Solar Maverick Podcast

Episode Summary

In this episode of the Solar Maverick Podcast, Benoy talks with Whit Fulton who is the CEO and Founder at ConnectDER™ which unlocks the massive potential of Distributed Energy Resources (“DERs”) by turning the meter socket into the utility's all-in-one plug-in point for solar, storage, EVs, and beyond.  Whit speaks about a lot of interesting topics like opportunities and challenges with DERS, the grid of the future, and how their meter collar product helps utilities, installers, and homeowners.

Benoy Thanjan

Benoy Thanjan is the Founder and CEO of Reneu Energy, as well as an advisor for several solar startup companies. Reneu Energy is a premier isolar energy consulting firm and developer, and the company focuses on developing commercial and industrial solar, as well as utility-scale solar plus storage projects. 

Benoy received his first experience in Finance as an intern at D.E. Shaw & Co., which is a global investment firm with 37 billion dollars in investment capital. Before founding Reneu Energy, he was the SREC Trader in the Project Finance Group for SolarCity, which merged with Tesla in 2016. He originated SREC trades with buyers and co-developed their SREC monetization and hedging strategy with the senior management of SolarCity, to move into the east coast markets. Benoy also worked at Vanguard Energy Partners, Ridgewood Renewable Power, and Deloitte & Touche.

Whit Fulton

Whit founded ConnectDER™ to give inventors a place to solve meaningful problems and to ensure they have an ownership stake in the solutions they create.  His personal mission is to create technologies and business approaches that unlock profitable models for renewable energy.  Whit honed his analysis, negotiation, and product development skills through a series of senior managerial positions in energy analytics consultancies and cleantech startups.

Stay Connected:

Benoy Thanjan

Email: [email protected] 

LinkedIn: Benoy Thanjan

Website: https://www.reneuenergy.com

Whit Fulton

Website:  https://connectder.com

Linkedin:  https://www.linkedin.com/in/whitmanfulton/

ConnectDER’s program with ConEdison:

https://connectder.com/solar-installers/coned/

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This episode was produced and managed by  Podcast Laundry (www.podcastlaundry.com)

Episode Summary

In this episode of the Solar Maverick Podcast, Benoy talks with Eric White who is the CEO and Founder at Dividend Finance which is a leading national provider of renewable energy and energy-efficient financing solutions to property owners.  Eric speaks about a lot of interesting topics like electrification of the car fleet is impacting the house, how the home will act as virtual power plant with solar plus storage and supply electricity to the grid to maximize revenue.

Benoy Thanjan

Benoy Thanjan is the Founder and CEO of Reneu Energy, as well as an advisor for several solar startup companies. Reneu Energy is a premier international solar energy consulting firm and developer, and the company focuses on developing commercial and industrial solar, as well as utility-scale solar plus storage projects. The company also sources financing for solar projects and hedges both energy and environmental commodities. 

Benoy received his first experience in Finance as an intern at D.E. Shaw & Co., which is a global investment firm with 37 billion dollars in investment capital. Before founding Reneu Energy, he was the SREC Trader in the Project Finance Group for SolarCity, which merged with Tesla in 2016. He originated SREC trades with buyers and co-developed their SREC monetization and hedging strategy with the senior management of SolarCity, to move into the east coast markets. Benoy also worked at Vanguard Energy Partners, Ridgewood Renewable Power, and Deloitte & Touche.

Eric White

Eric is the CEO and Founder of Dividend Finance.  Dividend is a leading national provider of renewable energy and energy-efficient financing solutions to property owners. We give our customers the opportunity to obtain clean energy financing through a comprehensive suite of financing options.

Eric is a seasoned energy transition + renewables and fintech entrepreneur with a passion for conceptualizing and designing innovative financial structures, products and business strategies that break down capital barriers and empower underserved markets.

Stay Connected:

Benoy Thanjan

Email: [email protected] 

LinkedIn: Benoy Thanjan

Website: https://www.reneuenergy.com

Eric White

Website:  https://www.dividendfinance.com

Linkedin:  https://www.linkedin.com/in/theericwhite/

Subscribe to our podcast + download each episode on iTunes,Podbean, and youtube.

