SunCast

What makes someone actually care about solar? It’s not the data. It’s the story. On this special “SundayCast”, Nico sits down with the Reverend himself—Aaron Nichols (okay, not officially a Reverend, but the story behind that title is worth tuning in for). Aaron has made waves as a marketing & advocacy specialist at Exact Solar, helping the company thrive in a time when many others in solar ar...

What if a renewable energy power plant could achieve capacity factors above 70% ? Wouldn’t that make it, finally, FIRM baseload power, dispatchable and “reliable” for the grid? Can ai help? What else is required?  The simple answer is hybridization, but a long-time industry pioneer is here to tell us more. Martin Hermann has spent the last 2 decades pioneering the future of utility-scale sola...

“Even the most unsinkable ship can sink.” That’s Trevor Noah reflecting on the fragility of democracy, and he’s not just here to make you laugh—he’s here to challenge how you think . At CLEANPOWER 2025, Trevor delivers a brilliant, unscripted dialogue with Jason Grumet, the Chief Executive Officer of American Clean Power, unpacking how stories shape our national psyche—and what that means for the...

What if the biggest opportunity in solar has been hiding in plain sight? Josh Goldberg is no stranger to solar. He’s a multi-exit founder who helped shape residential solar finance—and now he’s back to tackle the “messy middle” of commercial solar. After stepping away from the industry, Josh returned with a mission: to unlock the underfinanced, overlooked world of small-to-mid-sized commercial sol...

Winter is coming If you're a solar or battery developer, especially in utility-scale or C&I, you're likely feeling it already: capital has tightened, exits have dried up, and project timelines are stretching longer than ever. Sound familiar? Rob Sternthal, co-founder of XIP and a two-decade veteran of clean energy finance, joins Nico to deliver a tactical wake-up call. This isn’t just another...

What if your rooftop solar could do more than just power your fridge? Karl Andersen believes it can—and should—power the future of AI. Karl unpacks the grid’s biggest vulnerabilities, why data centers lack critical power infrastructure, and how we can turn solar-powered homes into the building blocks of a decentralized compute network. Lektra’s tech fuses distributed energy with cloud computing—th...

If you think batteries are just for backup, think again. The post-NEM 3.0 world has flipped residential solar economics—and companies like TeraHive are leading a storage revolution that’s all about ROI, not just resilience. Ram Bhat , Head of Product at TeraHive, explores how software-first thinking and DC-coupled architecture are transforming what’s possible in home energy systems. Ram brings dee...

What if your truck could power your house—and save you hundreds a month on electricity? Could your EV be a secret energy arbitrage opportunity? Barry Cinnamon, a true solar pioneer, shows that it’s possible right now with Vehicle-to-Home (V2H) systems. Listen in as Barry breaks down why V2H is finally ready for prime time—and why the utility-centric V2X model is failing to deliver real value for h...

Why haven’t more homeowners installed batteries—despite growing outages and rising rates? I tend to agree with Vinnie Campo, co-founder and CEO of Haven Energy, who believes the answer lies in who owns the asset .  But beyond who owns the asset (and assuming, then, that it should not be the homeowner?), is there a way to deliver a truly zero-cost, fully managed battery system that benefits bo...

The biggest threat to scaling community solar isn’t cost. It’s interconnection. Live from the PowerUp Stage at RE+ Northeast, Samantha Weaver of the Coalition for Community Solar Access dives into why so many promising clean energy projects never make it past the planning phase. Spoiler: it’s not because the technology isn’t ready—it’s because the system isn’t. With jaw-dropping examples (a 100-pr...

You can buy solar panels in many places around the world for around 10 cents-a-watt— so why are Americans still paying an average of about $3.70 for every watt installed? In this candid and fiery live episode, Nico Johnson sits down with long-time clean energy champions Andrew Birch and Kerim Baran to unpack what’s really slowing down solar deployment in the U.S. The verdict? Bureaucracy, bad trad...

What if the utility bill you barely understand holds the key to stabilizing the grid, accelerating electrification, and saving you money? Rachel Bryant has spent nearly 20 years navigating the complex world of energy regulation—as both an engineer and a lawyer. Now at GridX, she’s helping utilities across the country translate convoluted tariff structures into clear, actionable decisions for custo...

