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Solar and storage are moving into a new phase, and this week's Clean Power Hour Live covers the technologies, policies, and market shifts shaping that transition.
Tim Montague and John Weaver break down the latest developments across solar, batteries, wind, grid infrastructure, and electrification.
In California, Governor Gavin Newsom has signed legislation supporting virtual power plants and making plug-in solar officially legal. The hosts discuss what these changes could mean for distributed energy, grid flexibility, consumers, and the future of behind-the-meter solar.
They also cover US solar manufacturer ratings, a Google pilot for hourly carbon accounting with battery storage, solar repowering, UK grid interconnectors, the world's tallest wind turbine, and the 45X tax credit. These stories land as California utilities report record profits and power costs in the state run twice the US average.
Episode Highlights:
This episode suits solar professionals, battery storage professionals, project developers, policy watchers, and clean energy investors. California's new VPP and plug-in solar laws, the 45X tax credit debate, and the growth of solar repowering all affect project decisions right now.
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Connect with Tim
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The Clean Power Hour is produced by the Clean Power Consulting Group and created by Tim Montague. Contact us by email: [email protected]
Corporate sponsors who share our mission to speed the energy transition are invited to check out https://www.cleanpowerhour.com/support/
The Clean Power Hour is brought to you by CPS America, maker of North America’s number one 3-phase string inverter, with over 6GW shipped in the US. With a focus on commercial and utility-scale solar and energy storage, the company partners with customers to provide unparalleled performance and service. The CPS America product lineup includes 3-phase string inverters from 25kW to 275kW, exceptional data communication and controls, and energy storage solutions designed for seamless integration with CPS America systems. Learn more at www.chintpowersystems.com
A battery only earns its keep when it can connect to the grid and get to work. What does it take to turn better battery technology into a viable energy project?
In episode 373 of the Clean Power Hour, Tim Montague speaks with Dr. Simon Engelke, founder of Battery Associates and Battery MBA and host of the Battery Insiders podcast. They explore the technology, economics, and expertise needed to scale storage across the grid, transportation, and emerging industries.
Drawing on his Cambridge PhD in lithium-ion batteries and his work advising and training industry professionals, Simon explains why chemistry is only part of the story. Utilization, manufacturing scale, maintenance, investor confidence, and grid access all shape whether a battery project succeeds.
Tim and Simon discuss:
• Stationary storage and mobility: where Simon sees demand growing and how vehicle-to-grid programs can put parked EV batteries to work
• Battery technology explained: LFP and NMC cathodes, silicon anodes, sodium-ion batteries, and what changes when the electrolyte becomes solid
• Manufacturing scale: why increasing production can drive battery costs down through learning and process improvements
• Vanadium flow batteries: Tim raises G&W Electric's experience, while Simon discusses pump and seal failures he has encountered and the challenge of proving a bankable business case
• Project economics: why cycling, utilization, operating reliability, and a track record matter to developers and investors
• Interconnection bottlenecks: Simon describes investors in Germany ready to deploy batteries that cannot yet connect, leaving assets idle while they continue to age
• U.S. manufacturing: Simon's view that repurposing automotive battery factories could temporarily expand stationary storage supply, with EV demand changing that equation
• New applications: how data centers, drones, humanoid robots, and electric aviation are expanding the conversation beyond solar and EVs
• Battery careers: why engineers, solar professionals, business leaders, and people from other disciplines need to understand the full battery value chain
• Inside Battery MBA: a 12-week online program built around live industry experts, office hours, and collaborative case studies, with group enrollment options for employers
Simon also shares a Battery MBA case study exploring how a data center battery could serve both as backup power and as storage for an island grid. His message to professionals: start with the skills you enjoy using, then look for where they can contribute to the battery industry.
For solar, storage, and microgrid professionals, this conversation connects battery innovation with the practical decisions behind project deployment, workforce development, and long-term business strategy.
