Silicon Ranch Radio

Silicon Ranch partner Nextracker has pioneered several innovations in solar tracker technology, including independent row, weather aware tracking algorithms, and have been leading the charge on domestic supply chain improvements. CEO Dan Shugar joins us for a discussion on how their innovations have reduced both costs and environmental impacts while also creating local jobs and community support for solar projects. These efforts enable Nextracker to partner with leaders like Silicon Ranch to deploy gigawatts of high-performing, sustainable solar projects.

Anna Clare Monlezun, rancher and rangeland ecosystem scientist, joins Nick de Vries to discuss grassland ecosystems, sustainable grazing practices, and the co-location of solar energy generation and regenerative agriculture. Anna Clare shares updates on a project close to her heart, Cattle Tracker, which aims to co-locate cattle grazing with solar energy generation. This conversation explores the importance of regenerative grazing practices and the role of herbivores in maintaining healthy grasslands as well as the concept of agrivoltaics, which involves the dual use of land for agriculture and solar energy generation.

In this episode, we're celebrating Veterans Day as Nick invites two military veteran team members, Daizjah Morris and Chris Frobuccino, on the show to discuss their journey between ending their time in service and finding their next mission in civilian life. For many, this transition can be one of the more challenging milestones in a military career, as veterans have to cope with a new identity and purpose in life that can feel extremely foreign to what they have been used to. Hear in this episode how the host and guests have used the skills and tools they developed in the armed forces to thrive in their next mission in civilian life.

Our eighth episode in the series exploring domestic manufacturing takes us to Middle Tennessee, where Nick is joined by Ben Macias, Chief Revenue Officer of Shoals Technologies Group, a leading global provider of Electrical Balance of Systems (EBOS) for eMobility, solar and energy storage systems, with three facilities located in Portland, Tennessee. They'll discuss Shoals contribution both to renewable energy and the resurgence in American manufacturing by way of its diversification into the solar sector and its subsequent growth. Join the conversation to learn about the historic opportunities presented by the renewable energy transition and how we can bolster domestic manufacturing here in the United States.

Our seventh episode in our on-going series exploring domestic manufacturing takes us to West Tennessee, where Nick is joined by Jason Neal, President of Hyosung HICO and Senior Executive VP of HICO America. They'll discuss what makes Memphis a truly unique location logistically for HICO's manufacturing of transformers, a real life case study for high-tech, green energy driven domestic manufacturing right here in the United States. Industry leaders like Silicon Ranch and HICO are excited to share the practicalities and benefits of on-shore manufacturing and why more projects should capitalize on access to local resources, both industrial and human, as part of the green energy transition to bolster domestic manufacturing.

In part six of this series, we'll explore the era defining opportunities presented by the clean energy transition and highlight innovative solutions entrepreneurs are developing to level up domestic manufacturing in the United States. In today’s episode, Nick speaks with Jim Tharp, Sr. Director of Operations at Wacker Chemical Corporation, a leading player and one of the world’s most research-intensive chemical companies, about the ways in which raw materials, skilled training, and community life can come together and form a more welcoming ecosystem for domestic manufacturing. Industry leaders like Silicon Ranch and Wacker are at the cutting edge of the renewable energy transition, but as you'll hear, it's the training and employment of skilled innovators of today along with the job seekers of tomorrow that will determine the shape and scope of domestic industry for the next generation.

We continue to explore domestic manufacturing and the innovative new solutions entrepreneurs are developing to fully leverage opportunities the solar industry offers. In today’s episode, Nick speaks with Suvi Sharma, co-founder & CEO at SOLARCYCLE — the country’s most advanced solar panel recycling solution, about the need to produce the parts and raw materials we need right here in the United States. Approaching solar projects through a circular lens helps reduce reliance on new mining of precious materials like silver and copper by enabling us to mine those materials from solar panels that have reached their end of useful life. But recycling end-of-life panels can provide more than a new source for materials. It can also provide a valuable source for new domestic factories and jobs. Listen in to this episode to learn how.

The conversation on the future of domestic manufacturing in the solar industry continues with Vinayak Gupta, Senior Vice President of Operations of Clean Energy Associates, a global company operating in the United States, Asia, and Europe, working on the soup to nuts of solar supply chains in terms of what it takes to bring new technology to production at scale of high quality. In this episode, Vinayak shares how module manufacturing can fully leverage the economic development opportunity that the solar industry brings.

The conversation on the future of domestic manufacturing in the solar industry continues with John Fluker, President and CEO of Grenzebach North America, a leading global automation company with expertise manufacturing glass, plywood, solar panels and even the luggage wheeling through just about any airport across the globe. In this episode, John discusses the role automation plays in the opportunity to bolster manufacturing in the solar industry, and shares the secret to what makes his factories work so well, including training the workforce to maximize the efficiency of the equipment and processes in place. 

In this episode we continue to explore the unprecedented opportunity to bolster domestic manufacturing while transitioning our energy infrastructure to cleaner, more reliable, renewable energy sources. Here in the U.S. labs are already testing new technologies, their stress points, and long-term reliability. The type of information these labs produce is crucial to people building the next generation of solar products and solutions. Every advancement is a new opportunity to create value, but getting these advancements wrong can be costly. For today’s episode we speak with Dr. Teresa Barnes of the National Renewable Energy Laboratory. The work that Dr. Barnes and her team are preforming at NREL enables entrepreneurs to get these advancements right by supplying them with the necessary tools and knowledge.