Factor This

Solar's biggest risk? Too few works to deliver the massive project pipeline


Listen Later

Tell us what you think of the show!

Praise for the solar industry's meteoric growth often shines on developers and their multi-gigawatt pipelines and portfolios. Seldom does the limelight extend to the construction crews putting steel in the ground.

But clean electrons aren't generated by hope, targets, and schematics. It's the engineering, procurement, and construction firms that are executing the vision for a clean energy transition.

Therein lies an overlooked hurdle on the horizon: There simply aren't enough qualified EPCs, and workers, to meet the booming demand for solar projects. And rich incentives in the Inflation Reduction Act only stand to magnify the glut in supply.

Episode 49 of the Factor This! podcast features Chris Dunbar, CEO of Blue Ridge Power, for an inside look at how one of the industry's leading utility-scale solar and storage EPCs is navigating a chronic labor shortage and a tumultuous market plagued by supply chain constraints, trade disputes, and the interconnection slog.

Sure, gigawatts of solar projects are in motion. But who's going to build them?

Want to make a suggestion for This Week in Cleantech? Nominate the stories that caught your eye each week by emailing [email protected]

...more
View all episodesView all episodes
Download on the App Store

Factor ThisBy Factor This

  • 4.9
  • 4.9
  • 4.9
  • 4.9
  • 4.9

4.9

36 ratings


More shows like Factor This

View all
Energy Gang by Wood Mackenzie

Energy Gang

1,255 Listeners

Columbia Energy Exchange by Columbia University

Columbia Energy Exchange

392 Listeners

Currents by Norton Rose Fulbright

Currents

125 Listeners

Interchange Recharged by Wood Mackenzie

Interchange Recharged

502 Listeners

Redefining Energy by Laurent Segalen and Gerard Reid

Redefining Energy

128 Listeners

Inevitable by an MCJ podcast

Inevitable

172 Listeners

Switched On by Bloomberg

Switched On

98 Listeners

POLITICO Energy by POLITICO

POLITICO Energy

138 Listeners

Cleaning Up: Leadership in an Age of Climate Change by Michael Liebreich, Bryony Worthington

Cleaning Up: Leadership in an Age of Climate Change

78 Listeners

Volts by David Roberts

Volts

602 Listeners

The Green Blueprint by Latitude Media

The Green Blueprint

203 Listeners

Catalyst with Shayle Kann by Latitude Media

Catalyst with Shayle Kann

262 Listeners

Zero: The Climate Race by Bloomberg

Zero: The Climate Race

195 Listeners

Shift Key with Robinson Meyer and Jesse Jenkins by Heatmap News

Shift Key with Robinson Meyer and Jesse Jenkins

92 Listeners

Open Circuit by Latitude Media

Open Circuit

140 Listeners