access to clean drinking water for up to 35,000 people every single day with their Solar Water Farm Technology. Now, Michele has been tapped by Hayes and the GivePower board to lead the Nonprofit into its next decade of growth & giving.

Resources from today's episode:

Connect with Michele on LinkedIn

Follow GivePower on LinkedIn, Twitter and check out their website.

Keep Reading! Here are today's book recommendations:

The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen Covey

Unleash the Power Within: Personal Coaching to Transform Your Life! by Tony Robbins

Tony Robbins Date With Destiny – Virtual 2020

Be Your Own Mentor: Strategies from Top Women on the Secrets of Success by Betty Spence and Sheila Wellington

Think Like a Monk by Jay Shetty

Greenlights by Matthew McConaughey

Before you go,

Have Questions? Advice or Recommendations?

Text Nico and start a conversation! +1 (310) 634-1780

Connect with Nico on Twitter or email

better yet, follow on LinkedIn, like, comment & share our post on today's episode!

387 - First-ever Cleantech Podcasters Roundtable with 8 Major Clean Economy Podcasts

Welcome back Solar Warriors.

Last Thursday we co-hosted the first #Cleantech Podcasters Roundtable with 8 of the major clean economy podcasts and discussed sector trends, where we dig up interesting stories and insights, our picks for the most important clean energy segment, what background the future Cleantech CEO will likely come from, and how best to approach podcasters with topics & guests for their shows.

The lineup included:

Marie Burgquist, Watts Up

Tim Montague, Solar and Storage Expert, The Solar Podcast

Bill Nussey, Freeing Energy

Jon Powers, Experts Only

Kelly Pickerel, Contractor’s Corner

Joshua Porter, Solar Coaster

Julia Pyper, Political Climate

and, me of course, Nico Johnson, SunCast

Organized as a part of the #Cleantech Editors Roundtable series by Mike Casey of Tigercomm.

Text Nico and start a conversation! +1 (310) 634-1780

You can connect with me, Nico Johnson, on Twitter, LinkedIn or email

386 - Is TX an ideal place for energy business model disruption? with Startup Queen, Nisha Desai of Ennuity

Hey there, Solar Warrior.

Texas clean energy pioneer and serial entrepreneur, Nisha Desai, founder and CEO of Ennuity Holdings is a self-professed "Startup Queen" with 25+ years of experience in the energy business. Nisha's been involved in both the clean energy and the oil and gas sectors, and today we take a deeper look at how her six previous entrepreneurial experiences led to her current business.

Nisha and I discuss the critical steps involved in getting a product to market and how she skillfully navigated a career in energy that spans 2 continents and 2+ decades. Along the way, she shares her leadership principles to empower entrepreneurs seeking to make an impact in the clean energy economy.

Along the way, we got into some fun details of her long trip down on the South Pole, which involved no small amount of badassery, and we extrapolate the importance of doing hard things in building character and grit.

Remember you can always find the resources and learn more about today’s guest, recommendations, book links, and more than 380 other founder stories and startup advice at www.mysuncast.com.

Text Nico and start a conversation! +1 (310) 634-1780

You can connect with me, Nico Johnson, on Twitter, LinkedIn or email

Resources:

Connect with Nisha on LinkedIn and Twitter

Check out on Ennuity Holdings on LinkedIn , Twitter and their website

Rich Roll Podcast’s How Infinite Love Fuels Human Potential: Colin O'Brady

Rich Roll’s Freeze Solo: Colin O'Brady On His Antarctica First

Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us by Daniel H. Pink

385 - SunCast Rewind: What is Reactive Power, with Jacqueline DeSouza of Apparent Inc.

Welcome back, Solar Warrior.

This is a SunCast Rewind that’s also a Tactical Tuesday, a short-form conversation with subject-matter experts designed to give you practical tools, tips and advice for building your solar business or career. What does a glass of beer have in common with Reactive Power? Isn't is Apparent?

You're not alone, but we're here to help!

ICYMI from 2020, this SunCast Rewind answers these 2 questions from one of our SunCast Summit speakers, Jacqueline DeSouza, President of Apparent Inc.

