Solar Podcast LIVE

Monthly live interviews with solar and storage thought leaders, entrepreneurs, project developers, financiers, and manufacturers. Contact Tim Montague, host and creator, at 217.722.0429 m | See all podcasts here

Increasing Solar & Storage Project IRR with Andy Klump

March 30, 2021 | 10 AM CST | Register

Join us March 30 for a live interview with Andy Klump, CEO of Clean Energy Associates to discuss Increasing IRR, the role of 3rd party engineering services, supply chain management, quality assurance and future trends. Andy is a renewable energy executive with  20  years of solar energy, storage and technology experience with  15  years’  operating in China.

andy klump

The Energy Switch: How Companies and Customers are Transforming the Electrical Grid and the Future of Power

April 27, 2021 | 10 AM CST | Register

Join us for a live interview and discussion with Peter Kelly-Detwiler about his forthcoming new book The Energy Switch. The energy industry is changing, and it’s far more than just solar panels. Electric vehicles look to overtake gasoline-powered cars within our lifetimes, wind farms are popping up in unlikely places, traders are transforming energy into a commodity, and supercomputers are crunching vast amounts of data in nanoseconds while helping to keep our energy grids secure from hackers.

peter kelly

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Be sure to subscribe to our YouTube Channel where we bring you two interviews on the Solar Podcast plus one episode of the Clean Power Hour – solar and storage news each week. View all of our content at www.CESnrg.com/podcast

Watch recordings of past events:

Rewiring America – Speeding the Clean Energy Transition

Featuring Sam Calisch, Co-author and Research at Rewiring America

Join us for an interview with Sam Calisch, co-author and research at Rewiring America. In 2020, Rewiring America launched a book, website and jobs report that details the path to effectively decarbonize the US economy by 2035 without forcing Americans to sacrifice their current lifestyles and without having to invent any new technology. Sam Calish and Saul Griffith, the authors, worked with economists to come up with an estimate of how many new jobs this kind of mobilization could create: 25 million over the next five years, they found. More than that, they looked at what kinds of jobs these would be and where they’d be created.

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PV Inverter and Battery Storage Scorecard

Featuring Michael Mills-Price, Head of PV Inverter and Battery Storage Business for PVEL

Join us for a live interview where we will discuss the forthcoming Inverter and Storage Scorecard 2020 and look back at the 2019 Scorecard and see  how PVEL’s testing program is evolving and including battery storage. PVEL has compiled this Scorecard to close the industry’s knowledge gap in inverter reliability and performance. PV inverter buyers can use this report to both better understand the products they source and to develop robust procurement strategies that ensure inverters meet quality and financial performance expectations. 

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Risk Mitigation for Utility Scale Solar Projects

Featuring Kimberlee Centera, Terrapro Solutions

Join us for a live interview with Kimberlee Centera, CEO and founder of TerraPro Solutions. TerraPro Solutions is a leading renewable energy project development consultancy. The company has generated over 12 GWs in solar, wind, and energy storage. With a total financed value of over $6 billion, TerraPro Solutions is the top development consultancy in the renewables market. 

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Accelerating the Midwest Energy Transition

Featuring Jigar Shah of Generate Capital

Join us as we discuss the energy transition and the forces that are collaborating and colliding to create the current rapid adoption of solar, wind and storage in the upper Midwest including: Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Michigan, and Wisconsin. 

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Rapid Shutdown & Solar Safety

Featuring Chris Connell of Fronius USA

As cities and states adopt the NEC 2017 (National Electric Code), solar installers are searching for great module-level rapid shutdown solutions. In this live interview with Chris Connell, head of solution management for Fronius USA, we will explore the issues that matter to solar installers/developers, project/facility owners and first responders.