Texas: where oil and gas once reigned supreme—and now, renewables are rewriting the rules. In this special live episode recorded at Intersolar & Energy Storage North America 2025, Doug Lewin and Nico Johnson flip the script. Doug takes the mic to interview Nico about his biggest takeaways from the show, and the two dive deep into what’s fueling Texas' meteoric rise in solar, storage, and energ...

“Don’t pitch slap me.” That’s the line Spenser Meeks uses to describe the all-too-common trap most any professional falls into when presenting information (Usually via presentation decks) — jumping straight into specs and data before earning your audience’s attention. In a lively convo, Spenser and Nico break down why 60% of all conference speaking sessions (yes, your conference panels) are rated...

The FinTech Reboot Solar Has Been Waiting For What happens when local banks finally start playing ball in solar lending? Ravi Mikkelsen is here to tell us. In this “Where Are They Now” episode, we reconnect with Ravi Mikkelsen, the co-founder and CEO of Atmos Financial, who first joined SunCast in 2021. Since then, the solar financing world has been flipped on its head—rising interest rates, shift...

“Virtual power plant” might be trending—but Eversource’s Tilak Subrahmanian says it misses the mark. In this RE+ Northeast PowerUp Live stage interview, Nico sits down with Tilak for a refreshingly candid utility perspective on how distributed energy resources (DERs) are being integrated, managed, and monetized at scale. Spoiler: it's not just about demand response anymore. From managing EV chargi...

What’s blocking our climate tech breakthroughs? It’s not the tech. It’s the process . Ben Downing has seen the system from both sides—first as a Massachusetts state senator, then as VP at Nexamp scaling solar across the country. Now, as Chief Growth Officer at The Engine , MIT’s accelerator for “tough tech,” he’s helping commercialize game-changing innovations that can decarbonize the toughest sec...

The U.S. grid is facing its biggest stress test since WWII. The answer? Batteries. Joan White, Director of Storage & Interconnection Policy at SEIA, joins Nico on the PowerUp Live stage at RE+ Northeast to unpack the audacious 700 GWh storage deployment target laid out in SEIA’s latest white paper. That’s a 50% increase over the “business as usual” trajectory—and Joan believes it’s not just po...

When Maria Robinson took the helm at the Grid Deployment Office within the US Department of Energy (US DOE), she stepped into one of the most pivotal (and difficult) roles in the clean energy transition. Now that she’s no longer a government employee, Maria reveals what really happens inside DOE decision-making rooms, why the grid is far more fragile than most realize, and how her new role as CEO...

Residential solar may still be a long way from recovery —but the commercial and industrial (C&I) solar market is heating up. In this power-packed episode recorded live at RE+ Northeast, Nico sits down with John Carroll of SolarEdge to explore why the commercial market could be the biggest growth driver in clean energy this year. From training installers to navigating the evolving incentive qua...

Microgrids are essential to the clean energy future—but they’re still too complex, slow, and unbankable. That’s the problem Adib Naslé set out to solve. With Xendee, he’s built a platform that makes distributed energy systems faster to plan, easier to finance, and smarter to operate. Nico digs into how Adib and his team turned 20 years of national lab research into a commercial product now used by...

At a time when uncertainty looms for many clean energy companies, Encore Renewable Energy just secured a $389 million financing deal that proves the big money’s still looking for good bets to be made. Chad Farrell walks us through their recent landmark deal with Brookfield and what it signals for the broader renewables industry. From raising capital the slow, scrappy way to winning major infrastru...

800 episodes. 1 unforgettable conversation. For the first time in years, Nico Johnson becomes the guest on his own show, interviewed by friend and fellow podcaster, Lisa Ann Pinkerton. What follows is a raw and powerful exploration of the highs, lows, and turning points behind SunCast’s success. Whether you’re building a brand, running a business, or just love clean energy—this episode has somethi...

Live from the Hub Stage at Intersolar 2025, Nico gathers a powerhouse podcaster panel to dig into what’s really going on in the solar & battery sectors. Sean White (Solar Sean), Chris Crowell (Solar Builder), and Joe Ordia (Solar Surge) don’t hold back as they swap stories and product insights live from the show floor, and discuss the tough realities facing the solar sector presently. It’s equ...

There are billions of square feet of commercial rooftops in the U.S. that should have solar—but don’t. Why? Because financing these projects has been nearly impossible… until now. For years, the thousands of unrated businesses, nonprofits, and local institutions that want to go solar are stymied by one primary roadblock - financing . One developer is finally unlocking commercial solar for the long...