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Factor This! is a weekly podcast that takes on solar's biggest stories with industry leaders who actually move the needle.
After launching with a four-part series on the Auxin Solar tariff petition, featuring an exclusive interview with Auxin Solar CEO Mamun Rashid, Factor This! became required listening for solar industry leaders.
Join us every Monday for a new episode of Factor This! And make sure to leave a rating and review wherever you get your podcasts.
Factor This is produced by Renewable Energy World and Clarion Energy, and is hosted by John Engel. Find show notes, transcripts and resources at RenewableEnergyWorld.com
09 May 2022
Who is Auxin Solar? Exclusive interview with Auxin Solar CEO Mamun Rashid
For the first episode of the "Factor This!" podcast, Auxin Solar CEO Mamun Rashid gives his first extensive interview since filing the tariff petition that has rocked the solar industry.
The episode is the first in a 4-part series on the Auxin Solar petition.
Find more information about the Auxin Solar tariff petition, show notes, and a transcript from this episode at Renewable Energy World. And don't forget to subscribe, wherever you get your podcasts so that you don't miss an episode of the series.
Show notes: -Subscribe to the free Renewable Energy World newsletter to stay up-to-date on the latest news in solar, wind, energy storage, green hydrogen, and more.
Factor This! is produced by Renewable Energy World and Clarion Energy. Connect with John Engel, the host of Factor This!, on LinkedIn and Twitter.
In Episode 2 of the "Factor This!" podcast, Lightsource bp Americas CEO Kevin Smith describes how one of the world's largest solar developers is approaching the Auxin Solar tariff petition and the threat of additional tariffs on imported modules.
Also in this episode, American Clean Power Association CEO Heather Zichal, a former Obama administration climate and energy official, takes us behind the scenes of the $5 million to oppose the Biden Administration on tariffs.
The episode is the second in a 4-part series on the Auxin Solar petition. Subscribewherever you get your podcasts. If you missed the first episode, and our exclusive interview with Auxin Solar CEO Mamun Rashid, listen here.
Show notes: -Subscribe to the free Renewable Energy World newsletter to stay up-to-date on the latest news in solar, wind, energy storage, green hydrogen, and more.
Factor This! is produced by Renewable Energy World and Clarion Energy. Connect with John Engel, the host of Factor This!, on LinkedIn and Twitter.
In Episode 3 of the Factor This! podcast, Rhone Resch, the CEO of the Solar Energy Industries Association from 2004-16, looks back at solar’s “boom” and his regret as the former head of the industry’s leading trade group of not prioritizing domestic solar manufacturing. He explains why now is the time to invest in a domestic supply chain.
Plus, Martin Pochtaruk, CEO of North American solar manufacturer Heliene, joins the podcast to talk about the Solar Energy Manufacturing for America Act and how proposed incentives for domestic manufacturing would impact production in the U.S.
Finally, Michael Parr, executive director of the Ultra Low Carbon Solar Alliance discusses how focusing on solar’s carbon footprint could spur domestic manufacturing. For show notes, visit here.
This episode is the third installment of a four-part series on the Auxin Solar tariff petition. If you missed our exclusive interview with Auxin Solar CEO Mamun Rashid, listen here.
Show notes: -Subscribe to the free Renewable Energy World newsletter to stay up-to-date on the latest news in solar, wind, energy storage, green hydrogen, and more.
Factor This! is produced by Renewable Energy World and Clarion Energy. Connect with John Engel, the host of Factor This!, on LinkedIn and Twitter.
In Episode 4 of the Factor This! podcast, Abigail Ross Hopper, CEO of the Solar Energy Industries Association trade group, shares how the solar industry swayed President Joe Biden to pause new tariffs on module imports from Southeast Asia, while also boosting domestic manufacturing.
And later in the episode, Intersect Power CEO Sheldon Kimber discusses the early days of Recurrent Energy, tariffs, and solar's path forward.
This is the fourth and final episode of the Factor This!Auxin Solar tariff petition series. The full series is available wherever you get your podcasts.
Show notes: -Subscribe to the free Renewable Energy World newsletter to stay up-to-date on the latest news in solar, wind, energy storage, green hydrogen, and more.
Factor This! is a production of Renewable Energy World and Clarion Energy, and is hosted by John Engel.
27 Jun 2022
Special Edition: Shaping the grid of the future with GE Digital's Jim Walsh
How to manage and monetize distributed energy resources is one of the most rapidly changing pieces of the energy transition.
Every few weeks it seems a new software startup has raised tens (sometimes, hundreds) of millions of dollars in pursuit of those challenges. Meanwhile, utilities are watching the electricity distribution model that has stood up for a hundred years get turned on its head.
In a special edition of Factor This!, live from DISTRIBUTECH and POWERGEN International in Dallas last May, hear from Jim Walsh, who leads GE Digital’s grid software business, about the enabling forces behind the energy transition.
Show notes: -Subscribe to the free Renewable Energy World newsletter to stay up-to-date on the latest news in solar, wind, energy storage, green hydrogen, and more.
Factor This! is produced by Renewable Energy World and Clarion Energy. Connect with John Engel, the host of Factor This!, on LinkedIn and Twitter.
01 Jul 2022
Rooftop solar's biggest fight is back on with Vote Solar executive director Sachu Constantine
In Episode 6 of the Factor This! podcast, rooftop solar's biggest fight — California's net energy metering reform process — is back on. The California Public Utilities Commission has reopened the docket for NEM 3.0, which rooftop solar advocates warn could have a devastating impact on the industry nationwide.
Vote Solar's new executive director, Sachu Constantine, takes Factor This! to the frontlines of the policy fight and shares how he plans to move one of the leading solar advocacy groups to its next chapter.
Show notes: -Subscribe to the free Renewable Energy World newsletter to stay up-to-date on the latest news in solar, wind, energy storage, green hydrogen, and more.
In Episode 7 of the Factor This! podcast, Nextracker founder and CEO Dan Shugar explains his company's decision to invest heavily in U.S. manufacturing amid supply chain constraints and trade disputes facing the solar industry.
Plus, he gives a sneak peek at Nextracker’s next manufacturing announcement. Enjoying Factor This!? Leave a rating and review. Programming note: Factor This! will publish every Monday beginning Aug. 1.
Subscribe to the free Renewable Energy World newsletter to stay up-to-date on the latest news in solar, wind, energy storage, green hydrogen, and more.
Email me! john.engel(a)clarionevents.com and let me know what you think of Factor This
Factor This! is produced by Renewable Energy World and Clarion Energy. Connect with John Engel, the host of Factor This!, on LinkedIn and Twitter.
In a shocking turn of events late on the afternoon of July 27th, Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia announced that he had reached a deal with Majority Leader Chuck Schumer on a budget reconciliation package that includes $369 billion.
The Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 includes:
10-year extensions of the ITC for residential and commercial solar
A new ITC for standalone energy storage
Credits for domestic solar manufacturing
Credits for new and used EVs
Jose Zayas, EVP of Policy and Programs, American Council on Renewable Energy, joined the Factor This! podcast for a rapid reaction to the reconciliation news. You can read our recap of the legislation at Renewable Energy World here.
Show notes: -Subscribe to the free Renewable Energy World newsletter to stay up-to-date on the latest news in solar, wind, energy storage, green hydrogen, and more.
Factor This! is produced by Renewable Energy World and Clarion Energy. Connect with John Engel, the host of Factor This!, on LinkedIn and Twitter.
01 Aug 2022
Breaking down FERC's interconnection reform plan with AEE managing director Jeff Dennis
Up until a few days ago, Congress had been a frequent disappointment to clean energy advocates. Even the current optimism around budget reconciliation is... cautious.
But a few blocks north of Capitol Hill, seismic change has been underway.
In June, FERC laid out a set of proposed rules to address what possibly is the biggest threat facing clean energy deployment goals in the US: interconnection delays.
The notice of proposed rulemaking (NOPR) identified ways to tackle widespread challenges that have led to years-long interconnection request backlogs across the country.
Jeff Dennis, managing director for the advocacy group Advanced Energy Economy, and a former FERC policy staffer, joined Episode 9 of Factor This! to break down what's in the FERC interconnection NOPR and what comes next.
Show notes: -Register for the free RENEWABLE +Series on green hydrogen, featuring panelists from Generate Capital, EDP Renewables, and the National Renewable Energy Laboratory. -Subscribe to the free Renewable Energy World newsletter to stay up-to-date on the latest news in solar, wind, energy storage, green hydrogen, and more.
Factor This! is produced by Renewable Energy World and Clarion Energy. Connect with John Engel, the host of Factor This!, on LinkedIn and Twitter.
08 Aug 2022
What's going on in clean energy capital markets? Pine Gate Renewables CEO Ben Catt
Think back to June. President Biden had just paused new tariffs on solar modules imported from Southeast Asia—a lifeline for the solar industry after months of tumult caused by the Auxin Solar tariff petition.
Then came rising interest rates, record inflation, and recession anxiety, all complicating the buildout of clean energy infrastructure.
In Episode 10 of the Factor This! podcast, Pine Gate Renewables CEO Ben Catt breaks down what's going on in clean energy capital markets, fresh off raising $500 million for his utility-scale solar and storage development company.
Show notes: -Register for the free RENEWABLE +Series on green hydrogen, featuring panelists from Generate Capital, EDP Renewables, and the National Renewable Energy Laboratory. -Subscribe to the free Renewable Energy World newsletter to stay up-to-date on the latest news in solar, wind, energy storage, green hydrogen, and more.
Factor This! is produced by Renewable Energy World and Clarion Energy. Connect with John Engel, the host of Factor This!, on LinkedIn and Twitter.
