SunCast
by Nico Johnson
Latest episode
984: Is AI Creating Business Value? Five Questions to Ask Your Team…
984: Is AI Creating Business Value? Five Questions to Ask Your Team…
About this podcast
Nico Johnson takes you into conversations with those at the forefront of Renewable Energy.
SunCast gives an inside look into what is happening in renewable energy. From conversations with the biggest Solar Panel manufacturers in the world to the small startups creating the future of renewable energy, such as carbon capture and battery technology breakthroughs.
SunCast is dedicated to providing the knowledge, research, tools and expert guidance you need to understand, grow and be ahead of the curve in the fastest-growing markets in the world.
Featuring over 800 conversations, Nico has interviewed people from Tesla, SolarCity, Trina Solar, Meyer Burger, Conergy, SunEdison, Energy Vault and even the US Government... to name a few. Covering topics such as Solar Power, Wind Energy, Batteries, Electric Vehicles, Carbon Capture, Finance, Hydrogen, and more.
You can watch SunCast on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@SunCastMedia
...or view the full archive of SunCast episodes here: https://www.suncast.media/media/podcast
Episodes
The newest 50 of 993 episodes
- 984: Is AI Creating Business Value? Five Questions to Ask Your Team | Abby Hopper & Glenna Wiseman · 1 h 19 min · Season 19 Episode 984Your company may be using AI every day. But can you actually demonstrate the business value it's creating? At the recent WRISE Leadership Forum in Chicago, 84 senior women…
- 983: How GameChange Energy Built to Deliver at Scale | Phillip Vyhanek · 1 h 7 min · Season 19 Episode 983An 800-megawatt solar project can require hundreds of truckloads of equipment. Deliver them too early, and materials overwhelm the site. Too late, and construction crews sit…
- 982: The First Rule of Solar Fight Night: Nobody Wins Alone · 18 min · Season 19 Episode 982In solar, having the right people in your corner can help you get a project built and keep you going when the market gets tough. Solar Fight Night gives that community a place to…
- 981: Know Before You Go: Your RE+ 2026 Game Plan · 1 h 17 min · Season 19 Episode 981RE+ 2026 is almost here! Your calendar is filling up, the industry is getting ready to descend on Las Vegas, and it's time to make your game plan. How do you make the most of…
- 980: From Policy to Power: What It Takes to Get Energy Built · 44 min · Season 19 Episode 980America needs more electricity. But between recognizing that need and actually putting new power on the grid sits a complicated mix of policy, manufacturing, permitting…
- 979: The Scariest Question in Solar Finance: What If Your EPC Fails? | Gage Kellogg · 29 min · Season 19 Episode 979Lenders spook easily. And for good reason. Their job is to protect capital, so a solar project can have solid economics, proven technology, and an EPC that knows how to build it…
- 978: Solar + Farming, Part 2: How Developers Earn Lasting Community Trust | Lauren Glickman · 38 min · Season 19 Episode 978Getting a solar project approved is one thing. Building enough trust that the community welcomes the next project is another. In this Part 2 of Nico Johnson’s conversation with…
- 977: Solar + Farming, Part 1: How Solar Can Help Save American Farmland | Lauren Glickman · 38 min · Season 19 Episode 977For years, the solar industry has defended development on agricultural land by arguing that solar can help keep farms in the family and protect them from more permanent forms of…
- 976: AI Can Pay 100X More for Power. Is This Clean Energy's Moment? | Hans Royal, David Siap, & Peter Kelly-Detwiler · 1 h 5 min · Season 19 Episode 976AI is changing electricity demand faster than the grid was built to accommodate it. But the more interesting question may not be how much power data centers need. It may be what…
- 975: Powerful Branding: How to Build a Brand Your Team Can Actually Use | Aimee Tuck · 57 min · Season 19 Episode 975A strong brand should do more than make your company recognizable. It should help your people understand what the company stands for, who it serves, and how to make better…
- 974: How to Make the Case for Solar + Storage to People Who Don’t Speak Energy · 1 h 3 min · Season 19 Episode 974What if the difference between winning support and losing your audience isn’t better data, but knowing how to tell the story? In this episode, the tables are turned once again…
- 973: 11 Years of SunCast: What Changed, What We Missed, What’s Next | Nico Johnson & Josh Beck · 1 h 0 min · Season 19 Episode 973After more than two decades working in clean energy and 11 years behind the mic at SunCast, Nico Johnson has had a front-row seat to an industry that looks radically different…
- 972: How Smart Solar Developers Treat Land as Growth Capital | Laura Pagliarulo · 59 min · Season 19 Episode 972Could the land beneath your solar project help finance the next one, without giving up equity in your company? Laura Pagliarulo, CEO and co-founder of SolaREIT™, returns to…
