The Freeing Energy Podcast

Listen in as Host Bill Nussey talks with Tom Jensen, CEO and Cofounder of the publicly traded, Luxembourg and Norway based FREYR Battery. FREYR is emerging as a leader in clean, high density battery cell manufacturing. Jensen shares insights into the driving forces that have shaped FREYR to date, the importance of upstream and downstream partnerships, and why the company is committing some $2.6 Billion to the facility envisioned for Coweta County in Georgia. And, since FREYR's Giga Arctic will be powered by 100% renewable energy, you will want to know what the plans are for powering Giga Americas in Georgia.    Useful Links: FREYR Battery FREYR Battery Announces Plans for U.S. Gigafactory in Georgia | Business Wire Qcells to More than Double Production in Georgia, Create 2,500 New Jobs Every Politician Wants Green Jobs in This Bitter US Battleground

One of the world's largest installers of solar + storage energy systems has a groundbreaking and industry changing proposal to build a neighborhood that  runs  on local energy. Their proposal is currently in front of the California Public Utility Commission, but naysayers are trying to squelch the conversation.  Join host Bill Nussey as he talks with Sunnova's CEO, John Berger and CMO, Michael Grasso. They share the background on what the clean tech leader is proposing and why;  how it will benefit consumers; and what critics are saying and doing to sideline the effort. Useful Links: www.sunnova.com Utility Dive Article: Major utilities oppose Sunnova's ‘micro-utility' microgrid proposal at California PUC | Utility Dive  California Burning by Katherine Blunt: 9780593330654 | PenguinRandomHouse.com: Books

In this episode we learn that one man didn't know exactly what to do at first, but he knew the “where,” the “when,” and the “why,” of the problem he saw.  And, that was enough to begin shaping an incredibly bold vision for building a potential unicorn in the clean tech space while simultaneously helping millions of low income Americans.    Join us as host Bill Nussey talks with the CEO and founder of Brooklyn based BlocPower, Donnel Baird. Listen in as this visionary leader gives us a peek into a journey of why he started BlocPower, what drove his evolving vision, and how he is scaling his business to retrofit old, fossil-fuel powered heating with smart new heat pumps and solar panels. Learn about how digital twins, structured finance, and an inspired leadership team is changing the cost of energy for lower income urban communities all across America. Useful Links: BlocPower  BlocPower See if your building is eligible: BlocPower US Department of Energy  retrofit-existing-buildings

For over two decades, Acumen and its partners have dared to go where traditional investors feared to tread. Acumen's pioneering vision and legendary hard work has brought life changing, off-grid electricity to hundreds of millions of people worldwide. And, along the way, their work has inspired and supported intrepid entrepreneurs and innovators in some of the toughest market environments on earth.  Now, this clear-eyed, gritty bunch, filled with hard edged hope and armed with proven models and even more patient capital have set their sights on new goals.  Listen in as Acumen founder and CEO, Jacqueline Novogratz, shares a glimpse into the fundamentals and underlying principles behind Acumen's ground-breaking approach to patient capital and where they are headed next and why.  Useful Links: Acumen Fund book - manifesto for a moral revolution - jacqueline novogratz https://acumencapitalpartners.com S&P Blog Road map: The energy sector braces for 2022 midterm elections | S&P Global Market Intelligence Solar Energy Industry Association links: State-By-State Map | SEIA Initiatives & Advocacy | SEIA

Scalability, high availability, rapid detection and mitigation of failure…just some of the requirements of a highly performant infrastructure managing a massive distributed environment…like Google's cloud services. Could the same principles and patterns apply to the requirements of managing a rapidly changing electric grid? And, what might that mean for different types of electric utilities in a future defined by decentralized resources like solar, batteries, demand response, and EV charging?  Listen in as Camus Energy CEO and Co-founder, Astrid Atkinson, discusses these topics and shares how she and the Camus team are translating a decade of lessons from the best of Google's and Silicon Valley's advanced technology architectures to make the grid more reliable, more equitable, and more affordable. 

When our guest and her partners launched their business a dozen years ago, she had a vision, a technology, and the determination to stick to the mission. If you have a startup in the clean tech space or just interested in really cool technology, listen in as Catherine Von Berg, CEO and Co-founder of Simplifi Power, shares the amazing story of how sticking to the mission resulted in a groundbreaking energy storage solution with Simpliphi Power's safe, non-toxic battery systems that are being used globally in 40 countries today.  

