Solar Maverick Podcast

Episode Summary In this episode of Solar Maverick Podcast, Kent Halliburton takes us on his journey into the solar industry and bitcoin mining. Starting immediately after college, he worked at REC Solar for a few years before moving to Real Goods. He picked up his dream of traveling and began pursuing his passion for crypto. He takes us through the journey of how he was able to bring together his passion for crypto and tie it to his passion for solar energy. Kent talks about bitcoin mining and its benefits and renewable energy potential.    Benoy Thanjan Benoy Thanjan is the Founder and CEO of Reneu Energy and is also an advisor for several solar startup companies. Reneu Energy is a premier international solar energy consulting firm and developer, and the company focuses on developing commercial and industrial solar and utility-scale solar plus storage projects. The company also sources financing for solar projects and hedges energy and environmental commodities.  Benoy received his first experience in Finance as an intern at D.E. Shaw & Co., which is a global investment firm with 37 billion dollars in investment capital. Before founding Reneu Energy, he was the SREC Trader in the Project Finance Group for SolarCity, which merged with Tesla in 2016. He originated SREC trades with buyers and co-developed their SREC monetization and hedging strategy with the senior management of SolarCity to move into the east coast markets. Benoy also worked at Vanguard Energy Partners, Ridgewood Renewable Power, and Deloitte & Touche.   Kent Halliburton Kent is the Chief Operating Officer of Sazmining Inc, overseeing the development of renewable energy-driven Bitcoin mining operations. He is an expert in solar energy and crypto. Kent graduated Summa Cum Laude with a Computer Engineering B.S. from California Polytechnic University. He helped develop Solar Energy Industry Alliance’s Sales Training program. Prior to his position at Sazmining, Kent’s last prolific role was leading sales and business development efforts for a publicly-traded solar energy company.    Insights from this episode:  Strategies for bitcoin mining How to generate passive income from bitcoin mining How to manage the income from bitcoin mining Strategies on how to tap into the opportunities in the solar industry Secrets to bitcoin mining and renewable energy   Quotes from the show: “What I realized about bitcoin mining is that it is not intuitive, it takes some time to get there, but it is a perfect compliment for renewables” -Kent Halliburton, Solar Maverick Podcast “I think within 2-5 years, we are going to see an unparalleled explosion of growth within these two technologies [renewable energy and bitcoin mining]” -Kent Halliburton, Solar Maverick Podcast “Bitcoin mining could be a great opportunity for renewable energy” -Benoy Thanjan, Solar Maverick Podcast “It’s just interesting how things work and how fortuitous things are when you put yourself out there” -Benoy Thanjan, Solar Maverick Podcast “You never know where the networks and the relationships you make are going to take you” -Kent Halliburton, Solar Maverick Podcast “What’s brilliant about bitcoin mining is that it is the only manufacturing chain in the world that can be turned off in an instant” -Kent Halliburton, Solar Maverick Podcast “The only way that we are gonna keep our quality of life is by electrifying the grid, we got to electrify the grid, and decarbonize” -Kent Halliburton, Solar Maverick Podcast “Bitcoin mining is this energy that wants the cheapest energy, which is the energy that nobody else wants” -Kent Halliburton, Solar Maverick Podcast “There is no bigger honey pot in the world for attackers to go after than the bitcoin network” -Kent Halliburton, Solar Maverick Podcast “There is no network on the planet that is more secure than bitcoin” -Kent Halliburton, Solar Maverick Podcast   Stay connected:   Benoy Thanjan Website: www.reneuenergy.com Email: info@renewenergy.com LinkedIn: Benoy Thanjan Facebook: Reneu Energy   Kent Halliburton Website: Sazmining Medium: Kent Halliburton  LinkedIn: Kent Halliburton  Twitter: Kent Halliburton Solar Maverick Podcast and Reneu Energy Summer Solstice Party It is almost Summer Solstice which is the longest day of sunlight of the year!! Reneu Energy and the Solar Maverick Podcast will be celebrating the Summer Solstice on Thursday, June 23rd from 6pm to 10pm in Jersey City. It will be held at Hudson Hall which is beer hall and I am one of the owners of Hudson Hall. The details are below.  https://www.eventbrite.com/e/summer-solstice-party-tickets-362940513847   Subscribe to our podcast + download each episode on iTunes, Podbean, YouTube, and most of the major podcast platforms.   This episode was produced and managed by Podcast Laundry.