However, during that interview, we will get into quite some complex topics. In order to follow along, Jacqueline and I sat down to explain some things that will be helpful for you on Thursday, namely, the relationship between reactive and real power.

And if you really love these kinds of insights, then you should check out the hundreds of additional founder stories and startup advice at www.mysuncast.com. And don’t forget to subscribe to the podcast and our Energy Tribe newsletter so you won’t miss the next one that drops!

Resources

Connect with Jacqueline on LinkedIn

Check out the work of Apparent Inc., on Instagram and their website

Free-time read:

Real Power vs Apparent Power vs Reactive Power: What is the difference?

384 - The Philosopher CEO: BayWa's Boaz Soifer

Welcome back, Solar Warriors.

Today we get to soak in the wisdom of an industry pioneer in the solar-distribution business model. Boaz Soifer has been a solar pioneer for the last 20+ years. He is the Director of Solar Trade at BayWa r.e., where he oversees the company’s distribution activities in the US, Canada, and Mexico. He is also co-CEO of BayWa r.e.’s distribution business in the US, along with Jodi White.

Today we get into Boaz’s focus on co-creating a culture that truly values and contributes to personal and professional development, something that we care a lot about here on SunCast. We’ll also take a look at how he enjoys solving complex challenges and how that's kept him in the renewables business in particular.

Boaz’s career in renewable energy goes back to 1999. Since then, he has worked at installation and distribution companies, participated in a district energy system engineering project, and started up two companies in solar heating. He has been with BayWa r.e. since 2010.

At work, Boaz’s main focus is on co-creating a culture that truly values and contributes to the team members’ personal and professional development, and he also likes to work on (and occasionally solve) complex challenges of all sorts. Outside work, Boaz enjoys reading about philosophy and psychology, practicing yoga, hiking in the mountains around Santa Fe, and cooking meals and hanging out with his three (mostly grown) kids.

Some of the burning questions we addressed during this interview:

• Who am I and why am I here? (in this company and industry)

• What was the conversation like around the dinner table in his family as a young person?

• His role models in the early stages of life, and his artistic background

• Building an off-grid home for the first time

• What are the tools Boaz still uses in his role as CEO?

• Getting from solar thermal to solar PV

• How did Boaz become a leader in increasingly larger roles in building the distribution model for United States solar industry?

Resources

Connect with Boaz on LinkedIn and Twitter

Check out the amazing work of BayWa r.e. on LinkedIn, Twitter and their website

Marcy Playground on wikipedia

The Hedgehog Principle

Mentioned books

Sex, Ecology, Spirituality: The Spirit of Evolution, Second Edition

No Country for Old Men

383 - Time to Build New Skills, with John Powers, CEO of Extensible Energy (Linkedin Live Session 2020)

Welcome back, Solar Warrior.

This is a SunCast Rewind that’s also a Tactical Tuesday, a short form conversation with subject matter experts designed to give you the practical tools, tips and advice for building your solar business, or career.

We will continue our SunCast Rewing theme, this time, dipping into the vault of one of our LinkedIn Live sessions from last year.

I had a great conversation with John Powers of Extensible Energy about the value of capacity building in an organization during difficult times. In truth, this happened just as the pandemic started back in April of 2020. I recently looked back and asked myself, “where can I glean some insight from one of our past guests about how the world has changed or how it might change?”. The immediate answer was my conversation with John.

John and the Extensible Energy team recently raised a whopping amount of $3.4 million dollars in their venture funding round. They clearly did something right during this pandemic so congratulations to John and his team for this amazing milestone.

An energy economist and serial entrepreneur with more than 30 years of experience in consulting and technology development in energy markets, John has worked in energy efficiency, demand response, and renewables for most of his career. As CEO of Extensible Energy, he leads a stellar team of cleantech experts developing software solutions for solar, storage, and load flexibility applications.

Resources

Connect with John on LinkedIn

Follow John on Twitter

Follow Extensible Energy on LinkedIn and Twitter, and check out their website.

Text Nico and start a conversation! +1 (310) 634-1780

382 - A serial entrepreneurs approach to simplifying solar, with Aviv Shalgi, CEO of Solar Simplified

Welcome back, Solar Warrior.

Thank you so much for lending us your ears and the only non-renewable resource you've got: your time.