Learn more about Simon Engelke:
Dr. Simon Engelke | LinkedIn
Battery Associates | Training, Consulting & Insights
BatteryMBA | CPD-Accredited Battery Course
All Battery Insiders podcast episodes
Support the show
Connect with Tim
Clean Power Hour
Clean Power Hour on YouTube
Tim on Twitter
Tim on LinkedIn
Email [email protected]
Review Clean Power Hour on Apple Podcasts
The Clean Power Hour is produced by the Clean Power Consulting Group and created by Tim Montague. Contact us by email: [email protected]
Corporate sponsors who share our mission to speed the energy transition are invited to check out https://www.cleanpowerhour.com/support/
The Clean Power Hour is brought to you by CPS America, maker of North America’s number one 3-phase string inverter, with over 6GW shipped in the US. With a focus on commercial and utility-scale solar and energy storage, the company partners with customers to provide unparalleled performance and service. The CPS America product lineup includes 3-phase string inverters from 25kW to 275kW, exceptional data communication and controls, and energy storage solutions designed for seamless integration with CPS America systems. Learn more at www.chintpowersystems.com
Grid storage is growing faster than the industry expected. EVs accounted for more than 70% of global battery deployment in 2025, down from almost 80% in 2024, according to the IEA.
On this CPH Live, Tim Montague and John Weaver unpack stationary battery storage growth and follow the batteries to two places: 230 GW of data center interconnection requests and a solar plus storage copper mine in Congo. They also cover China clean tech investment, EV charging costs, and agrivoltaics. These stories show where new batteries are going and why.
Episode Highlights:
This episode serves battery storage professionals, solar developers, clean energy investors, and policy watchers. Data center load, gas price spikes, and shifting battery demand all affect project economics right now. Tim and John give you the numbers and more.
Support the show
Connect with Tim
Clean Power Hour
Clean Power Hour on YouTube
Tim on Twitter
Tim on LinkedIn
Email [email protected]
Review Clean Power Hour on Apple Podcasts
The Clean Power Hour is produced by the Clean Power Consulting Group and created by Tim Montague. Contact us by email: [email protected]
Corporate sponsors who share our mission to speed the energy transition are invited to check out https://www.cleanpowerhour.com/support/
The Clean Power Hour is brought to you by CPS America, maker of North America’s number one 3-phase string inverter, with over 6GW shipped in the US. With a focus on commercial and utility-scale solar and energy storage, the company partners with customers to provide unparalleled performance and service. The CPS America product lineup includes 3-phase string inverters from 25kW to 275kW, exceptional data communication and controls, and energy storage solutions designed for seamless integration with CPS America systems. Learn more at www.chintpowersystems.com
How do you take a 365 kW commercial solar project from a customer conversation to steel in the ground?
In this episode of the Clean Power Hour, Tim Montague goes behind the scenes of a 365 kW commercial solar project for Griffin Beverage in West Branch, Michigan, with Jordan Rhyne of Countryside Energy and Kyle Sinclair of Sinclair Designs & Engineering.
The project brought together domestic-content solar modules, custom racking engineering, structural analysis, field installation lessons, and a challenging interconnection process with Consumers Energy.
Jordan and Kyle walk through what it took to make the project work, including why the customer wanted a truly domestic solar system, how First Solar Series 7 modules changed the racking design, and what the team learned from taking the system from engineering drawings into the field.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
• How Countryside Energy identified Griffin Beverage as a strong commercial solar customer
• Why the customer prioritized a truly domestically sourced solar array
• How First Solar Series 7 modules created unique racking and engineering challenges
• Why the racking team developed a purpose-built bracket and clip connection
• How structural analysis and FEA helped validate the module-to-racking connection
• What installers need to consider when working with frameless thin-film modules
• Lessons from module handling, breakage, installation speed, and field tolerances
• What EPCs should know before taking on their first First Solar Series 7 project
The 365 kW system was designed to offset 110% of the facility's load, the maximum allowed by Consumers Energy for the project. The team also had to coordinate an upgrade of the site's service transformer from 250 kVA to 500 kVA before the system could be energized.