Episode Summary In this episode of the Solar Maverick Podcast, Benoy speaks with John Powers about his company Extensible Energy whose mission is to bring energy intelligence to the small to medium building owners. Some of interesting things that John speaks about building energy intelligence for small to medium commercial and industrial buildings and changing how Solar sells to Commercial Customers. Benoy Thanjan Benoy Thanjan is the Founder and CEO of Reneu Energy, as well as an advisor for several solar startup companies. Reneu Energy is a premier international solar energy consulting firm and developer, and the company focuses on developing commercial and industrial solar, as well as utility-scale solar plus storage projects. The company also sources financing for solar projects and hedges both energy and environmental commodities.  Benoy received his first experience in Finance as an intern at D.E. Shaw & Co., which is a global investment firm with 37 billion dollars in investment capital. Before founding Reneu Energy, he was the SREC Trader in the Project Finance Group for SolarCity, which merged with Tesla in 2016. He originated SREC trades with buyers and co-developed their SREC monetization and hedging strategy with the senior management of SolarCity, to move into the east coast markets. Benoy also worked at Vanguard Energy Partners, Ridgewood Renewable Power, and Deloitte & Touche. John Powers John’s a longtime energy software entrepreneur, and his latest venture is turning dumb energy wasting buildings into genius energy saving buildings with DemandEx, an AI load flexibility and energy control software. The software works with or without solar, but focusses on peak shaving commercial demand charges by intelligently monitoring the whole building’s energy usage and production, then smartly flexing loads on and off to reduce demand peaks caused by HVAC, EV chargers, heat pumps, etc. It can also optimize batteries, if available.  DemandEx is NOT demand response, but rather demand flexibility. Its goal is to reduce utility bills for the building owner, not for the utility, although it can integrate with demand response programs if desired. Extensible Energy is on a mission to bring energy intelligence to the small to medium buildings under 100,000 sq. ft., such as office buildings, warehouses, schools, and retail. Traditionally, building automation systems were too expensive and too complicated for this market. With Extensible’s SaaS business model, small buildings can now become energy efficient genius buildings for as little as $200/month and save thousands of dollars every year.   Stay Connected: Benoy Thanjan Email: info@reneuenergy.com  LinkedIn: Benoy Thanjan Website: https://www.reneuenergy.com   John Powers  Linkedin:  https://www.linkedin.com/in/johntpowers/ Website:  https://www.extensibleenergy.com/ Email:  john@extensibleenergy.com   Subscribe to our podcast + download each episode on iTunes,Podbean, and youtube. Subscribe to our podcast + download each episode on iTunes,Podbean, youtube, and most of the major podcast platforms. This episode was produced and managed by Podcast Laundry (www.podcastlaundry.com)                

Episode Summary In this episode of the Solar Maverick Podcast, Benoy speaks with Bill Nussey about his new book Freeing Energy which is a must read if you are in the solar industry or interested in solar.  The book focuses on how innovators are using local-scale solar and batteries to disrupt the global energy industry from the outside in.  Freeing Energy is a deeply researched, actionable guide for anyone that cares about the future of energy—from startups, policymakers, investors, and utility leaders to the families and communities that want cleaner, cheaper energy today.  Some of the interesting things that Bill speaks about Solar and Storage Technology is not fuel, the inevitable of having too much solar electricity, and why China is dominating solar manufacturing. Benoy Thanjan Benoy Thanjan is the Founder and CEO of Reneu Energy, as well as an advisor for several solar startup companies. Reneu Energy is a premier international solar energy consulting firm and developer, and the company focuses on developing commercial and industrial solar, as well as utility-scale solar plus storage projects. The company also sources financing for solar projects and hedges both energy and environmental commodities.  