- 971: The Hidden Bottleneck Slowing Solar Automation | Nick de Vries, Matt Campbell & Frédéric Laure · 44 min · Season 19 Episode 971If robotic automation is becoming inevitable in utility-scale solar, where does that thesis run into the realities of actually building a power plant? That's the question behind…
- 970: 11 Years, 3 Pivots, and a Successful Exit | Jason Kaminsky · 1 h 9 min · Season 19 Episode 970What does it actually take to build a company someone else eventually wants to buy? For Jason Kaminsky and kWh Analytics, the answer was 11 years, three major pivots, a…
- 969: Could Data Centers Pay for Your Rooftop Solar? | Barry Cinnamon · 18 min · Season 19 Episode 969Data centers need enormous amounts of power, and apparently they need it fast. What if some of the outrageous sums of money they’re willing to spend to get that power went…
- 968: How to Make Better Building Technology Investable | Dermot & Aiden Sweeny · 1 h 8 min · Season 19 Episode 968Buildings consume an enormous amount of energy. We have plenty of technologies that could make them perform better. So why is the real estate industry often so slow to adopt…
- 967: Why U.S. Solar Costs 2–3x More Than Australia | Barry Cinnamon · 15 min · Season 19 Episode 967In Australia, residential solar and storage can be installed for about $2 a watt. In the U.S., a comparable system can cost more than twice that. Why? Barry Cinnamon was curious…
- 966: When Solar Works But the Savings Don’t | Charlotte Meerstadt · 1 h 18 min · Season 19 Episode 966When Charlotte Meerstadt put solar on her Amsterdam home, the numbers made sense. Then Charlotte moved to the U.S. and rented out the apartment. The solar panels kept doing…
- 965: 3 Lessons From Germany’s Plug-In Solar Boom | Stephan Scherer · 15 min · Season 19 Episode 965Germany has turned plug-in solar from a fringe idea into a mainstream energy product found in millions of homes. And the biggest lessons for the U.S. aren't really about solar…
- 964: Why the Best Energy Technology Doesn't Always Win | Sass Peress · 1 h 14 min · Season 19 Episode 964The best technology does not always win. Sass Peress has spent nearly four decades learning why. Since entering solar in 1988, he has built companies, introduced new…
- 963: How Exact Solar Keeps Growing in a Shrinking Market | Aaron Nichols · 55 min · Season 19 Episode 963While many solar companies are fighting to stay afloat, Exact Solar is flying. After growing 23% and then 50% in the previous two years, the Pennsylvania installer says it's up…
- 962: What If We Paid Households to Power the Grid? | Ari Matusiak · 1 h 22 min · Season 19 Episode 962America needs more power. Data centers are accelerating demand, utilities are planning billions of dollars in new infrastructure, and households will ultimately help pay for much…
- 961: Latinoamérica 2026: Dónde Poner Tiempo, Capital y Capacidad de Ejecución (Español) · 59 min · Season 19 Episode 961En Latinoamérica, la oportunidad no siempre está donde se anuncia más capacidad, sino donde existe una combinación real de demanda, capital comprometido y capacidad de ejecución…
- 960: Why Good Companies Still Struggle to Get Noticed | Melissa Baldwin · 56 min · Season 19 Episode 960Good companies don't automatically get noticed. And doing good work isn't enough to ensure that customers, investors, journalists, communities, or increasingly AI systems…
- 959: The Argument for Automation: Making Solar Construction More Predictable | Cody Houser, FTC Solar · 21 min · Season 19 Episode 959Solar construction has always depended on experienced crews adapting to whatever the jobsite throws at them. But what happens when the industry needs to build more projects than…
- 958: Australia’s Second Act: Building the Solar Service Economy | Daniel Lazarus, Industrias · 1 h 9 min · Season 19 Episode 958Australia has spent years ahead of many markets on the distributed solar adoption curve. Now it is giving the rest of us an early look at what happens when millions of those…
- 957: How Do You Plan a Grid You Can’t Predict? | Xcel, ComEd & Ameren · 45 min · Season 19 Episode 957Utilities used to plan around relatively predictable demand. That assumption is disappearing. In this opening keynote from Intersolar & Energy Storage North America Midwest, Nico…
- 956: How Do You Prepare a Family Business for Its Next 100 Years? | Jake Pepper · 1 h 20 min · Season 19 Episode 956Pepper Construction has survived the Great Depression, World War II, multiple recessions, and a global pandemic. As the family business approaches its 100th anniversary, its next…
- 955: Why Some Companies Last and Others Don't | Marc Lopata · 27 min · Season 19 Episode 955After building and selling multiple companies, Marc Lopata has learned that the decisions that shape a business are rarely the ones people celebrate. They're the small decisions…
- 954: Can Clean Energy Build Mythic Power? | Tom Matzzie · 55 min · Season 19 Episode 954We know how to build power. Every day, the clean energy industry builds more of it. But there's another kind of power that's far more difficult to generate—and arguably even more…
- 953: The Hardest Part of Solar Isn't What Most People Think | Jeff Spies · 29 min · Season 19 Episode 953Few people have had a front-row seat to the evolution of the modern solar industry quite like Jeff Spies. Over four decades, Jeff has helped shape the industry as an engineer…
