Clean Power Hour

On the weekly clean power news and views, we bring you the latest cleantech and clean energy news,  thought leaders, and innovators. Our motto is ‘Speeding the Energy Transition!’ This week John Weaver and I discuss, 1. Silicon cost per watt down 96% over the last two decades: Since 2004, the volume of polysilicon per watt is down by 87%, and the inflation adjusted price for polysilicon is also do...

Welcome to the Clean Power Hour! Today we are joined by Alexis Pascaris, Founder and CEO of Agrisolar Consulting, a company on a mission to promote dual-use solar and agrivoltaics.  Alexis has a Master of Science degree in Environmental & Energy Policy and a B.S. in Environmental Studies & Sustainability. She joins Tim Montague to talk about integrating solar PV with Agriculture. She discu...

On the weekly clean power news and views, we bring you the latest cleantech and clean energy news,  thought leaders, and innovators. Our motto is ‘Speeding the Energy Transition!’ This week John Weaver and I discuss, 1. Form Energy has a battery facility for construction coming to WV 2. Guy tried to kill his family by driving his Tesla over a 250-foot cliff - 100% lived 3. USPS to deploy 66,000 EV...

Welcome to the Clean Power Hour! On today's show, we are joined by Yaron Ben-Nun, Founder and Chief Technology Officer for Nostromo Energy. Yaron shares his inspiring story of how he went from a jet fighter and a film director to founding Nostromo which turns commercial building cooling systems from grid burdens into clean, safe, and cost-effective energy storage assets. a renewable energy re...

Welcome to Clean Power Hour! Today we have a very special guest – James McWalter, CEO & Founder of Paces AI.  James shares his vision for empowering green infrastructure development with AI-driven software. Paces is a software platform that aims to help solar, wind, and storage project developers manage their site selection more efficiently. James and host Tim Montague discuss how the Paces pl...

On this episode of the Clean Power Hour join Kate Collardson of Solar Recycle to learn how solar panel recycling can help move us towards a more circular economy. Solar Recycle is a free, online platform that connects solar professionals, recyclers, and waste management companies to promote the safe, responsible, and efficient recycling of solar panels. Through Kate's story, you'll learn...

On the weekly clean power news and views, we bring you the latest cleantech and clean energy news,  thought leaders, and innovators. Our motto is ‘Speeding the Energy Transition!’ This week John Weaver and I discuss, 1. 10 GW of solar wafer factory plans announced - no site yet, the company says they raised $26 million recently - CubicPV 2. Solar module part fell 10% over the last week - that’s a...

Nobody likes to talk about rooftop solar fires but solar safety is vital for the growth of our industry. In fact, the risk of an electrical fire from your solar array is very small - certainly a fraction of a percent. But more and better safety is always good which is why we are excited to bring you Jing Tian, Chief Growth Officer for Tigo Energy on today’s show. Rapid shutdown really came into fo...

On the weekly clean power news and views, we bring you the latest cleantech and clean energy news,  thought leaders, and innovators. Our motto is ‘Speeding the Energy Transition!’ This week John Weaver and I discuss, 1. New EV wireless charging technique 2. Preliminary tariff ruling is for tariffs - but there are a lot of ways to make this not hurt the market too much 3. New article talking about...

On the weekly clean power news and views, we bring you the latest cleantech and clean energy news,  thought leaders, and innovators. Our motto is ‘Speeding the Energy Transition!’ This week John Weaver and I discuss, 1. Pepsi getting the first of their original order delivered (maybe today?) Tesla Semi even today - musk suggests 50,000 units/year 2. Volvo launches first semi-made with fossil-free...

My guest today is the Chief of Minority Business and Workforce (division office of economic impact and diversity) at the US DOE, Shalaya Morissette. Prior to her role at the DOE Shalaya was the Senior Technical Inspector at the Gas Pipeline Safety group for National Grid USA. She holds a Bachelor's degree in Business Administration and a Master's in Education from Cambridge College and i...

Behind the meter, the wind has some vexing characteristics that until now have kept it largely off the playing field for large facility operators. One Energy has seemingly cracked the code by offering a bespoke, white-glove approach. Their 1.5 MW turbines produce up to 5 million kWh per year of on-site Clean energy (note the high capacity factor). They install, own, and operate turbines and sell a...