Benoy received his first experience in Finance as an intern at D.E. Shaw & Co., which is a global investment firm with 37 billion dollars in investment capital. Before founding Reneu Energy, he was the SREC Trader in the Project Finance Group for SolarCity, which merged with Tesla in 2016. He originated SREC trades with buyers and co-developed their SREC monetization and hedging strategy with the senior management of SolarCity, to move into the east coast markets. Benoy also worked at Vanguard Energy Partners, Ridgewood Renewable Power, and Deloitte & Touche. Bill Nussey Bill Nussey is the founder of the Freeing Energy Project, whose mission is to accelerate the shift to cleaner, cheaper energy. Prior to Freeing Energy, Bill spent most of his career as a tech CEO. His first company, which he co-founded in high school, provided graphics software for early, text-based personal computers. His second company, Da Vinci Systems, was started out of his college dorm room and grew to serve millions of users across 45 countries. Later, he spent several years as a venture capitalist with Greylock. In 1998, he left the firm to run a portfolio company, iXL, which went public and grew to almost $500 million in revenue. After iXL, he joined Silverpop as CEO. Silverpop grew to nearly $100 million and became a global leader in cloud-based marketing. In 2014, IBM acquired the company and made it the foundation of the IBM Marketing Cloud. Shortly after the acquisition, Bill was promoted to VP Corporate Strategy out of IBM’s world headquarters in New York. Bill’s companies have created thousands of jobs and billions of dollars in value. Bill’s journey into clean energy began with a TED Talk, which grew into 100+ articles and, most recently, a top ten energy podcast called The Feeing Energy Podcast.  All of this supported and ultimately led to his upcoming book called Freeing Energy. Supported by 320 interviews across the world, the book’s mission is to help readers understand a powerful new approach to accelerating the shift to clean energy. The core ideas focus on decentralized (or local) energy, novel business models, and new approaches to ownership and finance.  In 2018, Bill co-founded Solar Inventions whose mission is to commercialize a set of scientific breakthroughs for improving silicon photovoltaics. Bill received a degree in electrical engineering from North Carolina State University and an MBA from Harvard Business School. He holds several patents, has published two books and sits on several commercial and non-profit boards. Bill and his family are involved in a handful of projects providing off-grid, resilient electricity in places like East Africa and Puerto Rico.   Stay Connected: Benoy Thanjan Email: info@reneuenergy.com  LinkedIn: Benoy Thanjan Website: https://www.reneuenergy.com   Bill Nussey   Purchase Freeing Energy on Amazon:  https://www.amazon.com/Freeing-Energy-Innovators-Local-Scale-Batteries/dp/B09MZLF2L9/ref=sr_1_1?crid=2DCX78UTL1AMN&keywords=freeing+energy&qid=1648512232&sprefix=freeing+energy%2Caps%2C96&sr=8-1   Linkedin:  https://www.linkedin.com/in/billnussey/ Website:  https://www.freeingenergy.com He was on Episode 82 of the Solar Maverick Podcast with Ben Damiani on their startup Solar inventions. https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/solar-maverick-podcast/id1441876259?i=1000491304732   Subscribe to our podcast + download each episode on iTunes,Podbean, and youtube. Subscribe to our podcast + download each episode on iTunes,Podbean, youtube, and most of the major podcast platforms. This episode was produced and managed by Podcast Laundry (www.podcastlaundry.com)                

Episode Summary In this episode of the Solar Maverick Podcast, Benoy speaks with Mark Culpepper who is the GM for global solar solutions at DroneBase, which is accurately and cost-effectively inspect solar assets to identify system anomalies so you can increase energy output, recover lost energy revenue, and mitigate risk.  Mark Culpepper speaks about many interesting topics like how Dronebase is able troubleshoot modules with thermal scan at scale, manned aircrafts allow thermal scan at scale compared to drones, and Dronebase is going to scan about 80GW next year and exponentially going forward Benoy Thanjan Benoy Thanjan is the Founder and CEO of Reneu Energy, as well as an advisor for several solar startup companies. Reneu Energy is a premier international solar energy consulting firm and developer, and the company focuses on developing commercial and industrial solar, as well as utility-scale solar plus storage projects. The company also sources financing for solar projects and hedges both energy and environmental commodities.  