Just Another Solar Podcast

Send us Fan Mail

Kathleen Ryan has been around the solar industry since the mid-90's, when she was simultaneously working with the greatest researchers in solar panels, raising babies and finding opportunities to dance on tables. Everyone who's encountered Kathleen during her decades in the industry would know that she's an absolute livewire who puts people first. We really enjoyed recording this one!

Just Another Solar Podcast is hosted by Luke Beattie and Karl Jensen.
This is the sort of conversation that solar industry professionals would have at the pub.
If anything sounds like financial, business, legal or any other type of advice, you should always do your own research and get a professional opinion. 

Send us Fan Mail

Daniel Bleakley is the founder of the viral "Coal Miners Driving Teslas" Youtube channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCy0JcHf7dSYHlsnUNDgmTww
He's also an activist, engineer and EV enthusiast, which made him an excellent guest for our latest episode. 

Just Another Solar Podcast is hosted by Luke Beattie and Karl Jensen.
This is the sort of conversation that solar industry professionals would have at the pub.
If anything sounds like financial, business, legal or any other type of advice, you should always do your own research and get a professional opinion. 

Send us Fan Mail

In the latest episode, we were joined by solar data guru Warwick Johnston from Sunwiz. 
We learnt how the Sunwiz data is collected and got answers to some of the questions we've had e.g. why don't all solar companies show up in the insights report.  Currently, 18% of solar installations in Australia include storage and it's still trending upwards - how can solar businesses find their sweet spot in the market to benefit?

We also get Warwick's thoughts on the movement to electrify everything, using automation to improve business, finding the sweet spot of margin to conversion, as well as the low-down on dogs and Jedi suits. 

www.sunwiz.com.au 

Just Another Solar Podcast is hosted by Luke Beattie and Karl Jensen.
This is the sort of conversation that solar industry professionals would have at the pub.
If anything sounds like financial, business, legal or any other type of advice, you should always do your own research and get a professional opinion. 

Send us Fan Mail

Kosta Bourandanis is our latest guest and we delved into current industry issues. Kosta is a co-founder of the Solar Cutters and is also well-travelled, so we had to discuss the world of solar junkets and building business relationships, along with other relevant topics.

Just Another Solar Podcast is hosted by Luke Beattie and Karl Jensen.
This is the sort of conversation that solar industry professionals would have at the pub.
If anything sounds like financial, business, legal or any other type of advice, you should always do your own research and get a professional opinion. 

Send us Fan Mail

We caught up with Thomas Bywater from Jinko Solar to talk about all things solar panels.
Watt-classes and pricing are constantly changing so we talked about what to expect in the future (spoiler alert: panels are going up!). We also talked about the potential of local manufacturing, warranty shenanigans and other current issues in the Australian solar industry.

Just Another Solar Podcast is hosted by Luke Beattie and Karl Jensen.
This is the sort of conversation that solar industry professionals would have at the pub.
If anything sounds like financial, business, legal or any other type of advice, you should always do your own research and get a professional opinion. 

Send us Fan Mail

John Grimes, the CEO of the Smart Energy Council, joins us to work through some of the biggest opportunities and hurdles that are facing the solar industry in Australia.
The current energy crisis and rapid transition to renewables presents an opportunity but also a challenge to meet the 3 x volume increase by 2030 that the new Government targets call for.

Also, what does it look like if the CEC loses their monopoly?
Could swapping to IEC standards reduce the issues related to the current Australian Standards?
Should the arbitrary over-sizing rules be scrapped?

https://smartenergy.org.au/

Just Another Solar Podcast is hosted by Luke Beattie and Karl Jensen.
This is the sort of conversation that solar industry professionals would have at the pub.
If anything sounds like financial, business, legal or any other type of advice, you should always do your own research and get a professional opinion. 

Send us Fan Mail

Jack "Longy" Long, co-founder of the Solar Cutters, joins us to discuss how they built a grass-roots movement that includes some of the best in the Aussie industry. Longy's personal story about the journey to build one of the most influential solar movements is really interesting, as are some of the tangents we take along the way. 

Just Another Solar Podcast is hosted by Luke Beattie and Karl Jensen.
This is the sort of conversation that solar industry professionals would have at the pub.
If anything sounds like financial, business, legal or any other type of advice, you should always do your own research and get a professional opinion. 

Send us Fan Mail

In this episode, we give a brief update on the inverter compliance issue and other market news for installers and solar companies. With a national energy crisis and costs spiking upwards, it was the perfect time to have Ben Hutt from Evergen as a guest (from 10:21).

We discussed Virtual Power Plants, demand response, market-based incentives and how to engage customers to determine the best solution. Evergen works with solar and battery installs from residential to utility, so there were plenty of good insights.

https://evergen.energy/

Just Another Solar Podcast is hosted by Luke Beattie and Karl Jensen.
This is the sort of conversation that solar industry professionals would have at the pub.
If anything sounds like financial, business, legal or any other type of advice, you should always do your own research and get a professional opinion. 
 

Send us Fan Mail

Brendan "Knackers" Laidlaw, the Head Trainer at Energy Training Group, joins us to discuss the industry's biggest issues. We cover the impact of the the new standards on inverters (the 1.25 x calculation), how to interpret it and also how to navigate around it. That leads us into similar issues with DCU's (i.e. optimizers), micros, earthing, cable, string fusing and other ludicrous outcomes from the new regulations. 
Knackers has an epic story of success after emerging from the ashes (literally).

References from the podcast -
AS5033 blog: https://www.energytraininggroup.edu.au/key-changes-to-5033/?fbclid=IwAR0OQslGWqxTQKrEhoyViVzeee5MCRGpUtUkwWLo1nc6raH2uJ45XwMNFUQ

Changes to earthing requirements: https://www.energytraininggroup.edu.au/changes-to-earthing-requirements-in-as-nzs5033-2021/?fbclid=IwAR07VvDihTCOAWtuPHBBPfp8E3tmLetehkJ9wchnll3oCzYieBjNdaLkXSc

Just Another Solar Podcast is hosted by Luke Beattie and Karl Jensen.
This is the sort of conversation that solar industry professionals would have at the pub.
If anything sounds like financial, business, legal or any other type of advice, you should always do your own research and get a professional opinion. 

Send us Fan Mail

In this episode, we joined Nigel Morris to give a wrap of the Smart Energy Conference in Sydney. It's a cross-over between Just Another Solar Podcast and the Great Solar Business podcast. We discuss some of the excellent and not-so-great elements of the conference.

Make sure you check out Great Solar Business: https://open.spotify.com/show/4U6Dyw19vTD6wIaoqWG3yW?si=WLZ1-hiASmKwhfMsTkj2rw 

AWISE: https://www.awise.com.au/

Just Another Solar Podcast is hosted by Luke Beattie and Karl Jensen.
This is the sort of conversation that solar industry professionals would have at the pub.
If anything sounds like financial, business, legal or any other type of advice, you should always do your own research and get a professional opinion.