Just Another Solar Podcast

Send us Fan Mail What are going to do with the Gigawatts of solar panels at the end-of-life? Is it an impending disaster or a great opportunity? Anthony Vippond from Lotus Energy joins us to discuss solar panel recycling, stewardship, ESG requirements, repurposing and the dodgy operators that should be left in the dust. Everyone in the solar industry needs to understand the problems and can be par...

Send us Fan Mail Solar stalwart Eddy May from NRG Solar joined us to discuss flexible export controls, using socials to promote business, collaboration and how batteries may be more important than PV solar. Eddy also talks about his career as an influential TikToker.  Just Another Solar Podcast is hosted by Luke Beattie, Karl Jensen & Nigel Morris. This is the sort of conversation that solar i...

Send us Fan Mail Lliam and Israel from Supply Partners and the upcoming Solar Coaster Podcast join us to discuss current issues including the CEC stepping down from installer accreditation, solar panel stewardship/recycling, as well as the case for a solar sales accreditation/qualification.  Just Another Solar Podcast is hosted by Luke Beattie, Karl Jensen & Nigel Morris. This is the sort of c...

Send us Fan Mail We had this excellent chat with Sophie Wright last year and it's been in the can ever since. Sophie is from Vortex Electrical and Geelong Electric Vehicle Chargers, and is also a founding member of AWISE (Australian Women in Solar Energy).  A lot of current issues are tackled, including solar sales accreditation, removing commissions from solar sales, EV charging, the work of...

Send us Fan Mail Luke, Karl & Nige chat about conferences, acquisitions, EV's, battery pricing, inflation's impact on the industry and more. Jump into the conversation.  Just Another Solar Podcast is hosted by Luke Beattie, Karl Jensen & Nigel Morris. This is the sort of conversation that solar industry professionals would have at the pub. If anything sounds like financial, busin...

Send us Fan Mail We're back after an extended break, joined by solar industry legend Nigel Morris.  There's a lot to catch up on and we cover a range of topics including NETCC, ancient GSD devices, Chat GPT, EV Charging and solar practices that'll have you picking up rubbish on the side of a highway.  Just Another Solar Podcast is hosted by Luke Beattie & Karl Jensen. This is th...

Send us Fan Mail Peter Leeson from Volt Solar Tile and Leeson Group joined us to talk about his journey from solar installer, to solar farm developer, to manufacturer of an innovative roof tile. There's a heap of interesting conversation on all of the above and more in this episode. https://www.volt-tile.com/ https://www.leesongroup.com.au/ Just Another Solar Podcast is hosted by Luke Beattie...

Send us Fan Mail We wanted to discuss EV chargers including the tech, as well as the impact within embedded networks and on the grid. It made sense to get in Steve Richards from Bright Connect and Shane Arnold from Fronius Australia to bring their expertise.  There are enormous opportunities in this space for solar businesses, so we hope you get something out of it.  https://www.brightconnect.com....

Send us Fan Mail Had a great chat with Durmus Yildiz, the MD of Baywa RE in Australia, about his journey in solar and also relevant topics that came up along the way.  Karl was out of range so didn't get to drop in for our 1 year anniversary but we'll get to make up for that up at All Energy! Just Another Solar Podcast is hosted by Luke Beattie and Karl Jensen. This is the sort of conver...

Send us Fan Mail Rohan McGlew has been a champion for solar in Australia and joined us to talk about the industry, trends, and life... Give to the PV  Chain Gang here: https://www.cancer200.org.au/fundraisers/pv-chain-gang Just Another Solar Podcast is hosted by Luke Beattie and Karl Jensen. This is the sort of conversation that solar industry professionals would have at the pub. If anything sound...

Send us Fan Mail Kathleen Ryan has been around the solar industry since the mid-90's, when she was simultaneously working with the greatest researchers in solar panels, raising babies and finding opportunities to dance on tables. Everyone who's encountered Kathleen during her decades in the industry would know that she's an absolute livewire who puts people first. We really enjoyed...

Send us Fan Mail Daniel Bleakley is the founder of the viral "Coal Miners Driving Teslas" Youtube channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCy0JcHf7dSYHlsnUNDgmTww He's also an activist, engineer and EV enthusiast, which made him an excellent guest for our latest episode.  Just Another Solar Podcast is hosted by Luke Beattie and Karl Jensen. This is the sort of conversation that sol...

