SunCast

Welcome to Episode 30 of SunCast (woohoo, Thirty!). Today, we will be spending time with Patrick Doyle of MGM Innova Capital.  You should have a listen if you're interested in: Structured finance for the DG Solar market in Latin America Lessons learned financing private sector deals at the IDB And how to compete as a developer for the limited capital available to the DG market  Patrick k...

Welcome to Episode 29 of SunCast.  Today we will be spending time with Latin America solar veteran, Alejo Lopez of Nextracker.  You should keep listening if you're interested in What's happening in the Mexico market Where else in Latin America Alejo believes hot, or not What it's like to convert from the Dark Side of Oil & Gas to the Renewables industry Key lessons and takeaways from...

Welcome to Episode 28 of SunCast. Today's episode in many ways has been 18 months in the making.  I met today's guest way back when I was just recording the first episodes of SunCast, and have looked to him as a mentor and spiritual podcast guide longer still. Today on SunCast, you'll meet Stephen Lacey.  Stephen is the Editor-in-Chief of Greentech Media and host of the extremely popular...

Today’s episode, back by popular request - is in English. ;-) This is Episode 27 of SunCast, and Episode 7 in the Latam Founders Series. It’s the final installment of this series, brought to you in collaboration with Enphase Energy. I’ve really enjoyed this series, as it's given us a real chance to dig deep into some of the up-and-coming solar companies in the Latin America region.  If you've...

This is Episode 26 of SunCast, and Episode 6 in the Latam Founders Series, which is being brought to you through a collaboration with Enphase Energy. This is our final episode in Spanish, but do check out the intro if you would like access to a head-to-head inverter and MLPE document the Ecopartners guys have provided. Well Today on SunCast, you'll meet Hector Pomales and Gabriel Perez, founders o...

This is Episode 25 of SunCast. And, today you get to meet one of the guys who’s most influenced my life in the last 5 years.  He’s not in the solar industry. He’s not even in the Energy industry.  But he could teach a lot of us in the solar industry about two things that matter most when going from Idea to Income - creativity and hustle. Today on SunCast, you'll meet my friend and mentor...

This is Episode 24 of SunCast, and Episode 5 in the Latam Founders Series, which is being brought to you through a special collaboration with Enphase Energy.  This episode is entirely in Spanish (well, except for the introduction). Today on SunCast, you'll meet Arturo Duhart, founder of one of Mexico’s largest solar companies, and possibly the largest solar distributor - Exel Solar.  Tod...

This is Episode 23 of SunCast. Today we take a break from the Latam Founders Series, but not from meeting yet another solid founder in the solar industry. Today on SunCast, you'll meet Jon Bonanno, CCO of Empower Micro Systems.    Jon is a friend and mentor, and knows a Ton about technology, launching and growing new companies, and is well-versed in the challenges of the Solar Indus...

This is Episode 22 of SunCast, and Episode 4 in the Latam Founders Series, which is being brought to you through a special collaboration with Enphase Energy. Today on SunCast, you'll meet Maximo Torres, founder of Maximo Solar in Puerto Rico, along with his GM, Jonattan Martir.  Today's episode was actually recorded live in Las Vegas during the annual Solar Power Int'l conference. I call Maxi...

Bienvenidos and Welcome to Episode 21 of SunCast, and Episode 3 in the Latam Founders Series, which is being brought to you through a special collaboration with Enphase Energy.  Today we have a slight departure from the usual format.  No, it's not in Spanish like last week's episode, but it also doesn't follow the typical question flow I've used in the first 20 episodes. In prep for the...

Bienvenidos and Welcome to Episode 20 of SunCast, and Episode 2 in the Latam Founders Series, which is being brought to you through a special collaboration with Enphase Energy.  If you didn’t have a chance to hear the setup episode last week, go back and check out Episode 16 , as I speak with Luis Morales at Enphase about why we wanted to collaborate on this specific series of conversations....

A few weeks ago we published Episode 15 with my friend Rodrigo Barfield of Long Light Energy.  Last year in 2016, he had moved back to Brazil to run his new company, and we discussed his thoughts on the market. As with many startups, things don’t always go as planned, and I hinted at the end of the show that Rod had an update pending. In this episode of SunCast , we have a follow-up call with...

