SunCast

Straight from Day 2 at RE+ 2025, this replay of the PowerUp Live Morning Show and Daily Round Up continues our mission to bring you insights from the leaders shaping the clean energy transition.

Nico Johnson, Lisa Ann Pinkerton, and Sylvia Martinez welcome industry voices who share fresh perspectives on the policies, technologies, and strategies pushing renewable energy forward. From SEIA’s advocacy work to storage breakthroughs and...

Straight from Day 1 at RE+ 2025, this replay of the PowerUp Live Morning Show and Daily Round Up brings you a fast-moving mix of leaders shaping the clean energy transition—from domestic steel to EVs, hydrogen, DG, big-grid storage, and much more.

Nico Johnson, Lisa Ann Pinkerton and Sylvia Martinez welcome leaders, influencers and clean tech podcasters onto the stage. Here is who you can expect to hear from in this episode, straigh...

“Storage Was Never Just an Add-On”

What if we’ve been thinking too small about batteries?

In this rebroadcast from RE+, Kiran Kumaraswamy, former VP of Growth at Fluence, makes a bold case for reimagining energy storage—not just as a renewable add-on, but as a foundational tool for grid transformation. Kiran breaks down how the energy storage sector evolved from supporting solar to replacing gas peakers, enhancing tran...

Heading to Las Vegas for RE+ 2025? This episode is your ultimate field guide.

We’ve got the inside scoop from SunCast host Nico Johnson and some of the industry leaders shaping this year’s event—from Abby Hopper’s optimistic industry outlook to Jigar Shah’s no-nonsense advice for finding your tribe in the midst of uncertainty. You’ll also hear from RE+ content architect Kathy Schott, social media guide Derek Mast, sal...

"You're not in the solar industry anymore."

That bold declaration from Jigar Shah at RE+ 2023 sparked debate, shifted mindsets—and now, two years later, is being realized.

Nico Johnson recently revisited the discussion with Jigar for a current-day check-in before diving into the full, original conversation that started it all. As the then-Director of the DOE Loan Programs Office, Jigar laid out a compelling case: the f...

Is the U.S. solar manufacturing boom standing on a hollow foundation?

In this live episode from PV ModuleTech USA, Nico sits down with solar industry veteran Arndt E. Lutz, a global exec who’s seen it all—from Germany’s early solar rise to hydrogen innovation and now leading EliTe Solar’s manufacturing efforts.

Despite America’s massive build-out of module assembly plants, there's a gaping hole in the supply chain: sol...

Heat pumps are the EVs of HVAC—so why aren’t we all using them?

Stephen Lake, a highly successful engineer turned climate-tech entrepreneur, is here to explain why heating and cooling is the most overlooked piece of the decarbonization puzzle.

After selling his last company to Google, Stephen founded Jetson to tackle one of the biggest—and slowest-moving—sectors of home energy: HVAC. From cold-weather performance to no...

A new wave of power demand is here. Is the grid ready? And can States keep up?

Doug Scott, now in his second term as Chairman of the Illinois Commerce Commission, joins Nico to share how Illinois is navigating the accelerating pace of the energy transition. From integrating energy storage to regulating gigawatt-scale data centers, the ICC isn’t moving at glacial speed anymore—it’s sprinting.

Does Illinois provide a gli...

So what’s the secret to building influence in a Trillion-dollar industry?

Perhaps it’s “start when it’s only a Billion-dollar industry!”

But in today’s episode a few more “secrets” are discussed. 

In this rare role-reversal, Nico Johnson—the voice behind SunCast—is interviewed by solar industry legend (and fellow podcaster), Barry Cinnamon. It’s a full-circle moment packed with lessons on storytelling, scaling inf...

Most warranties aren’t worth the paper they’re written on.

In a solar market defined by price pressure and disappearing installers, consumers are more skeptical than ever—and they’re asking smarter questions. Who’s responsible when something breaks? Will anyone answer the phone in 10 years? 5 years?

In this live session, Nico Johnson sits down with Dean Chiaravallotti of Solar Insure at NABCEP 2025 to unpack how modern...

Why is residential solar still so hard in the US? Andrew McGuigan will wager an answer.

After 13 years in the solar trenches—from knocking doors at Sungevity to leading OpenSolar’s global expansion—Andrew has seen every twist of the solar coaster. Now at OpenSolar, he’s got a front row seat to helping 25,000+ installers worldwide streamline their businesses and survive the industry’s many curveballs.

In this live conve...

Are Coal and clean energy still at odds??

It might sound like a contradiction, but today’s guest is proving that innovation often comes from the most unexpected places - in this case, Coal Mines.

Listen in as Nico sits down with Mark LaVerghetta, co-founder of ReElement Technologies, a company turning the coal industry on its head by extracting critical minerals from coal’s waste stream — and doing it cleaner and cheap...

What if the tools you use to sell solar are setting you up to fail?

That’s the uncomfortable truth Jason Steinberg, CEO of Scanifly, is tackling head-on.

In this episode recorded live at NABCEP 2025, Jason and Nico dig into the disconnect between sales and operations in solar—where remote designs sell the dream, but outdated imagery and manual measurements leave teams scrambling on install day.

Jason shares how his team...

In a market flooded with cheap imports and geopolitical risk, one company is standing its ground.

Did you know there’s only one North American battery management system (BMS) provider at utility scale—despite growing pressure from subsidized Chinese competitors offering systems at zero cost?

Michael Worry, CEO of Nuvation Energy, joins Nico to share how his company became that lone provider. 

But the core of this ...

Nextracker just made yet another bold move…

What if a robot could detect a solar failure before it happens—and build the repair plan to deploy the right resources to the precise location, in real time?

That’s not science fiction. It’s what OnSight Technology is already doing on numerous utility-scale solar farms across the US.  And Nextracker have officially acquired OnSight Technology!  So, if you’re here be...

Is This The Reality Check We All Needed?

Layoffs. Shrinking margins. Policy gut punched. If you’ve been wondering how the solar industry will make it through this, hang tight - I’ve got a 20+ yr veteran who’s seen enough dips & turns on the SolarCoaster to provide ample insight.

Barry Cinnamon returns to SunCast for a brutally honest conversation with Nico Johnson about what’s unraveling in the solar and storage sp...

What if the smallest line item in your solar project budget could unlock millions in financing?

Solar projects don’t get financed on hope—they get financed on data.

Meet Ann Will, founder of GroundWork Renewables, the company solving one of utility-scale solar’s biggest pain points: uncertainty. GroundWork has quietly enabled over 1,000 met campaigns and helped developers secure billions in funding with high-accuracy i...

Commercial & Industrial solar is no longer just about getting panels up on the roof (Or over the parking lot, as the case may be). I wanted to explore something that’s been bugging me…given the increase in C&I traction lately, what’s still holding the sector back from adopting batteries at scale?

For the answer, I turned to Jayson Smith, Solutions Engineer at CPS America, to better understand how footprint, le...

Nextracker has proven its market dominance for more than a decade, and has practically rewritten the playbook on utility-scale solar globally. Lately, they’ve been on an acquisition spree, further fueling their market dominance and diversifying to better serve their customers. If you, like us, are on the outside looking in wondering “how they heck do they do it?”, then this episode will give you a glimpse inside the ...