Our guests today run a global cleantech powerhouse that recently closed $260 million in a series D funding round. They've served 90 million customers so far and they're adding two million households a year at their current connection rates. If that isn't inspiring enough, what makes these two scrappy entrepreneurs even more inspiring is the fact that they have looked beyond the wealthy markets of the US and Europe and built their company in emerging markets like Kenya, Zambia, Uganda, and other countries in Africa. In just over a decade, these founders have built a team of 2,000 employees, created a field distribution team of 15,000 people, and helped pioneer a novel financing mechanism that allows some of the lowest income people on earth to benefit from safe, affordable lighting and other benefits of electricity. Join in as host Bill Nussey talks with Patrick Walsh and Anish Thakkar, co-founders  of Sun King, the global solar PV giant that is improving the lives of millions.

Host Bill Nussey dives into the astonishing world of hydropower and marine energy with Jennifer Garson, Director of the Water Power Technologies Office in the US Department of Energy. Garson helps us navigate the well chartered waters of our nation's oldest source of electricity generation and largest source today of energy storage. She shares just how big a role hydropower and marine energy can play and is already playing in shaping the future of clean renewable energy in communities nationwide.  And, Garson describes how her team is opening the floodgates for innovators and entrepreneurs as they drive even more innovation in this exciting part of the clean technology revolution.

Freeing Energy Podcast Host Bill Nussey joins fellow leading Cleantech podcasters for the 5th in a series of lively roundtable discussions on the most pressing questions and issues facing the transition to a clean renewable energy future. In this episode, these top podcasters chime in on topics such as the impact of the recent U.S. Supreme Court decision, Senator Joe Manchin's big “no” to climate progress legislation, the ongoing war in Ukraine, and escalating attacks by pro-fossil fuel pundits. It's a rich, one-hour discussion of energy trends, developments, challenges and opportunities. Listen in as the group starts the discussion with their views on the possible direction of the Biden Administration's imperiled climate agenda. This special series is coordinated by Mike Casey of Tigercomm Communications and Nico Johnosn from Suncast Media. Casey is the moderator.  Podcasters included in this roundtable (you can find them wherever you listen to podcasts):   Mike Casey - tigercomm  Nico Johnson

Innovators, entrepreneurs, investors, in fact, anyone serious about the business of climate, listen up! In this episode, host Bill Nussey catches up with Kim Zou and Sophie Purdom, the founders of Climate Tech Venture Capital, which, in just two short years, has become one of the world's leading sources for data driven analysis and insights into the world of climate venture investing. This brilliant and dynamic duo gives us an insider's peek into their clear-eyed and data-rich analysis of venture capital in the climate tech industry for the first half of 2022. Zou and Purdom share which verticals and sectors are leading and which are lagging, where the money may be headed and a fun look at how the pair built a globally recognized firm from the ground up. If you are serious about climate technology, you need to follow CTVC… and this is a great way to get started!

Listen in as host Bill Nussey talks with Greg Wetsone, the President and CEO of the Washington DC powerhouse, American Council on Renewable Energy, or as it is popularly known, ACORE. Together, Bill and Greg  wade into the mind-boggling labyrinth of state and federal policies that are shaping, or in most cases, impeding our transition to renewable energy. If you want to understand how local energy, nuclear power, and giant transmission lines fit into ACOREs view of our renewable energy future, click play and hear what Bill and Greg have to say.

What is community solar? How does it work? What are the benefits? Host Bill Nussey drills into the critical role community solar plays in a clean local energy future with Jeff Cramer, President and CEO of the Coalition for Community Solar Access, CCSA. Jeff dives into the nitty gritty of how it all works, who it serves and the business models that make it a reality. Plus, Jeff shares where community solar is growing across the United States, where it is being held back and why and the efforts CCSA teams are making to change thinking and policies about this foundational approach to reshaping our energy future.

If you've wondered what role AI can play in the clean energy transition, this is an episode to listen to. Host Bill Nussey nerds it out a little with Titiaan Palazzi, Co-Founder and COO of Myst AI. Myst AI is the artificial intelligence platform that is shaking up electricity supply and demand forecasting with highly localized time series data that dramatically improves the reliability and costs for systems of all sizes, even microgrids. Titiaan shares insights into how Myst tackles the massive data sets, how their platform can support modeling on the fly, and how their radically different approach to a data ecosystem can spawn exciting new business opportunities for innovators and entrepreneurs.

Host Bill Nussey catches up with Arshad Mansoor, President and CEO of the Electric Power Research Institute, the world's preeminent independent, non-profit energy research and development organization. Mansoor shares the vision his global organization has for a safe, clean, resilient energy future for people and communities worldwide and the critical role local energy plays in a rapidly emerging shared energy economy. Listen and learn what is driving this transition, the underlying technologies needed, and the policies that must evolve to achieve this bold vision.