This episode was produced and managed by  Podcast Laundry (www.podcastlaundry.com)

Episode Summary

In this episode of the Solar Maverick Podcast, Benoy talks with Brian Lynch who is the Director in Sales and Business Development in Solar plus Storage for LG Electronics which manufactures high efficiency high quality PV modules solar panels in the US and South Korea.  Jon speaks about a lot of interesting topics like residential solar customers will pay more for premium solar equipment and brand awareness matters,  how to lower residential solar customer acquisition cost, and why solar assets are underperforming their initial production estimates.

Benoy Thanjan

Benoy Thanjan is the Founder and CEO of Reneu Energy, as well as an advisor for several solar startup companies. Reneu Energy is a premier international solar energy consulting firm and developer, and the company focuses on developing commercial and industrial solar, as well as utility-scale solar plus storage projects. The company also sources financing for solar projects and hedges both energy and environmental commodities. 

Benoy received his first experience in Finance as an intern at D.E. Shaw & Co., which is a global investment firm with 37 billion dollars in investment capital. Before founding Reneu Energy, he was the SREC Trader in the Project Finance Group for SolarCity, which merged with Tesla in 2016. He originated SREC trades with buyers and co-developed their SREC monetization and hedging strategy with the senior management of SolarCity, to move into the east coast markets. Benoy also worked at Vanguard Energy Partners, Ridgewood Renewable Power, and Deloitte & Touche.

Brian Lynch

Brian Lynch is Director in Sales and Business, Solar plus Storage at LG Electronics.  He works with accomplished sales team to expand market of LG's high efficiency and high quality PV modules (made in Huntsville, AL) and next-gen ESS products.  Brian has 18 years of solar experience and is experienced in solar industry marketing, communications, and business development professional. Brian has been involved in hundreds of megawatts of solar projects that are generating clean energy around the world.

Sponsor: 

Summit Ridge Energy

Thank you to Summit Ridge Energy for sponsoring this episode of the Solar Maverick Podcast!

Summit Ridge Energy is the leading owner-operator of community solar projects in the United States. The team has been a strong force within the U.S. commercial solar market for years and was instrumental in the creation of "virtual" power purchase agreements and associated financing structures. Summit Ridge Energy has leveraged this experience to launch Summit Ridge Capital, a dedicated funding platform that acquires pre-operational community solar and battery storage projects.

SRE also works with land owners across the country to maximize the value of their acreage by offering predictable lease income to host their solar farms.

From site identification and system design, to take-out financing and construction management, Summit Ridge is the most complete solutions provider in the community solar space. 

https://srenergy.com

[email protected]

Stay Connected:

Benoy Thanjan

Email: [email protected] 

LinkedIn: Benoy Thanjan

Website: https://www.reneuenergy.com

Brian Lynch

Website:  https://www.lg.com/us/solar

Linkedin:  https://www.linkedin.com/in/belynch/

Email:  [email protected]

Articles that Brian has wrote are listed below.

There’s more to solar systems than module capacity

https://pv-magazine-usa.com/2020/07/06/yield-for-growth/

Underperforming solar assets shade the entire industry. Here is how to fix it

https://pv-magazine-usa.com/2021/03/10/underperforming-solar-assets-shade-the-entire-industry-here-is-how-to-fix-it/

2020: Top Takeaways on Selling Solar Through a Pandemic

https://solarindustrymag.com/2020-top-takeaways-on-selling-solar-through-a-pandemic

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This episode was produced and managed by  Podcast Laundry (www.podcastlaundry.com)

Episode Summary

In this episode of the Solar Maverick Podcast, Benoy talks with Jon Semingson who is the Managing Partner at Peak Demand which is a talent access firm that connects top companies in the renewable energy space with the talent they need to grow their businesses.  Jon speaks about a lot of interesting topics like his renewable energy jobs outlook, how hiring was impacted by COVID, and how people can transition into renewable energy.