Connect with Guests
Jordan Rhyne | LinkedIn
Kyle Sinclair | LinkedIn
Learn more about Sinclair Designs & Engineering:
https://www.sinclair-designs.com/
Learn more about Countryside Energy:
https://countryside-energy.com/
Support the show
Connect with Tim
Clean Power Hour
Clean Power Hour on YouTube
Tim on Twitter
Tim on LinkedIn
Email [email protected]
Review Clean Power Hour on Apple Podcasts
The Clean Power Hour is produced by the Clean Power Consulting Group and created by Tim Montague. Contact us by email: [email protected]
Corporate sponsors who share our mission to speed the energy transition are invited to check out https://www.cleanpowerhour.com/support/
The Clean Power Hour is brought to you by CPS America, maker of North America’s number one 3-phase string inverter, with over 6GW shipped in the US. With a focus on commercial and utility-scale solar and energy storage, the company partners with customers to provide unparalleled performance and service. The CPS America product lineup includes 3-phase string inverters from 25kW to 275kW, exceptional data communication and controls, and energy storage solutions designed for seamless integration with CPS America systems. Learn more at www.chintpowersystems.com
What if your solar system could earn far more by powering AI compute than by selling electricity back to the grid?
In this episode of Clean Power Hour, Tim Montague talks with Karl Andersen, founder and CEO of Lektra, about a different approach to the growing power demands of AI. Lektra places GPU servers alongside distributed energy resources such as solar and batteries, turning homes, businesses, and other energy sites into small-scale data centers.
Instead of exporting excess solar to the grid, an energy host can use that electricity to power GPU workloads and earn revenue from the compute generated. Karl says Lektra typically gives energy hosts 80% of the resulting revenue while retaining 20% for providing the compute marketplace and infrastructure.
The conversation explores why rapidly growing AI demand is exposing limitations in today's electric grid, and whether distributed energy, microgrids, batteries, and edge computing could form part of a more decentralized Grid 2.0.
In this episode, Tim and Karl discuss:
• Why AI is creating a new market for distributed energy
• How Lektra turns solar and other energy assets into edge-scale data centers
• The economics of selling compute instead of electricity
• How Lektra's 80/20 revenue-sharing model works
• Why edge computing could benefit autonomous vehicles, robotics, logistics, and physical AI
• How distributed compute could help address data-center grid constraints
• Lektra's approach to data sovereignty and on-premises AI
• What a more decentralized energy system could look like over the next several decades
The future of AI will require enormous amounts of energy. This conversation explores whether some of that demand can be met where energy is already being generated, and whether compute can provide the economic incentive to build a more distributed and resilient energy system.
Connect with Karl Andersen, Lektra
Karl Andersen | LinkedIn
Lektra - Powering Intelligence
Support the show
Connect with Tim
Clean Power Hour
Clean Power Hour on YouTube
Tim on Twitter
Tim on LinkedIn
Email [email protected]
Review Clean Power Hour on Apple Podcasts
The Clean Power Hour is produced by the Clean Power Consulting Group and created by Tim Montague. Contact us by email: [email protected]
Corporate sponsors who share our mission to speed the energy transition are invited to check out https://www.cleanpowerhour.com/support/
The Clean Power Hour is brought to you by CPS America, maker of North America’s number one 3-phase string inverter, with over 6GW shipped in the US. With a focus on commercial and utility-scale solar and energy storage, the company partners with customers to provide unparalleled performance and service. The CPS America product lineup includes 3-phase string inverters from 25kW to 275kW, exceptional data communication and controls, and energy storage solutions designed for seamless integration with CPS America systems. Learn more at www.chintpowersystems.com
America may need more than 230 GW of new power capacity through 2030. Regulated utilities are expected to deliver only about 93 GW. So where does the rest come from?
Tim Montague takes that question to Sylvia Leyva Martinez, Director of North America Utility-Scale Solar at Wood Mackenzie, on a crossover with her show Interchange Recharged. They work the gap from opposite ends of the industry: utility-scale generation versus C&I, community solar, storage, and microgrids.
They cover safe harbor strategy under the ITC phase-out, how projects get financed, and how the AI data center boom reshapes demand. Tim makes his case that distributed energy deploys faster than the interconnection queue allows, and lands on his thesis that the future grid is a grid of microgrids.