Benoy received his first experience in Finance as an intern at D.E. Shaw & Co., which is a global investment firm with 37 billion dollars in investment capital. Before founding Reneu Energy, he was the SREC Trader in the Project Finance Group for SolarCity, which merged with Tesla in 2016. He originated SREC trades with buyers and co-developed their SREC monetization and hedging strategy with the senior management of SolarCity, to move into the east coast markets. Benoy also worked at Vanguard Energy Partners, Ridgewood Renewable Power, and Deloitte & Touche. Mark Culpepper Mark Culpepper is the GM for global solar solutions at DroneBase, which is accurately and cost-effectively inspect solar assets to identify system anomalies so you can increase energy output, recover lost energy revenue, and mitigate risk. Mark started Precision Precision XYZ, a drone data services firm focused exclusively on the solar sector that was purchased He has extensive experience as a senior technology executive working in sectors ranging from general aviation to data communications and wireless technology to network security and distributed energy, and have lived through three technology commoditization cycles - Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS), Solar Energy as a Service (SEaaS), and Drone Service Providers (DSPs). As CTO and GM of Global Services at SunEdison, I leveraged IoT technology to lead the development of the world’s first global service operations for distributed solar energy systems. Stay Connected: Benoy Thanjan Email: info@reneuenergy.com  LinkedIn: Benoy Thanjan Website: https://www.reneuenergy.com   Mark Culpepper Linkedin:  https://www.linkedin.com/in/mark-culpepper-592291/ Website:  https://dronebase.com/industries/solar#insights-solar-get-quote   Subscribe to our podcast + download each episode on iTunes,Podbean, and youtube. Subscribe to our podcast + download each episode on iTunes,Podbean, youtube, and most of the major podcast platforms. This episode was produced and managed by Podcast Laundry (www.podcastlaundry.com)                

Episode Summary In this episode of the Solar Maverick Podcast, Benoy speaks with Nobel Chang who is the Managing Partner of Commercial Strategy & Business Development from Palladium Energy.  Palladium Energy is a solar developer and investor that develops utility scale solar projects in the US.  Nobel speaks about many interesting topics like how to look at a new solar market, how to scale solar development, and what makes a project bankable. Benoy Thanjan Benoy Thanjan is the Founder and CEO of Reneu Energy, as well as an advisor for several solar startup companies. Reneu Energy is a premier international solar energy consulting firm and developer, and the company focuses on developing commercial and industrial solar, as well as utility-scale solar plus storage projects. The company also sources financing for solar projects and hedges both energy and environmental commodities.  Benoy received his first experience in Finance as an intern at D.E. Shaw & Co., which is a global investment firm with 37 billion dollars in investment capital. Before founding Reneu Energy, he was the SREC Trader in the Project Finance Group for SolarCity, which merged with Tesla in 2016. He originated SREC trades with buyers and co-developed their SREC monetization and hedging strategy with the senior management of SolarCity, to move into the east coast markets. Benoy also worked at Vanguard Energy Partners, Ridgewood Renewable Power, and Deloitte & Touche. Nobel Chang Nobel leads business development, market strategy, and commercial execution at Palladium Energy. He started his solar career in 2009, Nobel has originated and developed DG and utility-scale projects in CAISO, Northwest, MISO, ISO-NE, PJM, and Southeast markets in the United States. He also has developed and financed projects in Mexico, Chile, and Japan. Prior to co-founding Palladium Energy, Nobel was the VP of Development at US Topco Energy, started a greenfield development company, then joined Pine Gate Renewables as the VP of New Markets and Capital Strategy. Stay Connected: Benoy Thanjan Email: info@reneuenergy.com  LinkedIn: Benoy Thanjan Website: https://www.reneuenergy.com    Noble Chang Linkedin:  https://www.linkedin.com/in/nobelchang/ Website:  www.Pd46Energy.com Email:  nchang@pd46energy.com   Subscribe to our podcast + download each episode on iTunes,Podbean, and youtube. Subscribe to our podcast + download each episode on iTunes,Podbean, youtube, and most of the major podcast platforms. This episode was produced and managed by Podcast Laundry (www.podcastlaundry.com)              

Episode Summary In this episode of the Solar Maverick Podcast, Benoy speaks with Nathan Jovanelly who is the head of business development from Enerflo.  Enerflo is a platform for Solar Sales and Operations and has processed $2 Billion in solar transactions to date.  Nate speaks about many interesting topics like how lowering soft costs is the next big thing in solar, Enerflo’s software simplifies the solar process, selling residential solar online will become more popular, and other solar trends and predictions. Benoy Thanjan Benoy Thanjan is the Founder and CEO of Reneu Energy, as well as an advisor for several solar startup companies. Reneu Energy is a premier international solar energy consulting firm and developer, and the company focuses on developing commercial and industrial solar, as well as utility-scale solar plus storage projects. The company also sources financing for solar projects and hedges both energy and environmental commodities.  