Starting, failing, transparency, humility, organization, leadership, family, burnout...these are just some of the themes that emerged in today's riveting discussion with Reid Wuntke. Reid is a highly intentional and focused leader. You may recognize him as President of one of the world's leading solar software platforms, Energy Toolbase, but he came into the Renewables field with the same thoughtful intention that led him to the Royal Canadian Airforce, McKinsey, various high-growth startups, and ultimately Pason (ETB's parent company). He wanted to see good people and good ideas succeed. Most of us in the solar industry include ETB as a critical component in the proposal process. Yet, Reid and Energy Toolbase aim to bring the bigger picture in focus for their customers with modeling tools (of course), monitoring and data analytics that help realize the role of each install as part of a high-functioning clean energy portfolio. It's what Reid and the team refer to as being both the "promise maker" and "promise keeper" to the industry and our renewable energy consumers. Catch the conversation right here, on Suncast. And don't forget, links to the topics, books, and people mentioned in the episode can be found on our blog at mysuncast.com. -- There's a lot to dig into today, so sit back and enjoy When it's done, I'd love if you'd leave us a 5 ⭐ rating & review (if you haven't already), or find me on Linkedin and let me know what you thought of this episode! (http://www.linkedin.com/in/nickalus)  Remember you can always find the resources and learn more about today’s guest, recommendations, book links, and more than 380 other founder stories and startup advice at www.mysuncast.com. Or, start a conversation with Nico Johnson, on Twitter, LinkedIn or email

SunCast

409: Reid Wuntke, President of Energy Toolbase

The Solar Power World 2021 Top Solar Changemaker award-winner is Kate Gold, director of community engagement at Solar Landscape. From the Article feature on SPW's website: "Talking about diversity and inclusion in the solar industry is a good start, but the 2021 Top Solar Changemaker is actively bringing underserved communities into the green economy. Kate Gold’s mission as director of community engagement at Solar Landscape is to train and develop the future renewable energy workforce in New Jersey. She has helped the company partner with nonprofits including the Jewish Renaissance Foundation, the Hispanic Family Center of Southern Jersey and Interfaith Neighbors to offer in-person solar job training for local residents." To read more, access the full article from our Blog page: https://mysuncast.com/suncast-episodes/408 Today, I get the details from Kate on how she transitioned into the Solar industry and in just a few short years garnered this coveted position as THE Solar Changemaker of the Year by the respected industry journal ,Solar Power World. She has a fascinating and compelling story. Tune-in to hear more! -- If you enjoy today's episode, I'd love if you'd leave us a 5 ⭐ rating & enthusiastic review (if you haven't already), and then find me on Linkedin and let me know what you thought of this episode! (http://www.linkedin.com/in/nickalus)  Remember you can always find the resources and learn more about today’s guest, recommendations, book links, and more than 400 add'l founder stories and startup advice at www.mysuncast.com. Or, start a conversation with Nico Johnson, on Twitter, LinkedIn or email

408: 2021 Top Solar Changemaker: Kate Gold, Solar Landscape

Welcome back, Solar Warrior. This is a SunCast Rewind that’s also a Tactical Tuesday, typically a short form conversation with subject matter experts designed to give you the practical tools, tips, and advice for building your solar business or career. Today is a special collaboration with Mike Casey from Tigercomm as host of our Quarterly Podcasters Roundtable. Originally recorded live as a video interview (watch it on youtube!), this idea was inspired by Tigercomm's quarterly Cleantech Editor's Roundtable series, which has grown in popularity during the pandemic. As it progressed, we kept hearing from people who wanted to hear from cleantech podcasters. While the full-time editors have a breadth of view, our podcaster panelists have depth of view because their shows delve into companies, leaders and trends. Today, we feature seven cleantech podcasters: Marie Burgquist, Watts Up Podcast  Nico Johnson, SunCast  Tim Montague, Clean Power Hour Bill Nussey, Freeing Energy  Josh Porter, SolarCoaster Jon Powers, Experts Only Julia Pyper, Political Climate There's a lot to dig into today, so sit back and enjoy When it's done, I'd love if you'd leave us a 5 ⭐ rating & review (if you haven't already), or find me on Linkedin and let me know what you thought of this episode! http://www.linkedin.com/in/nickalus)  Remember you can always find the resources and learn more about today’s guest, recommendations, book links, and more than 380 other founder stories and startup advice at www.mysuncast.com. Or, start a conversation with Nico Johnson, on Twitter, LinkedIn or email