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Advancing the Midwest Clean Energy Economy with Will Kenworthy, Vote Solar

Featuring Will Kenworthy of Vote Solar

Successful solar markets come to fruition with a combination of good policies but also years of work to properly implement those policies in ways that are useful to consumers, facility owners, solar developers and installers. Join us as we discuss the Midwest solar market, what’s working now, and identify the challenges and opportunities moving forward across the heartland and the upper Midwest including IL, MN, WI, MI, IN, OH, MO, and IA.

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90% Clean Grid by 2035 with Julian Spector of Greentech Media

Featuring Julian Spector of GreenTech Media

As the price of solar, wind and storage drops there is emerging optimism that the U.S. can achieve 90 percent clean electricity by 2035. Join us for a conversation with Julian Spector of GreenTech Media as we break down a new study from UC Berkeley and GridLab that concludes that renewables will be economically feasible to power a reliable grid by 2035, while only depending on natural gas for 10 percent of annual electricity production.

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Illinois Solar Market Evolution

Featuring Brian Haug, President of Continental Energy Solutions

The Illinois Solar Program including the Adjustable Block Program, Solar for All, and Competitive Procurements for utility scale wind and solar was established in 2017 as mandated by the Future Energy Jobs Act (FEJA). The goal of the program is to fulfill Illinois’ renewable portfolio standard of 25% clean power by 2025. IPA Director Anthony Star will join us for a live interview and update on the Program.

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Simmons Knife & Saw Goes Solar

Featuring Colin Murphy, Owner and President of Simmons Knife & Saw

Join us for a live interview with Colin Murphy, Owner and President of Simmons Knife & Saw. We will discuss how Simmons’ executive team decided to pursue a rooftop solar project, combining it with a complete re-roof of their facility. Learn how facility owners and managers make the case for rooftop solar in Illinois.

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Illinois Solar Program Update

Featuring Anthony Star, Director of the Illinois Power Agency

The Illinois Solar Program including the Adjustable Block Program, Solar for All, and Competitive Procurements for utility scale wind and solar was established in 2017 as mandated by the Future Energy Jobs Act (FEJA). The goal of the program is to fulfill Illinois’ renewable portfolio standard of 25% clean power by 2025. IPA Director Anthony Star will join us for a live interview and update on the Program.

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Solar Plus Battery Storage, Business Case for Midwest Manufacturers

Featuring Marc Thrum, VP of Marketing and Business Development for Intelligent Generation

Join us for a live interview with Marc Thrum where we discover the value stacks of solar plus storage in the Midwest market (PJM/ComEd and MISO/Ameren).

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Corporates Going Solar in the Midwest and Beyond

Featuring Katherine Canoy, Director of Key Accounts for C2 Energy Capital

Join us for a live interview with Katherine Canoy, Director of Key Accounts for C2 Energy Capital as we discuss her experience working for Walmart as their renewable energy czar and now C2 Energy Capital developing portfolios of corporate solar projects and PPAs (Power Purchase Agreements).

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Bringing Low-Income Community Solar to Illinois

Featuring Jon Carson, Managing Director of Trajectory Energy

Join us for an interview with Jon Carson as we discuss his experience bringing low-income community solar projects to Illinois.

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Solar Project Finance, Getting Your Project Acquired and Built

Featuring Harry Benson, Director of Business Development, Standard Solar

Join us for a conversation with Harry Benson of Standard Solar as we break down C&I (commercial industrial) and community solar finance in the Midwest.

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Pollinator & Wildlife Friendly Solar Farms in the Midwest

Featuring Rob Davis, Director, Center for Pollinators in Energy at Fresh Energy

Watch Rob Davis introduce pollinator and wildlife friendly solar concepts and best practices. We discuss four key questions that solar developers, EPCs, land owners and other stakeholders want to consider.

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Building a Solar Portfolio in Illinois – Challenges & Opportunities

Featuring Jonathan Roberts, Vice President of Development, Midwest with Soltage LLC

In this webinar, we discuss the ups and downs of getting a portfolio of community solar projects off the ground in Illinois.