15 Aug 2022
Taking on solar's recycling imperative with SOLARCYCLE CEO Suvi Sharma
Around 70% of solar systems in the U.S. are less than five years old, and with a lifespan of 30 years or more, recycling may not seem urgent.
But multi-gigawatt demand for solar recycling awaits the industry in the decades to come. The International Renewable Energy Agency estimates global solar PV waste will reach 78 million tonnes by 2050—with those raw materials worth $15 billion.
How can solar recycling scale to meet the need, and who’s going to capture that market?
On Episode 11 of the Factor This! podcast, Suvi Sharma – the solar veteran who co-founded Solaria and Nextracker – shares how his latest startup, SOLARCYCLE, is taking on solar’s recycling imperative.
In this bonus episode of Factor This!, we introduce you to the RENWABLE+ Series™ from Renewable Energy World. Don't worry, we'll get back to tackling solar's biggest stories on Monday.
In this +Series discussion, panelists from EDP Renewables, Generate Capital, and the National Renewable Energy Laboratory break down what's next for green hydrogen— the energy transition's secret weapon.
Bryan Pivovar, Senior Research Fellow I-Materials Science, NREL
Ana Quelhas, Managing Director for Hydrogen, EDP Renewables (EDPR)
Brandon Moffatt, VP, Generate Capital
While green hydrogen’s versatility offers potential answers to some of the energy transition’s most challenging questions, factors such as scale, scope, and affordability remain daunting challenges.
The power purchase agreement has done wonders for the deployment of clean energy.
Corporations can offset their annual energy consumption with long-term offtake contracts for solar and wind farms.
But what if that financial model doesn't work for every business—especially smaller ones that still want to make an impact? And does traditional clean energy procurement offset as much carbon as possible?
There's a new player solar that thinks they can address both of those challenges. In Episode 12 of Factor This!, Laura Zapata explains the mission behind Clearloop.
Show notes: -Subscribe to the free Renewable Energy World newsletter to stay up-to-date on the latest news in solar, wind, energy storage, green hydrogen, and more.
Factor This! is produced by Renewable Energy World and Clarion Energy. Connect with John Engel, the host of Factor This!, on LinkedIn and Twitter.
29 Aug 2022
Rethinking solar development from the ground up with Terabase CEO Matt Campbell
With the Inflation Reduction Act's historic investments in clean energy and climate change in place, U.S. solar power development is expected to explode over the next decade.
But meeting lofty decarbonization goals won't be easy— siting challenges, interconnection delays, and supply chain constraints all stand in the way.
In Episode 14 of the Factor This! podcast, Terabase co-founder and CEO Matt Campbell shares how his company is using software and automation to redefine how gigantic solar farms get built and are managed.
Show notes: -Subscribe to the free Renewable Energy World newsletter to stay up-to-date on the latest news in solar, wind, energy storage, green hydrogen, and more.
Factor This! is produced by Renewable Energy World and Clarion Energy. Connect with John Engel, the host of Factor This!, on LinkedIn and Twitter.
05 Sep 2022
Beware of the clean energy gold rush with Leyline Renewable Capital CEO Erik Lensch
The Inflation Reduction Act established historic incentives for clean energy and climate change. It may have also created a gold rush with potentially dangerous consequences.
In Episode 15of the Factor This! podcast, Erik Lensch, founder and CEO of Leyline Renewable Capital, shares how the Inflation Reduction Act is impacting clean energy capital markets, which he said were already oversaturated with investors chasing projects before the climate bill passed.
As Labor Day weekend came to a close, a sense of dread settled in at the home of Allison Clements, who was appointed to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission in 2020.
On the cusp of entering fifth grade, Clements' daughter was tasked with completing a homework assignment over the summer break. And of course, it wasn’t done.
Upgrading the U.S. electric grid is akin to the nation's own summer homework, Clements said on Episode 16 of the Factor This! podcast. And Labor Day weekend has long since passed as an opportunity to complete catch-up work.
Clements discussed record heat in the West, resiliency, and FERC’s effort to reform transmission planning and interconnection rules.
Sponsor: -This episode is sponsored by Nextracker, the industry’s most advanced smart solar tracking systems. Learn more about how Nextracker is ramping up domestic manufacturing capacity to 10 GW here.
Over the past year, DroneBase, a company that conducts aerial assessments of utility-scale solar projects, drove up and down the western and eastern seaboards of North America to develop what it hopes will become a comprehensive database of every major solar project.
A resource like this would give DroneBase the ability to rate developers, EPCs, asset owners, and manufacturers of modules, trackers, and inverters, based on performance.
That report card could bring a new level of transparency, and a reckoning, to the solar industry.
Mark Culpepper, the general manager of DroneBase's solar division, joins Episode 17 of the Factor This! podcast to discuss the new platform and its implications for the industry.
Show notes: -Read the article on DroneBase's announcement here
Sponsor notes:
Learn more about Nextracker's proprietary TrueCapture software in a new white paper that's available for free download here. TrueCapture combines advanced sensing and machine-learning technologies to help mitigate energy losses and boost plant performance. Nextracker is the only tracker company with proven, third-party verified data and measured results that meet or exceed modeled predictions. See the results for yourself.
Before the Inflation Reduction Act, working and succeeding in clean energy came with quite a bit of risk. Now with the historic legislation in place, it's time to honor those risk takers for laying the groundwork for a new level of certainty not seen before in the industry.
Tom Weirich, who leads marketing efforts in North America for EDP Renewables, chronicles the stories of those clean energy visionaries in his forthcoming book We Took the Risk.
Weirich joined Episode 18 of the Factor This! podcast from Renewable Energy World to share some highlights from the book before it's released on October 1st.
Show notes: -You can purchase "We Took the Risk" here -Read the full article for this podcast episode here
Sponsor notes:
This episode of Factor This! is sponsored by Nextracker.
Learn more about Nextracker's proprietary TrueCapture software in a new white paper that's available for free download here. TrueCapture combines advanced sensing and machine-learning technologies to help mitigate energy losses and boost plant performance. Nextracker is the only tracker company with proven, third-party verified data and measured results that meet or exceed modeled predictions. See the results for yourself.
In June, President Joe Biden announced a two-year pause on new tariffs on solar modules imported from Southeast Asia— much-needed relief for the industry that was brought to a standstill.
Weeks later, though, the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act took effect and has resulted in the detention of modules believed to have been manufactured in the Xinjiang region of China using forced labor.
Vulnerabilities in the solar supply chain have been magnified over the past year. With historic incentives for domestic solar production secured by the Inflation Reduction Act, can the US ramp up manufacturing capacity before new tariffs are potentially imposed as a result of the Auxin Solar petition?
On Episode 19 of the Factor This! podcast, leaders from Cypress Creek Renewables, Lightsource bp, and Qcells took on this all-important question live from RE+ in Anaheim.
Show notes: -Episode article -Watch the live recording of Factor This! at RE+ on the Renewable Energy World YouTube channel -Check out the energy industry's newest event, the GridTECH Connect Forum, which will bring together utility leaders and DER developers to tackle interconnection issues. -Introducing: The Texas Power Podcast
Sponsor: -This episode is sponsored by Nextracker, the industry’s most advanced smart solar tracking systems. Learn more about how Nextracker is ramping up domestic manufacturing capacity to 10 GW here.
Solar and wind enjoy broad public support, but the fight in Congress over the Inflation Reduction Act showed that the industry can be held hostage by a single vote, as proven by Sen. Joe Manchin’s nail-bite tactics.
And for all the IRA promises to do to fuel clean energy deployment, the law doesn’t cure the industry’s persistent NIMBY problem.
On Episode 20 of the Factor This! podcast, veteran clean tech communicator Mike Casey shares his vision for establishing long-term political power to prevent the next Manchin-like holdout.
We’re also joined by SOLV Energy CEO George Herschman, whose company is developing the largest solar project in the US, to share strategies that clean energy developers can use to overcome NIMBY opposition.
Show notes: -Episode article -Check out the energy industry's newest event, the GridTECH Connect Forum, which will bring together utility leaders and DER developers to tackle interconnection issues.
Sponsor: Learn more about Nextracker's proprietary TrueCapture software in a new white paper that's available for free download here. TrueCapture combines advanced sensing and machine-learning technologies to help mitigate energy losses and boost plant performance. Nextracker is the only tracker company with proven, third-party verified data and measured results that meet or exceed modeled predictions. See the results for yourself.
We're happy to share with you the first episode of Renewable Energy World's newest podcast, the Texas Power Podcast.
In each episode, Doug Lewin guides listeners through the complicated world of Texas energy, introducing them to the people and policies behind it all.
In Episode 1 of the Texas Power Podcast, host Doug Lewin is joined by Pat Wood, former chairman of both the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission and the Public Utility Commission of Texas. He helped deliver former Texas Gov. George W. Bush's deregulation agenda in the 1990s.
Doug's conversation with Pat Wood covered the state's market redesign efforts, the enabling technologies that can support grid resilience, and the moment when then-governor Bush was first drawn to renewables.
If you like the Texas Power Podcast, please leave a rating and review!
The market for procuring clean energy is enduring one of the most tumultuous stretches in history.
A global pandemic, trade disputes, and federal policy near-misses over the past two years contributed to fears that either side of a power purchase agreement was getting a raw deal. That volatility added pressure on developers, investors, and corporations pursuing net-zero goals.
But historic incentives for clean energy baked into the Inflation Reduction Act have shifted the industry’s trajectory, backed by the certainty of 10-year tax credits.
What impact is the IRA already having, and what’s in store for 2023?
Gia Clark, senior director of developer services for LevelTen Energy, joins Episode 21 of the Factor This! podcast to provide a first look at her company’s Q3 PPA Price Index report and insights from their PPA marketplace.
More than a decade ago, the proverbial lightbulb glowed over Chad Farrell’s head.