Today's entrepreneur is Aviv Shalgi. He has several successful m&a Vc investment and joint ventures under his belt, in addition to two successful startups prior to his current venture, Solar Simplified.

Aviv has been a mentor and advisor to many entrepreneurs, startups, investors, VCs, nonprofits, and is a captain in the Israeli Defense Force or IDF, as many call it the “Eyes In The Sky. We'll talk a little bit about that, as we get into today's episode of how he is simplifying solar and challenging the status quo.

As an innovator, Aviv has always been focused on positive disruption in industries where there are opportunities to solve fundamental problems. This is what drew him to Solar Simplified, where he strives to make affordable renewable energy accessible to everyone, while providing consumers with guaranteed savings and making the process simple and transparent for consumers, solar developers and regulators.

Resources

Connect with Aviv on LinkedIn

Check out the amazing work of Solar Simplified on LinkedIn, Twitter, and their website

Suggested read

Simplicity as a competitive advantage

How this Israeli Entrepreneur is Simplifying the Solar Business

Simplifying the Solar Energy Business with Aviv Shalgi Founder and Owner of Solar Simplified LLC

Cheddar Climate: Making Climate Solutions Accessible and Affordable for the Masses

381 - Tactical Rewind - The top 3 Tactical Tuesdays of 2020 from SunCast!

This is Tactical Tuesday,

We wanted to add a different touch to this Tactical Tuesday, so we thought “why not create a rewind with the Top 3 Tactical Tuesdays of 2020?”.

Many new listeners haven’t gotten back and listened to the backlog of episodes we have available, so I went ahead and hand-picked 3 episodes that you should definitely listen to.

The first episode will disseminate practical advice on fundraising for solar start-ups by the hand of Josh Beck of BCI Technology Investments. Why do startups fail to raise capital? Josh and the BCI Technologies team know a thing or three about raising money and about investing in companies.

The second episode includes an in-depth look at the ins and outs of building a project that incorporates a massive battery component to the equation. Energy Storage is all the rage in California, and all over the renewable energy landscape in the world. There’s at least one missing element to the conversation: understanding how and why folks are able to monetize and deploy these battery systems: resource adequacy. That’s why I brought my friend Will Mitchell, Director of Origination for the Western U.S. of Strata Solar, to walk us through these questions.

The third segment is worth giving a listen especially if you are about to get a new job or if you yourself are hiring others onto your team. We brought PXiSE’s Hannah Greene and her 30/60/90 framework plan for successfully onboarding new team members.

Whether you stick around for all three episodes or just one or two, I hope you'll appreciate the time we took to curate and bring back these archived episodes so that you can continue to grow and learn.

380 - The Largest Floating Solar Project in Texas, with Craig LoValvo and Mark Rangel of Speir Commercial & Industrial

Welcome back, Solar Warrior.

Today's entrepreneurs are Texas solar pioneers. The story we're about to unwrap today is unprecedented. If you haven’t heard about Speir Commercial & Industrial, they are one of the leading sustainable energy providers in Texas. Not only that, they are developing the largest floating solar voltaic system in Texas, and we will get all the details from their EVP of Operations, and their EVP of Commercial Business Development, Craig LoValvo and Mark Rangel.

Craig LoValvo is the EVP of operations at Speir Commercial & Industrial, a company that provides full turnkey residential and commercial solar installation to the San Antonio and Austin area, but they are so much more than that.

Founded by a group of friends who share the common goal of contributing to the progress and development of sustainable practices, they are a sustainability lifestyle brand.  With prior experience in the solar industry and education in sustainable sciences, Craig and Mark formed a company with the primary goal of improving quality of life by increasing the long-term implementation of sustainable practices.

Mark Rangel is a seasoned project developer with over 16 years of experience in business development, project design, structured financing, and project execution.

He’s a pre construction TEAM leader with capabilities of concept design, PV production modeling, complex project estimating, project process sequencing, securing local and federal incentives, developing custom project financial products, and cradle to grave project business plans.

Resources

Connect with Mark on LinkedIn

Connect with Craig on LinkedIn

Check out the amazing work of Speir Commercial & Industrial on LinkedIn, Twitter, and their website

379 - Clean Energy 101: Industry Overview with Eric Pasi

Welcome back, Solar Warrior.

