Nico Johnson

SunCast

Science EN ↓ 956 episodes

Nico Johnson takes you into conversations with those at the forefront of Renewable Energy. SunCast gives an inside look into what is happening in renewable energy. From conversations with the biggest Solar Panel manufacturers in the world to the small startups creating the future of renewable energy, such as carbon capture and battery technology breakthroughs. SunCast is dedicated to providing the knowledge, research, tools and expert guidance you need to understand, grow and be ahead of the curve in the fastest-growing markets in the world. Featuring over 800 conversations, Nico has interview...

Author

Nico Johnson

Episodes

081 (TT) Josh Weiner, Energy Storage Cost Essential Questions 23.04.2018 26:34

Welcome to Episode 81 of Suncast! Did you check out the last Suncast episode? It's with James Ellsmoor who was on Forbes 30 Under 30 for Energy!  Listen to it here! On this Tactical Tuesday, I speak with Josh Weiner of SepiSolar. Josh Weiner is the CEO/Founder of SepiSolar, a SF Bay Area engineering services company that has taken a long view on the integration of storage with solar. He...

080 James Ellsmoor, Forbes 30 Under 30 & Caribbean Solar Initiatives 19.04.2018 34:51

Welcome to Episode 80 of Suncast! Did you check out the last Suncast episode? It's with my friend and mentor, Jason Zook!  Listen to it here! Today on Suncast, you'll meet James Ellsmoor. James is a social entrepreneur with expertise in sustainable innovation and entrepreneurship in rural, remote and island regions. He's on the 2017 Forbes 30 under 30 list for Energy and has been le...

Selling Your Last Name 3 Times, Making $1M from Wearing T-Shirts? Jason Zook is Back! (Ep 079) 12.04.2018 43:23

Welcome to Episode 79 of Suncast! Did you check out the last Suncast episode? It's Part 2 of my conversation with Paul Grana!  Listen to it here! Today on SunCast, you'll meet my friend and mentor, Jason Zook. Jason might be the best marketer, heck, best sales guy I’ve ever met. He made over $1Million doing something you and I do every day – putting on a t-shirt.  He sold his last name.....

Helioscope's Paul Grana on growth, metrics and inflection points - Part 2 (Ep 078) 05.04.2018 25:29

Welcome to Episode 78 of Suncast! Did you check out the last Suncast episode? It's Part 1 of this conversation with Paul Grana!  Listen to it here! This week we are rounding out our discussion with Paul Grana, co-founder of the much-loved solar design software, Helioscope.  If you missed last week's episode, then you might consider going back to catch it next, as we go over a lot of the...

How Helioscope Stole AutoCADs Foothold in Solar (Ep 077) 29.03.2018 51:49

Welcome to Episode 77 of Suncast! Did you check out the last Suncast episode? It's a Tactical Tuesday with Scott Sullivan!  Listen to it here! In this episode I had the honor to sit down with one of my good friends in the solar biz who, along with his partner, has built arguably the most recognizeable software in the solar industry, especially if you've been doing commercial solar for any per...

TT: LinkedIn Ninja Skills from a Master (Ep 076) 27.03.2018 33:45

Welcome to Episode 76 of Suncast! Did you check out my full interview with Scott Sullivan? Listen to it here!  As I mentioned in that episode, Scott is a pro who truly understands that your network is your net worth. He has a reach of over 60K in his LinkedIn network alone. As promised I got Scott to do a deep-dive with me on this networking, career and even brand-building tool.  Tu...

Separating the Signal from the Noise in Recruiting with Chris Turzo (Ep 075) 22.03.2018 46:52

Welcome to Episode 75 of Suncast! Did you check out the last Suncast episode? It's with Scott Sullivan!  Listen to it here! While networking is a natural part of the career advancement process, there is another key element that is often overlooked - recruitment. Today, we're going to have a closer look at the process of building your ideal team or career with the help of one of the best recru...

