Dan Shugar is the CEO of Nextracker, a FLEX company. Dan, or Shug as his friends call him, has been in the solar industry for nearly 30 years and in some way always thought about trackers.

In this interview we talk about his background and how he has built several companies in solar with success and why Nextracker is a market share leader in most markets around the world.

This is an interview you don't want to miss. Some links to things we talked about in the podcast.

His testimony to Congress

https://www.nextracker.com/2020/09/testimony-of-dan-shugar-founder-and-ceo-nextracker-house-committee-on-natural-resources-subcommittee-on-energy-and-mineral-resources/

A video about his band

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZMkjEmAtMOc

Solar Battle of The Bands at the Warfield

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2aFYeRau0ME

13. CEO of SEIA, Abby Hopper, Reflects On Biden Victory And McConnell's Senate by Yann Brandt

In this episode of the SolarWakeup podcast, Yann talks to Mike O’Boyle from Energy Innovation where he is the Director of Electricity Policy. Energy Innovation recently published a report authored by Mike that looks at the southeastern US energy market if it were based on competitive power markets instead of monopolies.

The results are as expected, consumers would have cleaner electricity at lower prices while more jobs are created. This RTO would span from Florida to the Carolinas and into the Gulf Coast. These energy service areas are largely served by the largest IOUs in the Country that have incredible regulatory capture. We talk about the politics of implementing this and where it has been done before.

If you enjoy this episode, check out our other SolarWakeup podcasts. Please subscribe and leave a 5 star rating for us. You can find Yann on twitter @YannBrandt

Energy Innovation Report on Southeast RTO

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In this episode Yann talks to Gabe Phillips, the CEO and founder of Catalyst Power. Catalyst received the backing of BP Energy Partners to the tune of $60million in order to scale their retail energy business.

Gabe describes the novel approach to distributed generation development in coordination with the retail energy business under the same business umbrella. Gabe was the CEO and founder of GP Energy Management which was acquired by Genscape a few years ago.

If you enjoy this episode please tell a friend, rate and subscribe on your favorite podcast app.

Subscribe to SolarWakeup's newsletter at solarwakeup.com/subscribe-2

Follow Yann on twitter @yannbrandt

Learn about SolarWakeup Buyer's Group at solarwakeup.com/pricing

In this episode Yann talks to Tim Rochman who leads all things solar at EagleView Technologies. Eagleview works with municipalities and insurance companies around the Country to provide data on real estate or after a natural disaster.

Eagleview entered the solar market to help solar installers get better data through imagery for faster and more accurate sales and installation processes.

If you enjoy this episode please tell a friend, rate and subscribe on your favorite podcast app.

Subscribe to SolarWakeup's newsletter at solarwakeup.com/subscribe-2

Follow Yann on twitter @yannbrandt

Learn about SolarWakeup Buyer's Group at solarwakeup.com/pricing

In this episode Yann talks to John Powers of Extensible Energy. Extensible sells the DemandEx platform which is referred to as a virtual battery.

The virtual battery allows buildings to operate more efficiently with minimal hardware, lowering the cost of implementation and speeding up the process. By managing thermal loads, DemandEx is targeting the solar industry as an additional solution to lower demand charges.

Please like and 5-star this episode on your podcast app.

www.extensibleenergy.com

In this episode we talk with the CEO of Inovateus Solar, TJ Kanczuzewksi, about their recently released sustainability report. Inovateus sees sustainability in two parts, first being the sustainability of their customers and why they are going solar and second, the sustainability of the solar construction and life cycle.

Inovateus is based in South Bend Indiana and we talk about the future of solar in the midwest, a market that has been quiet but ready to take off. TJ explains how they were able to build a solar farm with zero waste.

You can read the sustainability report at inovateus.com

Eric Clifton is the CEO of Orison which announced a recent close of their $8.5million seed round. The latest capital came from Australia's Origin Energy.

Orison has a wall mounted energy storage platform that is meant to be simple enough for homeowners to install. With their recent capital raise, I talk with Eric on the future of the company.

The company is getting publicity around their platform's simplicity but also questions around how they will meet the code requirements. Eric and I talk about this and more in this episode of SolarWakeup Podcast.

www.orison.com

https://www.greentechmedia.com/articles/read/introducing-energy-storage-as-an-appliance-orison-seed-funding

Nick Chaset is the CEO of East Bay Community Energy, a Community Choice Aggregator (CCA for short) based in Alameda County. Nick is a lifelong energy professional and has taken the relatively new organization to new heights.

We talk about virtual power plants including their ongoing RFP for community microgrids and their pilot project with Sunrun. Nick also gives an update on the local resource adequacy ruling from the CPUC and how that loss of control will impact further energy storage procurement by CCAs across California.

Lastly, I ask Nick how he will use his leadership position to help other utilities copy the work they've done. He makes a commitment that you will have to hear in the podcast.

John Farrell leads ILSR Energy Democratization Initiative and his plan to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic is to install 30 million solar roofs across the Country. In his thoughtful post, John outlines how, where and why this is the way to build our clean energy economy.

Yann and John discuss what this means for the market, what is the cost and how it can be done. If you enjoy this episode, subscribe and rate the SolarWakeup Live! podcast and share it with a friend.