This is Tactical Tuesday, an episode with practical advice to help you along in your career in the clean energy industry.

Today’s episode is part of our exclusive content, but why am I sharing it here on the public SunCast feed? Well, because I want to help you. Many people ask me about how to get into the solar industry and where are the jobs. It happens that one of my past guests and good buddies from the podcast has actually written a book on this very topic. In fact, we talked about the book in his interview back in the summer of 2020.

When I started developing curriculum for our Mission-Minded Clean Energy Career program last fall, I knew that I was going to incorporate Eric Pasi’s book: Clean Wave into the conversation to help our clients.

What you're about to hear is a conversation between Eric and me rolling out an overview of the clean energy economy where we draw inspiration not just from his book, but from both our decades-long careers in building solar companies and helping others do the same.

Today's content specifically is actually part of our exclusive coaching program, but this is an abbreviated version, intentionally. So if you'd like to hear all of the content and access the full episode, which is actually a video interview, then you have two options:

• Join our Mission-Minded cohort that's gonna kick off again in July.

• Join the waitlist for our SunCast Tribe relaunch that is also coming in July. That's our inner circle of industry all-stars where we share bonus content and have curated a private community where more than 100 people have joined the conversation. If you'd like to be on that waitlist, just text me at 310-634-1780. I'll make sure you get all the details.

In 2007, Eric Pasi joined IPS, a company with 15 years of renewable energy experience at that time. Since then, he’s helped to accelerate significant solar power development in Minnesota and the upper Midwest. Pasi has developed unique financing programs, won competitive opportunities, and jump-started the company's successful Community Solar Gardens program.

Taking on the Chief Development Officer role in 2016, Pasi has helped the company grow annual gross revenues by more than tenfold. Recent notable projects include the Green Line Solar Corridor, 13 installations for Mounds View School District, and the Eichten's Community Solar Garden.

Resources

Order your copy of Eric’s book: Clean Wave, A Guide to Success in the Green Recovery.

Connect with Eric on LinkedIn, Twitter and his website

Connect with Impact Power Solutions on LinkedIn and their website

378 - Entrepreneurial Innovation: How to lead when technology changes markets. With Jeff Weiss, Distributed Sun

Welcome back, Solar Warrior.

Today's entrepreneur has impressed me through the years with his ability to be a diplomat and translator between technical and laypeople, helping folks dial in their product-market fit with his entrepreneurial sense.

It was his keen sense of the direction of the distributed energy industry and its future that convinced me he needed to be on SunCast.

From pizza.com to rooftop solar, Jeff Weiss has pioneered innovation across multiple sectors. Today’s episode will glean into his insights, and hopefully, you will be able to add them to your toolkit.

Jeff Weiss co-founded Distributed Sun in 2009, where he is Executive Chairman. He leads capital formation activities and plays an active role in management and governance.

An early e-business and online media entrepreneur, he has advised dozens of companies through significant changes, as a board member, an investor, an investment banking advisor, and as a strategy consultant, and has raised substantial funding in the corporate, venture, and capital markets.

As a result, he has a broad understanding of how companies grow and create value, how to create and communicate business and marketing plans, in managing operations, as well as in evaluating partners and closing capital transactions.

Resources

Connect with Jeff on LinkedIn and Twitter

Check out the amazing work of Distributed Sun on LinkedIn, Twitter, and their website

Mentioned books

Disraeli - Robert Blake

377 - California NEM Crisis! Does Net Energy Metering future hang in the balance?

Welcome back, Solar Warrior!

This is Tactical Tuesday, a short form conversation with subject matter experts designed to give you the practical tools, tips, and advice to build your solar career or business.

Are the monopoly utilities attacking yours and mine individual rights to make energy from the sun, power your life and become more financially independent? If you’re in California, the answer might be yes.

Today we’ll find out in this special report from Dave Rosenfeld, the Executive Director of Solar Rights Alliance, what you need to know to be informed on the NET energy metering policies currently under siege in the state of California.