Trained as a brownfield remediation engineer, he decided to develop solar projects on otherwise unusable land. His company, Encore Renewable Energy, became a first-mover in brownfield solar development, boosted by federal incentives.
Fast forward to today, and Farrell sees an even brighter future for brownfield solar project development due to another big chunk of federal help: the Inflation Reduction Act.
On Episode 22 of the Factor This! podcast, Farrell shares how the IRA is impacting brownfield and energy community project bankability, and lays out the challenges that still remain.
Sponsor: -This episode of Factor This! is sponsored by Rolls Battery. Find a distributor near you. -Registration is now open for the GridTECH Connect Forum, an all-new event designed to bring utility leaders and clean energy developers together to tackle interconnection issues. Register today.
Bringing new distributed energy resources to the grid often comes with delays and costly upgrades. Interconnection woes create a contentious relationship between utilities and developers.
That’s why Clarion Energy is launching the GridTECH Connect Forum— a regional event designed to break down industry silos by bringing together DER developers and utilities to find common ground to improve the interconnection process.
Registration is now open for the inaugural GridTECH Connect Forum in San Diego, California on Feb. 6, 2023.
To learn more, be sure to download Episode 23 of Factor This! featuring GridTECH Connect Forum advisory board members Laurence Abcede, manager of distributed energy resources at San Diego Gas & Electric, and CJ Colavito, the vice president of engineering at Standard Solar.
It's been more than 600 days since the lights went out for millions of Texans during Winter Storm Uri.
The near-total collapse of the Texas grid can be attributed to a number of culprits— and there has been no shortage of finger-pointing.
Promises were made that what happened in February 2021 would never happen again. And a market redesign that's underway is supposed to be the solution.
To better understand what's happening, and what's to come, Episode 24 of the Factor This! podcast features Texas Capitol mainstays Caitlin Smith of Jupiter Power, Mark Stover of Apex Clean Energy, and Doug Lewin, host of Renewable Energy World's Texas Power Podcast.
Show notes: -Check out the "Don't California my Texas (electricity market)" episode of the Texas Power Podcast for a deep dive into a highly-anticipated report on the three electricity market redesign proposals. -Read the ICF report commissioned by the Texas Consumer Association
A look around one of clean energy's largest events offered a common sight: There were a lot of men.
The challenge is well-known in renewables. Women make up only about a third of the workforce. And they hold an even smaller share of executive positions.
Registration is now open for the GridTECH Connect Forum, a new event bringing together distributed energy developers and utilities to tackle the critical issue of interconnection.
Join us in San Diego on Feb. 6, 2023 for an event focused on the California market, like interconnection collaboration, vehicle-to-grid integration, demand response, and more.
After a series of starts, stops, and outright confusion over the future of rooftop solar, California regulators have released their latest proposal to reform the state’s net metering program.
The process known as NEM 3.0 has pitted advocates against investor-owned utilities over how customers should be paid for sending excess solar power to the grid. And since it involves the country’s largest solar market, the entire industry is paying attention.
Vote Solar’s executive director, Sachu Constantine, returns to the Factor This! podcast to break down the latest proposal, which is drawing fire from both sides. Check out Constantine’s analysis of the original NEM 3.0 proposal in Episode 6 of the Factor This! podcast.
Clean energy is in broad agreement: the Inflation Reduction Act is a game-changer for the industry and our goals of staving off the worst effects of climate change.
But underneath the optimism is a shared anxiety that significant headwinds still plague the industry. Costly and time-consuming permitting and interconnection processes remain poison pills for projects.
Robin Laine, CEO and co-founder of Transect, used her background as an environmental engineer to shrink the environmental assessment process down from weeks or months to just minutes.
James McWalter, CEO of Paces, is developing what he calls the "Google for site selection," which allows developers to start with a set of criteria, like distance to an interconnection point, to find available parcels for development in just minutes. The platform also tracks ever-changing policies that could impact projects all the way down to the local level.
When the American clean energy industry met at RE+ in September, seemingly every conversation exuded an optimistic tone about the future.
Historic incentives for clean energy in the Inflation Reduction Act, paired with a generational industrial policy, brought U.S. climate goals within reach at a point when their prospects appeared bleak at best. Now, billions of dollars of investment is flowing into American clean energy manufacturing.
The outlook couldn't be more different in Europe, where industry leaders recently came together at Enlit Europe in Frankfurt, Germany. Russia's invasion of Ukraine has exacerbated an already dire energy crisis, and the continent that once led the energy transition is watching its influence slip.
Two of Europe's clean energy leaders joined Episode 28 of the Factor This! podcast from Frankfurt to discuss Europe's path forward and the prospect for transformational industrial policy.
Guests: Jochen Hauff, Director Corporate Strategy, Energy Policy & Sustainability, BayWa r.e. Axel Thiemann, CEO, Sonnedix
It was a best-of-times, worst-of-times sort of year for solar: long-awaited federal policy support tempered by ongoing trade disputes involving some of the industry’s biggest suppliers.
As the year closes, giving new meaning to the term ‘solar coaster,’ we invited Paula Mints, who has been tracking the industry for more than two decades, to shed some light on what 2022 means to the solar industry and what to watch out for in the new year.
She joined Episode 29 of the Factor This! podcast to break down everything from the Auxin Solar petition to the Inflation Reduction Act and to discuss the industry’s path forward amid mounting headwinds.
This episode of Factor This! is sponsored by Heila Technologies, a Kohler company.
Corporate demand for clean energy couldn’t be hotter. And it’s not just for far-away solar and wind farms anymore.
In a year plagued by trade disputes, supply chain constraints, and missed targets, onsite commercial and industrial deployment of solar, batteries and EV charging grew in 2022 when other areas sank.
Leaders in the C&I space say it’s about to explode. That growth doesn’t come without its own challenges for grid reliability.
Owned by EDF Renewables, PowerFlex is a leader in the C&I space, recently raising $100 million to expand its onsite energy management hardware and software offering.
Declercq weighed in on the impact of the California net metering decision, intelligent EV charging, and the outlook for an often overlooked segment of the industry.
About the sponsor:
This episode of Factor This is sponsored by Heila Technologies, a Kohler Company.
Heila is changing the way complex microgrids are managed and operated with its EDGE control and optimization platform, which makes each asset in a system smarter while making the whole microgrid more efficient and resilient.
The EDGE helps EPCs and developers simplify microgrid deployment through a flexible approach that ensures systems operate reliably while unlocking new revenue streams.
Heila is a proud sponsor of the 2023 GridTech Connect Forum. Register now at www.gridtechconnect.com to learn more about Heila and the EDGE platform.
This episode of Factor This! is sponsored by Heila Technologies, a Kohler company.
Episode 31 of the Factor This! podcast features Aaron Bates, the CEO and founder of Toledo Solar, a manufacturer of cadmium telluride thin-film solar modules.
Bates cares deeply about who is making solar modules and, just as importantly, where. And he has strong opinions about the direction the solar industry is heading.
In response to the Inflation Reduction Act, Toledo Solar is scaling its production capacity to 2.3 gigawatts by 2027. It's bringing the technology that made First Solar a household name to the commercial and residential sectors, and doing it right down the street from First Solar's factory in Ohio.
Bates discusses Toledo Solar and its ties to Ohio's rich history of manufacturing, silicon vs. CadTe modules, tariffs, and what he calls the "untruths" behind Made in America solar.
About the sponsor:
This episode of Factor This is sponsored by Heila Technologies, a Kohler Company.
Heila is changing the way complex microgrids are managed and operated with its EDGE control and optimization platform, which makes each asset in a system smarter while making the whole microgrid more efficient and resilient.
The EDGE helps EPCs and developers simplify microgrid deployment through a flexible approach that ensures systems operate reliably while unlocking new revenue streams.
Heila is a proud sponsor of the 2023 GridTech Connect Forum. Register now at www.gridtechconnect.com to learn more about Heila and the EDGE platform.
The pitfalls of the energy transition are on full display in a Southeast state.
A 2021 law set North Carolina on its way to slashing carbon emissions by 70% by the end of the decade and reaching carbon neutrality by 2050. HB 951 represented an unprecedented, bipartisan effort for a state to tackle climate change and deploy clean energy.
But clashes between Duke Energy, the utility governed by the law, and clean energy developers showcase that historic policy is only part of the equation. Execution is just as challenging.
Episode 32 of the Factor This! podcast features Steve Levitas and Tyler Norris, who both work on clean energy policy for utility-scale solar and storage developers. They share why what's happening in North Carolina should be a warning to the rest of the country.
About the sponsors:
This episode of Factor This! is sponsored by Rolls Battery.
Available in four popular case sizes, Rolls Battery's new R-Series 12-volt & 24-volt lithium models offer a maintenance-free, lightweight alternative to traditional deep-cycle batteries. With fast charge/discharge capability and up to 4 in-series and 4 in-parallel connectivity for 48-volt system configuration, Rolls LFP lithium are a true drop-in replacement. Lithium iron phosphate technology and built-in protections ensure safe operation and exceptional cycle life, and all models are backed by a 3-year, full-replacement manufacturer warranty. Visit RollsBattery.com to find a distributor near you.
This episode of Factor This! is also sponsored by Heila Technologies, a Kohler Company.
Heila is changing the way complex microgrids are managed and operated with its EDGE control and optimization platform, which makes each asset in a system smarter while making the whole microgrid more efficient and resilient.
The EDGE helps EPCs and developers simplify microgrid deployment through a flexible approach that ensures systems operate reliably while unlocking new revenue streams.
Heila is a proud sponsor of the 2023 GridTech Connect Forum. Register now at www.gridtechconnect.com to learn more about Heila and the EDGE platform.
California is a leader in the energy transition. There's no doubt about it.
But even the most mature solar market in the country hasn't always gotten it right.