Benoy Thanjan

Benoy Thanjan is the Founder and CEO of Reneu Energy, as well as an advisor for several solar startup companies. Reneu Energy is a premier international solar energy consulting firm and developer, and the company focuses on developing commercial and industrial solar, as well as utility-scale solar plus storage projects. The company also sources financing for solar projects and hedges both energy and environmental commodities. 

Benoy received his first experience in Finance as an intern at D.E. Shaw & Co., which is a global investment firm with 37 billion dollars in investment capital. Before founding Reneu Energy, he was the SREC Trader in the Project Finance Group for SolarCity, which merged with Tesla in 2016. He originated SREC trades with buyers and co-developed their SREC monetization and hedging strategy with the senior management of SolarCity, to move into the east coast markets. Benoy also worked at Vanguard Energy Partners, Ridgewood Renewable Power, and Deloitte & Touche.

Jon Semington

Jon Semingson Is Managing Partner of Peak Demand and head of Peak Demand. Jon has been recruiting in the renewable energy industry for 14 years.

Peak Demand is a talent access firm that connects top companies in the renewable energy space with the talent they need to grow their businesses.

The individuals they have placed have delivered over 10 gigawatts of installed generation to our clients. That’s billions of dollars of clean, renewable energy impacting the bottom line for our clients and enough renewable energy to power 10 million homes.

They work in Solar, Energy Storage, EV and related markets from the C-Level to Individual Contributors driving the renewable energy revolution.

Stay Connected:

Benoy Thanjan

Email: [email protected] 

LinkedIn: Benoy Thanjan

Website: https://www.reneuenergy.com

Jon Semington

Website:  https://peakdemandinc.com

Linkedin:  https://www.linkedin.com/in/solarrecruiter/

Email:  [email protected]

Phone number:  916-565-2813

Videos:  Jon’s videos

https://peakdemandinc.com/videos/

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This episode was produced and managed by  Podcast Laundry (www.podcastlaundry.com)

Episode Summary

In this episode of the Solar Maverick Podcast, Benoy talks with George Hershman who is the President of Swinerton Renewable Energy and SOLV.  Swinerton Renewable Energy (SRE) is the largest Engineering, Procurement, Construction (EPC), and Operations & Maintenance Company through SOLV for solar photovoltaic plants and energy storage facilities throughout North America. George speaks about a lot of interesting topics about new innovations and efficiencies in the solar and storage industry, reasons for significant change in the energy demand curve that will lead to more renewables, and Biden’s infrastructure plan.

Benoy Thanjan

Benoy Thanjan is the Founder and CEO of Reneu Energy, as well as an advisor for several solar startup companies. Reneu Energy is a premier international solar energy consulting firm and developer, and the company focuses on developing commercial and industrial solar, as well as utility-scale solar plus storage projects. The company also sources financing for solar projects and hedges both energy and environmental commodities. 

Benoy received his first experience in Finance as an intern at D.E. Shaw & Co., which is a global investment firm with 37 billion dollars in investment capital. Before founding Reneu Energy, he was the SREC Trader in the Project Finance Group for SolarCity, which merged with Tesla in 2016. He originated SREC trades with buyers and co-developed their SREC monetization and hedging strategy with the senior management of SolarCity, to move into the east coast markets. Benoy also worked at Vanguard Energy Partners, Ridgewood Renewable Power, and Deloitte & Touche.

George Hershman

George Hershman is an industry veteran who has led Swinerton Renewable Energy for 13 years and currently serves as board chairman at the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA).  He is president of Swinerton and SOLV.

George Hershman began his tenure at Swinerton in 1997, working in project management until his promotion to San Diego Division Manager of Swinerton Management & Consulting in 2006. In response to a growing demand for renewable energy, George took on the task of building Swinerton’s presence in the renewable energy sector in 2008 and SOLV, Swinerton’s stand-alone solar operations and maintenance group, was formed in 2014.

Sponsor:  Summit Ridge Energy

Thank you to Summit Ridge Energy for sponsoring this episode of the Solar Maverick Podcast!