In this episode of SunCast , you'll meet Manan Parikh of GTM Research.  Many of you already know who Manan is, but, for the uninitiated, Manan is the analyst at GTM who authors their quarterly Latam PV Playbook - basically the bible on all-things-solar for latin america from market size and potential, to who, specifically, is doing what in each region.  I love catching up with Manan...

In this episode of SunCast , I'd like to introduce you to my friend, Jose Zambrano, Founder & CEO of Galt Energy, one of Mexico’s fastest growing residential and commercial solar installers.  This is the inaugural episode of the "Latam Founders Series", and I really think it’s a great example of the kinds of entrepreneurs we’re seeing arise in the solar industry throughout Latam.  Ga...

In this episode of SunCast , I'd like to introduce you to my friend, Luis Morales, Head of Latin America for Enphase Energy.  For the last year, Luis and I have been in discussions about an idea that is now bearing fruit in the form of this special Series of interviews we're calling the "Latam Founders Series".  I have spent the last 6 months meeting with or interviewing some of the Enph...

A 2015 Financial Times article says, “Brazil is mired in its worst recession since the 1930’s, but entrepreneurs know how to find opportunities.”  That sentiment is pervasive in the booming Brazilian solar market; despite economic turmoil, sky-high interest rates and fluctuating exchange rates, the Brazilian solar market grew to more than 72MW of interconnected DG systems! Last year, I sat do...

This episode of SunCast features a discussion with Matthew Harris of Solar Energy International (SEI) . Matthew is the Program Manager for SEI’s Spanish-language solar training program, and he’s has been with SEI for over ten years (!), involved in many aspects of their mission of providing industry-leading technical training and expertise in renewable energy to empower people, communities, a...

This episode of SunCast continues our discussion with Alvaro Garcia of X-Elio, a Gestamp subsidiary. Alvaro has built one of the most significant solar projects to-date in Mexico, the 40MW Aura Solar project, and he’s got 3 years of experience there as an expat building 2 different companies.  We dig into stories from Aura, getting buy-in from regulators, the future of C&I as well as resi...

This episode of SunCast features Alvaro Garcia of X-Elio, a Gestamp subsidiary.  Alvaro has the distinction of being chosen, during his Martifer Solar days, as the EPC for the first Utility-scale project ever financed and built in Mexico - the Aura Solar project in Baja California.  And as an ex-pat living in Mexico for more than 5 yrs now, he has some interesting insights into doing bus...

This episode of SunCast continues our discussion with Karin Berardo of M+W Group. Karin has been a pioneer in solar through her involvement with MuniMae’s MMA Renewables, Cleanpath, and now M+W Group’s global expansion.  In this Episode, we dive into the dynamics of working for a 100 yr old company in a low-margin game, keeping your mind fresh and informed, and how to prioritize and do the ri...

This episode of SunCast features Karin Berardo of M+W Group.  Karin has been a pioneer in a number of ways in the solar industry, being involved in what was one of the first companies in the US to finance large-scale solar using a Power Purchase Agreement.  She's now heading up international expansion for M+W and we cover her broad-ranging experience from Brazil to Mexico as well as what...

Host Nico Johnson and ABB Global Manager of Microgrids, Pablo Astorga.  Join in as Nico and Pablo discuss the global microgrid market. We talk about definition of microgrid, where microgrids are growing, projections for the global microgrid markets and more.  Pablo has had a nearly decade-long career at ABB, and is leading the effort at ABB to address what could soon be a fast-growing ma...

Host Nico Johnson and Foley & Lardner Partner, Jeff Atkin.  Join in as Nico and Jeff discuss how their mutual time serving in volunteerism in Latin America (in particular, Guatemala) has informed their professional decisions. We talk about the Horus solar project in Guatemala, one which Jeff’s team at Foley was responsible for structuring; if you’re unfamiliar with this project, it was th...

Host Nico Johnson does a solo round this week providing a recap of the past few weeks episodes that constitutes the SunCast launch.  We take a look at 4 tips for positioning yourself as (or finding) a good local partner in Latin America.  And Nico discusses some of the ways he looks at planning for the new year as well as the main tool he uses to keep it all straight - meditation!  ...

Host Nico Johnson and SolaireDirect Managing Director for Mexico & Central America, Lamberto Camacho.  Join in as Nico and Lamberto discuss the similarities of International development between Africa and Latin America, and go deep on how Lamberto positioned SolaireDirect to win the Panama Solar PV Tender last year.  Lamberto has been involved in solar development for a decade, and h...