Green Giants: Titans of Clean Energy Podcast

Major energy projects do not fail simply because of weak contractors, poor controls, or the wrong contract structure. They fail when owners misunderstand their role.

In this episode of Green Giants: Titans of Renewable Energy, Wes Ashworth, President of Lee Group Search, sits down with Gary Fischer, Executive Director of the Project Production Institute and a longtime capital projects leader who spent more than 40 years at Chevron.

Gary brings a rare perspective shaped by work across engineering, construction, operations, benchmarking, major project leadership, and enterprise project-system design. After helping architect Chevron’s project management system, he came to a difficult conclusion: even sophisticated project frameworks can produce disappointing results when they ignore how work actually flows through a production system.

The conversation centers on one critical idea: capital projects are not products an owner can simply buy. They are production systems that must be actively designed, led, and integrated.

Wes and Gary explore the difference between owners who behave like buyers and owners who behave like builders, along with the responsibilities that cannot be outsourced. These include defining the business outcome, setting requirements, managing stakeholders, making timely decisions, shaping the contracting strategy, and retaining accountability for the final result.

They also examine why lump-sum EPC contracts do not eliminate owner risk, how traditional metrics can reward excessive work in process, and why adding more people to a delayed project can sometimes make performance worse.

Gary shares lessons from major LNG, refinery, offshore, and supply chain environments, including how production control improved collaboration, reduced manpower, accelerated delivery, and helped teams complete more work with fewer resources.

The discussion also applies directly to renewable energy, battery storage, hydrogen, transmission, data centers, and other rapidly scaling infrastructure sectors. As companies deploy capital into new technologies and unfamiliar project environments, owner capability may become one of the most important competitive advantages.

In this episode:

• Why project failure is often misdiagnosed
• What separates a capable owner from a passive buyer
• Why contractors cannot own the business outcome
• How contracts can obscure risk without truly transferring it
• Why production science changes project decision-making
• How excessive work in process delays completion
• Why supply chains should be managed as connected production systems
• How rigid stage gates can encourage the wrong behavior
• What leaders should evaluate before approving major capital
• The first steps organizations can take to strengthen owner capability

This episode is essential listening for CEOs, project sponsors, investors, developers, EPC leaders, and anyone responsible for delivering complex energy and infrastructure projects.

Gary Fischer is Executive Director of the Project Production Institute and previously held senior project leadership roles at Chevron, including responsibility for Chevron’s project management system and capital project capability.

Links:
Project Production Institute Website & Resources
Gary Fischer on LinkedIn

Wes Ashworth: https://www.linkedin.com/in/weslgs/

• Email: [email protected]
• https://leegroupsearch.com/green-giants-podcast/
• https://leegroupsearch.com/

America’s energy system has entered a new phase.

After years of relatively flat electricity demand, the country is now facing sustained growth driven by data centers, industrial expansion, electrification, reshoring, aging infrastructure, and rising resilience needs. The challenge is no longer just how quickly the U.S. can decarbonize. It is how quickly the country can build enough power while protecting reliability, affordability, and long-term emissions progress.

In this episode of Green Giants: Titans of Renewable Energy, Wes Ashworth, President of Lee Group Search, welcomes back Lisa Jacobson, President of the Business Council for Sustainable Energy, to unpack the findings of the 2026 Sustainable Energy in America Factbook.

Lisa explains why this moment is different from previous periods of load growth, how urgency could help break years of infrastructure inertia, and why no single technology can meet the challenge alone. She makes the case for a broad portfolio that includes renewable energy, storage, natural gas, nuclear, energy efficiency, demand flexibility, sustainable transportation, and smarter use of existing grid assets.

The conversation also examines the growing impact of large electricity users. Data centers are an important part of the demand story, but the episode goes far beyond AI. Wes and Lisa explore what rising load means for utilities, regulators, communities, manufacturers, households, and businesses across the country.

A central question runs throughout the episode: Who pays for the infrastructure required to power America’s next era?

Lisa discusses the need to protect households and small businesses from unfair cost allocation, the role large customers can play in funding grid upgrades or bringing new power resources, and how regulators can evaluate projects based on local capacity, flexibility, community benefit, and long-term risk.

