The Green Light

In this Green Light episode, Catherine sat down with Lightsource bp’s COO & Head of USA, Emilie Wangerman, to hear about her latest updates - from 520 MW of solar projects with Verizon, Bank of America & McDonald’s to scaling agrivoltaics to bp fully acquiring the company. Emilie has worked her way up from Director to now COO at the company. Six years after Emilie began working at Lightsource bp in business development, the team has executed 4+ GW of power contracts & raised over $4 billion in project financing, with a pipeline of 30+ GW in the U.S. If you’re a clean energy employer & need help scaling your workforce efficiently with top tier candidates, contact Catherine McLean, CEO & Founder of Dylan Green, directly on LinkedIn: https://bit.ly/3odzxQr. If you’re looking for your next role in clean energy, take a look at our industry-leading clients’ latest job openings: bit.ly/dg_jobs. 

Did you know the U.S. Army has over 950 renewable energy projects that supply it with over 480 MW of power? The Army also plans to add 25 new microgrids by 2024. The Department of Defense is one of the largest consumers of energy in the U.S., & for over a decade, Ameresco has been enabling the DoD to decarbonize & transition to renewable energy. Nicole Bulgarino, Executive Vice President at Ameresco, has personally overseen the development & implementation of over $3 billion of sustainable solutions in federal & government energy projects. In this episode, Catherine spoke with Nicole about this, as well as about Ameresco’s recent military projects in places like California & Hawaii.Nicole is also part of Cleantech Leaders Roundtable (CTLR), the nation's most prominent private community of cleantech & climate-tech leaders. CTLR's mission is to bring together a diverse group of founders, investors, & entrepreneurs for the purpose of idea sharing, networking, & building a supportive and collegial fellowship.If you’re a clean energy employer & need help scaling your workforce efficiently with top tier candidates, contact Catherine McLean, CEO & Founder of Dylan Green, directly on LinkedIn: https://bit.ly/3odzxQr. If you’re looking for your next role in clean energy, take a look at our industry-leading clients’ latest job openings: bit.ly/dg_jobs. 

Solstice recently partnered with ENGIE North America & Microsoft to bring up to 60% electricity savings to low-income households & nonprofits in Illinois through community solar. In this Green Light episode, Catherine spoke with the Founders of Solstice, Steph Speirs & Sandhya Murali, who met in business school at MIT after working in off-grid solar in places like India, Pakistan & Peru. Together, they have made significant progress in bridging the clean energy access gap in the U.S. Solstice’s success has been due in part to their AI & machine learning models, which have helped achieve their 99% collections rate & 98% subscription rate. If you’re looking for some inspiration & to learn about the latest advancements in community solar & climate equity, check out this episode.If you’re a clean energy employer & need help scaling your workforce efficiently with top tier candidates, contact Catherine McLean, CEO & Founder of Dylan Green, directly on LinkedIn: https://bit.ly/3odzxQr. If you’re looking for your next role in clean energy, take a look at our industry-leading clients’ latest job openings: bit.ly/dg_jobs. 

Heading to the WRISE Leadership Forum in D.C. this year? In this Green Light episode, Catherine spoke with Doseke Akporiaye, Executive Director of WRISE, about what will be new at the Forum, including their executive track, which will help empower senior women & non-binary leaders. Doseke & Catherine also discussed the impact that the WRISE Speakers Bureau & #NoMoreManelsPledge are having on women’s careers, including Anne Locke at E3 Consulting & Yejide Olutosin at the Business Climate Finance Initiative, whose career trajectories have been transformed after having been discovered through the Bureau. Doseke also shared about an initiative she is spearheading at WRISE to enable conferences like Solarplaza to publicly share data about representation on their panels. Shoutout to WRISE’s latest additions to its Board, including Constance Thompson at ACORE, Asha Gandhi at energyRe, & Lauren Haller at Pattern Energy Group. This episode was recorded at ACP’s Cleanpower conference in Minnesota.If you’re a clean energy employer & need help scaling your workforce efficiently with top tier candidates, send a message to Catherine McLean, CEO & Founder of Dylan Green, on LinkedIn: https://bit.ly/3odzxQr. If you’re looking for your next role in clean energy, take a look at our industry-leading clients’ latest job openings: bit.ly/dg_jobs. 

What was it like to found an onshore wind development firm & develop a pipeline of 8 GW in a few short years? Catherine spoke with Kenneth Labeja, CFO & Co-Founder at Triple Oak Power, about this, Triple Oak’s recent acquisition by private equity fund Energy Capital Partners & onshore wind development challenges. Labeja also shared tips for building a diverse & inclusive workforce, as well as about his support of the Energy Scholars Mentorship Program, which is sponsored by LevelTen Energy, Energy GPS, Microsoft, University of Washington Clean Energy Institute & Vestas Steelhead Americas. Thank you again to ACP for hosting this episode recording at the Cleanpower PowerCasts stage. If you’re a clean energy employer & need help scaling your workforce efficiently with top tier candidates, contact Catherine McLean, CEO & Founder of Dylan Green, directly on LinkedIn: https://bit.ly/3odzxQr. If you’re looking for your next role in clean energy, take a look at our industry-leading clients’ latest job openings: bit.ly/dg_jobs. 