A community solar program implemented in 2013 never really panned out. And while the community solar sector grew rapidly in other states, California watched as few projects got built.
Episode 33 of the Factor This! podcast features Aaron Halimi, president and founder of the California-based community solar developer Renewable Properties. Halimi breaks down the state of community solar, the impact of the Inflation Reduction Act, and California's second attempt to craft a successful program.
Can they get it right this time?
That's all next on Factor This!
About the sponsor:
This episode of Factor This! is sponsored by Heila Technologies, a Kohler Company.
Heila is changing the way complex microgrids are managed and operated with its EDGE control and optimization platform, which makes each asset in a system smarter while making the whole microgrid more efficient and resilient.
The EDGE helps EPCs and developers simplify microgrid deployment through a flexible approach that ensures systems operate reliably while unlocking new revenue streams.
Heila is a proud sponsor of the 2023 GridTech Connect Forum. Register now at www.gridtechconnect.com to learn more about Heila and the EDGE platform.
Our grid is vulnerable to disruption and even failure. Wildfires, floods, and more frequent extreme weather events routinely highlight the imperative of adding distributed energy not just for resiliency, but to reach our climate goals.
But incumbents, purposefully or not, are delaying the transition. And markets still don't fully value the qualities of distributed energy resources. Will we come to embrace DER's myriad benefits before it's too late?
This wide-ranging conversation covered the role of distributed energy for the grid of the future, the perils of scaling a climate tech hardware company, and what's holding back the Inflation Reduction Act.
Hade shared how his time in the military mobilized him to fight climate change, why he's so optimistic that DERs will one day breakthrough, and his five tips for anyone starting a clean energy company. Spoiler alert: get smart on tax equity. Or find someone who is.
Not just because solar-plus-storage is a natural fit, but more and more developers will soon be branching out into the world of batteries, emboldened by new federal incentives.
That transition could be overwhelming for some. Energy storage deployment comes with its own unique set of nuances and challenges.
What differentiates one energy storage company from another? How do investors view the nascent sector? What are some of the risks to avoid?
If you've worked in solar long enough, you probably know Yann— either from his various stops throughout the industry or SolarWakeup, his must-read daily newsletter that has become a staple for industry insiders.
Fresh off his election as the first-ever chair of the Energy Storage division at the Solar Energy Industries Association, Yann answers your burning questions about energy storage.
Increasing demand for solar modules, paired with supply chain constraints and trade disputes, have some new players eyeing the US market.
Some module manufacturers are building new factories to capitalize on fresh federal incentives to boost the domestic solar supply chain. Others are hoping to import their products into the US.
Both have created a set of new, largely unknown players for buyers to make sense of. And standard certifications don’t go far enough to determine a module's long-term performance and reliability.
Episode 36 of the Factor This! podcast features Tristan Erion-Lorico, VP of sales and marketing for PV Evolution Labs. The firm helps manufacturers prove themselves to new markets, and offers investors and asset owners an extra level of certainty over long-term performance.
The proverbial light bulb that sparked Tasha McCarter's interest in energy was an actual light bulb.
A third grade experiment using a hand crank to produce electricity led to an accomplished career developing power plants for SunPower, Silicon Ranch, and most recently RWE as their vice president of solar engineering.
For McCarter, who is Black, the rise to become one of the energy industry's foremost engineering leaders was anything but easy. While the industry's well-known diversity problem is slowly improving, there's still a long way to go.
McCarter joined Episode 37 of the Factor This! podcast to talk about her career, Black History Month, and the energy industry's pursuit of a more diverse workforce.
06 Mar 2023
Solar's legal risks are changing. Here's what to watch out for
As the renewable energy industry has grown up, its legal risks have too.
Sure, we as an industry talk all the time about NIMBYism. But what about zoning and permitting litigation? What happens when a project produces stormwater runoff that damages a neighboring property? And how about all of these new incentives in the Inflation Reduction Act… who's on the hook if a project falls short of its obligations?
Matthew Karmel is the principal and chair of the Environmental and Sustainability Practice Group at the national law firm Offit Kurman. Yana Spitzer is in-house counsel at ENGIE North America.
Karmel and Spitzer take us inside the courtroom for a look at the legal risk plaguing project developers today, and they point out the potholes to watch out for in the future.
WRISE Speaker Spotlight
This week's WRISE Speaker Spotlight features Patricia Vega, founder and CEO of Quantum New Energy. Patricia's expertise includes asset management, corporate social responsibility, energy efficiency, and more. Contact Patricia for a speaking engagement, view other speakers, or join the Speakers Bureau yourself at WRISEenergy.org.
While the energy transition is well underway, the power dynamics that have ruled the industry for generations are still largely the same.
Kiran Bhatraju, founder and CEO of Arcadia, is upending that paradigm by taking control of energy data and using it to fuel the rapid deployment of distributed energy assets.
Arcadia manages more community solar subscribers than almost anyone else, and its software platform, Arc, uses data from thousands of utilities to pinpoint where, and when, to build and use DERs.
Still commonly referred to as a startup, Arcadia is now a billion-dollar cleantech unicorn.
Today, we're dropping in an episode from our friends over at the Suncast podcast that we know you'll enjoy.
Nico Johnson has an interesting and important conversation with Steph Spiers, co-founder and CEO of the community solar manager Solstice about equity in the energy transition.
Speirs believes that "the role of power and privilege is to use it to open up doors for other folks to access that same power". Her company, Solstice, aims to democratize the clean energy revolution and create energy equity through community solar, and they do this by increasing access to solar power for households that are locked out of the solar marketplace. She has won more than three dozen accolades and awards for her private market innovation and entrepreneurship, as well as her public sector work, which includes developing Middle East policy as the youngest policy director at the White House National Security Council.
You can find the episode blog, as well as the full Suncast episode library, here.
Make sure to subscribe to Suncast and Factor This! wherever your podcasts.
Concentrated solar power has had a rough go in the US. But that's not because it's a poor resource.
Using mirrors and towers, CSP can cleanly generate electricity, provide long-duration thermal energy storage, and decarbonize heavy industry by producing heat. Still, solar PV deployment dwarfs installed CSP capacity 113 GW to 2.
Why hasn't it caught on here?
Episode 40 of the Factor This! podcast features Craig Wood, CEO of the Australian next-gen CSP company Vast, which thinks it can change CSP's fortunes in the US.
Vast is planning to list on the New York Stock Exchange at a valuation of more than a half-billion dollars to deploy its next-gen CSP technology. Wood breaks down CSP's less-than-sunny history, why it's getting a fresh look, and its role in the energy transition.
How do you measure the impact of someone like Dan Shugar?
He's been a mainstay in the solar industry since the early days. Before the solar coaster defined the twists and turns of the evolving industry.
He led PowerLight to a $335 million dollar acquisition. Helped grow SunPower into the behemoth it is today. And was the CEO of solar module manufacturer Solaria, before co-founding Nextracker, one of the world's leading tracker manufacturers.
Dan Shugar is solar. Undeniably the face, and voice, driving the industry to heights unthinkable when he started out nearly 30 years ago.
In Episode 41 of the Factor This! podcast, Dan Shugar returns fresh off Nextracker's $638 million IPO that is, so far, this year's biggest. Not just for a clean tech company— for any company.
What's left for the industry leader affectionately known by so many as Shug?
That's all next on Factor This!
03 Apr 2023
Green hydrogen, recycling, and next-gen batteries: Checking in on ‘Cleantech 2.0’
A new era of cleantech innovation is here. And it’s a good time to take stock of what’s in the pipeline. Green hydrogen, circular economies, and next-gen batteries are at the heart of “Cleantech 2.0.” These innovations could take the clean economy to new heights when paired with fresh federal incentives for fighting climate change.
Alok Sindher, a partner at the venture capital firm Fifth Wall, joined Episode 42 of the Factor This! podcast to break down what’s on the way and who’s positioned to cash in.
Fifth Wall is one of the largest VCs driving cleantech innovation with $2.9 billion raised for cleantech startups. The firm recently led the $30 million Series A round for solar module recycling startup SOLARCYCLE.
That's all next on Factor This!
10 Apr 2023
Sunnova's John Berger is hell-bent on upending the status quo
More than a decade since John Berger founded Sunnova… the company is one of the largest residential solar and storage providers in the country. That would be enough for a lot of people. But success hasn't stopped Berger from pushing the envelope.
He recognized early on in his career, from his time at Enron and then the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, that the way we viewed and consumed energy was broken. He didn't necessarily know the answer then… but knew he would do whatever he could to fix it.
From Sunnova's push to create a micro-utility in California, to the aggregation of tens of thousands of residential solar and battery systems to compete with the monopolistic utility model, the company, and Berger, have set out to upend the status quo.
The news from Entergy Louisiana may have required a second reading. And a third. The utility wants to go (really) big on solar. Why now?
Entergy Louisiana asked state regulators in March to approve 3 GW of new solar resources. That's on top of its request from a few weeks earlier for 225 MW of new solar, which would have nearly doubled the state's existing capacity.
Louisiana isn't known as the friendliest to solar. What led to the sudden change of heart?
Entergy Louisiana CEO Phillip May joined Episode 44 of the Factor This! podcast to share an inside look at a Southern utility's view on the energy transition. May shared his outlook for solar, energy storage, green hydrogen, offshore wind, and more.
A decarbonized grid, powered primarily by solar and wind, will require a lot of energy storage. Lithium-ion batteries, while the technology du jour, won't come close to solving the impending problem on their own.
The long-duration energy storage dilemma is multi-pronged: today's market structures don't adequately reward energy storage of longer than four hours, and potential solutions are mired in technical challenges and steep capex costs.
But one company may have cracked the code.
