SunCast

#201: Kristina Skierka, Founder of Power For All Today I’m doing my first ever episode dedicated to Giving Tuesday, a fitting way to kick off Season 5 of SunCast! Today’s Entrepreneur, Kristina Skierka has been a catalyst since early childhood, and today is dedicated to inspiring and empowering entrepreneurs, governments and nonprofits globally to lift others out of energy poverty. She started Power For All in 2015 with a bold mission: delivering access to energy for the 85 percent of the 1.1 billion people without reliable power that live in rural areas by the year 2025. And we’re closer than you might think! I hope you’ll also be inspired to give back, and we provide some thoughtful ways to do that near the end of today’s episode. Gain access to all the show notes & resources from this episode here Thanks to our podcast sponsors for continuing to help make this content free to You! IF you have stuck Commercial Solar projects, you really should consider how they can help: Energetic Insurance and Extensible Energy Learn more by clicking on their respective company links.

#200: SPI, American-Made Solar Prize Winners Episode number 200 of SunCast!  I hope you’re having a restful day as many of you here in the US are enjoying a holiday, and likely still feeling stuffed and grateful from yesterday's Thanksgiving celebration. The last 4 years have really flown by, but so have the last 100 episodes! We have done our 2nd 100 episodes in 1/3rd the time it took for the first 100, and I tell you the feedback is amazing. I love hearing from you all, and am so grateful for the tribe we’ve built. If you’re not subscribed to our email, then you already missed out on our first announcement today of our Black Friday weekend special on membership to the SunCast Tribe, so I encourage you to pause the intro and go ahead over to mysuncast.com (we’ve even linked to it in the description right there in your podcast player) and subscribe. This is the lowest it’s ever going to be to join our Tribe, so take advantage now. Ok, welcome back… To celebrate our 200th episode, you guessed it, I’m releasing more SPI Podcast Lounge content (which if I’m honest with you is pure coincidence, and you can expect more of these live SPI episodes every Friday for a while!) With every episode of SunCast, we get to meet and learn from amazing and inspiring entrepreneurs. In September, I had the distinct pleasure of hosting the creators of The American-Made Solar Prize, a prize competition from the U.S. Department of Energy that is designed to revitalize U.S. solar manufacturing. The winners of the first round of the Solar Prize were announced at Solar Power International, and those lucky winners were featured live at our Podcast Lounge in Salt Lake City. What a phenomenal surprise when I discovered that 2 previous guests of SunCast turned out to be Winners! Today you’ll learn more about the prize, hear from the winners, and find out how You, too, can participate!  One quick note that we did originally record 3 episodes, with number 3 being all about the 3rd round of the prize, which is is open to applications until December 10th. Unfortunately, that recording seems to have gotten lost in the shuffle between Salt Lake and coming home, so I’d like to encourage you to listen all the way through the outro of the show today for add’l details on Round 3, if You are interested in participating.  Today’s episode is broken into 2 parts, so when you hear the first piece ending, it’s not the end of the show, just keep listening. Remember you can always find me on Twitter, LinkedIn or email and you can get the resources and learn more about today’s guest & recommendations on the SunCast Blog. Thanks to our podcast sponsors for continuing to help make this content free to You! IF you have stuck Commercial Solar projects, you really should consider how they can help: Energetic Insurance and Extensible Energy Learn more by clicking on their respective company links.

#199: SunCast Live w/Aurora Co-Founder Today’s entrepreneur is Sam Adeyemo, Co-founder and COO of Aurora Solar. I’m sure many of you have heard of Aurora, as their flagship design software has been used to design over 2 Million solar projects since they launched in 2013! And believe me, they are just getting started. This interview introduces a lot of never-before-asked-on-SunCast questions and a lot of things that even Sam admits he hasn’t really talked about in public before. But today’s episode is even more special because it was also recorded in front of a live audience at the Aurora headquarters in San Francisco last month at our first ever SunCast Live event! Gain access to all the show notes & resources from this episode here - Join the Tribe? Check out Episode 86, in which I explain how YOU can become a SunCast Tribe member and support the growth and stability of SunCast moving forward! www.mysuncast.com/member to join today! If you like what you see and hear, please SHARE it with this pre-filled tweet!

#198: Karin Berardo Tactical Tuesday I got great feedback on episode 183 back in September with my friend and returning guest Karin Berardo where we touched on the topic of ESG. It’s clear that ESG is a hot topic these days, and it’s also clear that it’s not one that’s well understood. So, Karin is back to give us a primer on the subject to which she’s now dedicating most of her time. Today we discuss the increasingly important role sustainable and socially responsible investing is commanding for Corporate and Institutional investors, and the Environment, Social and Governance criteria that are driving the adoption worldwide. Gain access to all the show notes & resources from this episode here - Join the Tribe? Check out Episode 86, in which I explain how YOU can become a SunCast Tribe member and support the growth and stability of SunCast moving forward! www.mysuncast.com/member to join today! If you like what you see and hear, please SHARE it with this pre-filled tweet!