The episode also covers the technologies being deployed now. Solar and battery storage continue to lead new capacity additions because they can often move quickly and compete economically. At the same time, firm resources, existing nuclear assets, natural gas, long-duration storage, efficiency, virtual power plants, microgrids, and demand response all have distinct roles to play.

Wes and Lisa also examine:

• Why energy efficiency should be treated as infrastructure
• How smart meters and flexible demand can reduce grid strain
• What utilities and regulators should ask before approving major new loads
• Why storage is becoming more important to grid operations
• How corporate clean energy procurement is reshaping the market
• What policy uncertainty means for real projects and investment decisions
• Which technologies emerged stronger from recent tax and policy changes
• Why speed, cost, reliability, and sustainability must be solved together

Lisa closes with a practical message for governors, regulators, and policymakers: align economic development with reliable, affordable, and clean energy, then give the private sector the market signals needed to build.

This episode is a clear-eyed look at the next chapter of the U.S. power system and what it will take to meet rising demand without losing sight of consumers, communities, or climate goals.

Links:
2026 Sustainable Energy in America Factbook
Lisa Jacobson on LinkedIn
BCSE's Website

Wes Ashworth: https://www.linkedin.com/in/weslgs/

• Email: [email protected]
• https://leegroupsearch.com/green-giants-podcast/
• https://leegroupsearch.com/

Renewable energy has scaled rapidly. Now the industry faces a more demanding question: can solar, wind, and storage operate with the discipline, security, and reliability expected of critical infrastructure?

In this episode of Green Giants: Titans of Renewable Energy, Wes Ashworth, President of Lee Group Search, speaks with Kellie Macpherson, COO of Compliance + Security at Radian Generation and a board member at SEIA (Solar Energy Industries Association).

Kellie brings deep experience across NERC compliance, cybersecurity, commissioning, audits, control centers, and renewable asset operations. Her perspective is shaped by a career spent bridging the gap between traditional grid operations and the fast-moving renewable energy sector.

The conversation explores why compliance is not simply paperwork, how reliability affects real communities, and why the industry’s long-term credibility depends on operating assets as well as it builds them.

Wes and Kellie also break down the significance of NERC Category 2 registration for inverter-based resources. They discuss which solar, wind, storage, and hybrid assets may now fall under increased oversight, why registration alone is not the same as being audit-ready, and what owner-operators should prioritize if they are behind.

Cybersecurity is another central theme. Modern renewable plants rely heavily on remote access, third-party vendors, software, connected devices, and operational technology. That creates efficiency, but also expands the attack surface. Kellie explains why commissioning is one of the most vulnerable stages of a project and why access management, patching, physical security, and documented controls need to be built in before commercial operation.

The episode also examines the leadership side of compliance. Mature programs require executive attention, clear accountability, employee training, operational evidence, and a company culture that understands the financial, reputational, and reliability risks of getting it wrong.

In this episode:

• Why grid reliability became personal for Kellie early in life
• How renewable energy became central to bulk power system reliability
• What NERC Category 2 means for solar, wind, storage, and hybrid assets
• The difference between registration and true audit readiness
• Why cybersecurity should be treated as an operational priority now
• The most common security risks during commissioning
• Warning signs that a project may face future compliance problems
• Why inverter settings, access controls, patching, and evidence matter
• How executives and boards should think about compliance risk
• What trusted renewable operators will do differently over the next three years

As electricity demand grows and renewable assets become more essential to the grid, the companies that earn long-term trust will be the ones that combine speed with discipline, growth with resilience, and innovation with operational accountability.

Links:
Kellie Macpherson on LinkedIn
Radian Generation's Website
Kellie's Power Play Newsletter

Wes Ashworth: https://www.linkedin.com/in/weslgs/

• Email: [email protected]
• https://leegroupsearch.com/green-giants-podcast/
• https://leegroupsearch.com/

Solar has world-changing technology, but the industry still struggles to explain itself clearly.

