Solar panels don’t clean themselves — and neglect is killing system performance. But nobody talks about it.

In this episode of Off the Grid, On the Record, Yarek sits down with Paul West, founder of Peak Solar Pro, to explore the other half of the solar industry: maintenance, prevention, and keeping systems alive.

We cover:

✅ The unexpected causes of performance loss (bird waste, oil soot, mold) ✅ Why maintenance is the most overlooked part of clean energy ✅ How Paul scaled across New England with robotic tech + new safety gear ✅ What he’s building next for the solar cleaning industry ✅ How to think about the ROI of O&M in solar, long-term

Whether you're in the trenches or managing the assets — this episode will change how you think about clean energy infrastructure.

🔗 Resources:

• peaksolarpro.com
• jpmmedia.ca

From laboring on job sites to managing multimillion-dollar projects, Ryan Van Der Woude has done it all. But in 2021, he walked away from traditional property development to create Futureland — a firm committed to sustainable, solar-ready, community-driven housing across Australia.

In this episode of Off the Grid, On the Record, we dive into:

• What most developers get wrong about sustainability
• Why Australia’s outdated planning systems are slowing progress
• How to build homes that LAST — not just sell
• The truth behind affordable housing, build-to-rent, and market scalability
• What Canada and Australia can learn from each other’s energy policies

This is a crash course in ethical development, smart planning, and future-ready real estate.

📲 Learn more at futureland-developments.com

Corey McDonald isn’t here to sell you solar. He’s here to protect you from it.

With over two decades in the industry — from building the first utility-scale solar farms in Missouri to advising federal energy policy — Corey has seen the good, the bad, and the brutally dishonest. Now, through MC Solar Consultants, he’s working directly with homeowners, schools, and businesses to cut through the noise and avoid predatory pitches.

In this episode of Off the Grid on the Record, we dive into:

• His founding story: from snowstorm to solar farm
• What solar sales reps won’t tell you about dealer fees
• The real ROI of solar when it's done right
• How he saved a school district $1M+ per year — and added solar curriculum to classrooms

This is the solar education no installer wants you to hear.

🎙 Subscribe for more clean energy conversations, unfiltered.

📍 Guest site: mcsolarkc.com

When Bryan Villano was managing nearly 20 renewable projects, he hit a wall: contract overload. That wall turned into his startup, Contract Power—an AI-powered SaaS tool built for the energy sector’s most ignored pain point: documents.

In this episode of Off the Grid, On the Record, we dive into:

• The exact moment that made Bryan say “I need to build this”
• Why general-purpose AI fails energy companies
• How Contract Power’s ClauseSense tool redefines compliance tracking
• What makes it industry-first, not just “AI-enhanced”
• Why missing a single sentence nearly killed a $300M deal
• What AI agents and SaaS 2.0 will mean for the future of clean tech
• Their SOC 2, Techstars-backed growth path, and where they’re headed next

📍Whether you're in asset management, M&A, legal, or project dev—this episode is your cheat code to reclaim your week.

🔗 Learn more → contractpower.ai

💼 Book a demo or connect with Bryan on LinkedIn

🎙 Follow the show for weekly episodes from the people powering the clean energy revolution

What if hiring wasn’t about checking boxes—but matching energy?

In this episode of Off the Grid, On the Record, we sit down with Carol Ann Wentworth, the founder of Wentworth Executive Recruiting and author of A Mindful Career. With 25+ years of experience and a 94% retention rate, Carol Ann is on a mission to humanize hiring—especially in clean energy, construction, and mission-driven tech.

She breaks down:

• The difference between a job and a real career path
• Why most executive searches fail (and how hers don’t)
• How to hire mindfully—even under pressure
• Her journey from losing everything in 2008 to building a values-driven firm
• What leaders and job-seekers are getting wrong about AI, alignment, and ambition

This isn’t another fluffy HR conversation—it’s a tactical and heartfelt deep dive into the real future of work.

📚 Get the book → A Mindful Career on Amazon

🌐 More about the firm → https://www.wentworthexecutiverecruiting.co

💡 Follow us on Spotify, Apple, and YouTube for weekly insights from the people building what’s next.

Bruce Plant is the co-founder of Wallop Water — a hydration company turning heads in the global events and construction industries by eliminating plastic bottles entirely. In this episode, we dive into how a side hustle born from festival waste became a scalable, IoT-powered solution delivering chilled, branded, and solar-powered water stations to events from Melbourne to Mandalay Bay.

