Ep 38: The Potential of Corporate Rooftop Solar, Batteries for Resilience and Scaling Clean Energy: Our Talk with Jigar Shah and Arpita Bhattacharyya

May 21, 2024

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Today we are joined by two guests from the Loan Programs Office (LPO): Arpita Bhattacharyya, Senior Advisor and Chief Climate Officer, and Jigar Shah, Director. They discuss how the LPO helps businesses overcome barriers to accelerate energy opportunities and share a bit about the financing of the Lithium Americas Corp processing plant in Nevada. You'll also hear about their early inspirations for pursuing energy solutions, as well as the story behind the Viejas Microgrid and how more businesses and communities can access funding like this.

Listen in as we talk about how to balance supply and demand sustainably, the impact of the Inflation Reduction Act, and why businesses must now take a more proactive role in managing their energy needs. You will learn the role of industrial strategy in the U.S. and the importance of coordination and enabling technologies to meet the growing demand for sustainable energy solutions. From the benefits of solar rooftops to the necessity of battery storage, this episode offers practical insights for navigating the evolving energy landscape.

What You'll Learn In Today's Episode:

How the LPO helps to remove the barriers to businesses to accelerate energy opportunities.
The story behind Viejas Microgrid.
How more businesses and communities can access funding.
The financing of the Lithium Americas Corp processing plant in Nevada.
How we can balance supply and demand more sustainably.

Ideas Worth Sharing:

“We’re ready for this growth moment. But I do think folks have to just take a deep breath, recognize that we have the solutions, and then go out every day to push them forward.” – Jigar Shah
“I think in the 1970s, we somehow decided that these infrastructure things would be done by other people and we don’t have to worry about it. The electric utility was going to handle it, the water utility was going to handle it. Whatever it is, they were going to do it. And I just run my business, and I don’t need to be concerned. And now we’re realizing that you kind of do.” – Jigar Shah
“The Inflation Reduction Act did a great job of creating levers for both demand and for supply. For creating demand, we have all the tax incentives to figure out how to ensure the affordability of solar panels, wind, hydrogen, geothermal, etc. The LPO is on the supply side, making sure we have the supply to meet all of that.” – Arpita Bhattacharyya

Resources In Today's Episode:

You can view a video of the conversation on VECKTA's website here: https://tinyurl.com/se2uc2hv