Tim and Sylvia work the gap between what the U.S. needs and what utilities will build:
Links
Interchange Recharged | Wood Mackenzie
Climate Restoration Book — Peter Fiekowsky
Sylvia Leyva Martinez | LinkedIn
Support the show
Connect with Tim
Clean Power Hour
Clean Power Hour on YouTube
Tim on Twitter
Tim on LinkedIn
Email [email protected]
Review Clean Power Hour on Apple Podcasts
The Clean Power Hour is produced by the Clean Power Consulting Group and created by Tim Montague. Contact us by email: [email protected]
Corporate sponsors who share our mission to speed the energy transition are invited to check out https://www.cleanpowerhour.com/support/
The Clean Power Hour is brought to you by CPS America, maker of North America’s number one 3-phase string inverter, with over 6GW shipped in the US. With a focus on commercial and utility-scale solar and energy storage, the company partners with customers to provide unparalleled performance and service. The CPS America product lineup includes 3-phase string inverters from 25kW to 275kW, exceptional data communication and controls, and energy storage solutions designed for seamless integration with CPS America systems. Learn more at www.chintpowersystems.com
G&W Electric's vanadium flow + flywheel microgrid matched a full year of frequency regulation revenue in under three months
Vanadium flow batteries rarely anchor a commercial microgrid, but G&W Electric built one around a solar, battery, and flywheel system at its Bolingbrook, Illinois headquarters. John Gounaris, VP of Global Marketing, and John Pederson, Principal Staff Engineer and the project's manager, walk Tim Montague through the build.
G&W Electric manufactures switches, reclosers, and grid automation gear used across US utility grids, and its 121-year-old campus needed resilient power to protect production. The project runs on Intelligent Generation's earn, save, protect framework: earn through frequency regulation, save on capacity charges, protect with backup power. Tim presses the guests on capex, opex, and why they skipped lithium-ion.
The conversation covers real storm performance in 2026, revenue swings, and how domestic vanadium sourcing shaped the battery choice.
Gounaris and Pederson explain the choices behind one of the few flywheel microgrids in operation:
Connect with Guests
John Gounaris | LinkedIn
John Pederson | LinkedIn
G&W Electric | Innovative Power Grid Solutions & Electrical Systems
Support the show
Connect with Tim
Clean Power Hour
Clean Power Hour on YouTube
Tim on Twitter
Tim on LinkedIn
Email [email protected]
Review Clean Power Hour on Apple Podcasts
The Clean Power Hour is produced by the Clean Power Consulting Group and created by Tim Montague. Contact us by email: [email protected]
Corporate sponsors who share our mission to speed the energy transition are invited to check out https://www.cleanpowerhour.com/support/
The Clean Power Hour is brought to you by CPS America, maker of North America’s number one 3-phase string inverter, with over 6GW shipped in the US. With a focus on commercial and utility-scale solar and energy storage, the company partners with customers to provide unparalleled performance and service. The CPS America product lineup includes 3-phase string inverters from 25kW to 275kW, exceptional data communication and controls, and energy storage solutions designed for seamless integration with CPS America systems. Learn more at www.chintpowersystems.com
Speed to power: Bala Ramamurthy of Critical Loop on cutting grid connection from years to days with modular microgrids.
Speed to power is the problem Critical Loop was built to solve. Bala Ramamurthy is the founder and CEO of Critical Loop, a California modular microgrid company that brings megawatts to industrial facilities and data centers when a utility interconnection is years away. Before energy, Bala spent 12 years at SpaceX as chief engineer on the first human spaceflight mission, and he applies that same high-reliability systems thinking to the grid.
This conversation covers how their Cygnus controller orchestrates batteries and on-site generation to close the gap between what a utility can deliver and what a site needs. Tim pushes Bala on the hard questions: whether Critical Loop competes for scarce batteries, and why a site like San Diego International Airport needs them at all. It matters now because load growth is outpacing what the grid can build.
Here is what this conversation reveals about closing the gap between grid capacity and industrial demand:
Critical Loop is betting that the fastest way to add power is not to build more grid, but to orchestrate what a site already has. Bala Ramamurthy makes the case that a controller, batteries, and on-site generation can close the gap between what a utility delivers and what a factory or data center needs, turning a years-long interconnection wait into weeks.
For anyone building, financing, or powering industrial load right now, this conversation is a look at how speed to power becomes a business.