Our guest, Jigar Shah, is an innovator, entrepreneur, author, podcast superstar and now Director of the powerful US Department of Energy's Loan Programs Office with $40 Billion in its coffers.  Shah joins host Bill Nussey in a fascinating and revealing conversation about the extraordinary efforts the DOE, and the LPO in particular, are making to reach out to clean tech companies in its efforts to accelerate the transition to a clean energy economy and particularly local energy.  Shah explores how the DOE is going beyond just science and engineering in outreach efforts to help companies and the financial community understand the emerging business models, financial viability and long term value of clean energy. 

Our guest spent his early years without grid electricity and now he is a driving force behind the first fully integrated whole-home, plug and play, solar power solution. Host Bill Nussey talks with Ben Polito, President of Energy Storage Systems at Generac, the leader in secure home power systems. Polito shares the background and vision of how his company is shifting from fossil fuel based systems to a home energy storage platform that connects solar PV, smart batteries, loads, and the grid.  And, for the innovators and entrepreneurs listening in, he also shares how acquisitions and partnerships have played a key role in the company's strategy to accelerate the transition of the world and itself towards a clean, local energy future.

Host Bill Nussey catches up with prolific author, professor, energy expert, co-founder of the global powerhouse, RMI, and “the Einstein of Energy Efficiency”, Amory Lovins. Lovins takes us back to the future, sharing what inspired the seminal work, Small is Profitable, and what surprises him most as he looks at the changes that have taken place since its publication twenty years ago. Lovins offers powerful insights on why local energy makes even more sense today in social, political, and economic terms and what has to change to continue the progress made thus far.

Listen in as host Bill Nussey talks with Bryan Hannegan, President and CEO of Holy Cross Energy, the Electric Membership Cooperative serving Western Colorado, including the famous ski resorts of Vail and Aspen. Holy Cross Energy is well on its way to achieving an aggressive goal of 100% clean energy by 2030. And, Bryan shares how Holy Cross is making local energy a central part of its strategy and dramatically reimagining its relationship with its customers.

Listen in and learn the story behind the very first Exchange-Traded Fund focused on local energy.  Gabriela Herculano, CEO and Co-Founder of iClima Earth shares with host Bill Nussey how the fund evolved, the transparent model for the underlying index, and a simple way for everyday investors to bet on local energy, DERs, and as iClima refers to it, Smart Energy. 

Host Bill Nussey talks with Erwin Spolders, CEO and Founder of Redavia Solar Power. Redavia, based in Germany, Kenya, and Ghana, provides pre-configured,  containerized solar power generation systems to small and medium sized businesses across Africa. Learn how this company's innovations are leading to these cost-effective solutions and proving to be easy to ship, set-up, scale, and redeploy as needed for minimal upfront investment, all using time-tested rental contracts. Plus, learn how crowdsource funding is energizing Radavia's future.

Clean tech entrepreneurs, listen up! Host Bill Nussey talks with Danny Kennedy, a founder and CEO of New Energy Nexus. Kennedy shares his journey from activist to entrepreneur, and how his firm is using a dramatically different theory of change and a massively broad engagement model to pave a significantly faster on-ramp for climate tech startups in California and around the world. Plus, hear from the executives of two startups which have benefited from New Energy Nexus and one of it's partnership programs, CalSeed.

Join in as host Bill Nussey catches up with the global energy thought leader, strategist, business advisor, and founder of The Future Is Electric, Michael Barnard. Barnard shares his positive, pragmatic, and colorful views on a range of clean energy technologies and which ones he would place his bets on in the global race to a clean and affordable energy future.

Listen in as host Bill Nussey catches up with two term Georgia Public Service Commissioner, Tim Echols, for a very timely discussion.  Echols breaks down the important role played by the public service commission. He shares his part in promoting net metering in Georgia, and the valuable lessons learned from other states wrestling with this important market mechanism in the transition to local renewable energy.

Listen in as renowned clean tech leader and host of the top clean energy podcast SunCast, Nico Johnson, shares outtakes from two days of in-depth discussions with Freeing Energy author Bill Nussey.  Johnson teases out major themes and insights from Nussey in this wide ranging discussion, distilled down into one fascinating interview for Freeing Energy Podcast followers. Plus, Nico shares his top takeaways and a surprising story of his journey into the world of tequila and how it relates to Freeing Energy.

In this special year end episode, Bill Nussey and Sam Easterby are joined by the brilliant standup comedian, Esteban Gast, host of the Comedians Conquering Climate Change Podcast, which is sponsored by Generation 180. The trio takes a look back at the biggest headlines impacting local energy, shares some favorite quotes from 2021 guests and offers a peek into what 2022 might bring. Plus, we learn about Estebans's very original approach to the often difficult climate discussion. Esteban weaves his special brand of humor throughout and offers a few lighthearted tips for Bill in marketing his new book, Freeing Energy.