In this episode of Green Giants: Titans of Renewable Energy, Wes Ashworth, President of Lee Group Search, sits down with Aaron Nichols, Marketing and Business Development Specialist at Exact Solar and host of This Week in Solar, to explore why clarity, trust, and human communication have become competitive advantages in renewable energy.

Aaron’s path into solar was anything but traditional. Before entering the industry, he worked as a teacher, traveled internationally, trained as a solar installer, and built experience in copywriting and marketing. That background shaped his ability to translate complex topics into language customers, employees, and business leaders can actually understand.

The conversation examines why renewable energy companies often narrow their talent pools by hiring for the same backgrounds repeatedly. Aaron explains why small businesses need adaptable problem-solvers, how nontraditional candidates can demonstrate value through consulting, and why creativity and pattern recognition are difficult to identify through a conventional hiring process.

Wes and Aaron also unpack the widening gap between corporate communication and human communication. They discuss why jargon-heavy messaging weakens trust, how clear website copy can improve visibility in AI search, and why companies must explain what they do, how they do it, who they help, and why it matters.

The episode also explores the right and wrong ways to use artificial intelligence. AI can help simplify internal communication, organize workflows, identify automation opportunities, and generate new creative ideas. But without clear thinking, strong processes, and thoughtful editing, it only produces more noise.

Additional topics include:

• Why stories earn attention before facts close the deal
•  How customer case studies build long-term credibility
•  Why automation should begin with process mapping
•  What solar companies misunderstand about payback periods
•  How authentic short-form video can outperform polished advertising
•  Why simple, consistent communication is difficult to copy
•  How expertise and a trusted public voice can strengthen a company’s brand

This episode is packed with practical insight for solar marketers, founders, sales leaders, recruiters, job seekers, and anyone working to make clean energy easier to understand.

Links:
Aaron Nichols on LinkedIn
This Week in Solar
Exact Solar's Website

Wes Ashworth: https://www.linkedin.com/in/weslgs/

• Email: [email protected]
• https://leegroupsearch.com/green-giants-podcast/
• https://leegroupsearch.com/

Electricity demand is entering a sharp new growth cycle. After years of relatively flat demand, the economy is becoming more electric at the same time AI and data centers are exploding. New manufacturing, reshoring, EV charging, building electrification, air conditioning growth, extreme weather, and 24/7 reliability expectations are all pushing more load onto the grid. 

AI is the loudest accelerant right now, and for good reason. Data centers need massive computing power, cooling systems, backup power, transformers, substations, and high-reliability grid connections. But the bigger story is broader: the energy transition is no longer just about generating cleaner electricity. It is about delivering enough reliable power, fast enough, in the places where demand is actually showing up.

That is why nuclear power, SMRs, gas, storage, renewables, transmission, transformers, and interconnection are currently front-page issues.

But there is a harder question behind the hype: can we actually build the infrastructure fast enough, safely enough, and predictably enough to meet the moment?

In this episode of Green Giants: Titans of Renewable Energy, host Wes Ashworth, President of Lee Group Search sits down with Todd Zabelle, author of Built to Fail: Why Construction Projects Take So Long, Cost Too Much, and How to Fix It. Todd brings more than 35 years of experience in complex capital project delivery and is the Founder and CEO of Strategic Project Solutions, Founder of the Project Production Institute, Founder and CEO of Pacific Contracting, and a founding equity partner of the Lean Construction Institute.

Todd’s perspective is clear: many major projects do not fail because the technology is impossible. They fail because the management system is wrong.

That matters now because AI, data centers, nuclear power, and SMRs are all converging around the same challenge: the physical world does not move at software speed.

Wes and Todd unpack why traditional project management tools often create false confidence, why schedules can become disconnected from actual production, and why measuring progress by money spent can hide problems until it is too late. Todd explains why critical infrastructure needs to be managed as a production system, not just an administrative exercise.

The conversation then turns to nuclear power for AI. Todd shares what he heard at Datacloud Global Congress, where nuclear for AI was a major topic, and explains the cultural gap between fast-moving data center developers and the more conservative, safety-driven nuclear industry.