Summit Ridge Energy is the leading owner-operator of community solar projects in the United States. The team has been a strong force within the U.S. commercial solar market for years and was instrumental in the creation of "virtual" power purchase agreements and associated financing structures. Summit Ridge Energy has leveraged this experience to launch Summit Ridge Capital, a dedicated funding platform that acquires pre-operational community solar and battery storage projects.

SRE also works with land owners across the country to maximize the value of their acreage by offering predictable lease income to host their solar farms.

From site identification and system design, to take-out financing and construction management, Summit Ridge is the most complete solutions provider in the community solar space. 

https://srenergy.com

[email protected]

Stay Connected:

Benoy Thanjan

Email: [email protected] 

LinkedIn: Benoy Thanjan

Website: https://www.reneuenergy.com

George Hershmann

Website:  https://www.swinertonrenewable.com

Linkedin:  https://www.linkedin.com/in/georgehershman/

Company Linkedin Page:  https://www.linkedin.com/company/swinerton-renewable-energy/

 Subscribe to our podcast + download each episode on iTunes,Podbean, and youtube.

This episode was produced and managed by  Podcast Laundry (www.podcastlaundry.com)

Episode Summary

It is our 100th episode of the podcast!  We wanted to thank our listeners for their loyal support of the podcast. In the 100th episode of the Solar Maverick Podcast, Benoy talks with Nathan Jovanelly who is the Director of Business Development at IGS Solar and regular contributor to the podcast.  Nate speaks about a lot of interesting topics about how to lower residential solar customer acquisition costs, trends that he is seeing in storage and Electric Vehicles, and how solar policy should incent distributed solar.

Benoy Thanjan

Benoy Thanjan is the Founder and CEO of Reneu Energy, as well as an advisor for several solar startup companies. Reneu Energy is a premier international solar energy consulting firm and developer, and the company focuses on developing commercial and industrial solar, as well as utility-scale solar plus storage projects. The company also sources financing for solar projects and hedges both energy and environmental commodities. 

Benoy received his first experience in Finance as an intern at D.E. Shaw & Co., which is a global investment firm with 37 billion dollars in investment capital. Before founding Reneu Energy, he was the SREC Trader in the Project Finance Group for SolarCity, which merged with Tesla in 2016. He originated SREC trades with buyers and co-developed their SREC monetization and hedging strategy with the senior management of SolarCity, to move into the east coast markets. Benoy also worked at Vanguard Energy Partners, Ridgewood Renewable Power, and Deloitte & Touche.

Nathan Jovanelly

Nate is the Director of Business Development at IGS Solar.  He  helped form IGS Solar in 2014.  IGS Solar is a sister company to IGS Energy, which is the largest privately held energy supplier in the United States with more than four million customers. After developing more than 30MW of solar for nonprofits and Fortune 500 companies, he moved on to start the Residential Solar Division at IGS in 2016. IGS now has a thriving residential business where they partner with turnkey engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC) companies that use their third party ownership model to allow more than a thousand new residential customers make the switch to solar every month. He currently leads the development of the residential solar business along with other national and strategic partnerships for IGS Solar.

Stay Connected:

Benoy Thanjan

Email: [email protected] 

LinkedIn: Benoy Thanjan

Website: https://www.reneuenergy.com

Nathan Jovanelly

Website:  https://www.igs.com/for-your-business/solar

Linkedin:  https://www.linkedin.com/in/natejov/

Email:   [email protected]

Nate’s other interviews on the Solar Maverick Podcast

SMP 74: Impact on COVID-19 on Residential Solar

 https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/smp-74-impacts-of-covid-19-on-residential-solar/id1441876259?i=1000475840259

SMP 58:  Residential Solar Financing and Other Interesting Topics

 https://podcasts.apple.com/tc/podcast/smp-58-residential-solar-financing-other-interesting/id1441876259?i=1000459212910

SMP 20:  The Solar Intrapreneur Story:  How Nate helped IGS become one of the biggest solar asset owners in the US

https://podcasts.apple.com/tc/podcast/smp-20-solar-intrapreneur-story-how-nate-helped-igs/id1441876259?i=1000432329129

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This episode was produced and managed by  Podcast Laundry (www.podcastlaundry.com)

Episode Summary

In this episode of the Solar Maverick Podcast, Benoy talks with Jay Hakes who is a Presidential & Energy Historian, Author, and Speaker and he discusses his new book called ENERGY CRISES -NIXON, FORD, CARTER, AND HARD CHOICES IN THE 1970s.  Jay has worked for the Clinton and Obama Administration and President Carter.  Jay also discusses how the 1970s had a huge impact on the US Energy Industry today, how the US invested in alternative energy technologies in the 70s including solar, and what energy technologies will be prevalent in the future. 