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Path to 100% Wind and Solar in Illinois: 7 Steps to a Clean Energy Future

Featuring Kevin Borgia, Midwest Policy Director, Cypress Creek Renewables

In this webinar, we break down the Illinois RPS (renewable portfolio standard) which could be expanded to 40% by 2030 if we get the Path to 100 legislation.

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Midwest Solar Explosion

Featuring Christian Roselund

Now with the advent of FEJA, Illinois is adding 2.8 GW of community solar, DG and utility scale projects in the next few years. New legislation like the Path to 100 could catapult Illinois past MN. But numerous Midwestern states have BIG solar projects on the books.

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Illinois Solar Industry Update — Ten Things You Want to Know

Featuring Brian Haug & Lesley McCain of ISEA (Illinois Solar Energy Association)

The Illinois solar market is now experiencing rapid growth with 666 MW of DG RECs and a total of 2800 MW of solar being installed in the next five years. This is helping Illinois achieve it’s RPS of 25% clean power by 2025.

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Zero Energy Homes: Coming Soon to a Neighborhood Near You

Featuring Ann Edminster of the Net Zero Energy Coalition

This presentation covers zero energy basics, trends in this housing sector to date, and resulting changes to the housing industry that are likely to emerge in the next five to ten years.

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Five Things You Wanted to Know About Our Net Zero Future

Featuring Cathy Higgins of New Building Institute

Growth of the commercial net zero construction market is picking up. Join us for a discussion of trends and case studies of net zero construction with New Building Institute’s Research Director, Cathy Higgins.

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Illinois Solar For All Program

Featuring Vito Greco of Elevate Energy

The Illinois Solar for All Program is launching in April 2019 and this webinar will answer your questions about what projects and organizations are eligible for the program.

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Intelligent Monitoring Systems for Solar Projects and Portfolios

Featuring Anson Moran, CEO meteocontrol North America

Solar project monitoring and control systems are the project owners’ main tools to make sure the solar plant is running smoothly. Solar monitoring systems are vital to maintaining project ROI and cash flow.

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Maximize Your Solar Investment by Adding Battery Energy Storage

Featuring Travis Simpkins, PhD, founder of muGrid

The installation of battery energy storage in behind-the-meter applications is poised for exponential growth over the next few years. Batteries can be combined with solar to form grid-connected microgrids.

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Getting to Net Zero with Solar Energy

Featuring Sean Moran of Skender

Getting to Net Zero with Solar Energy with Sean Moran of Skender, a leader in sustainable construction in Chicago – high performance buildings can achieve net zero energy status; learn how solar pays dividends for the life of your building!

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Five Questions About Rooftop Solar Answered

Featuring Anson Moran, CEO meteocontrol North America

1. What does solar PV cost? 2. What is the payback period? 3. Which facilities can benefit from solar PV? 4. What about solar plus battery storage? 5. Why is Illinois a top solar market in the US?

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Five Ways Solar Pays Back

Featuring Travis Simpkins, PhD, founder of muGrid

Here I explain five ways that solar pays back. Solar PV (Solar energy systems) produce electricity from sunlight. This means you can put a solar power plant on your factory, warehouse or farm.

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Community Solar

Featuring Eric Pasi of IPS Solar

Community solar is coming to Illinois. These are 10-20 acre solar farms that any resident or business can subscribe to. That means clean power for anyone in Illinois who wants it.

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Solar Finance

Featuring Stan Fishbein of CleanView Capital

On this month’s webinar, we will review the different financing options for solar arrays, comparing the advantages and benefits of each with our special guest and renewable energy finance expert, Stanley S. Fishbein JD, LLM (Tax), co-founder and principal at CleanView Capital in White Plains, New York.

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Reduce Operating Expenses with Solar Energy

Featuring Tim Montague

Business owners can reduce their operating expenses and green their infrastructure with solar power. A properly sized system can reduce your power bill by 75%.

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