CleanTech Podcaster's Roundtable Q3-'21

When Eric White met a group of Louisiana oil guys at an OPEC Summit while studying abroad in Vienna, he scarcely could have imagined that his career would soon center around two of the most powerful sectors in the world: Finance & Energy. And when he began to see the renewable energy sector scaling, his traditional finance & energy training suggested that the solar sector in particular was facing capital barriers inhibiting acceleration of a distributed energy future. Since 2014, Eric White has built Dividend Finance into one of the most recognized solar lending platforms in the industry, and he's borrowed both tactics and talent from one of the original fintech platforms, Capitol One! Tune-in to hear how Eric and his team have become one of the most trusted and utilized finance platforms in the smart home segment, and where he sees the industry going from here. -- There's a lot to dig into today, so sit back and enjoy When it's done, I'd love if you'd leave us a 5 ⭐ rating & review (if you haven't already), or find me on Linkedin and let me know what you thought of this episode! (http://www.linkedin.com/in/nickalus)  Remember you can always find the resources and learn more about today’s guest, recommendations, book links, and more than 380 other founder stories and startup advice at www.mysuncast.com. Or, start a conversation with Nico Johnson, on Twitter, LinkedIn or email

406: Solar lending insights from Dividend Finance CEO, Eric White

Solar Module Recycling and Refurbishing is a critical (if often overlooked) element of our green, clean energy future. Janette Freeman is passionate about saving the landfill from the millions of solar panels which will be coming to end-of-life in the years ahead. She is the Director of Business Development for FabTech Solar Solutions, which does solar panel refurbishing and recycling; giving panels a second life or a proper cremation. As we've discussed here before, the solar industry has a problem that many are only just becoming aware of...end of life. What do we do with all these solar panels when they are "used up"? What about when they break? Most solar panels have a life span of 20-30 years, and many of the early projects are starting to reach their end of useful life. In fact, by 2050, The International Renewable Energy Agency projects that up to 78 million metric tons of solar panels will have reached the end of their life, and that the world will be generating about 6 million metric tons of new solar waste annually! (*thanks to today's guest, Janette for these facts!) Not sure what "Circular economy" means? Wondering what are the key reasons that lead to addressing this end-of-life discussion? What are the common concerns folks have, and what prevents us from taking action today? How much does this actually cost? I dig into all these questions and more today with Janette, and she graciously provides detailed insights all the way down to how much to budget in your disposal and refurbishing budget! I've never had anyone go into such detail, and I love how she ties it back to economic principles like Circular Economy for us. There's a lot to dig into today, so sit back and enjoy When it's done, I'd love if you'd leave us a 5 rating & review (if you haven't already), or find me on Linkedin and let me know what you thought of this episode! (http://www.linkedin.com/in/nickalus)  Remember you can always find the resources and learn more about today’s guest, recommendations, book links, and more than 400 other founder stories and startup advice at www.mysuncast.com. Or, start a conversation with Nico Johnson, on Twitter, LinkedIn or email

405: Solar waste or Second life?? Refurbish & Recycle with Janette Freeman of Fabtek Enterprises

Residential Solar finance is a hot hot market, and few companies have stormed the proverbial castle and taken a leadership position so decisively as Sunlight Financial. On the surface, it looks like a rather traditional "this banker left his banking job for another banking job" kind of story. But as you'll hear in today's interview with Sunlight's CEO, Matt Potere, it's anything but "traditional". Son of a gas station owner, Matt says "I grew up in the Hamptons like many did, but now quite in the same way they did". In truth, while the hedge fund manager's families were headed to vacation, it was Matt and his family who filled their cars on their way. Those years of entrepreneurial insight gleaned helping with the family business helped create the leader Matt has become. And in today's interview, you'll learn a lot more about a man who has overcome tremendous odds to lead one of the most successful solar finance institutions to come along in a decade. Matt serves as Sunlight’s CEO and is a member of the Board of Directors. Over the past 25 years, Matt has held leadership roles in credit, business development and strategy from Fortune 50 companies to venture capital backed start-ups. Since joining Sunlight from Bank of America (where he was a Senior Vice President responsible for the Bank’s $90 billion home equity portfolio), he's formed a team that has helped 150K families go solar, finances ~$200Million/mo in loans, and recently became a publicly traded company!   There's a lot to dig into today, so sit back and enjoy When it's done, I'd love if you'd leave us a 5 ⭐ rating & review (if you haven't already), or find me on Linkedin and let me know what you thought of this episode! (http://www.linkedin.com/in/nickalus)  Remember you can always find the resources and learn more about today’s guest, recommendations, book links, and more than 380 other founder stories and startup advice at www.mysuncast.com. Or, start a conversation with Nico Johnson, on Twitter, LinkedIn or email