Episode 45 of Factor This! features Robert Piconi, CEO of Energy Vault, a company well on its way to deploying long-duration gravity storage systems at scale.
Energy Vault first made its splash with towering cranes lifting and lowering blocks under the guiding principles that have made pumped hydro the world's most significant energy storage resource.
Now, with a redesigned concept, the company is deploying its systems in partnership with major players like Enel… and even landed a green hydrogen deal with Pacific Gas & Electric, California's largest utility.
Can long-duration energy storage finally break through?
01 May 2023
A rosy future for agrivoltaics (without the thorns)
Agrivoltaics -- solar PV paired with livestock or crops -- make for rich marketing materials. Good luck finding a developer brochure free of grazing sheep.
But the project segment is far more than a kitschy niche.
While the concept is well-understood in Europe, the U.S. is still finding its way with agrivoltaics. Early iterations lacked scalability due to added costs and irrational system requirements established by policymakers.
Lucy Bullock-Sieger wants you to forget everything you think you know about agrivoltaics.
As the vice president of strategy for Boston-based developer Lightstar Renewables, Bullock-Sieger is on a mission to prove that agrivoltaics is ready for primetime with a new approach.
In addition to establishing a cost-neutral agrivoltaics development process, Lightstar has experienced improved community relations, expedited permits, and a mitigant to the interconnection nightmare.
We launched the Factor This! podcast one year ago — May 9, 2022 — to share a fresh and introspective account of the Auxin Solar tariff petition.
It's been a dark cloud hanging over the solar industry ever since—delaying projects and dampening enthusiasm around the Inflation Reduction Act.
May 2023, for better or worse, was supposed to restore certainty at last with a final determination from the Commerce Department. But that ruling was punted to August, yet again drawing out the industry's prolonged panic attack.
Episode 47 of the Factor This! podcast features an interview with Tim Brightbill, a partner and co-chair for the international trade practice at DC law firm Wiley Rein. He's also an adjunct international trade law professor at Georgetown.
Brightbill broke down the latest in the Auxin case and where it goes from here. Plus, a look back on the exclusive interview with Auxin Solar CEO Mamun Rashid that established the Factor This! as a must-listen for the solar industry.
That's all next on Factor This!
15 May 2023
He started solar's preeminent advocacy group. Now, Adam Browning is all in on EVs
For more than 20 years, Adam Browning was solar's biggest cheerleader.
There was 165 MW of interconnected solar in the U.S. in 2002 when Browning founded Vote Solar. The organization quickly evolved into the industry's preeminent advocacy group. When he stepped down as executive director in 2021, that figure stood at 122 GW.
Today, Browning has his sights set on the next big decarbonization story, using lessons learned from solar's twists and turns to take on a "biblical" challenge.
Browning, now the executive vice president of policy and communications for the startup Forum Mobility, looks back on his storied career leading Vote Solar, reacts to the controversial NEM 3.0 ruling in California, and shares why he's starting over to takeon fleet electrification.
22 May 2023
Solar's biggest risk? Too few works to deliver the massive project pipeline
Praise for the solar industry's meteoric growth often shines on developers and their multi-gigawatt pipelines and portfolios. Seldom does the limelight extend to the construction crews putting steel in the ground.
But clean electrons aren't generated by hope, targets, and schematics. It's the engineering, procurement, and construction firms that are executing the vision for a clean energy transition.
Therein lies an overlooked hurdle on the horizon: There simply aren't enough qualified EPCs, and workers, to meet the booming demand for solar projects. And rich incentives in the Inflation Reduction Act only stand to magnify the glut in supply.
Episode 49 of the Factor This! podcast features Chris Dunbar, CEO of Blue Ridge Power, for an inside look at how one of the industry's leading utility-scale solar and storage EPCs is navigating a chronic labor shortage and a tumultuous market plagued by supply chain constraints, trade disputes, and the interconnection slog.
Sure, gigawatts of solar projects are in motion. But who's going to build them?
19 Jun 2023
Battery storage is booming. Now what do we do with it?
In the spring of 2016, Jeff Bishop was developing wind projects when he came across an analyst chart that caught his eye.
Battery storage, the analysts forecasted, would follow a similar cost curve as solar. Costs would plummet as deployment ramped up to support a grid ever more dependent on intermittent renewable energy resources.
Bishop quit his job by the summer and launched Key Capture Energy, a developer, owner, and operator of grid-scale battery storage projects.
Turns out, the analysts were right. Seven years later, battery storage deployment is booming.
But the industry is still finding its way. Developers and regulators face questions about how to best use batteries, and what policy structures are needed to facilitate deployment. Moreover, the industry is learning on the fly about how these assets will perform under various state and utility demands.
Bishop joined Episode 50 of the Factor This! podcastto break down how states should, and shouldn't, go about procuring battery storage, and why software is a crucial piece of the puzzle. Plus, stick around for the inside story of how Key Capture went from the brink of insolvency to raising $100 million.
26 Jun 2023
Underperformance. Extreme weather. Labor shortages. Solar's bright outlook faces big risks
The U.S. solar industry is primed for significant growth in the coming years, emboldened by big federal incentives and even bigger demand for renewable energy.
But asset owners are increasingly talking about extreme weather, underperformance, and labor shortages as growing risks to solar’s growth prospects. These are some of the uncomfortable issues in opposition to the industry's rosy public outlook.
Episode 51 of the Factor This! podcast features Jason Kaminsky, CEO of clean energy insurance provider kWh Analytics, which just dropped its fifth annual Solar Risk Assessment. And it's loaded with valuable insights.
Kaminsky shares the data behind solar's biggest risks, along with pathways to avoid potholes down the road.
Amanda Li found herself in the thick of the arduous and disorganized project finance lifecycle.
It was 2014, and she had been hired as Generate Capital's first employee. Li was responsible for all aspects of the deal: originating and underwriting, closing, portfolio management, you name it. Each stage had its own litany of documents, and required endless hours to maintain.
It was obvious to Li that the process needed a major upgrade for trillions of dollars to efficiently flow into clean energy, and our climate goals would depend on it.
Episode 52 of the Factor This! podcast features Amanda Li, the co-founder and COO of Banyan Infrastructure, a fintech company streamlining clean energy project finance by digitalizing and housing each step in a single platform.
Li shares how technology is activating fresh capital for distributed energy projects and bringing new players to the table. Just in time.
That's all next on Factor This!
17 Jul 2023
Will the U.S. get green hydrogen right? One decision has big climate implications
Green hydrogen could be a key tool to meet climate goals. It could also make things a lot worse, if we get this one critical step wrong.
The U.S. is developing rules for green hydrogen incentives as part of the Inflation Reduction Act, and the options are up for grabs.
The Biden administration faces pressure from developers, trade groups, and environmentalists over how to phase in zero carbon requirements for green hydrogen production, and new research suggests the direction it chooses could have a major impact on the climate.
Episode 53 of the Factor This! podcast features Jesse Jenkins, assistant professor and ZERO Lab lead at Princeton University, who is calling out a leading clean energy trade group for a piece of its green hydrogen agenda.
Jenkins shares how one recommendation from the American Clean Power Association could result in $200 BILLION in taxpayer subsidies responsible for 700 million metric tons of CO2 emissions.
Battery storage deployment is surging to fill the gaps left by intermittent renewable energy resources. And, sometimes, those gaps extend days beyond what lithium-ion can handle.
For the past six years, Form Energy has positioned itself as the company to solve for the multi-day challenge. What started with splashy renderings and nearly $1 billion in fundraising announcements has evolved into real contracts with utilities like Xcel and Southern Company, and a commercial-scale iron-air battery plant under construction in West Virginia.
Jaramillo breaks down the technology behind Form Energy's 100-hour battery, how the company was able to convince risk-averse utilities to buy in, and the challenges still ahead for multi-day energy storage.
That's all next on Factor This!
21 Jul 2023
This Week in Cleantech (7/21/23) — Geothermal 2.0, offshore wind, and 'Bidenomics'
This Week in Cleantech is a new, weekly podcast covering the most impactful stories in cleantech and climate in 15 minutes or less. Produced by Renewable Energy World and Tigercomm, This Week in Cleantech will air every Friday in the Factor This! podcast feed wherever you get your podcasts.
Help make This Week in Cleantech the best it can be. Send feedback and story recommendations to ThisWeekInCleantech@tigercomm.us. And don't forget to leave a rating and review wherever you get your podcasts.
Join us every Friday for new episodes of This Week in Cleantech in the Factor This! podcast feed, and tune into new episodes of Factor This! every Monday.
This Week in Cleantech is hosted by Renewable Energy World senior content director John Engel and Tigercomm president Mike Casey. The show is produced by Brian Mendes with research support from Alex Petersen and Clare Quirin.
31 Jul 2023
Inside scaling a national residential solar company
Kyle Udseth helped media giants like DIRECTV and Netflix craft their customer experiences. Now, he's working to scale a new national player in residential solar and storage with that same focus.
After stints with Sunrun and Sunnova, Udseth founded Pineapple Energy believing that the crowded field of residential solar providers was still ripe with opportunity. His company is scaling through strategic acquisitions of successful regional installers with established brands and pipelines in an attempt to compete with industry heavyweights.
Udseth joined Episode 55 of the Factor This! podcast to share how the residential solar market is adapting to policy uncertainty and macroeconomic headwinds, and why he believes the sector is primed for consolidation.
Is there room for another national residential solar provider?
28 Jul 2023
This Week in Cleantech (7/28/23) — Solar manufacturing, IRA rollout, and clean energy in Coal Country
This Week in Cleantech is a new, weekly podcast covering the most impactful stories in cleantech and climate in 15 minutes or less. Produced by Renewable Energy World and Tigercomm, This Week in Cleantech will air every Friday in the Factor This! podcast feed wherever you get your podcasts.
