Scaling Clean

One comment from my latest Scaling Clean guest, Yann Brandt, really stuck with me. He said that as a CEO, by the time an idea reached his desk, it had been filtered, softened, and stripped of what made it interesting. That's why he wants more people (especially younger professionals) to speak up, ask questions, and not be afraid to bring new ideas to the table. After nearly two decades across...

Imagine your EV sitting in the driveway overnight - not just charging, but powering your home, supporting the grid, and earning money while you sleep. That's not a distant vision. It's what Marco Krapels, Chief Marketing Officer at Enphase Energy, says is coming soon.  Marco is my latest guest on Scaling Clean. He's spent decades shaping the clean energy industry, from early EV chargin...

Most clean energy companies fit into a category: developer, EPC, IPP. My latest Scaling Clean guest, Daniel Dus, has spent his career working across all of them. Daniel is the CEO of Cleantech Industry Resources and co-founder of one of our industry’s famous social gatherings: Solar Fight Night. CIR is an on-demand operating system for clean energy project delivery, providing service to developers...

A reminder for our developer friends: The loudest voice in the community isn’t the only voice in the community. It’s easy to mistake social media comments, public hearings, or a handful of vocal opponents as the full picture. But that’s not reality. My latest Scaling Clean guest, Emilie Flanagan, CEO of Carson Power, shared a perspective that cuts through that noise, especially for developers navi...

Community opposition isn’t constant. It's dynamic. What communities believe, fear, or support can shift at a moment’s notice. My latest Scaling Clean guest, Eli Andrews, CEO and Co-Founder of civicIQ, is building a new model for community engagement that treats public sentiment as something to listen to, measure, and respond to over time. civicIQ helps developers gauge community sentiment, cou...

Battery storage capacity has grown +5x in the U.S. since 2021. But as storage scales, so does the complexity around controls, labor, and integration.  My latest Scaling Clean guest, Chris Finley, Chief Commercial Officer at TruGrid, has spent more than 20 years building utility-scale solar and storage projects across 16 countries, totaling over 8 GW of deployed capacity. At TruGrid, he helps devel...

Abigail Hopper, CEO of Solar Energy Industries Association, has steered our sector through turbulent waters and overseen tremendous growth. That includes a 7-fold expansion in U.S. solar from 36 GW to 255 GW. On January 30, Abby will step down as CEO, marking the end of a remarkable 9-year tenure. As a female executive, Abby has been a particularly inspiring leader for me. I was struck by her sens...

With the interconnection queue topping 2.6 terawatts of proposed generation and storage, we need faster, smarter ways to build transmission. My latest Scaling Clean guest,  Jan Andersen, CEO and founder of Jubilee Transmission, is doing exactly that. What stood out most in our conversation was Jan’s take on a clean energy blind spot: Opposition is playing to win while we’re playing to be right. He...

I recently chatted with Gareth Brown, CEO and co-founder of Clir Renewables, for Scaling Clean. Gareth's company built a risk intelligence platform that helps investors manage massive wind, solar, and storage portfolios — over 200 GW of data! What I loved most was Gareth's point on go-to-market strategy. You could have the world's best technology, but if you don't nail a repeatable...

On the latest episode of Scaling Clean, I sat down with a leader who built his career in oil and gas with companies like Schlumberger and Halliburton. Akshay Sagar is now the CEO of the world’s largest solar O&M provider, NovaSource Power, managing more than 30 GW of solar and storage projects worldwide. I love Akshay’s advice about focusing on people and not being intimidated when people arou...

On the latest episode of Scaling Clean, I got to interview a man who’s navigated not one, but two successful exits. Jacob Susman is the Senior VP of Development at top-tier project development company Electric Hydrogen, which recently acquired his green hydrogen company, Ambient Fuels. Jacob unpacked what it takes to build, grow, and successfully sell a clean energy company. Here are three big tak...

My latest Scaling Clean guest is Alon Mashkovich, the CEO of enSights, an AI profitability software that helps solar C&I owners capture missing revenue. Alon saw that 70% of solar projects were missing production forecasts. Now, the enSights software helps 6,000+ global clean energy assets stay profitable by getting to the root cause of project failures.   Here are Alon’s big three points:  🔹...

Thomas Jam Pedersen is my latest Scaling Clean podcast guest. Thomas Jam Pedersen, the CEO of Danish startup Copenhagen Atomics, is developing compact molten salt reactors fueled by recycled nuclear waste and thorium for greater efficiency and scalability. What’s interesting about this tech is its potential to address long-term radioactive waste, reducing storage time requirements from 100,000 yea...