- 952: Plug-In Solar Is About to Change Everything | Stephan Scherer · 1 h 13 min · Season 19 Episode 952Plug-in solar has the potential to change far more than how or where we install solar panels. I believe it could fundamentally change who gets to participate in the energy…
- 951: Most Solar Problems Start Before the Install | Greg Smith · 20 min · Season 19 Episode 951The most expensive mistakes on a solar project usually aren't made during the install. They're made long before anyone arrives on site. Greg Smith has spent nearly two decades…
- 950: Dell's Big Bet on AI and the Future of Energy | with David Holmes · 52 min · Season 19 Episode 950David Holmes has spent decades at the intersection of energy and technology, giving him a front-row seat to one of the biggest shifts our industry has ever faced. As Global…
- 949: The Missing Step in Battery Recycling | Sheeba Dawood · 21 min · Season 18 Episode 949Battery recycling is about to become one of the most important pieces of the clean energy transition. But before we can build a true circular economy, there's a problem hiding in…
- 948: Why Solar’s Speed Is Winning Over Washington | Heather Reams · 23 min · Season 18 Episode 948Heather Reams spends her days at the intersection of clean energy and public policy, helping shape conversations with lawmakers about how the U.S. meets rapidly growing…
- 947: The Leadership Habit Fighter Pilots Never Skip | Jason Knapp · 1 h 18 min · Season 18 Episode 947One of the most common assumptions in business is that responsibility should be earned only after years of experience. After more than two decades as a Navy F/A-18 fighter pilot…
- 946: What Nobody Tells You About Operating Battery Storage | Ty Fenton · 24 min · Season 18 Episode 946A single battery cell can shut down an entire storage plant. It's one of the many operational realities that make battery storage fundamentally different from solar, and one of…
- 945: We're Not Alternative Energy Anymore. It's Time to Lead. | Dan Shugar & Jigar Shah · 31 min · Season 18 Episode 945Last year, solar and storage accounted for more than 80% of all new power generation capacity added in the United States. So why does our industry still behave like the underdog?…
- 944: The Grid's Biggest Challenge Isn't More Power. It's Timing. | Sean Kelly · 26 min · Season 18 Episode 944For decades, the energy industry has treated its biggest challenge as building more power. Sean Kelly thinks that's the wrong question. As CEO and co-founder of Amperon, Sean…
- 943: The Data Center Deal That Could Transform Energy Affordability | Molly Bauch · 24 min · Season 18 Episode 943Everyone agrees we need more distributed energy. The harder question is: who pays for it? That's the question Molly Bauch has been wrestling with. As North American Connected…
- 942: What Hundreds of Inspections Reveal About Battery Safety | Kathleen McCaffrey & Jeff Zwijack · 56 min · Season 18 Episode 942What determines whether a battery project performs safely over its lifetime? According to Kathleen McCaffery and Jeff Zwijack, the answer has as much to do with process…
- 941: Why America Can't Build Big Things Anymore | Tom Fanning · 37 min · Season 18 Episode 941There are 43 years of decisions compressed into this episode. And if you work in energy, utilities, infrastructure, manufacturing, or public policy, it's worth your attention…
- 940: FTC Solar CEO Anthony Carroll on Scaling, Automation, and What's Next · 27 min · Season 18 Episode 940Leadership transitions reveal what companies value most. When FTC Solar recently tapped Anthony Carroll as the new CEO, they chose someone who has spent more than two decades…
- 939: Former EPA Chief Michael Regan on Clean Energy and Public Health · 28 min · Season 18 Episode 939What if the most compelling case for clean energy isn't climate change, economics, or energy independence? What if it's public health? Former EPA Administrator Michael Regan has…
- 938: The Rare Earth Problem Nobody Talks About | Mark LaVerghetta · 22 min · Season 18 Episode 938Rare earths are having a moment. And if you work anywhere near clean energy, batteries, EVs, data centers, defense, or domestic manufacturing, this conversation should be on your…
- 937: What a 4-Star General Knows About Risk That Most Leaders Don't | Gen. Robert Neller · 22 min · Season 18 Episode 937Risk looks different depending on where you're standing. In Episode 936 (Jason Kaminsky & 2026 The Solar Risk Assessment), we explored risk through the lens of data, operations…
- 936: Which Solar Risks Actually Matter? | Jason Kaminsky, kWh Analytics · 37 min · Season 18 Episode 936Solar projects are increasingly being financed and operated as long-life infrastructure assets. That means the industry can no longer rely on assumptions about risk—we need…
- 935: How (and Why) Clean Energy Wins In Red States | Monika Gerhart · 55 min · Season 18 Episode 935A solar moratorium nearly shut down Alabama’s emerging solar market before most of the industry even saw it coming. For years, the prevailing assumption has been that clean…
