SunCast

What happens when a solar technician calls themselves a “Level 2,” but no one knows what that actually means?

For years, solar O&M has lacked the structure and standardization seen in other trades. The result? Confusing job titles, wage inflation, inconsistent training, and safety risks. But that’s all about to change.

In this Tactical Tuesday episode, Nico Johnson is joined by Amanda Bybee, CEO of Amicus O&M Coope...

Your solar project is one storm away from financial disaster!

That’s not just fear-mongering—it’s the reality many developers are waking up to. In this episode, Nico sits down with Jason Kaminsky, CEO of KWH Analytics, the data-driven company reshaping how solar projects are financed and insured.

You’ve probably already read this year’s Solar Risk Assessment—that’s the genius and hard–work of Jason’s team on full display,...

Is the “Big Beautiful Bill” about to choke the life out of solar & wind?

Can energy storage be solar’s savior?

Isn’t Solar inevitable? We don’t need no stinking subsidies, right?  Right?

If you haven’t had a chance to catch up yet on all that the bill implies, keep reading (seriously at the bottom I’ve linked a ton of recommended reading!) 

In this episode, policy analyst, Christian Roselund, returns to SunCa...

Solar projects getting canceled? Clean tech CEOs burned out doing their own PR? Amanda Foley has seen it all.

As the CEO of Kiterocket, Amanda leads one of clean energy’s most influential PR firms, helping clients go from misunderstood to market-ready. Recorded live at CleanPower 2025, this conversation dives into why even great technology companies struggle with messaging—and what to do about it.

From overcoming community...

The AI boom isn’t just reshaping tech—it’s redefining the energy grid.

As data center demand skyrockets, clean energy providers are scrambling to keep up with unprecedented power needs, speed requirements, and reliability expectations. In this special live panel, hosted by Jessica Fishman of Kiterocket, we hear directly from leaders at Equinix, Clayco, QTS, and MGM Transformer—key players shaping the future of power-hungr...

What would you do after taking your company public and becoming a billionaire?

If you’re Dean Solon, you start over—with even bigger ambitions.

The outspoken founder of Shoals Technologies is back with his new venture, Create Energy, and a mission to tear down the solar industry’s bloated, outdated playbook—and rebuild it from the ground up with speed, precision, and American grit.

In this unfiltered live keynote from Midwe...

How do you bridge the gap between fast-moving renewables and slow-moving utilities? Brian Nelson has spent the last two decades doing exactly that—from building house-sized transformers to now leading ABB’s renewables segment. At ACP 2025, he sat down with Nico to pull back the curtain on how utilities think, why they’re cautious, and what it really takes to bring innovation to the grid.

In this episode, you’ll hear why B...

Can one of the world’s biggest tech companies actually go carbon-free, not just today, but retroactively, all the way back to 1975?

In this powerhouse keynote from Intersolar 2025, Hanna Grene, leader of Microsoft’s Global Energy and Resources team, lays out a bold vision for this tech giant’s energy future. She makes one thing clear: Microsoft isn’t here to play catch-up. They’re partnering with the clean energy industry...

What if the biggest threat to your solar business wasn’t competition—but compliance?

Rebekah Hren has spent over 20 years helping the solar industry avoid costly mistakes and dangerous shortcuts - by writing the very codes and standards that govern it. From fieldwork and training at SEI to consulting for AirBnB and now co-founding Solar Tech Collective, Rebekah has seen it all—and helped shape how we do solar safely and a...

Inflation, interest rates, tariffs—most markets flinch. But according to Josh Goldberg, commercial solar doesn’t blink. In this Tactical Tuesday, Josh pulls back the curtain on how Sunstone Credit is adapting—and thriving—by making it easier than ever to finance clean energy upgrades for America’s businesses.

You’ll hear why commercial solar might be more resilient than resi, how to decode confusing lease structures, and ...

“AI is the greatest threat to your business ever.”

That’s how Sheldon Kimber opens this episode—and it only gets bolder from there.

Live from the Kiterocket Lounge during ACP CleanPower 2025, Sheldon returns to SunCast to unpack the real story behind energy-hungry data centers, the rise of hybrid power solutions, and why clean energy is no longer about purity—it’s about pragmatism.

As CEO of Intersect Power, Sheldon’s buil...

Forget what you thought you knew about data centers.

Ryan Abbott of Clayco (a major datacenter design/build firm) joins Nico to explain how today’s hyperscale data centers are flipping traditional construction and energy planning on their heads. With AI workloads multiplying and compute demand skyrocketing, the real constraint isn't land—it’s power. And not just any power. Reliable, sustainable, redundant power systems th...

What makes someone actually care about solar? It’s not the data. It’s the story.

On this special “SundayCast”, Nico sits down with the Reverend himself—Aaron Nichols (okay, not officially a Reverend, but the story behind that title is worth tuning in for). Aaron has made waves as a marketing & advocacy specialist at Exact Solar, helping the company thrive in a time when many others in solar are shrinking. His secret? ...

What if a renewable energy power plant could achieve capacity factors above 70%? Wouldn’t that make it, finally, FIRM baseload power, dispatchable and “reliable” for the grid?

Can ai help? What else is required? 

The simple answer is hybridization, but a long-time industry pioneer is here to tell us more.

Martin Hermann has spent the last 2 decades pioneering the future of utility-scale solar. From founding 8minutener...

“Even the most unsinkable ship can sink.”

That’s Trevor Noah reflecting on the fragility of democracy, and he’s not just here to make you laugh—he’s here to challenge how you think. At CLEANPOWER 2025, Trevor delivers a brilliant, unscripted dialogue with Jason Grumet, the Chief Executive Officer of American Clean Power, unpacking how stories shape our national psyche—and what that means for the clean energy movement.

This...

What if the biggest opportunity in solar has been hiding in plain sight?

Josh Goldberg is no stranger to solar. He’s a multi-exit founder who helped shape residential solar finance—and now he’s back to tackle the “messy middle” of commercial solar. After stepping away from the industry, Josh returned with a mission: to unlock the underfinanced, overlooked world of small-to-mid-sized commercial solar.

In this episode, Josh ...

Winter is coming

If you're a solar or battery developer, especially in utility-scale or C&I, you're likely feeling it already: capital has tightened, exits have dried up, and project timelines are stretching longer than ever. Sound familiar?

Rob Sternthal, co-founder of XIP and a two-decade veteran of clean energy finance, joins Nico to deliver a tactical wake-up call. This isn’t just another “market update”—it’s a fie...

What if your rooftop solar could do more than just power your fridge?

Karl Andersen believes it can—and should—power the future of AI.

Karl unpacks the grid’s biggest vulnerabilities, why data centers lack critical power infrastructure, and how we can turn solar-powered homes into the building blocks of a decentralized compute network. Lektra’s tech fuses distributed energy with cloud computing—think “Raspberry Pi meets Te...

If you think batteries are just for backup, think again. The post-NEM 3.0 world has flipped residential solar economics—and companies like TeraHive are leading a storage revolution that’s all about ROI, not just resilience.

Ram Bhat, Head of Product at TeraHive, explores how software-first thinking and DC-coupled architecture are transforming what’s possible in home energy systems. Ram brings deep expertise from Enphase, ...