Benoy Thanjan

Benoy Thanjan is the Founder and CEO of Reneu Energy, as well as an advisor for several solar startup companies. Reneu Energy is a premier international solar energy consulting firm and developer, and the company focuses on developing commercial and industrial solar, as well as utility-scale solar plus storage projects. The company also sources financing for solar projects and hedges both energy and environmental commodities. 

Benoy received his first experience in Finance as an intern at D.E. Shaw & Co., which is a global investment firm with 37 billion dollars in investment capital. Before founding Reneu Energy, he was the SREC Trader in the Project Finance Group for SolarCity, which merged with Tesla in 2016. He originated SREC trades with buyers and co-developed their SREC monetization and hedging strategy with the senior management of SolarCity, to move into the east coast markets. Benoy also worked at Vanguard Energy Partners, Ridgewood Renewable Power, and Deloitte & Touche.

Jay Hakes

An expert on U.S. energy policy, Jay Hakes has a long history of working on energy issues, including as Administrator of the U.S. Energy Information Administration during the Clinton administration and as Director for Research and Policy for President Obama’s BP Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill Commission.  He also served for thirteen years as the Director of the Jimmy Carter Presidential Library.

Stay Connected:

Benoy Thanjan

Email: [email protected] 

LinkedIn: Benoy Thanjan

Website: https://www.reneuenergy.com

Jay Hakes

Website:  https://jayhakes.com

Contact:  https://jayhakes.com/contact

Buy Jay’s Book

Jay’s long-awaited new book called ENERGY CRISES -NIXON, FORD, CARTER, AND HARD CHOICES IN THE 1970S is available at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and Oklahoma University Press. For a copy with signed bookplate, contact a Cappella bookstore.

Amazon

https://www.amazon.com/Energy-Crises-Choices-Environment-America/dp/0806168528/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&qid=1604404836&refinements=p_27%253AJay%20Hakes&s=books&sr=1-1

Barnes and Noble

https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/energy-crises-jay-e-hakes/1137783357

Oklahoma University Press

https://www.oupress.com/books/16285150/energy-crises

Capella Bookstore

https://www.acappellabooks.com/pages/books/246446/jay-e-hakes/energy-crises-nixon-ford-carter-and-hard-choices-in-the-1970s-volume-5-the-environment-in-modern

Subscribe to our podcast + download each episode on iTunes,Podbean, and youtube.

This episode was produced and managed by  Podcast Laundry (www.podcastlaundry.com)

Episode Summary

In this episode of the Solar Maverick Podcast, Benoy talks with Laura Pagliarulo who is the President and Co-Founder of SolaREIT invests in land for solar developments through land acquisitions, lease monetization, and project re-powering.  Laura speaks about a lot of interesting topics about innovative financing options for land on solar projects, how the financing of land on solar projects has not yet been disrupted, and increasing developers returns for projects with SolaREIT’s product offerings.

Benoy Thanjan

Benoy Thanjan is the Founder and CEO of Reneu Energy, as well as an advisor for several solar startup companies. Reneu Energy is a premier international solar energy consulting firm and developer, and the company focuses on developing commercial and industrial solar, as well as utility-scale solar plus storage projects. The company also sources financing for solar projects and hedges both energy and environmental commodities. 

Benoy received his first experience in Finance as an intern at D.E. Shaw & Co., which is a global investment firm with 37 billion dollars in investment capital. Before founding Reneu Energy, he was the SREC Trader in the Project Finance Group for SolarCity, which merged with Tesla in 2016. He originated SREC trades with buyers and co-developed their SREC monetization and hedging strategy with the senior management of SolarCity, to move into the east coast markets. Benoy also worked at Vanguard Energy Partners, Ridgewood Renewable Power, and Deloitte & Touche.