Help make This Week in Cleantech the best it can be. Send feedback and story recommendations to ThisWeekInCleantech@tigercomm.us. And don't forget to leave a rating and review wherever you get your podcasts.
Join us every Friday for new episodes of This Week in Cleantech in the Factor This! podcast feed, and tune into new episodes of Factor This! every Monday.
This Week in Cleantech is hosted by Renewable Energy World senior content director John Engel and Tigercomm president Mike Casey. The show is produced by Brian Mendes with research support from Alex Petersen and Clare Quirin.
A simple mention of the word can send shivers down a developer's spine.
Interconnection.
It's the bogeyman of the energy transition. Long delays and steep upgrade costs can doom projects before they ever get off the ground. The interconnection slog may be the single biggest threat to national and local clean energy and climate goals. And the people critical to improving the process — developers, utilities, and regulators — don't always get along, to say the least.
In Episode 56 of the Factor This! podcast, we head to the Northeast for a deeper insight into why this single issue has grown to be such a problem and how they just might fix it. We'll have the help of, you guessed it, a developer, a utility, and a regulator.
This episode features National Grid's distributed generation ombudsperson Michael Porcaro; Convergent Energy and Power regulatory affairs manager Emma Marshall-Torres, and Rhode Island PUC Commissioner Abigail Anthony.
By the way, they'll also each be speaking at the GridTECH Connect Forum - Northeast in Newport, Rhode Island, October 23-25. Listeners can get 20% off admission to the event by clicking this link.
04 Aug 2023
This Week in Cleantech (8/4/23) — New interconnection rules, a nuclear milestone, and concrete batteries
This Week in Cleantech is a new, weekly podcast covering the most impactful stories in cleantech and climate in 15 minutes or less. Produced by Renewable Energy World and Tigercomm, This Week in Cleantech will air every Friday in the Factor This! podcast feed wherever you get your podcasts.
This week's episode features Reuters correspondent Valerie Volcovici for a deep-dive on FERC's monumental interconnection ruling.
Watch a video version of the show on YouTube. Help make This Week in Cleantech the best it can be. Send feedback and story recommendations to ThisWeekInCleantech@tigercomm.us. And don't forget to leave a rating and review wherever you get your podcasts.
Join us every Friday for new episodes of This Week in Cleantech in the Factor This! podcast feed, and tune into new episodes of Factor This! every Monday.
This Week in Cleantech is hosted by Renewable Energy World senior content director John Engel and Tigercomm president Mike Casey. The show is produced by Brian Mendes with research support from Alex Petersen and Clare Quirin.
11 Aug 2023
This Week in Cleantech (8/11/23) — IRA anniversary, NIMBYs target offshore wind, and carbon removal cash
This Week in Cleantech is a new, weekly podcast covering the most impactful stories in cleantech and climate in 15 minutes or less. Produced by Renewable Energy World and Tigercomm, This Week in Cleantech will air every Friday in the Factor This! podcast feed wherever you get your podcasts.
This week’s episode features The Hill energy and environment reporter Rachel Frazin for a breakdown of the Inflation Reduction Act's impact after one year.
Help make This Week in Cleantech the best it can be. Send feedback and story recommendations to ThisWeekInCleantech@tigercomm.us. And don't forget to leave a rating and review wherever you get your podcasts.
Join us every Friday for new episodes of This Week in Cleantech in the Factor This! podcast feed, and tune into new episodes of Factor This! every Monday.
This Week in Cleantech is hosted by Renewable Energy World senior content director John Engel and Tigercomm president Mike Casey. The show is produced by Brian Mendes with research support from Alex Petersen and Clare Quirin.
21 Aug 2023
Perovskites: Solar power revolutionary or cleantech fad?
In the year since the Inflation Reduction Act supercharged clean energy manufacturing, rarely does a week go by without a new solar factory notice. Rich incentives have led to unprecedented investments.
But making solar panels is really hard. Not only does it require a lot of energy, but complicated global supply chains leave profit margins razor thin. And existing technology is bumping up against theoretical efficiency limits.
Industry heavyweights see perovskite solar cells as the heir apparent to the crystalline chemistries that currently dominate global supply. They're betting that perovskites will offer a domestically produced, higher-efficiency, flexible, and cheaper alternative.
The perovskite revolution is not without its detractors, though. Sizeable achievements are needed to take perovskites from labs to commercial viability.
Episode 57 of the Factor This! podcast features Joseph Berry, a Senior Research Fellow at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, and Paul Warley, the CEO of Ascent, a company working to commercialize perovskites for agriculture and space applications.
Perovskites could be the missing link as terawatt-scale solar and broad decarbonization are pursued. Or, they could end up on the proverbial ash heap of history. Which is it?
25 Aug 2023
This Week in Cleantech (8/25/23) — Solar tariffs, grid tech, and wind-powered cargo ships
This Week in Cleantech is a new, weekly podcast covering the most impactful stories in cleantech and climate in 15 minutes or less. Produced by Renewable Energy World and Tigercomm, This Week in Cleantech will air every Friday in the Factor This! podcast feed wherever you get your podcasts.
This week’s episode features Bloomberg energy and environmental policy reporter Jennifer Dlouhy for a breakdown of the Commerce Department's final ruling in the Auxin Solar tariff case.
Help make This Week in Cleantech the best it can be. Send feedback and story recommendations to ThisWeekInCleantech@tigercomm.us. And don't forget to leave a rating and review wherever you get your podcasts.
Join us every Friday for new episodes of This Week in Cleantech in the Factor This! podcast feed, and tune into new episodes of Factor This! every Monday.
This Week in Cleantech is hosted by Renewable Energy World senior content director John Engel and Tigercomm president Mike Casey. The show is produced by Brian Mendes with research support from Alex Petersen and Clare Quirin.
28 Aug 2023
How Utah—yes, Utah—found itself at the cutting edge of the energy transition
On a quest to find the cutting edge of the energy transition, Utah is unlikely to be the first stop. It may not even make the itinerary.
A Republican governor and supermajority legislature lead the state. Rocky Mountain Power, a historically conservative, vertically integrated utility, supplies most of its electricity (and the biggest source is coal).
But the Beehive State has laid out an improbable blueprint for clean energy and resilience. Here, more than 3,000 home batteries are intelligently managed to serve seven critical grid functions. Every single day. And, no, it's not a pilot.
Episode 58 of the Factor This! podcast features Blake Richetta, CEO of the American division of sonnen, a German battery manufacturer and provider of the virtual power plant software that makes Rocky Mountain Power's innovative program tick.
Richetta breaks down the nuances behind the ambiguously named VPP and shares the fascinating story of how unlikely collaborators helped launch one of the most sophisticated programs in the country.
01 Sep 2023
This Week in Cleantech (9/1/23) — Gulf offshore wind dud, Google’s solar AI, and Las Vegas Sphere goes green
This Week in Cleantech is a new, weekly podcast covering the most impactful stories in cleantech and climate in 15 minutes or less. Produced by Renewable Energy World and Tigercomm, This Week in Cleantech will air every Friday in the Factor This! podcast feed wherever you get your podcasts.
This week’s episode features Reuters correspondent Nichola Groom, who shares insights from a lackluster offshore wind auction in the Gulf of Mexico.
Help make This Week in Cleantech the best it can be. Send feedback and story recommendations to ThisWeekInCleantech@tigercomm.us. And don't forget to leave a rating and review wherever you get your podcasts.
Join us every Friday for new episodes of This Week in Cleantech in the Factor This! podcast feed, and tune into new episodes of Factor This! every Monday.
This Week in Cleantech is hosted by Renewable Energy World senior content director John Engel and Tigercomm president Mike Casey. The show is produced by Brian Mendes with research support from Alex Petersen and Clare Quirin.
04 Sep 2023
Interconnection and permitting get their moment. Is it enough?
Clogged interconnection queues and an inefficient permitting process have the attention of federal policymakers. At last. But even big recent wins leave much work to be done.
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission's Order 2023 is a positive first step, advocates say, despite its favoring utility interests. Siting guidelines for transmission and clean energy projects on federal land, meanwhile, remain cumbersome and require immediate overhaul to achieve sustainability goals.
Episode 59 of the Factor This! podcast features Luigi Resta, a clean energy industry veteran and president of rPlus Energies, a developer of utility-scale solar, wind, battery storage, and pumped hydro projects.
Resta breaks down the impact of FERC's interconnection reform plan and shares his vision for the policy battle still ahead.
11 Sep 2023
Green hydrogen is 'under attack,' Plug Power boss says
The Inflation Reduction Act launched a market for green hydrogen. But more than a year later the Treasury Department is still working out the details for critical tax incentives.
The delay has provided room for a multi-million-dollar battle to flare up between trade groups and environmentalists. And nothing less than a pillar to achieving the Biden administration's ambitious climate goals hangs in the balance.
Episode 60 of the Factor This! podcast features Andy Marsh, CEO of Plug Power, which wants to become the everything green hydrogen company, from manufacturing electrolyzers, to producing, storing, and transporting green hydrogen itself.
Marsh believes the U.S. could become a green hydrogen superpower. Or it could squander the opportunity of a lifetime.
This Week in Cleantech is a new, weekly podcast covering the most impactful stories in cleantech and climate in 15 minutes or less. Produced by Renewable Energy World and Tigercomm, This Week in Cleantech will air every Friday in the Factor This! podcast feed wherever you get your podcasts.
This week’s episode features MIT Tech Review climate and clean energy reporter Casey Crownhart, who shares insights around the Biden administration's $400 million loan to alternative battery maker Eos Energy.
Help make This Week in Cleantech the best it can be. Send feedback and story recommendations to ThisWeekInCleantech@tigercomm.us. And don't forget to leave a rating and review wherever you get your podcasts.