Connect with Guest:
Balachandar Ramamurthy | LinkedIn
Critical Loop Website
Support the show
Connect with Tim
Clean Power Hour
Clean Power Hour on YouTube
Tim on Twitter
Tim on LinkedIn
Email [email protected]
Review Clean Power Hour on Apple Podcasts
The Clean Power Hour is produced by the Clean Power Consulting Group and created by Tim Montague. Contact us by email: [email protected]
Corporate sponsors who share our mission to speed the energy transition are invited to check out https://www.cleanpowerhour.com/support/
The Clean Power Hour is brought to you by CPS America, maker of North America’s number one 3-phase string inverter, with over 6GW shipped in the US. With a focus on commercial and utility-scale solar and energy storage, the company partners with customers to provide unparalleled performance and service. The CPS America product lineup includes 3-phase string inverters from 25kW to 275kW, exceptional data communication and controls, and energy storage solutions designed for seamless integration with CPS America systems. Learn more at www.chintpowersystems.com
Section 232 tariffs are reshaping solar module pricing across the United States. Tim Montague and co-host John Weaver sit down with returning guest Chris Lettman, a solar module supply chain and technology expert with Imperial Star Solar.
Chris explains why the new policy works as a price floor, not a simple tariff, setting a minimum import price plus a 15 percent tax on cells, wafers, and modules. The three break down domestic cell shortages, First Solar litigation, and how developers hedge against monthly price hikes.
Anyone buying solar panels before the December 4 deadline needs this pricing and procurement picture.
Chris Lettman answers the pricing questions every solar buyer is asking before December 4:
Section 232 changes the math for every solar buyer heading into 2027. The tariffs raise prices across all three module tiers and close the gap between imported and domestic panels, with fully imported modules near 45 cents per watt and fully domestic near 53. Imports look set to stop around December 4, domestic cell supply stays tight behind ES Foundry and Saniva, and buyers like John Weaver are stockpiling now to beat monthly price hikes. Tim, John, and Chris disagree on whether the policy drives real U.S. manufacturing or adds cost and friction, but they agree on the takeaway: know your pricing tiers, lock in supply early, and plan procurement through 2027 before the next increase hits.
Support the show
Connect with Tim
Clean Power Hour
Clean Power Hour on YouTube
Tim on Twitter
Tim on LinkedIn
Email [email protected]
Review Clean Power Hour on Apple Podcasts
The Clean Power Hour is produced by the Clean Power Consulting Group and created by Tim Montague. Contact us by email: [email protected]
Corporate sponsors who share our mission to speed the energy transition are invited to check out https://www.cleanpowerhour.com/support/
The Clean Power Hour is brought to you by CPS America, maker of North America’s number one 3-phase string inverter, with over 6GW shipped in the US. With a focus on commercial and utility-scale solar and energy storage, the company partners with customers to provide unparalleled performance and service. The CPS America product lineup includes 3-phase string inverters from 25kW to 275kW, exceptional data communication and controls, and energy storage solutions designed for seamless integration with CPS America systems. Learn more at www.chintpowersystems.com
Clean energy company culture is what separates good solar EPCs from great ones, and Mynt CEO Derek Hansen has a name for how he builds it: inspire, empower, support.
Company culture in the solar and storage industry gets talked about far less than it should, and this episode makes the case for why that needs to change.
Derek Hansen is CEO and co-founder of Mynt, a vertically integrated development, engineering, and construction firm that builds solar and battery storage projects for commercial real estate owners and other solar developers. Tim Montague hosts this conversation, framing it around a question that gets skipped in the industry: what actually separates a good company from a great one.
In this episode, you'll learn:
If you work in solar, storage, microgrids, or the broader energy transition, this conversation offers practical insights into building stronger teams, creating meaningful company cultures, and preparing for the next phase of distributed energy.
Connect with Derek
Derek Hansen | LinkedIn
MYNT
Support the show
Connect with Tim
Clean Power Hour
Clean Power Hour on YouTube
Tim on Twitter
Tim on LinkedIn
Email [email protected]
Review Clean Power Hour on Apple Podcasts
The Clean Power Hour is produced by the Clean Power Consulting Group and created by Tim Montague. Contact us by email: [email protected]
Corporate sponsors who share our mission to speed the energy transition are invited to check out https://www.cleanpowerhour.com/support/
The Clean Power Hour is brought to you by CPS America, maker of North America’s number one 3-phase string inverter, with over 6GW shipped in the US. With a focus on commercial and utility-scale solar and energy storage, the company partners with customers to provide unparalleled performance and service. The CPS America product lineup includes 3-phase string inverters from 25kW to 275kW, exceptional data communication and controls, and energy storage solutions designed for seamless integration with CPS America systems. Learn more at www.chintpowersystems.com
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