They explore the real-world barriers standing between AI’s energy demand and nuclear deployment, including siting, permitting, grid connection, fuel supply, specialized labor, nuclear-grade quality standards, and the mismatch between data center load profiles and steady baseload nuclear generation.

The episode also takes a sober look at SMRs. Todd sees real value in smaller batch deployment, especially as data centers grow over time, but warns that SMRs are not plug and play. Even smaller reactors require serious infrastructure, containment, supply chains, fuel strategy, skilled operators, and disciplined execution.

This is not a conversation about whether nuclear matters. It clearly does. It is a conversation about what it will actually take to deliver nuclear-grade infrastructure in the AI era.

In this episode, Wes and Todd cover:

• Why U.S. power demand is rising after years of relative stagnation
• How AI, data centers, electrification, manufacturing, and reliability needs are reshaping the grid
• Why major capital projects often fail long before the public sees the delay or cost overrun
• How traditional scheduling, earned value, and percentage completion accounting can create false confidence
• Why project delivery should focus on production systems, not just administration
• What data center developers may be underestimating about nuclear power
• Why SMRs solve some problems but leave many execution challenges intact
• The fuel supply, workforce, and quality-control bottlenecks behind nuclear scaling
• Why nuclear-grade welding, rebar, and construction tolerances demand a different level of skill
• What capable owners must do differently on complex infrastructure projects
• Where AI, digital twins, sensors, and automation can actually improve project delivery
• Why the energy transition depends on execution discipline as much as technology innovation

If you are working in renewable energy, nuclear power, data center development, infrastructure, construction, utilities, project delivery, or AI energy strategy, this episode is a grounded look at the gap between ambition and execution.

The future of AI will require massive amounts of power. The future of clean energy will require massive amounts of infrastructure. And as Todd makes clear, the winners will be the companies and leaders who understand how to actually build.

Links:
Todd Zabelle on LinkedIn
Project Production Institute's Website
Strategic Project Solutions Website

Wes Ashworth: https://www.linkedin.com/in/weslgs/

• Email: [email protected]
• https://leegroupsearch.com/green-giants-podcast/
• https://leegroupsearch.com/

In this episode of Green Giants: Titans of Renewable Energy, Wes Ashworth sits down with John Berger, CEO of Otovo, to unpack one of the most important and under-discussed problems in distributed energy: the solar service crisis.

Otovo began as a European rooftop solar marketplace, but under John’s leadership, the company is being reshaped into an AI-enabled energy service platform for homes and businesses across Europe and the United States. The new model focuses on what happens after solar panels, batteries, generators, EV chargers, and other behind-the-meter assets are installed. Who monitors them? Who fixes them? Who answers the phone when something goes wrong?

John Berger brings a rare operator’s perspective. Before Otovo, he founded and led Sunnova for more than 12 years, helping build one of the most recognized residential energy companies in the United States. Today, he is applying those lessons to a different problem: creating the service layer that distributed energy needs in order to scale reliably. 

The conversation explores why installation and service are fundamentally different businesses. Berger explains why installation is a construction business measured in weeks and months, while service is a logistics business measured in hours and days. That distinction matters as more homeowners and businesses are left with orphaned solar systems, unreliable support, and unclear warranty paths.

Wes and John also dive into Otovo’s acquisition-led growth strategy, including the company’s expansion into the United States, its growing service footprint, and the importance of building density and scale in field operations. They discuss how Otovo is using its proprietary AI platform, Endurance, to reduce software costs, automate workflows, support dispatch, improve response times, and change the economics of energy service. 

This episode also looks ahead to the grid. As solar, storage, EV chargers, generators, and load management become more common behind the meter, reliability becomes essential not only for customers but also for virtual power plants and grid participation. Berger makes the case that service is not a side issue. It may be the missing precondition for distributed energy to become real infrastructure.

Topics covered include:

• The shift from solar installation to long-term energy service
• Why behind-the-meter assets need a dedicated service layer
• The difference between construction businesses and logistics businesses
• How orphaned solar customers became a major industry problem
• Otovo’s reinvention from European marketplace to AI-native service company
• How Endurance is changing the cost structure of field service
• Why AI matters only if it improves speed, cost, reliability, and customer experience
• The role of batteries, generators, EV chargers, and load managers in home energy
• What virtual power plants need before they can scale
• Why the future of residential energy may look more like Amazon Prime than traditional utility service

This is a timely, candid conversation about where the energy transition gets real. More solar and batteries matter, but the next phase depends on whether those systems actually work, whether customers trust them, and whether someone is accountable for keeping them online.