Benoy received his first experience in Finance as an intern at D.E. Shaw & Co., which is a global investment firm with 37 billion dollars in investment capital. Before founding Reneu Energy, he was the SREC Trader in the Project Finance Group for SolarCity, which merged with Tesla in 2016. He originated SREC trades with buyers and co-developed their SREC monetization and hedging strategy with the senior management of SolarCity, to move into the east coast markets. Benoy also worked at Vanguard Energy Partners, Ridgewood Renewable Power, and Deloitte & Touche.   Nathan Jovanelly Nathan Jovanelly is the head of business development at Enerflo.  Nate joined Enerflo because he believes everyone should have access to affordable green energy. At Enerflo they are helping their solar partners increase efficiencies and cut costs by creating a seamless customer journey from lead to PTO. Enerflo gives your reps the most unified solar sales process in the industry. One platform, one login, one seamless experience across the entire solar customer journey. They’re on a mission to help democratize solar energy and spread it across the globe, one well-executed deal at a time.   Stay Connected: Benoy Thanjan Email: info@reneuenergy.com  LinkedIn: Benoy Thanjan Website: https://www.reneuenergy.com   Nate Jovanelly Linkedin:  https://www.linkedin.com/in/natejov/ Website:  https://enerflo.com   Press release regarding Nate joining Enerflo. https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/nathan-jovanelly-joins-enerflo-as-head-of-business-development-301463017.html   Nate’s other interviews on the Solar Maverick Podcast SMP 100: US Residential Solar, Storage, and Electric Vehicle Trends https://solarmaverick.podbean.com/e/smp-100-us-residential-solar-storage-and-electric-vehicles-trends/ SMP 74: Impact on COVID-19 on Residential Solar https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/smp-74-impacts-of-covid-19-on-residential-solar/id1441876259?i=1000475840259 SMP 58:  Residential Solar Financing and Other Interesting Topics https://podcasts.apple.com/tc/podcast/smp-58-residential-solar-financing-other-interesting/id1441876259?i=1000459212910 SMP 20:  The Solar Intrapreneur Story:  How Nate helped IGS become one of the biggest solar asset owners in the US https://podcasts.apple.com/tc/podcast/smp-20-solar-intrapreneur-story-how-nate-helped-igs/id1441876259?i=1000432329129   Subscribe to our podcast + download each episode on iTunes,Podbean, and youtube. Subscribe to our podcast + download each episode on iTunes,Podbean, youtube, and most of the major podcast platforms. This episode was produced and managed by Podcast Laundry (www.podcastlaundry.com)                

Episode Summary In this episode of the Solar Maverick Podcast, Benoy speaks with Jordan Leventhal from Invenergy and John Moran from Lafayette Square.  They discuss REACTIVATE which is a new innovative solar platform which is a joint venture between Invenergy and Lafayette Square. By 2030, Reactivate seeks to develop three gigawatts (“GW”) of renewable energy capacity, save $50 million in energy costs for LMI households, sign 100 contracts with minority or women-owned contractors, and facilitate workforce training for 2,500 underserved workers.  They speak about many interesting topics like how REACTIVATE is solar 2.0, the many benefits of community solar project, and how to scale solar deployment and investment. Benoy Thanjan Benoy Thanjan is the Founder and CEO of Reneu Energy, as well as an advisor for several solar startup companies. Reneu Energy is a premier international solar energy consulting firm and developer, and the company focuses on developing commercial and industrial solar, as well as utility-scale solar plus storage projects. The company also sources financing for solar projects and hedges both energy and environmental commodities.  Benoy received his first experience in Finance as an intern at D.E. Shaw & Co., which is a global investment firm with 37 billion dollars in investment capital. Before founding Reneu Energy, he was the SREC Trader in the Project Finance Group for SolarCity, which merged with Tesla in 2016. He originated SREC trades with buyers and co-developed their SREC monetization and hedging strategy with the senior management of SolarCity, to move into the east coast markets. Benoy also worked at Vanguard Energy Partners, Ridgewood Renewable Power, and Deloitte & Touche. John Moran John Moran leads the community solar energy platform, Reactivate, in its efforts to make impact in underserved areas by acquiring, developing, financing, and operating renewable energy projects that support local communities. Prior