Join us every Friday for new episodes of This Week in Cleantech in the Factor This! podcast feed, and tune into new episodes of Factor This! every Monday.
This Week in Cleantech is hosted by Renewable Energy World senior content director John Engel and Tigercomm president Mike Casey. The show is produced by Brian Mendes with research support from Alex Petersen and Clare Quirin.
15 Sep 2023
This Week in Cleantech (9/15/23) — RE+, lithium discovery, and battery fires
This Week in Cleantech is a new, weekly podcast covering the most impactful stories in cleantech and climate in 15 minutes or less. Produced by Renewable Energy World and Tigercomm, This Week in Cleantech will air every Friday in the Factor This! podcast feed wherever you get your podcasts.
This week’s episode features Bloomberg energy reporter Mark Chediak who breaks down solar's growing pains and experiencing RE+ for the first time.
Help make This Week in Cleantech the best it can be. Send feedback and story recommendations to ThisWeekInCleantech@tigercomm.us. And don't forget to leave a rating and review wherever you get your podcasts.
Join us every Friday for new episodes of This Week in Cleantech in the Factor This! podcast feed, and tune into new episodes of Factor This! every Monday.
This Week in Cleantech is hosted by Renewable Energy World senior content director John Engel and Tigercomm president Mike Casey. The show is produced by Brian Mendes with research support from Alex Petersen and Clare Quirin.
22 Sep 2023
This Week in Cleantech (9/22/23) — EV forced labor ties, battery recycling, and carbon tariffs
This Week in Cleantech is a new, weekly podcast covering the most impactful stories in cleantech and climate in 15 minutes or less. Produced by Renewable Energy World and Tigercomm, This Week in Cleantech will air every Friday in the Factor This! podcast feed wherever you get your podcasts.
This week’s episode features Washington Post business reporter Evan Halper who shares insights from his reporting on forced labor concerns linked to electric vehicle supply chains.
Join us every Friday for new episodes of This Week in Cleantech in the Factor This! podcast feed, and tune into new episodes of Factor This! every Monday.
This Week in Cleantech is hosted by Renewable Energy World senior content director John Engel and Tigercomm president Mike Casey. The show is produced by Brian Mendes with research support from Alex Petersen and Clare Quirin.
25 Sep 2023
Digesting RE+: IRA pain, financial turmoil, and unmissable optimism
40,000? 50,000? More? Whatever the number, there were a lot of people at this year's RE+ in Las Vegas.
While the event's exhibits are a focal point of the event — especially for pros sourcing solar modules, inverters, and batteries — the real action takes place in the side rooms, restaurants, and bars.
Wiater offers a look into the headaches linked to Inflation Reduction Act implementation and financial market turmoil, as well as the unmissable sense of optimism that the industry will continue its meteoric growth.
That's all next on Factor This!
09 Oct 2023
The tax equity rule with ‘dire’ consequences for clean energy
Monetizing clean energy tax credits is already tough enough. Critical to clean energy deployment, tax equity financing is both inefficient and undersupplied. And it could get a lot worse.
A rule proposed by banking authorities could have big impacts on the few remaining tax equity financiers by upending how they weight project risk. Simply put, the rule would quadruple capital requirements for banks holding tax equity investments.
This Week in Cleantech is a new, weekly podcast covering the most impactful stories in cleantech and climate in 15 minutes or less. Produced by Renewable Energy World and Tigercomm, This Week in Cleantech will air every Friday in the Factor This! podcast feed wherever you get your podcasts.
This week’s episode features Wall Street climate finance reporter Amrith Ramkumar who breaks down a major fundraising deal for green hydrogen startup Electric Hydrogen.
Help make This Week in Cleantech the best it can be. Send feedback and story recommendations to ThisWeekInCleantech@tigercomm.us. And don't forget to leave a rating and review wherever you get your podcasts.
Join us every Friday for new episodes of This Week in Cleantech in the Factor This! podcast feed, and tune into new episodes of Factor This! every Monday.
This Week in Cleantech is hosted by Renewable Energy World senior content director John Engel and Tigercomm president Mike Casey. The show is produced by Brian Mendes with research support from Alex Petersen and Clare Quirin.
16 Oct 2023
100 years ago, industrials built the electric grid. Now they're leaving it
More than 100 years ago, the electric grid was built by, and for, large industrial companies. What started with on-site power supply evolved into a network of factories that would later extend to nearby homes.
But along the way, the focus, at least for utilities, changed. Expensive upgrades, prolonged timelines, and reliability shortfalls are now fueling a trend of industrials taking back their power.
Episode 63 of the Factor This! podcast features Jereme Kent, CEO of One Energy, a C&I developer and asset owner pouncing on the opportunity to serve the nation's 53,000 largest energy consumers.
Kent takes us inside the shifting dynamic between industrials and utilities and One Energy's $300 million push into public markets.
Help make This Week in Cleantech the best it can be. Send feedback and story recommendations to ThisWeekInCleantech@tigercomm.us. And don't forget to leave a rating and review wherever you get your podcasts.
This Week in Cleantech is hosted by Renewable Energy World senior content director John Engel and Tigercomm president Mike Casey. The show is produced by Brian Mendes with research support from Alex Petersen and Clare Quirin.
20 Oct 2023
This Week in Cleantech (10/20/23) — Hydrogen hubs, AZ's solar slash, and a record battery deal
Watch the full episode on YouTube Help make This Week in Cleantech the best it can be. Send feedback and story recommendations to ThisWeekInCleantech@tigercomm.us. And don’t forget to leave a rating and review wherever you get your podcasts.
Join us every Friday for new episodes of This Week in Cleantech in the Factor This! podcast feed, and tune into new episodes of Factor This! every Monday.
This Week in Cleantech is hosted by Renewable Energy World senior content director John Engel and Tigercomm president Mike Casey. The show is produced by Brian Mendes with research support from Alex Petersen and Clare Quirin.
Corporate demand for renewables, and the urgency of fighting climate change, fueled a decade of meteoric growth in clean energy.
But the facilitator of that surge — cheap capital — has all but disappeared. Inflation, high interest rates, and insufficient tax equity now call into question whether the growth trajectory can continue.
Byrne shares how CleanCapital is navigating a "new normal" in clean energy capital markets, and breaks down the impact of macroeconomic headwinds on the speed of the energy transition.
03 Nov 2023
This Week in Cleantech (11/3/23) — Historic grid investments, offshore wind's rough seas, and how clean are hydrogen hubs?
Watch the full episode on YouTube Help make This Week in Cleantech the best it can be. Send feedback and story recommendations to ThisWeekInCleantech@tigercomm.us. And don’t forget to leave a rating and review wherever you get your podcasts.
Join us every Friday for new episodes of This Week in Cleantech in the Factor This! podcast feed, and tune into new episodes of Factor This! every Monday.
This Week in Cleantech is hosted by Renewable Energy World senior content director John Engel and Tigercomm president Mike Casey. The show is produced by Brian Mendes with research support from Alex Petersen and Clare Quirin.
06 Nov 2023
AI in clean energy: This company wants you to be able to talk with your projects
What does AI really mean for clean energy? These days, the answer is increasingly hard to find.
The AI craze, fueled by the popularization of tools like ChatGPT, has produced a frothy layer of contenders and pretenders.
But under it all are applications that could have a big impact on the energy transition. And we need all the help we can get.
To make sense of what's what, Albert Hofeldt, the senior vice president of technology for solar and battery storage software provider Stem, joins Episode 65 of the Factor This! podcast.
Hofeldt has spent a career analyzing and developing AI tools, and he explains how to separate meaningful technology from marketing hype. He also shares why Stem thinks you should be able to talk to, and with, your projects, and what they're building to make that a possibility very soon.
George Hershman's term as chair of solar's leading trade group began with optimism and excitement.
He stepped into the role with the Solar Energy Industries Association, or SEIA, in January 2020, when the industry's meteoric rise was all but cemented. Today, we know the tumultuous stretch that quickly followed.
A pandemic, supply chain constraints, and a potentially existential tariff fight made even the "solar coaster" moniker appear ill-equipped to describe the moment. But his tenure also featured a legacy-defining legislative victory in the Inflation Reduction Act.
As he prepares to vacate his chairmanship at the end of the year, Hershman defended SEIA’s not-so-subtle spat with the Biden administration in the Auxin Solar tariff fight, shared the organization's own battle to stay afloat, and laid out his vision for the sector's renewed growth trajectory.
This week's Cleantecher of the Week is Karl Shinn, the Site GM at Soluna’s Project Dorothy. Karl has led Soluna’s operations team in the company’s flagship green data center, which is helping set the foundation for renewable energy’s future. Project Dorothy has already used and monetized over 4,000 GWh of green energy that would otherwise have been wasted through curtailment. Congratulations to Karl Shinn, our Cleantecher of the Week.
Help make This Week in Cleantech the best it can be. Send feedback and story recommendations to ThisWeekInCleantech@tigercomm.us. And don’t forget to leave a rating and review wherever you get your podcasts.
20 Nov 2023
Renewables are cleaning the grid. They're also messing it up
Solar, wind, and battery projects are displacing fossil fuel assets in an urgent push to address the threats of climate change.
But the race to decarbonize has created a new problem: In the absence of clear reliability standards, inverter-based resources are misbehaving and messing up the grid, despite repeated warnings.
Episode 67 of the Factor This! podcast features Ryan Quint, who oversees engineering and security integration for the North American Electric Reliability Corporation, which manages the bulk power system.
Quint shares why the sprint to deploy clean energy assets is leaving the grid vulnerable to reliability failures, and why the U.S. can't slow-walk a fix.
This Week in Cleantech is a new, weekly podcast covering the most impactful stories in cleantech and climate in 15 minutes or less.