Links:
John Berger on LinkedIn
Otovo's Website

Wes Ashworth: https://www.linkedin.com/in/weslgs/

• Email: [email protected]
• https://leegroupsearch.com/green-giants-podcast/
• https://leegroupsearch.com/

Streetlights are one of the most overlooked pieces of community infrastructure. Most people only notice them when they fail. But for builders, developers, utilities, municipalities, and storm-prone communities, streetlighting can quietly shape project timelines, infrastructure costs, public safety, resilience, and long-term operating models.

In this episode of Green Giants: Titans of Renewable Energy, host Wes Ashworth sits down with Liam Ryan, CEO of Streetleaf, a Tampa-based company building off-grid, solar-powered streetlighting systems with integrated batteries, controls, remote monitoring, and a managed service model designed to remove the friction of traditional grid-tied lighting. 

Liam’s path into clean infrastructure was anything but conventional. After studying economics at Cornell and working in wildlife conservation in Mozambique, he returned to Tampa during the pandemic and began exploring a streetlighting challenge tied to land development in Florida. What started as a practical problem has grown into a national infrastructure story, with Streetleaf now working across builders, developers, utilities, public spaces, and resilience-focused applications. 

The conversation goes far beyond solar panels on poles. Liam explains why the real competition is not just the grid, but the cost and complexity of trenching, conduit, utility coordination, delays, maintenance contracts, and long-term community fees. Streetleaf’s model is built around a simple but powerful equation: if the solar panel, battery, controls, and communications stack can cost less than connecting a streetlight to the grid, the cleaner option can become the practical default.

Wes and Liam also dig into storm resilience, one of Streetleaf’s strongest proof points. In hurricane-impacted communities, Streetleaf’s off-grid lights have continued operating when conventional grid-tied systems went dark, turning streetlights into visible anchors of safety and continuity during outages. Liam shares how events like Hurricane Ian, Helene, Milton, and wildfire recovery work in Hawaii shaped Streetleaf’s product, operations, and sense of purpose. 

This episode also explores what it takes to sell new infrastructure into conservative markets. Liam breaks down how Streetleaf reduces adoption risk for builders and utilities, why managed service matters, how national relationships with major homebuilders helped shift the company from early adoption to mainstream credibility, and why “smart infrastructure” only matters when it creates real value.

If you care about renewable energy, distributed infrastructure, resilient communities, land development, utility innovation, or the hidden systems shaping how we build, this episode will change the way you look at the streetlight outside your window.

In this episode, we cover:

• Why streetlights are a hidden infrastructure bottleneck
• How Streetleaf’s off-grid solar streetlights change project economics
• Why trenching, utility coordination, and delays create hidden costs
• How solar streetlighting supports hurricane and outage resilience
• What conservative buyers need before adopting new infrastructure
• Why managed service can accelerate clean technology adoption
• How Streetleaf is scaling through builders, developers, utilities, and municipalities
• What “smart streets” should really mean in practical terms
• Why the future of infrastructure may be cleaner, simpler, and more distributed

Links:
Liam Ryan on LinkedIn
Streetleaf's Website

Wes Ashworth: https://www.linkedin.com/in/weslgs/

• Email: [email protected]
• https://leegroupsearch.com/green-giants-podcast/
• https://leegroupsearch.com/

What if the next major clean energy opportunity is all around us in the systems cities already use every day?

In this episode of Green Giants: Titans of Renewable Energy, host Wes Ashworth, President of Lee Group Search sits down with Drew Maggio, Technical Director at Highmark Building Efficiency, to explore how heat pumps, waste heat recovery, wastewater energy transfer, subway systems, data centers, thermal energy networks, and building electrification are reshaping the future of urban decarbonization.