Dave has been a community organizer for over twenty years and believes people power is the best way to overcome special interests. Prior to joining Solar Rights Alliance, Dave led a successful statewide ballot measure campaign in Oregon to restore Career Technical Education for high schoolers.

Before that, he led a 40,000 member public interest organization that successfully worked to reduce health insurance premiums for consumers and combat government corruption. In addition to spending time with his wife and two children, he enjoys running, backpacking and studying science and philosophy.

Resources

Connect with Dave on LinkedIn

Check out the amazing work of Solar Rights Alliance on LinkedIn, Twitter, and their website

Want to learn more? Check out episode 265 with Catherine Morehouse and Glen Brand: “Is this the end of net energy metering as we know it?”

Suggested reading

Solar Chat: Meet Dave Rosenfeld from the Solar Rights Alliance

Text Nico and start a conversation! +1 (310) 634-1780

376 - Pioneering Vanadium Flow batteries, with Matt Harper, Co-Founder of Invinity Energy Systems

Click to Listen on Any Platform

Remember Avalon Battery? I bet you do, if you’ve been in Solar for awhile. They did a huge deal with Nextracker awhile back, and are the OGs of Vanadium Flow batteries.

Did you realize that Avalon merged with UK-based RedT, an outstanding energy storage developer in their own right, and last year formed the leading flow batttery company in the world?

Today’s guest is a pioneering cleantech entrepreneur, product developer and Chief Commercial Officer of the resulting company Invinity Energy Systems. We’re talking about Matt Harper!

Matt was instrumental in the vision and leadership that is now transforming the evolution of what we call Grid storage , and long been a believer in the value creation batteries provide to enable the energy transition that we all desire so much. Matt has been in this industry for a long time and today we get to peek behind the curtain to see how Avalon, now Invinity, came to be.

His expertise is in using advanced technologies to develop revolutionary industrial and commercial products. His passion is in helping companies adopt those products to build sustainable, profitable businesses.

Matt’s career spans pioneering work in electrical energy storage, wastewater treatment, hydrogen generation, and fuel cell vehicles. And his holistic approach to industrial technology development balances technical and operations development with commercial, organizational, and operational lifecycle characteristics.

Developed specifically for high-utilization applications that make low-carbon renewable generation reliable, Invinity's highly scalable, factory-built flow battery products can run continually with no degradation, charging and discharging for over 25 years. Energy storage systems based on Invinity's batteries are safe, reliable, and economical, and range in size from less than 250 kilowatt-hours to tens of megawatt-hours.

Lean in with me us as Nico gets the insider story directly from Matt about the winding road that has led to the successful commercialization of this technology at a time (and category) when MANY others have failed. Hope you like it.

Resources

Connect with Matt on LinkedIn and Twitter

Check out the work of Invinity Energy Systems on LinkedIn, Twitter, and their website

Vanadium Flow Batteries

Even Forbes is excited about it!

The Design of Everyday Things - Don Norman

The Great Game - Peter Hopkirk

The Shape of Design - Frank Chimero

The Right Stuff - Tom Wolfe

375 - The Great Solar Debate: What’s the best residential solar financing solution?

Welcome back, Solar Warrior.

This is Tactical Tuesday: a short form conversation with subject matter experts designed to give you practical tools, tips, and advice for building your solar business or career.

Last year, we hosted the first Great Solar Debate featuring clean-energy thought leaders sharing two contrasting perspectives on critical solar and storage topics. In its pilot episode, John Powers of Extensible Energy and Andrew Tanner of Yotta Energy tackled the economics of load flexibility software vs energy storage hardware.

This time, the SunCast family alongside Solar Power Events and Unthink Solar will bring that same energy and attention to this new series, with the final live debate set on a stage in New Orleans at the largest energy event in North America, SPI, ESI & Smart Energy Week.

For our first Great Solar Debate of 2021, representatives from the residential solar financing industries will discuss the value of their respective financing solutions for consumers and installers.

In the Property Assessed Clean Energy or “PACE corner is Grayson Frazier, Director of Sales, Southern California for PACE Funding Group. 

Representing Power Purchase Agreements or “PPAs” is Meghan Nutting, Executive Vice President of Policy and Communications at Sunnova Energy. 

