Clean Power Hour

Wind farms are defeating the Trump administration's stop-work orders 5-0 as federal judges allow offshore construction to resume, while data centers drive consumer power bills up 30-50% across the country. 

Tim Montague and John Weaver cover the latest clean energy developments from RE+ Northeast, including breakthrough robotics from Luminous and the emerging DIY solar market that could deliver $20,000 home systems. 

Episode Hig...

Storm Fern just knocked out power for nearly a million Americans. But here's what the media won't tell you: this wasn't a freak accident—it's the new normal.

New research from the Union of Concerned Scientists reveals that 100% of the worst power outages in the last decade share one shocking cause. And it's getting worse every year.

This matters now because we're building infrastructure today that needs ...

A Missouri state senator wants to ban all solar construction for two years, threatening a 430 MW project already under construction. On the Clean Power Hour Live, Tim Montague and John Weaver cover the Missouri solar moratorium, the first UL standard for balcony solar, Elon Musk's 100 GW solar manufacturing ambitions, and Vineyard Wind's court victory sending its final turbine to sea. They also dig into LFP cell prices hi...

What separates solar projects that get built from those that die in development? Brad Stutzman has spent 16 years figuring out the answer.

Brad is the Founder and CEO of O3 Energy, a Dallas-based solar development and construction company. He started in 2009 during the Great Recession, pivoting from real estate financing to renewable energy. O3 Energy has since deployed hundreds of on-site solar projects across commercial, municipal...

Most businesses are stuck in AI demo mode, watching impressive one-off showcases that never become daily operations. In this episode, Tim Montague welcomes Josh Huston from Agents Anywhere to break down the three categories of AI opportunity: apps, agents, and automations. Josh has spent over three years helping companies turn AI from buzzword into working business infrastructure.

Key Discussion Points:

• Why AI is an accelerator f...

Energy storage is not a green technology. It's grid infrastructure.

That reframe from Shawn Shaw, CEO of Camelot Energy Group and author of "Energy Storage Systems," challenges how we talk about batteries in the energy transition. With 22 years in solar and storage and 1.2 GWh of projects commissioned in late 2025, Shaw brings practical insight into why storage matters for grid operators regardless of your views on re...

#EP328 Federal funding for tribal clean energy projects has been rescinded. Tribes that invested millions in solar and microgrid projects now face stalled construction, lost jobs, and broken promises. David Harper, CEO of Huurav, is stepping in with bridge loans to keep these projects alive.

David Harper is a tribal member from the Colorado River Indian Tribes on the Arizona-California border. He started his solar career fighting de...

In this week's Clean Power Hour, Tim Montague and co-host John Weaver examine the widening gap between China and the United States in clean energy deployment. The hosts analyze new data from Stanford Professor Mark Jacobson showing China is on track for a clean economy by 2050, while the US lags a century behind. They discuss record battery installations, solar manufacturing shifts, and what these trends mean for energy indepe...

#EP327 What if we could remove a trillion tons of CO2 from the atmosphere for $2 billion a year?

Peter Fiekowsky, author of "Climate Restoration" and founder of the Foundation for Climate Restoration, returns to The Clean Power Hour with a solution most people have never heard of: localized ocean iron fertilization. An astrophysicist and semiconductor entrepreneur by training, Peter has spent over a decade researching meth...

#EP326 Happy Holidays! Today on the Clean Power Hour, Tim Montague breaks down his top 5 episodes of 2025, featuring conversations that shaped how we think about solar, storage, virtual power plants, microgrids, and AI. From Jigar Shah's call for the industry to become a political force to Spark AI's permitting breakthroughs, these episodes capture where clean energy is headed.

Key Episodes Covered:

Episode 304 - Jigar Shah

#EP325 Home battery storage sits at less than 1% market penetration in America. The solar industry spent years focused on small urban systems while whole-home backup solutions remained out of reach for most homeowners. 

Tim Montague sits down with James Showalter, founder and CEO of EG4 Electronics, to discuss whole-home backup solutions that provide true energy independence. James shares his journey from installing off-grid systems...

#EP324 Microgrids offer utilities eight distinct value stacks (or streams), yet most still treat them as experimental pilots. Today on the Clean Power Hour, we reveal how microgrids are strategic network assets that deliver value every single day, not just when the grid fails. 

Martin Szczepanik is Director of Energy and Resources at Baringa, a global energy consultancy. He brings 11 years of utility strategy experience, including w...

#EP323 Building clean energy projects faster starts with better tools. Maryssa Barron, Founder and CEO of BuildQ, joins Tim Montague to discuss how AI transforms energy project development. 

Maryssa Barron is the founder and CEO of BuildQ, the enterprise AI platform purpose-built for clean energy project teams to accelerate development, financing, and asset management. She brings cross-disciplinary expertise in renewable energy, pro...

This week on Clean Power Hour Live, Tim Montague and John Weaver break down the biggest solar and storage headlines shaping the industry right now.

The US reached 40 gigawatts of grid storage in 2025, beating the 35 gigawatt goal set in 2017. But supply chains are struggling to keep up. 100 amp-hour battery cells are sold out through 2026 as demand surges across residential, commercial, and utility projects.

John discusses his compan...

#EP322 

Today on the Clean Power Hour, we dive into one of the biggest bottlenecks strangling the clean energy transition: the slow, messy world of zoning, permitting, and early-stage development. Our guests are Julia Wu and Anuj Saigal, co-founders of Spark AI, a Y Combinator-backed platform that has ingested and summarized nearly every zoning code, ordinance, and permitting pathway in the United States.

Julia Wu is CEO and co-found...

#321 Today on the Clean Power Hour, we explore energy storage as a service for some of the toughest markets in the country. Tim Montague sits down with Christian Farivar, founder of Karh, to discuss how his company is tackling grid congestion, load pockets, and resilience challenges in Urban Areas like New York City with next-generation battery technology designed for a 30-year asset life.

Christian brings a unique background to ene...

#320

Today on the Clean Power Hour, Brandon Wagoner, Vice President of Strategy at Middle Tennessee Electric, explains how the second largest cooperative in America manages explosive EV adoption, deploys 32 megawatts of battery storage, and builds 113 megawatts of solar arrays while keeping rates low. His secret weapon: load factor optimization.

Middle Tennessee Electric (MTE) serves 350,000 meters south and east of Nashville and lea...

On this week’s Clean Power Hour Live, Tim and John discuss Illinois legislation bringing 3 gigawatts of battery storage to IL, the public health impacts of solar tariffs, and global energy storage market trends that are reshaping the grid.

Episode Highlights:

• CATL signs 200 gigawatt hour energy storage deal with Beijing HyperStrong, representing nearly 60% of projected annual global capacity (Bloomberg)
• New research shows solar ta...

#319 

The modern power grid faces an existential challenge: integrating massive amounts of renewable energy while keeping the lights on. Sean Kelly, CEO and Founder of Amperon, explains how artificial intelligence and machine learning are replacing outdated forecasting methods to predict energy supply and demand with precision. This conversation explores battery optimization, demand response programs, and why traditional grid models...