Laura Pagliarulo

Laura is a founding member and President of SolaREIT. Prior to joining the company, she was the Senior Vice President at CleanChoice Energy where she built and grew the community solar business. Earlier in her career she held positions at SunEdison, where she led the community solar division, and WGL Energy, where she ran their voluntary renewable energy business. She has over 18 years of experience in the renewable energy, electricity and natural gas industry.

Stay Connected:

Benoy Thanjan

Email: [email protected] 

LinkedIn: Benoy Thanjan

Website: https://www.reneuenergy.com

Laura Pagliarulo

Website:  https://www.solareit.com

Linkedin:  https://www.linkedin.com/in/laura-pagliarulo-leed-ap-4934aa5/

Email:  [email protected]

Article:

Guest column: Landowners need more options to stimulate rooftop-level boom in large-scale solar development by Laura Pagliarulo

https://www.solarpowerworldonline.com/2021/03/guest-column-landowners-need-more-options-to-stimulate-rooftop-level-boom-in-large-scale-solar-development/

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This episode was produced and managed by  Podcast Laundry (www.podcastlaundry.com)

Episode Summary

In this episode of the Solar Maverick Podcast, Benoy talks with Steph Speirs who is the co-founder and CEO of Solstice.  Solstice connects businesses and households to local clean energy sources with guaranteed annual savings.  Steph speaks about a lot of interesting topics about their innovative customer acquisition strategies for community solar subscribers, how their Energy Score is better predictor of customers paying their energy bill compared to FICO, engaging the LMI community regarding community solar, and community solar trends.

Benoy Thanjan

Benoy Thanjan is the Founder and CEO of Reneu Energy, as well as an advisor for several solar startup companies. Reneu Energy is a premier international solar energy consulting firm and developer, and the company focuses on developing commercial and industrial solar, as well as utility-scale solar plus storage projects. The company also sources financing for solar projects and hedges both energy and environmental commodities. 

Benoy received his first experience in Finance as an intern at D.E. Shaw & Co., which is a global investment firm with 37 billion dollars in investment capital. Before founding Reneu Energy, he was the SREC Trader in the Project Finance Group for SolarCity, which merged with Tesla in 2016. He originated SREC trades with buyers and co-developed their SREC monetization and hedging strategy with the senior management of SolarCity, to move into the east coast markets. Benoy also worked at Vanguard Energy Partners, Ridgewood Renewable Power, and Deloitte & Touche.

Steph Speirs

She co-founded and runs Solstice, an enterprise dedicated to radically expanding the number of American households that can take advantage of clean energy using community-shared solar farms. She was selected as an Inc Magazine Female Founder 100, Echoing Green Climate Fellow, a Kia Revisionary, a Renewable Energy World 40 Under 40 in Solar, Elle Magazine/INCO’s US Impact Entrepreneur of the Year, a Grist 50 Fixer, a Sierra Club Face of Clean Energy, a GLG Social Impact Fellow, a Cordes Fellow, a Global Good Fund Fellow, and an Acumen Global Fellow. Solstice was accelerated by Techstars Boston, MIT, Princeton, MassChallenge, Halcyon Incubator, and Cleantech Open. 



She previously led sales and marketing innovation initiatives in India at d.light, a solar products company powering areas without reliable electricity; spearheaded Acumen's renewable energy impact investment strategy in Pakistan; developed Middle East policy as the youngest policy director at the White House National Security Council; and field organized in seven states for the first Obama presidential campaign. 



She serves on the Board of Directors of the Sierra Club Foundation and on the Advisory Board of the Yale Center for Environmental Law and Policy. She holds a B.A. from Yale, a Master in Public Affairs (MPA) with distinction from Princeton, and an MBA from MIT with a Certificate in Entrepreneurship and Innovation. At MIT, she was a recipient of the Paul and Daisy Soros Fellowship for New Americans, the Legatum Fellowship, the Dean's Fellowship, and the Public Service Fellowship. She originally hails from Hawaii and was raised by a single immigrant mother.