Drew brings a rare blend of hands-on mechanical experience, engineering depth, and real-world building systems expertise. At Highmark, he works across emerging HVAC and plumbing technologies, regulatory compliance, industry partnerships, and the practical challenge of helping advanced building efficiency solutions make it from concept to installed, operating assets.

This conversation starts with the fundamentals: why heat pumps are not simply electric boilers, why coefficient of performance matters, and why building electrification requires more than swapping fossil fuel equipment for electric equipment. Drew explains how the best projects depend on insulation, sizing, design assumptions, controls, contractor familiarity, and a clear understanding of how buildings actually operate.

From there, the episode expands into a bigger idea: cities are full of hidden thermal energy. Wastewater flowing through sewer systems, heat trapped in subway tunnels, data centers rejecting excess heat, and buildings cooling year-round can all become part of a smarter thermal energy ecosystem.

Wes and Drew also discuss wastewater energy transfer, why adoption has been slower in New York than in some other cities, how thermal energy networks could allow buildings to share heat like the electric grid shares power, and why Local Law 97 is pushing building owners to rethink long-term compliance and operating costs.

This episode is especially relevant for professionals in renewable energy, HVAC, building efficiency, real estate, engineering, sustainability, infrastructure, and energy policy. It is a practical, systems-level look at how cities can decarbonize not only by generating more clean power, but by recovering, moving, storing, and sharing the energy already inside them.

Topics include:

• Heat pumps and building electrification
• Waste heat recovery from sewers, subways, and data centers
• Wastewater energy transfer and thermal energy networks
• NYC Local Law 97 and compliance-driven retrofits
• Thermal storage and flexible building loads
• Building envelope performance and project sizing
• The future of urban decarbonization

Links
Drew Maggio on LinkedIn
HIGHMARK's Website

Wes Ashworth: https://www.linkedin.com/in/weslgs/

• Email: [email protected]
• https://leegroupsearch.com/green-giants-podcast/
• https://leegroupsearch.com/

Fusion has spent decades sitting just beyond the horizon. But according to Will Regan, Founder and Chief Scientist at Pacific Fusion, that story is changing fast.

In this episode of Green Giants: Titans of Renewable Energy, host Wes Ashworth, President of Lee Group Search, sits down with Will to explore why fusion is moving from a distant scientific promise into a practical race around execution, manufacturing, modularity, and real-world clean energy infrastructure.

Will brings a rare perspective to the fusion conversation. Before co-founding Pacific Fusion, he served as an ARPA-E Fellow, spent more than seven years at X, Alphabet’s moonshot factory, and helped create the original vision and team behind Mineral. Today, he is helping lead Pacific Fusion’s effort to commercialize pulsed magnetic inertial fusion, a pathway designed around modular pulser systems, compact chambers, and simplified fusion targets. 

The conversation breaks down fusion in plain English, including why it has the potential to deliver abundant, clean, firm power with low land and material requirements. Will explains how Pacific Fusion’s approach differs from laser-driven inertial fusion and magnetic confinement systems, and why recent breakthroughs at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Sandia National Laboratories, and in pulsed-power hardware helped make 2023 the right moment to build a company around this pathway. 

A major theme throughout the episode is that fusion progress cannot be judged by vague headlines alone. Will walks through a more useful scorecard, from scientific proof of concept to scientific gain, net facility gain, power gain, and ultimately affordable power. Pacific Fusion’s stated near-term objective is net facility gain by 2030, meaning more fusion energy out than the total stored energy input to the machine. 

Wes and Will also dig into the industrial reality behind commercial fusion: why modularity matters, why targets can make or break the economics, what it takes to move from one successful fusion shot to repeatable infrastructure, and how a future fusion plant could fit into the grid as clean firm power alongside solar, wind, storage, geothermal, hydro, and nuclear fission.

This episode is a grounded look at one of the most ambitious frontiers in energy, without the hype. Fusion may still face major challenges in repetition, durability, supply chains, fuel, workforce, and cost. But the opportunity is enormous: clean, reliable, high-density energy that could reshape what is possible for the grid, industry, and global abundance.