404: How Sunlight Financial became a leading solar lender, with Matt Potere, CEO Sunlight Financial

Despite their widespread use in the renewable energy industry, using an 8760 to project financial performance can lead to significant errors in revenue models. In particular, revenue models that pair an 8760 with historical prices miss the impact of hourly renewable energy generation on hourly power prices. Because wind and solar plants are relatively inexpensive sources of generation, there tends to be a negative correlation between generation and power price in markets with high renewable penetration. Not quite sure what all that means? Well, we've gotcha covered on today's Tactical Tuesday. Join Nico as he learns more about a recent study completed by Dr Jennifer Newman, VP of Atmospheric Science research at REsurety that aims to equip you to better understand yield and performance metrics of renewable energy plants. Remember you can always find the resources and learn more about today’s guest, recommendations, book links, and more than 380 other founder stories and startup advice at www.mysuncast.com. Text Nico and start a conversation! +1 (310) 634-1780 You can connect with me, Nico Johnson, on Twitter, LinkedIn or email

403: Friends Don’t Let Friends Use 8760s, with Dr. Jennifer Newman of REsurety

Today's guest is Amy Simpkins, CEO of Mu Grid.  We talk about her life as a clean energy consultant, her history in astronautics and her new podcast, Energy Flow.  Growing up in a culture of theater, music and performance, Amy has deep love for words and a connection to story.  But she spent years taming the right brain and training the left as an engineer, studying aeronautics and astronautics at MIT, interning with NASA and working for the Space Systems Division of Lockhead Martin.  Amy still has a pending application to be an astronaut.   But in the meantime, she has stepped away from building systems for space shuttles and has turned her focus to Resilient Microgrids.  After all, what is a spacecraft, but a microgrid in the sky?  Together with her husband, electrical engineer Dr. Travis Simpkins (see episode 56), they have formed a consulting company dedicated to helping establish grid-tied microsystems that can withstand grid failure.  Governments, schools, grocery stores, hospitals, everyone needs to move into sustainable energy consumption that can handle the wild ride of climate change.  Mu Grid helps clients tackle unpredictability (see the definition of stochastic*) with data and better modeling.     But, you know me, I like to ask personal questions. You'll  hear what it's to manage a highly technical consulting firm with her husband while also traveling the world and homeschooling three small children.   In a pandemic.  How their family is growing and adjusting.  And why she launched Energy Flow, a podcast dedicated to elevating diverse voices in the new energy economy.  Pass the microphone.     *Stochastic - randomly determined; having a random probability distribution or pattern that may be analyzed statistically but may not be predicted precisely.   Remember you can always find the resources and learn more about today’s guest, recommendations, book links, and more than 380 other founder stories and startup advice at www.mysuncast.com. Text Nico and start a conversation! +1 (310) 634-1780 You can connect with me, Nico Johnson, on Twitter, LinkedIn or email

402: From Astronautics to MicroGrids with Amy Simpkins of muGrid

Welcome, #SolarWarrior, to another Tactical Tuesday, a short-form conversation with subject-matter experts designed to give you practical tools, tips, and advice for building your solar business or career. Ten years ago, if you called on a solar company to give you a rooftop solar system proposal, one of your installer’s first steps was to come to your house, climb up on your roof, and take a bunch of measurements and pictures to evaluate the project. This process is now starting to change, however, with the rise of new technology...Drones. From the opening games of the Olympics to search & rescue, Drones are finally inspiring and aiding humanity in wasy we only dreamed of when I began in the solar industry. According to Ryan Tong, director of marketing at DJI,“Roof inspection [for solar project evaluations] hasn’t changed significantly over the past decade. Introducing safe and accurate drone-based 3-D models to replace survey wheels and measuring tapes is a step forward for the industry.” Drones in solar have a number of advantages that make them appealing to both homeowners and installers, including saving time and money for everyone involved.  Today, we’ll take a look at how drones are used in solar projects and chat w/one of the leading companies helping solar installers adopt this technology to scale their operations.  Joining me for the discussion is Jason Steinberg, CEO of Scanifly, the only drone-based solar software focused on the survey & design  Remember you can always find the resources and learn more about today’s guest, recommendations, book links, and more than 380 other founder stories and startup advice at www.mysuncast.com. Text Nico and start a conversation! +1 (310) 634-1780 You can connect with me, Nico Johnson, on Twitter, LinkedIn or email