Stay Connected:

Benoy Thanjan

Email: [email protected] 

LinkedIn: Benoy Thanjan

Website: https://www.reneuenergy.com

Steph Speirs

Website:  https://solstice.us

Linkedin:  https://www.linkedin.com/in/skyspeirs/

Subscribe to our podcast + download each episode on iTunes,Podbean, and youtube.

 This episode was produced and managed by  Podcast Laundry (www.podcastlaundry.com)

Episode Summary

In this episode of the Solar Maverick Podcast, Benoy talks with Chris Diaz who is co-CEO of Seminole Financial Services has directly funded over $2 billion totaling more than 1 Gigawatt (GW) of Renewable Energy nationwide.  Chris speaks about a lot of interesting topics about what makes a project bankable, potential new Federal incentives for solar, tax equity outlook 2021, and solar trends.

Benoy Thanjan

Benoy Thanjan is the Founder and CEO of Reneu Energy, as well as an advisor for several solar startup companies. Reneu Energy is a premier international solar energy consulting firm and developer, and the company focuses on developing commercial and industrial solar, as well as utility-scale solar plus storage projects. The company also sources financing for solar projects and hedges both energy and environmental commodities. 

Benoy received his first experience in Finance as an intern at D.E. Shaw & Co., which is a global investment firm with 37 billion dollars in investment capital. Before founding Reneu Energy, he was the SREC Trader in the Project Finance Group for SolarCity, which merged with Tesla in 2016. He originated SREC trades with buyers and co-developed their SREC monetization and hedging strategy with the senior management of SolarCity, to move into the east coast markets. Benoy also worked at Vanguard Energy Partners, Ridgewood Renewable Power, and Deloitte & Touche.

Chris Diaz

Chris Diaz is co-CEO of Seminole Financial Services, LLC (“SFS”). In addition to his role as co-CEO, Mr. Diaz oversees the Business Development team as well as Capital and Investor Relations. He is also a corporate shareholder.

Seminole is a leading finance provider to small scale (1MW – 40MW) Renewable Energy facilities. The company has directly funded over $2 billion totaling more than 1 Gigawatt ("GW") of Renewable Energy nationwide.

Since joining SFS in 2009, Chris has been responsible for the identification, evaluation, and negotiation of renewable energy finance transactions focusing on solar and wind projects between $2 million and $40 million in need of construction/interim financing and permanent debt financing.

Prior to SFS, Chris was employed by Credit Suisse, MMA Financial and the Midland Companies where he gained over 15 years of experience with tax credits and financial services. He has had multiple articles published about renewable energy finance and continues to be a frequent speaker on renewable energy finance and energy credits at national industry conferences. Chris is a member of the Board of Directors for the Solar Energy Industry Association (SEIA) as the Vice Chair of the Solar Services & Consumers (SSC) Division, is a board member for the Solar Energy Trade Show (“SETS”) Board of Managers, is a member of SETS Board of Managers Finance Committee, and was Vice-President of the Board of Directors for the Distributed Wind Energy Association (DWEA). He holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Social Science with an emphasis in urban and regional planning from Florida State University, as well as an MBA from Nova Southeastern University.

Stay Connected:

Benoy Thanjan

Email: [email protected] 

LinkedIn: Benoy Thanjan

Website: https://www.reneuenergy.com

Chris Diaz

Website:  https://seminolefinancialservices.com

Linkedin:  https://www.linkedin.com/in/chris-diaz-61688617/

Phone:  (727) 460-0578

Email:  [email protected]

A Guide To Preparing A Successful Solar Energy Project Finance Package by Chris Diaz

https://www.seminolefinancialservices.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/A-Guide-to-Preparing-A-Successful-Solar-Energy-Project-Finance-Package.pdf

Subscribe to our podcast + download each episode on iTunes,Podbean, and youtube.

 This episode was produced and managed by  Podcast Laundry (www.podcastlaundry.com)