Send us Fan Mail In the latest episode, we were joined by solar data guru Warwick Johnston from Sunwiz.  We learnt how the Sunwiz data is collected and got answers to some of the questions we've had e.g. why don't all solar companies show up in the insights report.  Currently, 18% of solar installations in Australia include storage and it's still trending upwards - how can solar bus...

Send us Fan Mail Kosta Bourandanis is our latest guest and we delved into current industry issues. Kosta is a co-founder of the Solar Cutters and is also well-travelled, so we had to discuss the world of solar junkets and building business relationships, along with other relevant topics. Just Another Solar Podcast is hosted by Luke Beattie and Karl Jensen. This is the sort of conversation that sol...

Send us Fan Mail We caught up with Thomas Bywater from Jinko Solar to talk about all things solar panels. Watt-classes and pricing are constantly changing so we talked about what to expect in the future (spoiler alert: panels are going up!). We also talked about the potential of local manufacturing, warranty shenanigans and other current issues in the Australian solar industry. Just Another Solar...

Send us Fan Mail John Grimes, the CEO of the Smart Energy Council, joins us to work through some of the biggest opportunities and hurdles that are facing the solar industry in Australia. The current energy crisis and rapid transition to renewables presents an opportunity but also a challenge to meet the 3 x volume increase by 2030 that the new Government targets call for. Also, what does it look l...

Send us Fan Mail Jack "Longy" Long, co-founder of the Solar Cutters, joins us to discuss how they built a grass-roots movement that includes some of the best in the Aussie industry. Longy's personal story about the journey to build one of the most influential solar movements is really interesting, as are some of the tangents we take along the way.  Just Another Solar Podcast is host...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode, we give a brief update on the inverter compliance issue and other market news for installers and solar companies. With a national energy crisis and costs spiking upwards, it was the perfect time to have Ben Hutt from Evergen as a guest (from 10:21). We discussed Virtual Power Plants, demand response, market-based incentives and how to engage customers to determine...

Send us Fan Mail Brendan "Knackers" Laidlaw, the Head Trainer at Energy Training Group, joins us to discuss the industry's biggest issues. We cover the impact of the the new standards on inverters (the 1.25 x calculation), how to interpret it and also how to navigate around it. That leads us into similar issues with DCU's (i.e. optimizers), micros, earthing, cable, string fusin...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode, we joined Nigel Morris to give a wrap of the Smart Energy Conference in Sydney. It's a cross-over between Just Another Solar Podcast and the Great Solar Business podcast. We discuss some of the excellent and not-so-great elements of the conference. Make sure you check out Great Solar Business: https://open.spotify.com/show/4U6Dyw19vTD6wIaoqWG3yW?si=WLZ1-hiASm...

Send us Fan Mail Sean Guzzi from Clenergy Australia joins us to discuss how Clenergy have successfully used market engagement to built grassroots support (5:19). He also breaks the news of the incoming changes to wind regions (14:03) and roof zone definitions (21:00) when the new AS1170.2 come into effect in September. This includes a "climate change multiplier" (22:55). These will all i...

Send us Fan Mail Lily Pejkic joins us for the latest episode to discuss the current challenges from an installer's and business owner's point-of-view.  Lily shares about some of the stereotypes that she's come across as a female tradie,  from both industry and customers (some are hilarious). On-site safety (including mental health) are discussed, as well as the need to find a balanc...

Send us Fan Mail James Taylor joins us to discuss implementing the new AS5033 standards on commercial installs, the impact of price increases on fixed contracts and finding a manageable work/life balance.   The price of aluminum has increased 66% year-to-date, which will impact on component pricing. Fuel prices are also starting to bite (pre-excise cut). If you're in Australian solar industry...

Send us Fan Mail We're joined by Dougal Gillman to discuss the impact of the Ukraine war and floods on our industry. This includes forecasts on panel pricing and the total installs by GW in Australia for 2022. We also cover: Why would distributors sell panels below cost? How much additional energy do we need to take petrol cars off the road? Why we'll see flying Tesla's before seque...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode we're joined by Andy McCarthy, the CEO of RACV Solar and founder of Gippsland Solar. If you're in the Australian solar industry then Andy probably doesn't need any further introduction. Karl wasn't able to join us as he was travelling around country Victoria, so the excellent Dougal Gillman stepped in as co-host. Andy discusses the journey from...