In this episode, I was interviewed by James McWalter, CEO of Paces AI and host of the Carbotnic Podcast where he has conversations with experts in cleantech. We discuss how I got into the solar industry, why I am a mission-driven entrepreneur and solar developer, how you too could get into the solar industry, and much more.  My solar roots go back to my childhood in Albuquerque, New Mexico where I...

Long-term energy storage is vital for higher penetration of wind and solar that will clean the grid. Luckily, we have a variety of technologies at our fingertips that just need to be deployed for large-scale testing. Over the next decade, the global market potential for long-duration grid storage is expected to grow as much as 140+ gigawatts (GW).  Hydrostar uses patented Advanced Compressed Air E...

On the weekly clean power news and views, we bring you the latest cleantech and clean energy news,  thought leaders, and innovators. Our motto is ‘Speeding the Energy Transition!’ This week John Weaver and I discuss, 1. Resi Solar is ‘Crossing the Chasm’ in the US - we need to solve the problem of the soft cost according to Ryan Kennedy at PV Mag 2. High electricity rates push homeowners to consid...

Decarbonizing thermal heat for industrial and grid applications is a herculean and important task. A handful of companies are tackling this including our guest today Brenmiller Energy. Avi Brenmiller, his two sons Nir Brenmiller and Doron Brenmiller and a team of energy and engineering experts are bringing sustainable thermal energy storage solutions to heavy industry and peaker power plant applic...

When you start something big like the clean energy transition, you have to think big and take risks. If you're an energy professional, want to become one, or want to understand how ripples turn into tsunamis, you'll enjoy today's guest, Tom Weirich. Tom is the author of "We Took the Risk," a book that chronicles the pioneers who made wind, solar, and energy storage happen...

Our guest today is Kiya Segni, the founder and CEO of Aduu Solar Engineering. Aduu solar provides exceptional solar construction permit plansets within a fast turnaround and quality workmanship.  Contact Kiya at www.aduusolar.com for a free consultation. Enter "BHON1ZA" in the "Have a coupon?" field to get 25% off your first order! We're tripling the solar industry in the...

Three-phase string inverters are the workhorses of distributed solar projects. CPS America is the market-leading manufacturer of commercial and utility string inverters with over 10,000 operating sites in North America. Their 125 kW product is extremely popular in community solar and now they are launching 250 and 275 kW products ideal for 5 to 150 MW projects. CPS America is the maker of North Am...

On the weekly clean power news and views, we bring you the latest cleantech and clean energy news,  thought leaders, and innovators. Our motto is ‘Speeding the Energy Transition!’ This week John Weaver and I discuss, 1. The Two Falcon Heavy rockets that landed within moments of each other this week.  2. Sunnova's plan seeking to develop ‘electricity micro-utilities’ in California for 500-2,00...

Our guest today is Anthony Star, the former Director of the Illinois Power Agency (IPA). The IPA is the authority that oversees renewable energy implementation in Illinois. It was established in 2007 by Public Act 95-0481. In 2017, they established the Illinois Solar program as mandated by the Future Energy Jobs Act (FEJA). The Illinois solar program has risen from 80 MW in 2017 to over 1.5 GW of...

On the weekly clean power news and views, we bring you the latest cleantech and clean energy news,  thought leaders, and innovators. Our motto is ‘Speeding the Energy Transition!’  This week we were joined by Dave Rosenberg, vice president of sales and business development at Heliene solar. He joined John Weaver and me to discuss the following; 1. What’s the impact of the Inflation Reduction Act o...

What if you could measure the full benefits of your wind, solar, and battery storage projects and see beyond C02 emissions reductions? When you take into account the additional benefits of decarbonizing the economy and count human health and wellbeing, ecosystem services, and biodiversity impacts, you see much greater value. Now project developers, asset owners, and off-takers can add these dimens...

The growth of the solar industry depends on contractors, EPCs, and developers who are bringing residential and commercial solar to scale across the US. GRNE Solar is one such solar EPC, founded in Chicago and recently acquired by financial services company Nelnet.  On this episode of the Clean Power Hour, we bring you Eric Peterman the founder and CEO of GRNE - a residential and commercial EPC wor...

On the weekly clean power news and views, we bring you the latest cleantech and clean energy news,  thought leaders, and innovators. Our motto is ‘Speeding the Energy Transition!’ This week we discuss, 1. Greece says its entire electrical grid ran on 100% renewables for the first time 2. South Australia was 100% solar powered from 10 am to 4 pm - 90% via rooftop solar 3. New BloombergNEF analysis...