Hey there solar warriors, I know many of you have been waiting for us to release the episodes recorded LIVE at the Podcast Lounge SPI 2019. We're kicking things off with this dynamic duo, by no means strangers to the renewables industry: Julia Hamm and Abigail Hopper. Together, they run two of the most prominent organizations providing advocacy for the solar and smart-power industries. Julia is the President and CEO of the Smart Electric Power Alliance (SEPA). And, Abby is the President and CEO of the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA). While I'm sure many of you, as I, still refer to this tradeshow as SPI, one of the first things we discussed is the rebrand to being North America Smart Energy Week (NASEW). Our conversation was framed by many other questions that perhaps some of you have asked yourselves recently, such as why Salt Lake City for this year's SPI, or how much time they plan in advance to decide venues? Julia and Abby also gave their insights into the expectations for SPI as the largest clean energy show in North America. SPI has definitely evolved over the last decade+, so Julia and Abby took the time to explain why that matters to all of us who have been focused predominantly on solar during that time (Hint: They are taking more market share!) Thanks to SETS, SEIA, and SEPA for hosting the Podcast Lounge Live at SPI, ESI & North America Smart Energy Week (NASEW) 2019. Remember you can always find me on Twitter, LinkedIn or email and you can get the resources and learn more about today’s guest & recommendations on the SunCast Blog. Thanks to our podcast sponsors for continuing to help make this content free to You! IF you have stuck Commercial Solar projects, you really should consider how they can help: Energetic Insurance and Extensible Energy Learn more by clicking on their respective company links.

#196: John Chaimanis, Kendall Sustainable Infrastructure Today’s entrepreneur, John Chaimanis, is co-founder and Managing Director of Kendall Sustainable Infrastructure. And our discussion swings from what to consider in a career change, to Lessons learned from working in a predominantly coal-fired portfolio. John found a way to merge his Distrust of the stock market, love of real assets, and passion for doing good while doing well and carved out a slice of the market he’s dubbed “value-added finance”. Learn how John and his team achieve what they refer to as a “frictionless closing” while building long term value and relationships with their development partners. Gain access to all the show notes & resources from this episode here - Join the Tribe? Check out Episode 86, in which I explain how YOU can become a SunCast Tribe member and support the growth and stability of SunCast moving forward! www.mysuncast.com/member to join today! If you like what you see and hear, please SHARE it with this pre-filled tweet!

#195: Robert Styler, SunCrew Today’s entrepreneur happens to be one of the best salesmen in our business, or maybe any business.  Jigar Shah has said of Robert Styler that he’s an expert in bringing multi-level marketing to solar. In fact, his current company, SunCrew, was launched from a phone call with Jigar Shah.  Robert and I dig deep into the pains of failure, the hardships he’s endured being what he called “The stuttering networker” and how he overcame the impediment.  Today we also discuss his new model for re-envisioning customer acquisition and sales commissions, which he calls SunCrew. And Robert is the first to point out, SunCrew is not a network marketing company - it’s what he calls a Capitalist Cooperative. Stick around to learn more about that, and some really great sales advice, life tips, and book recommendations. This is one of the most vulnerable and insightful interviews you may hear all year. Gain access to all the show notes & resources from this episode here - Join the Tribe? Check out Episode 86, in which I explain how YOU can become a SunCast Tribe member and support the growth and stability of SunCast moving forward! www.mysuncast.com/member to join today! If you like what you see and hear, please SHARE it with this pre-filled tweet!

#194: Dave Buemi, Energy Materials Corporation Today’s Entrepreneur has enjoyed a broad 22-year history in the solar PV, clean energy innovation, climate change activism and climate resiliency consulting sectors. Rarely do I meet executives with such passion and wide-ranging interests as Dave Buemi. Our mutual love of kitesurfing and energy issues created a fun and inviting atmosphere to discuss topics as wide ranging as the economic viability of the Perovskite technology he’s currently commercializing to Dave’s top 3 list of interests to pursue in the workplace. The founding story and team of Energy Materials Corporation has deep credibility, so I now believe that if anyone can pull of commercial scale perovskite it’s them, but don’t take my word for it, have a listen and judge for yourself! Gain access to all the show notes & resources from this episode here - Join the Tribe? Check out Episode 86, in which I explain how YOU can become a SunCast Tribe member and support the growth and stability of SunCast moving forward! www.mysuncast.com/member to join today! If you like what you see and hear, please SHARE it with this pre-filled tweet!

#193: Ed Heacox, CPS Energy Today’s entrepreneur has been a power electronics executive for 3 decades. From his early days at GE till today, Ed Heacox has established credibility as a power executive. And since moving into the solar power industry with AE mid 2000’s, he’s been at the helm of not one but two inverter companies that have taken #1 market share in their respective segments. I’ve been an admirer of Ed and his business partner, Casey, for years and have long-awaited the opportunity to learn more about how they have blended their entrepreneurial and corporate endeavors. Today we dig deeper into Ed’s trajectory, including his first startup experience post-graduation from Standford. The stories are telling of an entrepreneur with grit, insight, intuition and perseverance. I hope you’ll get as much out of this discussion as I did. Gain access to all the show notes & resources from this episode here - Join the Tribe? Check out Episode 86, in which I explain how YOU can become a SunCast Tribe member and support the growth and stability of SunCast moving forward! www.mysuncast.com/member to join today! If you like what you see and hear, please SHARE it with this pre-filled tweet!

#192: Sishir Garemella, Sunvest Capital Sishir is the founder of Sunvest Capital, Sunvest brings years of deep solar intelligence combined with expertise in financing to make solar possible by inspiring trust in good quality equipment, providing easy affordable EMIs and monitoring performance across the life of your solar loan. Gain access to all the show notes & resources from this episode here - Join the Tribe? Check out Episode 86, in which I explain how YOU can become a SunCast Tribe member and support the growth and stability of SunCast moving forward! www.mysuncast.com/member to join today! If you like what you see and hear, please SHARE it with this pre-filled tweet!