California’s biggest clean energy bottleneck with Ali Chehrehsaz (TerraVerde Energy)

Oct 7, 2025

Ali Chehrehsaz, CEO of TerraVerde Energy, has over 15 years of experience guiding California's public agencies toward clean energy solutions. In this discussion, he reveals how interconnection delays are the biggest bottleneck for solar and storage projects. Ali emphasizes the potential of microgrids to enhance resilience and save costs for essential services like schools and water districts. He advocates for clearer regulatory processes and innovative approaches to tackle mounting energy challenges, pushing for a future focused on efficiency and electrification.

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ANECDOTE

How TerraVerde Began

Ali founded TerraVerde after seeing school districts struggle to procure onsite solar in 2009.
They started with a mission to 'help schools go solar' and expanded to serve many public agencies.

INSIGHT

Public Agencies Are Natural Solar Buyers

Public agencies are natural buyers of solar and microgrids because energy costs are baked into their service rates.
These agencies value resilience and cost reductions differently than tax-credit-driven commercial buyers.

INSIGHT

Microgrids Blend Savings And Resilience

Combining batteries with diesel generators and solar delivers both economic savings and resilience for water and wastewater plants.
Batteries handle short outages and peak shaving while generators extend support for long events, reducing diesel emissions and costs.

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California’s clean energy story is often told through solar and batteries, but the real challenge isn’t building the technology, it’s connecting it. Across the state, schools, water districts, and city governments want to deploy microgrids to cut costs and boost resilience, yet many projects are stuck in interconnection queues, waiting years to come online. The result? Communities lose out on cheaper, cleaner power, and essential services remain exposed to grid instability.

In this episode of Transmission, we hear from Ali Chehrehsaz, CEO of TerraVerde Energy, who has spent over 15 years helping California’s public agencies navigate this landscape. He explains why interconnection has become the biggest bottleneck for solar and storage, how agencies can take control of their energy future, and what reforms are needed to deliver resilience at scale. It’s a conversation about turning ambition into action and about building clean power where it matters most.

Key topics covered:

• Why interconnection, not incentives, is now the biggest barrier for solar and storage.

• How microgrids can cut costs and strengthen resilience for schools, cities, and water districts.

• The lessons from 15+ years of deploying clean energy in California.

• Why public agencies are uniquely positioned to lead in the transition.

• What reforms are needed to fix the queue and speed up deployment.

About our guest:

Ali Chehrehsazis CEO of TerraVerde Energy, advising public agencies across California on deploying microgrids, solar, and batteries to cut costs, improve resilience, and accelerate the clean energy transition. For more information on TerraVerde, head to their website.

About Modo Energy

Modo Energy helps the owners, operators, builders, and financiers of battery energy storage solutions understand the market - and make the most out of their assets.

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