This week’s episode features Washington Post climate reporter Shannon Osaka, who reports why car dealer skepticism could be one of the biggest threats to electric vehicle adoption.
This week's "Cleantecher of the Week" is Sarah Chatterjee, Director of Electrification Strategies and Programs at Electric Power Engineers. Send your nominations for "Cleantecher of the Week" to thisweekincleantech@tigercomm.us.
Help make This Week in Cleantech the best it can be. Send feedback and story recommendations to ThisWeekInCleantech@tigercomm.us. And don’t forget to leave a rating and review wherever you get your podcasts.
27 Nov 2023
Battery powerhouse Powin's new CEO eyes public markets
Jeff Waters is always looking for a challenge. He thrives on chasing growth and the rush that comes by solving hard problems. And a maturing market often signals the need for a fresh start.
So it may come as no surprise that Waters found his way to battery storage, and one of its darlings, Oregon-based Powin Energy. The company, with 3 GWh of assets in operation, and another 12 GWh in production, is steadily separating itself from a pack of would-be contenders.
Waters got his start in semiconductors and later led solar module manufacturer Maxeon in its spinoff from SunPower into public markets. Only a few months into his new role as Powin's CEO, he's already positioning the company to be "IPO ready" for the time when the right opportunity arises. And it could be soon.
On Episode 68 of the Factor This! podcast, Waters highlights opportunities ahead for battery storage, weighs in on concerns of market saturation, and discusses a potential IPO timeline.
I first met Dominion Energy CEO Bob Blue at a shipping terminal in Norfolk, Virginia.
We stood two years ago at the site that would one day support Dominion's buildout of the first commercial-scale offshore wind project in the U.S.
Since then, Siemens Gamesa, the turbine manufacturer plagued by a billion-dollar quality control flop, has pulled out of that project. And Dominion's Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind farm is one of only a few to survive (so far) the rough seas facing the nascent industry.
Offshore wind's future, while at times feeling bleak, got me thinking about the evolving role of investor-owned utilities in the energy transition. To be sure, utilities aren't seen as bastions of innovation, and are often criticized for slow-walking the fight against climate change. But maybe no other entity is equipped to shoulder the risk of incubating the raft of emerging technologies we desperately need for decarbonization.
Blue joined Episode 69 of the Factor This! podcast to break down Dominion's own ambitious carbon reduction plan, offshore wind's turbulent waters, and why the utility is leaning in on long-duration battery tech.
This Week in Cleantech is a new, weekly podcast covering the most impactful stories in cleantech and climate in 15 minutes or less.
This week’s episode features Associated Press green energy reporter Jennifer McDermott who breaks down a monumental achievement for enhanced geothermal energy.
This week’s “Cleantecher of the Week” is Lisa Jacobson, head of Business Council for Sustainable Energy. Send your nominations for "Cleantecher of the Week" to thisweekincleantech@tigercomm.us.
Help make This Week in Cleantech the best it can be. Send feedback and story recommendations to ThisWeekInCleantech@tigercomm.us. And don’t forget to leave a rating and review wherever you get your podcasts.
08 Dec 2023
This Week in Cleantech (12/8/23) — Hydrogen rules leak, solar job losses, battery prices plummet
This Week in Cleantech is a new, weekly podcast covering the most impactful stories in cleantech and climate in 15 minutes or less.
This week’s episode features Inside Climate News reporter Dan Gearino who breaks down plummeting prices for batteries, and why it's good news for the climate.
This week’s “Cleantecher of the Week” is Ryan Quint, Director of Engineering and Security Integration at NERC. You can hear more about Ryan in Episode 67 of Factor This!
Help make This Week in Cleantech the best it can be. Send feedback and story recommendations to rew@clarionevents.com. And don’t forget to leave a rating and review wherever you get your podcasts.
Battery storage is booming in the U.S., and for good reason. So much intermittent renewable energy on the grid demands flexible resources to fill gaps. And, short of reverting back to fossil fuels, batteries are the best answer to support the energy transition.
Investors have poured billions of dollars into battery storage development to cash in, largely based on speculative opportunities. But there's one problem: markets have been slow to evolve, leading to an uptick in consolidation and growing uncertainty about the path ahead.
A battery bubble may be forming. What happens if it pops?
Episode 70 of the Factor This! podcast answers that question by taking an intimate look at the two top battery markets in the U.S. — California and Texas — and their diverging trajectories.
Guests: Jason Burwen, VP of Policy & Strategy, GridStor Cody Hill, SVP, REV Renewables Renae Steichen, Director of Regulatory Affairs, REV Renewables
Help make This Week in Cleantech the best it can be. Send feedback and story recommendations to rew@clarionevents.com. And don’t forget to leave a rating and review wherever you get your podcasts.
When Jenny Chase speaks or, more frequently, tweets, the solar industry listens.
For nearly 20 years, Chase has chronicled the twists and turns of solar's meteoric growth as a market analyst for BloombergNEF. Her research is indispensable. Her annual prediction mega-threads are legendary.
This Week in Cleantech is a new, weekly podcast covering the most impactful stories in cleantech and climate in 15 minutes or less.
This week’s episode features reporter Renee Fox from WOSU Public Media, which launched a new podcast series chronicling the $61 million bribery scandal involving FirstEnergy and former Ohio House of Representatives Speaker Larry Householder.
Help make This Week in Cleantech the best it can be. Send feedback and story recommendations to rew@clarionevents.com. And don’t forget to leave a rating and review wherever you get your podcasts.
15 Jan 2024
We need a lot more transmission. Here's why it isn't getting built
Three decades ago, FERC recommended implementing independent entities to manage regional power markets and system planning.
The resulting seven RTOs and ISOs have largely been successful. But now experts believe they've become part of the problem, exacerbating the country's woefully inadequate supply of transmission, allegedly by pandering to utility interests.
Episode 72 of the Factor This! podcast features Ari Peskoe, an expert on transmission policy and the director of the Electricity Law Initiative at Harvard.
Peskoe shares his recent research on how regional grid operators have failed to evolve with the advent of clean energy technology, and why a reboot could be the key to realizing an electrified future.
This Week in Cleantech is a new, weekly podcast covering the most impactful stories in cleantech and climate in 15 minutes or less.
This week’s episode features Floodlight News investigative reporter Mario Alejandro Ariza, who reported on how utilities used money to influence civil rights leaders in the South.
This week’s “Cleantecher of the Week” is Scott Kubly, who last week shared an introspective post about the challenges and joys of launching, and leading, a cleantech company. Nominate your picks for "Cleantecher of the Week" by emailing the show.
Help make This Week in Cleantech the best it can be. Send feedback and story recommendations to rew@clarionevents.com. And don’t forget to leave a rating and review wherever you get your podcasts.
19 Jan 2024
This Week in Cleantech (1/19/24) — Texas grid survives, thwarting NIMBYs, and companies turn to 'greenhushing'
This Week in Cleantech is a new, weekly podcast covering the most impactful stories in cleantech and climate in 15 minutes or less. Produced by Renewable Energy World and Tigercomm, This Week in Cleantech will air every Friday in the Factor This! podcast feed wherever you get your podcasts.
This week’s episode features Grist reporter Kate Yoder, who breaks down a new trend of corporations "greenhushing," or limiting what they say about sustainability efforts.
Help make This Week in Cleantech the best it can be. Send feedback and story recommendations to rew@clarionevents.com. And don’t forget to leave a rating and review wherever you get your podcasts.
22 Jan 2024
Speed and scale: Thinking big with small-scale DERs
A common knock on distributed energy resources, or DERs, is that they don't scale.
DERs uniquely provide resilience and defer grid upgrades. But their bespoke nature leads to highly-customized and expensive projects compared to larger projects that offer more routine system designs.
But what if DERs could capitalize on the same efficiencies that fueled the rapid deployment of utility-scale solar and storage? Small-scale could go big… in a big way.
Episode 73 of the Factor This! podcast features Dr. Michael Stadler, who wrote much of the early research on microgrid design and optimization. He's now the chief technology officer for software startup Xendee, which aims to bring speed and efficiency to DER deployment.
By all accounts, community solar looks like an unstoppable force. One of the hottest clean energy sectors continues to flourish thanks to new markets and rich incentives.
But it's also getting tougher. First-mover states are saturating, fueling intense competition. And those rich incentives? They're increasingly tied to serving elusive low-income customers often skeptical of promises that are too good to be true.
Stewart maps out new markets on the way this year, breaks down the challenge of acquiring, and keeping, low-income customers, and shares the latest on the highly-anticipated reboot of California's troubled community solar program.
This Week in Cleantech is a new, weekly podcast covering the most impactful stories in cleantech and climate in 15 minutes or less. Produced by Renewable Energy World and Tigercomm, This Week in Cleantech will air every Friday in the Factor This! podcast feed wherever you get your podcasts.
This week's episode features Quillian Robinson, an associate fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, who wrote an op-ed in TIME about the true cost of China's clean energy dominance.
Help make This Week in Cleantech the best it can be. Send feedback and story recommendations to rew@clarionevents.com. And don’t forget to leave a rating and review wherever you get your podcasts.
02 Feb 2024
This Week in Cleantech (2/2/24) — Should we worry about rooftop solar?
This Week in Cleantech is a new, weekly podcast covering the most impactful stories in cleantech and climate in 15 minutes or less. Produced by Renewable Energy World and Tigercomm, This Week in Cleantech will air every Friday in the Factor This! podcast feed wherever you get your podcasts.
This week's episode features Associated Press climate change reporter Matthew Daly, who reported on President Biden's controversial pause on considering new LNG export terminals.
Help make This Week in Cleantech the best it can be. Send feedback and story recommendations to rew@clarionevents.com. And don’t forget to leave a rating and review wherever you get your podcasts.
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