Factor This

Tell us what you think of the show! 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 caugh...

Tell us what you think of the show! Bonus episode! 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 privil...

Tell us what you think of the show! 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 th...

Tell us what you think of the show! 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...

Tell us what you think of the show! 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...

Tell us what you think of the show! There’s a press release almost every week. 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 int...

Tell us what you think of the show! It's time that we talk about energy storage. 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 d...

Tell us what you think of the show! 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 dist...

Tell us what you think of the show! 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...

Tell us what you think of the show! 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...

Tell us what you think of the show! 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 th...

Tell us what you think of the show! 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 gr...

Tell us what you think of the show! 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 w...

Tell us what you think of the show! 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 o...

Tell us what you think of the show! 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 proje...

Tell us what you think of the show! 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...

Tell us what you think of the show! 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.  On Episode 25 of the Factor This! podcast , three senior female executives weigh in on how to effectiv...

Tell us what you think of the show! 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 und...

Tell us what you think of the show! 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...

Tell us what you think of the show! 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...

Tell us what you think of the show! 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...

Tell us what you think of the show! 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, for...

Tell us what you think of the show! 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...

Tell us what you think of the show! 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 o...

Tell us what you think of the show! 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, chron...