401: How a Solar drone program can help you scale, with Scanifly CEO, Jason Steinberg

Today, Nico shares his 400th conversation with clean energy experts on Suncast. Each episode investigates a small piece of the big puzzle by asking CEO's, founders, entrepreneurs and thought-leaders to share their story and answer questions like "how did you get here?" and "where are you going?" One by one, these intimate conversations help unite a tribe of energy professionals from all sectors, walks of life and stages in their careers, recognizing that we have so far to go and many, many more people to integrate into the #CleanEnergyRevolution. Episode 400 brings back past guest and close friend of the podcast, Mike Silvestrini of Energea (Episode 085). Since his last appearance, Mike & Co. have created a clean energy investment platform empowering anyone to own renewable energy projects with above-average returns, for as little as $100. Let's face it; We need over $1 Trillion a year moving toward climate action to the damage climate change is already having. Mike and his co-founder, Chris Sattler, are moving money to make a difference, first building renewable power projects in Brazil and now the US and Africa, continuing to track global trends looking for the best places to invest in growing markets. Hear how it works, is it really as simple as an app?... and what markets is Energea eyeing next?   Remember you can always find the resources and learn more about today’s guest, recommendations, book links, and more than 380 other founder stories and startup advice at www.mysuncast.com. Send Nico a Text to congratulate him on the milestone! +1 (310) 634-1780 Connect with him on Twitter, LinkedIn or Email. Disclosure: Spero Ventures (the parent company of SunCast Media) is an investor in Energea, and Nico is a Board Member.

400: Celebrating 400!!! w/ Mike Silvestrini, CEO - Energea

This is Part Two of our two-part series with Reagan Farr, CEO of Silicon Ranch, a pioneer of solar development in the Southeastern US. If you missed part 1, it's probably useful to queue that one up first, as it sets the tone for this episode. And, this one is a longer episode, as we get into the details of how Reagan and his cofounders Matt Kisber and former Governor Phil Bredesen, put the business together and grew it over the last 10 yrs to become one of the largest and most respected Independent Power Producers in the industry. Along the way, we learn how they raised the capital, where they directed their efforts, philosophy on types of projects and development they seek to foster, and ultimately how they decided to sell the business to global energy giant, Shell. Hear the rest of the story here, and remember you can always find the resources and learn more about today’s guest, recommendations, book links, and more than 380 other founder stories and startup advice at www.mysuncast.com. Text Nico and start a conversation! +1 (310) 634-1780 You can connect with me, Nico Johnson, on Twitter, LinkedIn or email

399: Part 2, Reagan Farr, Silicon Ranch: Ten Yrs & How to Scale a Solar Development Co

This is Part One of a two-part series with Reagan Farr, CEO of Silicon Ranch, a pioneer of solar development in the Southeastern US. We talk about his childhood in Baton Rouge, where "curiosity ruled the day" in a home of educators, law school, and 8 years as a commissioner with the Governor of Tennessee. Reagan was there when the state decided to attract clean energy companies both for headquarters and production in TN, tweaking the tax code to encourage entrepreneurship and the light bulb moment when policymakers realized that tax credits would quickly lower the production cost of solar and ultimately customer & industry operating costs through clean renewable power. Hear the whole story here, and visit the blog for show notes and links mentioned in the interview. Remember you can always find the resources and learn more about today’s guest, recommendations, book links, and more than 380 other founder stories and startup advice at www.mysuncast.com. Text Nico and start a conversation! +1 (310) 634-1780 You can connect with me, Nico Johnson, on Twitter, LinkedIn or email

