Send us a text

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 a text

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 a text

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 a text

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. 

Send us a text

Sean Guzzi from Clenergy Australia joins us to discuss how Clenergy have successfully used market engagement to built grassroots support (5:19).
He also breaks the news of the incoming changes to wind regions (14:03) and roof zone definitions (21:00) when the new AS1170.2 come into effect in September. This includes a "climate change multiplier" (22:55). These will all impact on solar system installs.
We also discussed racking solutions for the new AS5033 requirements (25:11) and site-specific engineering and system design (26:12).

Sean is one of the good guys of the industry and it was great to have him along!

You can find a summary of the new standards here:  Clenergy Engineering_AUNZS1170_21032022.pptx 

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 a text

Lily Pejkic joins us for the latest episode to discuss the current challenges from an installer's and business owner's point-of-view.
 Lily shares about some of the stereotypes that she's come across as a female tradie,  from both industry and customers (some are hilarious).
On-site safety (including mental health) are discussed, as well as the need to find a balance in business. 

Lily is from Sydney Solar & Batteries and is a founding member of AWISE (Australian Women in Solar Energy) - 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. 

Send us a text

James Taylor joins us to discuss implementing the new AS5033 standards on commercial installs, the impact of price increases on fixed contracts and finding a manageable work/life balance.  
The price of aluminum has increased 66% year-to-date, which will impact on component pricing. Fuel prices are also starting to bite (pre-excise cut).
If you're in Australian solar industry, there's bound to be something relevant for you.

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 a text

We're joined by Dougal Gillman to discuss the impact of the Ukraine war and floods on our industry. This includes forecasts on panel pricing and the total installs by GW in Australia for 2022.
We also cover:
Why would distributors sell panels below cost?
How much additional energy do we need to take petrol cars off the road?
Why we'll see flying Tesla's before sequestering carbon and carbon capture make sense.

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 a text

In this episode we're joined by Andy McCarthy, the CEO of RACV Solar and founder of Gippsland Solar. If you're in the Australian solar industry then Andy probably doesn't need any further introduction.

Karl wasn't able to join us as he was travelling around country Victoria, so the excellent Dougal Gillman stepped in as co-host.

Andy discusses the journey from solar start-up in a coal stronghold to being acquired by RACV. The contrast of quality-focused companies to the sub-standard players is discussed, as well as the exit of Infinite Energy and LG from the solar space.  

Just Another Solar Podcast is (usually) hosted by Luke Beattie and Karl Jensen.
This is the sort of conversation industry professionals might 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 a text

Matt Wright from Pure Electric joins us to discuss his focus on installing large residential systems, his lobbying for 100% renewables and other industry issues. This includes 40-year warranties on solar panels and what we should make of it. If you're in the Aussie solar industry, this is geared towards you.

Just Another Solar Podcast is hosted by Luke Beattie and Karl Jensen.
This is the sort of conversation industry professionals might 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.