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January 30, 2024 39 mins

In this episode, Sierra Fan describes co-founding illu to better support technicians in the renewable energy field. She says, “It really came from personal experience… we tried to look for the software. We thought someone must have built something that makes this easier. We kept looking for it. We couldn’t find it… and that’s how we got started with this.”

She and Amy also discuss international renewable energy projects vs those in the US from her experience as a developer of solar and storage microgrids in Myanmar. 

Quotes

“These are such cool, motivated entrepreneurial people that are doing this work. How do we make it easier for them to get the information they need?” – Sierra Fan

“I’m really excited about innovations that have their roots internationally, that are being brought back into the ‘developed world.’” – Sierra Fan

“Distributed energy is no longer out of sight, out of mind. You start to see all these stove pipes start to come down; that energy really does touch everything.” – Amy Simpkins

“There’s urgency that we need all these solutions to get on the ground and we need people to work together … to speed up the deployment of all these things where the technology is already there.” – Sierra Fan

Sierra Fan is the Co-Founder and COO of illu, providing software solutions for solar, storage, and EV charging companies to more easily onboard and manage their installers and technicians. 

She also founded Mee Panyar, a developer of solar and storage microgrids in Myanmar. Previously, she financed more than $10Bn in energy and infrastructure projects while at Morgan Stanley, including 1.7GW of utility-scale renewable energy in the US.


Resources:

Check out illu’s website: https://www.illu.works/.

Connect with Sierra on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sierrafan/

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