Memory tricks for Networking & Life with Scott Sullivan (Ep 074) 16.03.2018 56:17

Welcome to Episode 74 of Suncast! Did you check out the last Suncast episode? It's with Adam Gerza of Energy Toolbase.  Listen to it here! Today on SunCast, I'm taking a deep dive into the power of your network with one of the most connected people in the solar business,  Scott Sullivan has built a career on leveraging the value of his connections and honing the skills of sales and relat...

A Sales Platform for Solar and Energy Storage projects (Ep 073) 08.03.2018 44:22

Welcome to Episode 73 of Suncast! Did you check out the last Suncast episode? It's all about Blockchain, Electrification of the Vehicle Industry, Distributed Storage & A Nationwide Carbon Tax.  Listen to it here! Today's guest, Adam Gerza, is the COO of the fast-growing SAAS company, Energy Toolbase, which I know many of my listeners use. Today I get the chance to look under the hood...

Blockchain, Electrification of the Vehicle Industry, Distributed Storage & A Nationwide Carbon Tax (Ep 072) 01.03.2018 16:24

  Welcome to Episode 72 of Suncast! Did you check out Tuesday's episode yet with Mike Grunow of Vizn Energy? Listen to it here! You have told me over & over again that you love the Hot or Hype segment of the show, so we took some time to compile some of the more interesting answers to what I consider some of the more interesting questions. Today, I decided to focus on just 4 question...

TT: Power vs Energy, the battleground for storage (Ep 071) 27.02.2018 20:50

Welcome to Episode 71 of SunCast!  I hope you enjoyed the last episode with  Brian Patterson of Emerge Alliance. In  Episode 59 , Mike Grunow and I discussed an awful lot of excellent topics around the ins and outs of developing and even selling energy storage products. But it was his answer to one question in particular that set the stage for this Tactical Tuesday. Mike is the VP o...

Creating the Enernet, Microgrids, DC Power - Brian Patterson of Emerge Alliance (Ep 070) 16.02.2018 20:25

  Welcome to Episode 70 of SunCast!  I hope you enjoyed the last episode with  James Pagonis, the Head of Product at PowerHub. I met Brian at SPI 2017 last year after asking around a bit about the microgrid they had built to power an entire section of this enormous tradeshow.  Brian gave me a clinic on the history of microgrids, and if you're at all interested in the evolution...

Technology is Consistent, People Aren't. with James Pagonis of PowerHub (Ep 069) 08.02.2018 26:38

Welcome to Episode 69 of SunCast!  I hope you enjoyed the last episode with  Farid Dibachi, the Cofounder & CEO of JLM Energy. On today's episode, I sit down with James Pagonis, the Head of Product at PowerHub. James is one of the early drivers behind the development and launch of PowerHub: a simple, cloud-based Asset Management solution designed to help renewable energy asset o...

Farid Dibachi, Rooftop energy storage ready for prime-time (Ep 068) 06.02.2018 12:31

Welcome to Episode 68 of SunCast!  I hope you enjoyed my last episode with  Chris Thompson, the Principal at Ipsum Power on the key differences between the solar and storage markets. Today is another Tactical Tuesday episode! This week we have Farid Dibachi, the Cofounder & CEO of JLM Energy. I became aware of JLM at last year's SPI where I was on a mission to better unders...

The Sun is Setting on Gas Peaker Plants (Ep 067) 02.02.2018 56:47

Welcome to Episode 67 of SunCast!  I hope you enjoyed my last episode with  Mark McLanahan where we discussed Asset Management + O&M. Today on SunCast, we continue our Solar + Storage series with an industry executive, Chris Thompson, who's spent quite a bit of time running power conditioning companies - names you've heard of like Xantrex, AE, First Solar and Eaton. Tune in...

Best practices from the No.1 O&M service provider in N. America (Ep 066) 30.01.2018 23:56

Welcome to Episode 66 of SunCast!  I hope you enjoyed my last episode with Etienne Lecompte where we discussed the use of software to maximize solar assets. Thanks for joining me today for a new Suncast Soundbyte  a drop of sunlight to get you through the workweek. On today's episode of SunCast, we're going to continue the theme of Asset Management + O&M by hopping into my time...