From a $4.5M zero emissions trucking project with Forum Mobility, to virtual power plants, to contracting with Clearway Energy Group on a solar project involving Wartsila & NEXTracker, Ava Community Energy continues to track toward 100% carbon-free power by 2030. In fact, NREL recently named Ava, a community choice aggregator, one of the top green power providers in the U.S. In this Green Light episode, I will speak with Lori Bilella, Director of Clean Energy Services at Ava, about the recent initiatives their team is working on, Lori’s prior experience at Soltage & Black & Veatch, as well as some of the challenges of navigating a career in clean energy as someone who identifies as LGBTQIA+. If you’re a clean energy employer & need help scaling your workforce efficiently with top tier candidates, contact Catherine McLean, CEO & Founder of Dylan Green, directly on LinkedIn: https://bit.ly/3odzxQr. If you’re looking for your next role in clean energy, take a look at our industry-leading clients’ latest job openings: bit.ly/dg_jobs. 

Are you heading to Cleanpower in May? In this Green Light episode, you will learn what sets this show apart, including its EmpowHER Forum that is associated with WRISE, as well as about the significant growth of the trade association behind the conference. Catherine spoke with Rosanna Maietta, Chief Communications Officer & Senior Counselor to the CEO at the American Clean Power Association (ACP), about how ACP hired over 50 people last year alone & has reached over 800 member companies, including Invenergy, Orsted & Clearway Energy Group. Rosanna also talked about ACP’s key policy priorities - from implementing the IRA to green hydrogen to permitting reform. Rosanna started her career working as a journalist in Italy for Bloomberg News & spoke about how she recently transitioned into clean energy from a hospitality trade association.  If you’re a clean energy employer & need help scaling your workforce efficiently with top tier candidates, contact Catherine McLean, CEO & Founder of Dylan Green, directly on LinkedIn: https://bit.ly/3odzxQr. If you’re looking for your next role in clean energy, take a look at our industry-leading clients’ latest job openings: bit.ly/dg_jobs. 

From SunPower to Silicon Ranch to now RWE, Tasha McCarter has provided engineering leadership at every stage in the lifecycle of a power plant. She is now tasked with ensuring continued cleantech growth by focusing on people, processes & technology for RWE, which has nearly 20,000 employees in 30 countries. In this Green Light episode, Catherine spoke with Tasha about where she anticipates the most utility-scale energy storage growth taking place in the coming years, & how she & her team are overcoming key obstacles to cleantech deployment through policy & technology. Tasha also shared her key tips on how to recruit & retain a diverse team; how her interest in energy was sparked by a literal light bulb during a third grade science project; & about the ways in which she is giving back by supporting other energy professionals. Thanks for tuning in to the Green Light. Now let’s dive in. If you’re a clean energy employer & need help scaling your workforce efficiently with top tier candidates, contact Catherine McLean, CEO & Founder of Dylan Green, directly on LinkedIn: https://bit.ly/3odzxQr. If you’re looking for your next role in clean energy, take a look at our industry-leading clients’ latest job openings: bit.ly/dg_jobs. 

Arevon has been all over the news lately with a handful of major announcements, including its $350 million raise from Blackstone for an 800 MWh energy storage project with Southern California Edison, Rosendin & Tesla. In total, Arevon has secured over $2 billion in clean energy project financing over the last 4 months alone. In this Green Light episode, Catherine spoke with Lydia Li, Director of Investments at Arevon, about Arevon’s recent achievements, the significant impact of the transferability provision within the IRA, & the company’s continued growth as a leading independent power producer. Lydia also shared about how she transitioned into renewables from oil & gas, as well as why she thinks it’s necessary to have more senior women leaders in climate finance & how this can be accomplished. If you’re a clean energy employer & need help scaling your workforce efficiently with top tier candidates, contact Catherine McLean, CEO & Founder of Dylan Green, directly on LinkedIn: https://bit.ly/3odzxQr. If you’re looking for your next role in clean energy, take a look at our industry-leading clients’ latest job openings: bit.ly/dg_jobs. 

How was Pine Gate Renewables able to grow its team by 3x during the pandemic while also ensuring nearly half of its team remained people who identify as women? In this Green Light episode, Catherine spoke with Eric Shangle, a Navy Veteran & Veterans Advanced Energy Project Fellow, about the company’s myriad successful people & culture programs, including its work toward greater pay transparency. Eric also spoke about the company’s PRIDE Resource Group, & clean energy career advice & resources for those who identify as LGBTQIA+. Eric shared about Pine Gate’s involvement with the Renewables Forward DEIJ initiative, as well as its support of the Arbor Foundation & GivePower, a non-profit focused on delivering clean energy & water within developing nations.  If you’re a clean energy employer & need help scaling your workforce efficiently with top tier candidates, contact Catherine McLean, CEO & Founder of Dylan Green, directly on LinkedIn: https://bit.ly/3odzxQr. If you’re looking for your next role in clean energy, take a look at our industry-leading clients’ latest job openings: bit.ly/dg_jobs.