to joining Lafayette Square as Co-Head of Community Solar, John was a Vice President at Goldman Sachs in the Renewable Power Group where he helped pioneer the group's Community Solar business. John has worked in the solar and renewables industry since 2006 and has worked on over a gigawatt of projects. Previously, John was a Project Manager at Spower where he was responsible for taking projects from inception, through permitting, construction and financing. Prior to Spower, John held positions at Suntech where he led utility scale sales on the east coast, and EDF where he established their east coast distributed generation business. Before entering the Renewables space in 2006 John was a High School Science Teacher and Coach at Cardinal Hayes High School in the Bronx. John started his career in Private Wealth Management at Morgan Stanley. John serves on the board of the Spinal Muscular Atrophy Research Team. Originally from New City, NY, John holds a BS from the University of Notre Dame. Jordan Leventhal Jordan Leventhal serves on the Investment Committee of Reactivate and as Manager of Growth and Innovation at Invenergy. In his role at Reactivate, Jordan advises on market and impact strategy and oversees key investment decisions. At Invenergy, Jordan leads the Growth and Innovation team where he engages in strategic planning and leads various growth initiatives across Invenergy’s solar, wind, energy storage, and other technology platforms. Prior to his current role, Jordan led emerging technologies on the Invenergy Strategy team where he was instrumental in the launch of new Invenergy technology platforms including hydrogen, distributed energy, electric vehicle charging, offshore wind, and long-duration energy storage. Previously, Jordan worked at Deloitte Consulting in the Strategy and Operations practice where he led strategy, sustainability, and corporate restructuring projects for large electric utility and consumer goods companies. Jordan holds a BS in Chemistry from the University of Pittsburgh.   Stay Connected: Benoy Thanjan Email: info@reneuenergy.com  LinkedIn: Benoy Thanjan Website: https://www.reneuenergy.com   John Moran Linkedin:  https://www.linkedin.com/in/john-moran-03a3b3a/ Website:  https://www.reactivate.com                     https://www.lafayettesquare.com   Jordan Leventhal Linkedin:  https://www.linkedin.com/in/jordan-leventhal-ba127b90/ Website:  https://www.reactivate.com                     https://invenergy.com   Additional Notes Lafayette Square and Invenergy Announce Launch of Renewable Energy Joint Venture.  The link to the press release is below. https://invenergy.com/news/lafayette-square-and-invenergy-announce-launch-of-renewable-energy-joint-venture Invenergy Announces Approximately $3 Billion Investment from Blackstone Infrastructure Partners to Accelerate Renewable Development Activities.  The link to the press release is below. https://invenergy.com/news/invenergy-announces-approximately-3-billion-investment-from-blackstone-infrastructure-partners-to-accelerate-renewable-development-activities Subscribe to our podcast + download each episode on iTunes,Podbean, youtube, and most of the major podcast platforms. This episode was produced and managed by Podcast Laundry (www.podcastlaundry.com)                

Episode Summary In this episode of the Solar Maverick Podcast, Benoy speaks with Harald Overholm who is the CEO and Founder of Alight Energy.  Alight Energy is the leading solar Power Purchase Agreement provider in the Nordics and developing more than 500 MW of PPA-based onsite and offsite projects across Europe.  Harald speaks about many interesting topics like the European PPA market, how the European solar market has evolved, and how higher electricity prices in the past year is allowing more solar. Benoy Thanjan Benoy Thanjan is the Founder and CEO of Reneu Energy, as well as an advisor for several solar startup companies. Reneu Energy is a premier international solar energy consulting firm and developer, and the company focuses on developing commercial and industrial solar, as well as utility-scale solar plus storage projects. The company also sources financing for solar projects and hedges both energy and environmental commodities.  Benoy received his first experience in Finance as an intern at D.E. Shaw & Co., which is a global investment firm with 37 billion dollars in investment capital. Before founding Reneu Energy, he was the SREC Trader in the Project Finance Group for SolarCity, which merged with Tesla in 2016. He originated SREC trades with buyers and co-developed their SREC monetization and hedging strategy with the senior management of SolarCity, to move into the east coast markets. Benoy also worked at Vanguard Energy Partners, Ridgewood Renewable Power, and Deloitte & Touche. Harald Overholm Harald was previously a cleantech venture capitalist and an advisor on solar markets to the WWF and the Swedish Government. He earned his PhD from the University of Cambridge with a thesis on solar diffusion and PPA. He is a member of the International Energy Agency’s PVPS workgroup on solar business models, a former associate with leading global sustainability think tank Stockholm Environment Institute, and a former board member of the Swedish Solar Energy Association.   