In this episode, we cover:

• Why fusion is entering a new chapter focused on execution
• How Pacific Fusion’s pulsed magnetic inertial fusion approach works
• What the 2022 NIF and Sandia breakthroughs changed
• Why modular pulser systems could matter for cost and scale
• The difference between ignition, scientific gain, net facility gain, and power gain
• Why Pacific Fusion is targeting net facility gain by 2030
• How fusion could support clean firm power and real grid reliability
• Why fusion will need engineers, technicians, tradespeople, and builders, not just PhDs
• What a future of abundant clean energy could unlock

Links:
Will Regan on LinkedIn
Pacific Fusion's Website

Wes Ashworth: https://www.linkedin.com/in/weslgs/

• Email: [email protected]
• https://leegroupsearch.com/green-giants-podcast/
• https://leegroupsearch.com/

The energy transition is often discussed in terms of solar panels, wind turbines, electric vehicles, batteries, and grid infrastructure. But beneath all of that progress sits a harder question: where do the critical minerals come from?

In this episode of Green Giants: Titans of Renewable Energy, host Wes Ashworth sits down with Erica Ocampo, Chief Sustainability Officer at The Metals Company, for a candid and thought-provoking conversation about deep-sea polymetallic nodules, critical mineral supply chains, recycling limits, ocean ecosystems, and the real-world trade-offs behind clean energy growth.

Erica brings a rare perspective to this debate. Originally from Colombia, she began her academic journey in music before becoming a chemical engineer and sustainability leader. Her career has spanned Dow, Sims Limited, and now The Metals Company, giving her deep experience across chemicals, plastics, packaging, metals recycling, ESG reporting, circular economy strategy, and emerging critical mineral supply. 

At The Metals Company, Erica works at the center of one of the most complex and controversial questions in the energy transition: whether polymetallic nodules found on the deep ocean floor can provide nickel, cobalt, copper, and manganese with a lower overall impact than some land-based mining pathways. These metals are essential for batteries, manufacturing, infrastructure, electrification, and energy security. 

This episode does not offer easy answers. Instead, Erica and Wes explore the uncomfortable realities that often get left out of clean energy conversations. Recycling is essential, but it cannot meet near-term demand alone. Mineral supply chains are not just environmental systems, they are geopolitical systems. Land-based mining can carry serious social and ecological costs. Deep-sea mineral collection raises legitimate questions about ocean ecosystems, governance, monitoring, and trust. 

The conversation also dives into The Metals Company’s work in the Clarion-Clipperton Zone, the nature of polymetallic nodules, the engineering behind nodule collection, the environmental studies surrounding the NORI-D area, and why Erica believes sustainability leaders must move beyond slogans and engage with evidence, risk, and trade-offs. 

Listeners will hear Erica’s perspective on why discomfort can be productive, why pragmatic sustainability is not the same as compromise, and why building trust may be just as important as building technology. She also shares what it means to build ESG systems before a new industry scales, how to think about guardrails from day one, and why the future of clean energy depends on asking better questions about materials, ecosystems, communities, and accountability.

Topics covered include:

• Critical minerals and the physical reality of the energy transition
• Deep-sea polymetallic nodules and The Metals Company’s approach
• Nickel, cobalt, copper, and manganese supply challenges
• Why recycling matters but cannot solve the whole problem
• China’s role in critical mineral processing and geopolitics
• Environmental trade-offs between land-based mining and ocean nodule collection
• Social impacts of mineral extraction and Indigenous community concerns
• Ocean ecosystem uncertainty, plume impacts, and monitoring
• ESG strategy, governance, transparency, and stakeholder trust
• Pragmatism, sustainability leadership, and the future of clean energy minerals

This is a must-listen episode for renewable energy leaders, sustainability professionals, battery and EV stakeholders, mining and metals executives, policymakers, investors, and anyone who wants a more honest understanding of what it really takes to build the clean energy economy.

Links:
Erica Ocampo on LinkedIn
The Metals Company Website
The Metals Company Videos

Wes Ashworth: https://www.linkedin.com/in/weslgs/

• Email: [email protected]
• https://leegroupsearch.com/green-giants-podcast/
• https://leegroupsearch.com/