🚨 You’ll learn:

• How data-backed hydration is transforming how we run events
• Why sustainability managers are obsessed with Bruce’s reporting tools
• The wild truth behind where your “single-use” water bottle ends up
• What happens when you combine real infrastructure with media, branding, and solar tech
• How to bootstrap and scale a logistics-heavy business across two continents

It’s not just about staying hydrated. It’s about building a movement.

🌐 Visit Wallop Water → https://www.wallopwater.com

📩 Interested in partnerships? Reach out via LinkedIn or the site above.

🎧 Follow Off The Grid, On The Record for weekly episodes with energy innovators and clean-tech disruptors.

Lee Faisal didn’t just start a solar company—he rewired how clean energy is sold, delivered, and trusted in Australia. As the founder of Amazon Energy, Lee took his background at a multinational panel manufacturer and flipped the playbook—focusing on face-to-face installs, transparent pricing, and long-term client relationships in a time when everyone else chased quick wins.

In this no-BS episode, we cover:

• How Lee scaled with 90% referral business
• The overlooked power of in-person installs
• Australia's battery storage boom (hint: huge federal + state rebates)
• The ROI story every commercial customer needs to hear
• How Amazon Energy is prepping for hydrogen
• Why customer education is Lee’s next big play

If you want a behind-the-scenes look at scaling an energy company without shady sales tactics or bloated teams, this is the one.

#solar #cleanenergy #foundersjourney #batteryboom #energyindependence #renewables #australianbusiness #offthegridpodcast #electrification

He was set to become a lawyer. Now he’s building one of the most trusted solar companies in Florida.

Luke Makar, founder of Aspire Solar, joins me to talk about what it really takes to launch a solar company in one of the most volatile markets in North America. No shortcuts. No bloated sales decks. Just clarity, honesty, and a relentless focus on delivering quality.

In this episode:

• The mindset shift from chasing money to building meaning
• Why Florida homeowners are demanding battery storage now more than ever
• How Aspire’s no-nonsense quoting process is earning long-term trust
• Why lead gen isn’t the bottleneck—fulfillment is
• The #1 mistake most solar companies are making right now

This isn’t a hype episode. It’s a playbook for building something real.

🔗 Learn more: https://www.aspiresolarenergy.com 📸 @followaspiresolar 🎙 Hosted by Yarek Matacz | JPM Media | https://www.jpmmedia.ca 🎧 Subscribe for more episodes of Off the Grid on the Record

Michelle Knox, founder of Wind Solar USA, shares how a single question over drinks sparked a 16-year journey into clean energy—and led her to take on utility monopolies, author a statewide Solar Bill of Rights, and build a customer-first solar company in rural Illinois.

In this episode:

• Building a solar business with NO ads and 100% education-driven growth
• Creating 27-page solar proposals that sell themselves
• How she helped write and advocate for game-changing state legislation
• Fighting—and winning—against massive energy providers in court
• Lessons on courage, conviction, and finding purpose through service

This is what happens when values meet execution.

📌 Guest: Michelle Knox – Founder of Wind Solar USA

🌐 https://www.windsolarusa.com

🎙 Host: Yarek Matacz – Off the Grid, On the Record

🎧 Listen to more: https://open.spotify.com/show/4GGdf9APheAirKD4ZIlM7O

Before a single solar panel gets installed or a battery storage site breaks ground, there's one critical factor that can quietly kill the entire deal: title work.

In this episode of Off the Grid, On the Record, Yarek sits down with Monroe Jett — real estate veteran and founder of Title Leader — to unpack the title and land rights challenges slowing down utility-scale energy development. From managing 6,000+ searches a year with spreadsheets to building a national solution now used by top firms like NextEra, Monroe breaks down why title matters, where projects fail, and how he fixed it.

What you’ll learn:

• How fatal flaws in land rights stop multi-million-dollar energy projects
• Why Title Leader is free (and how they still make money)
• How developers can detect risks BEFORE signing site control agreements

This is required listening for anyone in clean energy, land acquisition, or infrastructure.

🔗 titleleader.com

🎥 Watch on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@yarekmatacz

📩 Subscribe + Share if you're in energy dev, real estate, or finance.

#CleanEnergy #SolarDevelopment #TitleInsurance #Renewables #PodcastForOperators