399: Part 1, Reagan Farr, Silicon Ranch: How to Start a Solar Development Co

Solar Power International was officially cancelled last Friday. ? Our thoughts and prayers are with those who are suffering and in the arduous process of Rebuilding that great city, yet again. In today's Tactical Tuesday Nico chats w/Danielle Danko of Solar Power Events (the org that produces SPI) about how we can support the NOLA community, and what the next events are that you can get ready for (assuming we can still meet in person in the near future). Next, Nico has Jake Rozmaryn back to share ideas about how you can level up your biz dev & marketing efforts in light of no more SPI. There are some true gems, and even surprising ideas, and Nico shares some of his LinkedIn mojo to help you get your creative juices flowing. Remember you can always find the resources and learn more about today’s guest, recommendations, book links, and nearly 400 (yes, we're almost there!) other founder stories and startup advice at www.mysuncast.com. Text Nico and start a conversation! +1 (310) 634-1780 You can connect with Nico Johnson, on Twitter, LinkedIn or email.

398: SPI is Cancelled, What to do Now? (with Danielle Danko & Jake Rozmaryn)

What does it look to disrupt an industry? What does it take to make a career of it? And as Jim Collins suggested, WHO do you need to get on the bus? In Today's episode Nico gets into these details with Solar pioneers Daniel Flanigan and Charles Pimentel as we navigate their clean energy career paths through Offgrid solar, Hydrogen (Plug Power), Solar modules & Development (Canadian Solar, Solar Frontier), Installation & Construction (Zep Solar, Solar City, Tesla, Depcom) & more! Along the way, we discover how & why they have come together for a second time to upend a well-established sector of the market (Utility-scale solar deployment) through innovation, timing and ultimately building a great team - this time, with Erthos. The discussion focuses on changing the way we all think about developing, designing, constructing, and operating utility scale solar plants. The $19B solar tracker market is but a slice over the overall market, but Erthos is taking on some of the industry titans with a "new way" of doing things reminiscent of Daniel's time at Zep. Erthos has assembled a veritable dream team of industry veterans to bring a very simple solution to what is otherwise a pretty complicated and risky business, constructing solar plants, in an attempt to, as they put it, "fundamentally transform the utility-scale solar industry globally”.  They're on a quest and taking the industry norms head on to do just that. Will it work? What could stop them? Tune in and let me know Your takeaways, or push back. Either way, we welcome the dialogue, and hope you enjoy this one. For details, links, references, and show notes about today's guests, head over to the blog www.mysuncast.com. Email me if you have guest suggestions, topic ideas, or just want to connect: Nico@mysuncast.com And don't forget to leave us a rating & Review in whatever podcast player you're using (especially if it's Apple Podcasts!)

397: How to disrupt a $19B market? Erthos' Daniel Flanigan (CMO) & Charles Pimentel (CCO)

 Whit Fulton knows a thing or two about solving problems. Today, I interview this introverted inventor & talk about his journey to deliver a brilliantly simple yet innovative energy solution to the world: a smart meter collar adapter. After seven years as the CEO of ConnectDER, his team is delivering a technology that dramatically simplifies the way residential solar and EV chargers are connected to the grid. But of course, I always want to know how he got there. What are the real challenges of being a hardware start-up company? How do you keep your team together while growing quickly? And what was life like BEFORE CEO status (where he worked at places like GridPoint & ICF). I hope you enjoy all the details of our intimate conversation, from growing up in Vermont, wandering around Thailand, diving into Excel data at ICF and an excellent explanation of the challenges of residential solar installations.   Listen to our conversation right here, on Suncast. Remember you can always find the resources and learn more about today’s guest, recommendations, book links, and hundreds of other founder stories and startup advice at www.mysuncast.com. Text Nico and start a conversation! +1 (310) 634-1780 You can connect with me, Nico Johnson, on Twitter, LinkedIn or email

396: One simple device could SAVE your Residential deal, Whit Fulton, CEO of ConnectDER

SunCast is dedicated to providing the knowledge, research, tools and expert guidance you need to understand, grown and be ahead of the curve in the fastest growing solar markets in the world. Each week, host Nico Johnson takes you deep into conversations with solar energy industry executives from leading companies like SolarCity, SunEdison, Nextracker, Trina Solar, Conergy, Greentech Media and discovers what THEY are using to get ahead in emerging markets like Mexico, Chile, Brazil, Panama, Colombia and elsewhere in Latin America and the Caribbean. Tune in, and stay informed.

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