Stay Connected: Benoy Thanjan Email: info@reneuenergy.com  LinkedIn: Benoy Thanjan Website: https://www.reneuenergy.com   Harald Overholm Website:  https://www.alight-energy.com Linkedin:  https://www.linkedin.com/in/haraldoverholm/   Additional Notes Benoy wrote two articles on Power Purchase Agreements(“PPA”) in Renewable Energy World and PV Magazine.  The links are below. https://www.renewableenergyworld.com/wind-power/achieving-affordable-clean-energy-goals-through-offsite-corporate-ppas/ https://static1.squarespace.com/static/553e8897e4b0836f4e9a5ccd/t/59bd51a4e5dd5b51a03c20ab/1505579432776/09050_Corporate_PPAs.pdf   Below is a link with Solar Maverick Podcast Episode 52 called PPA 101. https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/smp-52-ppa-101/id1441876259?i=1000455375187   Subscribe to our podcast + download each episode on iTunes,Podbean, youtube, and most of the major podcast platforms. This episode was produced and managed by  Podcast Laundry (www.podcastlaundry.com)                

Episode Summary In this episode of the Solar Maverick Podcast, Benoy speaks with Jim Spano who is the Co-Founder, Head of Originations of Sol-REIT and Mark Settles who is the CEO of Sol-REIT.  Sol-REIT offers long-term, fixed rate debt that matches the operational life of an asset and at a lower cost of capital.  Jim and Mark speak about many interesting topics like how developers can keep more of the value that they created with their solar projects, their innovative financing to help developers own their projects, and energy storage financing. Benoy Thanjan Benoy Thanjan is the Founder and CEO of Reneu Energy, as well as an advisor for several solar startup companies. Reneu Energy is a premier international solar energy consulting firm and developer, and the company focuses on developing commercial and industrial solar, as well as utility-scale solar plus storage projects. The company also sources financing for solar projects and hedges both energy and environmental commodities.  Benoy received his first experience in Finance as an intern at D.E. Shaw & Co., which is a global investment firm with 37 billion dollars in investment capital. Before founding Reneu Energy, he was the SREC Trader in the Project Finance Group for SolarCity, which merged with Tesla in 2016. He originated SREC trades with buyers and co-developed their SREC monetization and hedging strategy with the senior management of SolarCity, to move into the east coast markets. Benoy also worked at Vanguard Energy Partners, Ridgewood Renewable Power, and Deloitte & Touche. Jim Spano Jim has played a key role in the development of projects totaling over four hundred megawatts in solar generation facilities. Through his leadership, Spano Partners Holdings Companies, a founding joint venture partner of Sol-REIT, has become recognized as one of the top privately-owned utility-scale and commercial and industrial (C&I) solar energy developers and financiers in New Jersey.   Mark Settles Mark served as an executive coach for senior managers and as a senior executive for JPMorgan Chase & Co. for over 20 years. In his highest profile role at the bank, he reported directly to JPMorgan Chase CEO, Jamie Dimon, as the firm’s Managing Director and Diversity Recruiting Executive. In that role, Mark helped the firm find and develop women and ethnic minorities for senior positions at the bank. Throughout his banking career, Mark served as the head of various fixed income market product teams and as a specialist in central bank and sovereign reserves management.   Stay Connected: Benoy Thanjan Email: info@reneuenergy.com  LinkedIn: Benoy Thanjan Website: https://www.reneuenergy.com   Jim Spano Website:  https://www.sol-reit.com Linkedin:  https://www.linkedin.com/in/jim-spano-ab43521/ Jim Spano was interviewed on the Solar Maverick Podcast Episode 13: How to develop a great solar project and many other interesting topics about solar and entrepreneurship with Jim Spano from Spano. The link to the Jim's podcast interview is below. https://spanopartners.com/podcasts/solar-maverick-podcast/   Mark Settles Website:  https://www.sol-reit.com Linkedin:  https://www.linkedin.com/in/mark-settles-b0a93168/   Subscribe to our podcast + download each episode on iTunes,Podbean, youtube, and most of the major podcast platforms. This episode was produced and managed by  Podcast Laundry (www.podcastlaundry.com)