This episode of Scaling Clean is a first on two fronts. We’ve interviewed not one, but two guests, and captured it all on video. I sat down with Nextracker founder and CEO Dan Shugar and Doral Renewables CEO Nick Cohen to hear the story behind Mammoth Solar, America’s largest solar project, and how it’s fueling prosperity in the heart of Indiana. The project’s name comes from a woolly mammoth whos...

My latest Scaling Clean guest is Blake Nixon, CEO of Geronimo Power, formerly known as National Grid Renewables. Blake discusses Geronimo’s rebrand and what it signals for the company’s future. He also shares the inspiring story of his mentor, Geronimo Power founder, Noel Rahn. A few more standout moments from our conversation: 1️⃣  Be a risk taker. It doesn't get easier to take risks as you g...

My guest on the latest episode of Scaling Clean , Robert Laubach, knows what it’s like to weather industry headwinds. In his words: “We’ve gotten a lot of solar whiplash over the years. But you just keep going. You keep building.” Robert is the CEO of MBL Energy, a California-based solar EPC contractor that has designed and installed over 800 megawatts of commercial and industrial solar energy pro...

Cleantechers – My latest Scaling Clean episode is with a familiar guest: data center developer John Belizaire, the CEO of Soluna Computing. Because we’ve already talked to John about hiring and firing, I had more time to explore a topic near and dear to my heart: generating attention.   A committed pro himself, John’s advice on how to build profile was excellent. Belizaire made three points I whol...

Our most recent guest brings two decades of electrical industry experience. Brandon Moss is the CEO of Shoals Technologies Group, one of the major players in our industry. Brandon's leadership journey includes roles at Southwire Company, Lutron Electronics, and Stanley Black & Decker. Shoals Technologies Group is the leading provider of electrical balance of systems, or eBOS — electrical s...

#Cleantechers -  After more than 40 interviews with some of the clean economy’s most thoughtful leaders, I’ve recorded my last episode as host of the Scaling Clean podcast. Since launching the show in 2021, I’ve had the privilege of learning from – and sharing the wisdom of – executives driving the clean energy transition. Their insights have made me a better leader and hopefully offered our audie...

#Cleantechers - The latest episode of Scaling Clean will be my last hosting the show, because someone else at Tigercomm will be taking over the microphone. I get to end my tenure in the host chair with a guest who’s spent a lot of time growing companies. Mark Lewis is a veteran of some small, obscure companies you've never heard of, such as @Credit Suisse and @General Electric. From those, he...

#Cleantechers – My most recent Scaling Clean guest is a rare, career-long cleantecher. Zoe Gamble is a lawyer-turned-CEO who now serves as President of CleanChoice Energy, founded by my long-time buddy, Tom Matzzie. But this isn’t her first time leading a company. Zoe already served as CEO of Pine Gate Renewables, where she grew the company from 8 to 86 employees in just two years. I think you’ll...

Cleantechers -  We have had guests on Scaling Clean with a lot of different backgrounds, but I think my most recent guest is the first who combines journalism, corporate communications, legal, renewable energy development, and an operations background on her rise to be the CEO of Indianapolis-based Geneex Solar. If we've ever had a Renaissance CEO on the show, Emily Williams is it.  Here are h...

Cleantechers -  My most recent Scaling Clean guest started in software and then migrated to digital marketing. But for the last 15 years, she's helped lead GroundWork Renewables, a California-based company offering on-site solar meteorological stations for utility-scale power developers, operators and owners. I had the pleasure of meeting Ann last year at RE+, and within five minutes of talkin...

#Cleantechers -  On the show, we've had leaders with a variety of backgrounds. Some, like my guest in this episode, have come from investment and finance. But few have achieved so much so quickly in their careers as Jo-Jo Hubbard. This McKinsey veteran got her start in a fintech startup, then moved into renewable energy finance. From there, she helped found the UK-based Electron, a SaaS company, o...

#Cleantechers -  My most recent Scaling Clean guest has a compelling background. You might say he’s not afraid to get his hands dirty.  Russ Bates grew up in the southern Indiana coal fields, starting his career as a union electrician, then moving up the ladder to foreman, and eventually VP. At the 26-year mark, he moved into company ownership, and he's now the founder of the Cleveland-area NX...