And in the third and final corner, Doug Pierce, Director of Field Sales at Sungage Financial, will be representing solar loans.

This episode is a replay of the first debate where we covered the following points:

• The value of each financing product for consumers

• The value of each financing for installers

• What’s the best value for all income levels?

• What about the solar homebuyer? Which financing is best for them, and therefore for the seller?

• Which financing is best for expanding residential solar throughout the U.S.

374 - Is Free Training profitable? How Ryan Mayfield uses education to build his Engineering business

Welcome back, Solar Warrior.

Today's entrepreneur has been in the renewables industry since 1999. My friend Ryan Mayfield started Mayfield Renewables back in 2007, blending his technical expertise with his affinity for writing and education. He is the CEO of a company that now provides PV system technical engineering services to hundreds of companies across the United States and probably around the world.

Ryan discovered his passion for renewable energy early in his college career at Humboldt State while pursuing his degree in environmental resources engineering. Ryan was exposed to the exciting possibilities of solar power and his desire to learn more and be involved in the solar industry only grew as he continued his studies. 

Once he got his hands on an actual PV installation during a class with Solar Energy International, Ryan knew exactly how he wanted to spend his working days. Early in his career he worked as an installer, provided technical support for a renewable energy retailer, and moved up to Engineering Manager at a national renewable energy wholesale distributor.

While serving as CEO at Mayfield Renewables, Ryan was also the PV Systems Technical Editor for SolarPro Magazine from 2010 to 2018, where he regularly wrote feature articles and was a regular contributor to Home Power magazine.

He is also the author of PV Design and Installation for Dummies (published in 2010) and teaches nationwide PV courses on topics such as: National Electrical Code, Oregon Solar Code and PV systems, commercial PV systems, and PV + Storage. Ryan holds a Limited Renewable Energy Technician (LRT) license in Oregon and is an Oregon Solar Energy Industries Association board member.

Resources

Connect with Ryan on LinkedIn and Twitter

Check out the amazing work of Mayfield Renewables on LinkedIn, Twitter and their website

Five Surprising Uses for PVsyst

How will the 2022 California Building Standards Code impact the solar-plus-storage industry?

Lost Connections: Why You’re Depressed and How to Find Hope

373 - ESG Checklist to build your own strategy, with Mona Dajani from Pillsbury Law

ESG Board Advisory Checklist

This is Tactical Tuesday: a short form conversation with subject matter experts designed to give you practical tools, tips, and advice for building your solar business or career.

Today’s topic is Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG), and to give us the ins and outs of this hot topic we have one of the top guests we’ve had on the show: Mona Dajani, Global Co-Head of Energy, Infrastructure, Mobility, Renewables & Water at Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP, an international law firm with a particular focus on the technology & media, energy, financial services, and real estate & construction sectors.

If you're unfamiliar with ESG, then listen to this episode coming directly from a recent checklist that Pillsbury, the firm for whom Mona heads the renewable energy practice, created as a tantalizing tidbit to craft your own ESG strategy, as institutional shareholders invest record amounts in environmental, social and governance.

ESG conscious funds and companies, boards of directors are looking for ways that companies can design and implement a business strategy that produces a sustainable future and remain relevant in a world where climate change, social injustice, pandemics, disease prevention, and wellness are the new normal.

Mona focuses her global practice on project finance, corporate finance, mergers & acquisitions, portfolio acquisitions, tax equity, construction, and/or restructuring for government and private clients involving energy and infrastructure projects.

She has substantial experience with respect to syndicated loan and debt capital markets transactions, specialized structured financings, Rule 144A bond financings, syndicated commercial bank debt, commercial paper programs, export credit agencies, and other government-guaranteed financing and risk insurance programs; and arranging capital for new and established energy and infrastructure companies.

Mona represents renewable energy companies, developers, investors, lenders, and contractors in a wide range of renewable projects throughout the U.S. with project values ranging from $20 million to over $100 billion in value.

She closed more than 75 wind-power and over 20 solar-power project financings, including a 1,550-megawatt power purchase agreement by Southern California Edison, the largest wind-power purchase agreement in history.

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Mona featured on Women In Sustainability blog

Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) Criteria

Board Governance and the “E” in ESG (Jonathan Ocker)