Etienne Lecompte: Using Software to Maximize Solar Assets (Ep 065) 25.01.2018 49:00

Welcome to Episode 65 of SunCast!  I hope you learned a lot during this week's ultra-nerdy Tactical Tuesday with Hongbin Fang of LONGi Solar. On today's episode , I speak with Etienne Lecompte.  Etienne is a leader and entrepreneur in renewable energy, software development and regulatory compliance. Etienne's companies and products have set the standard for developers, financiers and equ...

Tactical Tuesday: PERC & Bifacial solar modules (Ep 064) 23.01.2018 25:48

Welcome to Episode 64 of SunCast!  Welcome to Tactical Tuesdays, a short-form conversation with subject-matter experts to give you the edge in building your solar business and brand. Hongbin Fang is Director of Product Marketing at LONGi Solar, a leading dedicated monocrystalline solar cell and module manufacturer. With the resurgence of Bifacial Modules & the rapid rise of the PERC cell...

A true Innovation Machine (Ep 063) 19.01.2018 51:32

Welcome to Episode 63 of SunCast! I hope you enjoyed the last week's episode with Oleg pushing the envelope on commercial finance . Today's episode is going to plumb the depths of the entrepreneurial journey with a CEO of a US-based solar module manufacturer who's had his share of failure and success, and most certainly understands how to cross the chasm. I had the incredible pleasure of sitting d...

Braggawatt (Ep062) 12.01.2018 21:09

Welcome to Episode 62 of SunCast! In today's episode of SunCast, I speak to Oleg Popovsky of Braggawatt Solar. We talk about a project they announced that week at SPI. On the surface, it would appear a rather innocuous, perhaps insignificant achievement, but I think Oleg does a great job explaining exactly why this announcement had my ears perked. If you've been curious to look under the hood...

Oh, the Places You'll Go! (Ep061) 10.01.2018 14:16

Happy New Year. I've got some exciting episodes and community planning coming, but in the meantime, I hope you enjoy this timeless story. Thanks again for setting aside  THIS  time in your day. Enjoy this New Years episode of SunCast. Are there other technologies you’ve scouted on the frontlines of the Clean Energy Revolution that you think we should be covering here on SunCast...

Tied with Elon Musk - Jigar Shah (Ep060) 21.12.2017 50:25

Welcome to Episode 60 of SunCast! In today's episode of SunCast, I speak to Jigar Shah, an icon in the solar industry. From founding SunEdison to leading the Carbon War Room as its first CEO, Jigar has been innovating on business models in the energy and infrastructure arenas for more than 2 decades.   Currently, Jigar is the co-founder and President of specialty finance company, Generat...

Flow vs Lithium - next in Solar + Storage - Mike Grunow of ViZn Energy (Ep 059) 14.12.2017 57:29

Welcome to Episode 59 of SunCast! This is installment #2 in the Solar+Storage series. Today on SunCast, I get to interview one of the guys who's had a massive impact on my own personal career, Mike Grunow, the VP of Marketing at Vizn Energy Systems. Tune in today as we discuss: How to spec out a good MRD - Market Requirements Document The biggest misconception about Li-ion batteries Limitations of...

Funding Commercial Solar with Bryan Birsic (Ep 058) 07.12.2017 54:39

Welcome to Episode 58 of SunCast! Today on SunCast, we are digging into the inner workings of a company (Wunder Capital) many of you have probably begun to work with, and who has clearly done a great job of gaining traction since it's founding back in 2013.  For you entrepreneurs out there, I ask Bryan a ton of questions specifically about the who/what/how/when/why of starting and growing his...

Dan Shugar, Part 2 - Solar Pioneer Series (Ep 057) 27.11.2017 40:47

Welcome to Episode 57 of SunCast, and episode #5 in the Solar Pioneers series. Today is the much-anticipated Part 2 of Episode 39 with Dan Shugar! As founder and CEO, Dan Shugar helped build NEXTracker into one of the fastest growing cleantech companies in the U.S. Dan was responsible for spinning NEXTracker out of Solaria Corp. where he also served as CEO, and then merging with FLEX almost 2 year...