Listen in as author and entrepreneur Bill Nussey and his wife, Melinda, reveal the arc of the journey that is Freeing Energy.  This is the story behind what Kirkus reviews calls, “an unfailingly realistic and doggedly clear-eyed blueprint for the billion dollar opportunities that will reshape how we generate, store, and consume clean local renewable electricity.” Written for innovators, entrepreneurs, and advocates for clean energy, Freeing Energy, the book, is now available.

Host Bill Nussey talks with Bryan Hassin, Co-Founder and CEO of the “rocket ship” accelerator for climate tech innovation, Third Derivative (D3). This new startup accelerator was born from a collaboration of two pioneering firms, RMI (previously Rocky Mountain Institute) and New Energy Nexus. Hassin shares how D3 is bringing startups, investors, and corporations together with regulatory and policy experts in radical new ways to increase the speed to market and long term success for climate innovation.

Midwest solar and storage leader and Clean Power Hour podcast host, Tim Montague, shares with host Bill Nussey how clashing titans in Illinois crafted a grand legislative bargain taking big steps toward a clean renewable energy future. Plus, Montague shares insights on how the simple economics of solar power and storage is changing minds in both boardrooms and around kitchen tables across the state.

In this episode host Bill Nussey talks with Andy Klump, founder and CEO of Shanghai-based Clean Energy Associates, the leading global solar and storage supply chain management and engineering services firm. Klump walks us through how and why the economics of solar are shifting in the short term and the impact an energy crisis in China as well as backlogs in global shipping are having on US solar and battery projects. Klump shares views on when this crisis might end and the critical need for a holistic clean energy manufacturing strategy in the US.

Social Entrepreneur and non-profit leader, Wendy Philleo, Executive Director of Generation 180, joins host Bill Nussey as they explore how her organization is using innovative  educational content to transform interest into action, community by community all across the US.  Wendy shares examples of their pathways to action programs, including the Solar for All Schools effort, which is saving schools millions of dollars nationwide, making the case that technology and policy changes alone are not enough to accelerate the transition to clean energy.

A soldier, lawyer, teacher, judge, and 25 year veteran leader in the energy world as an appointed regulator, utility executive and leading clean energy thinker and advocate, our guest, Karl Rabago shares with host Bill Nussey powerful insights into a new roadmap for the lowest cost, reliable electric grid and why local solar costs less as a part of his solution. Listen too as Rabago summarily dismisses prevailing arguments by cost shifting advocates that local energy is hurting our communities.

The way humans produce, distribute and consume electricity will be cleaner, cheaper, and infinitely more complex in the very near future. But how do we get there? Freeing Energy Hosts Sam Easterby and Bill Nussey catch up with leading energy industry expert Peter Kelly-Detwiler to talk about his recently published book, The Energy Swtich. Peter delves into different aspects of the transformation: how we got here, where we are going, and the implications for all of us in our daily lives.

In part two of this special interview, global renewable energy leader Michael Liebreich breaks down the core elements driving the shift to a net-zero economy and how public policy and finance influence the rate of change. Plus, Liebreich shares insights on startups and what shapes his investment strategies.

In this first of a two part interview,  host Bill Nussey talks with the founder, chairman and CEO of Liebreich Associate and founder of Bloomberg New Energy Finance, Michael Liebreich.  This world-renowned thinker, investor, philanthropist and much sought after advisor, weighs in on the renewable energy solutions we should all pay attention to and why.

In this episode, host Bill Nussey catches up with Heila Technology Co-Founder and CTO, Jorge Elizondo. Learn how Helia's breakthrough technology is changing the way complex local energy systems are managed and operated, making each component smarter while making the whole system far more efficient and resilient.

Host Sam Easterby talks with entrepreneur and founder of the Freeing Energy Project, Bill Nussey. Nussey tells us why the local energy approach will reshape the transition to clean renewable electricity and shares, in their words, lessons learned from some of the new breed of clean tech entrepreneurs interviewed in the past year.

Host Bill Nussey talks with Loren McDonald, founder of EV Adoption and leading consultant in the electric vehicle arena. Loren and Bill take a drive through the unexpected twists and turns that EVs will face in reshaping our electric grid. With hundreds of billions being invested, the implications of electric vehicles goes so much further than cleaner transportation.

Host Bill Nussey talks with Garrett Nilsen, Deputy Director of the Solar Industry Technologies Office in the US Department of Energy about the amazing and enormously practical scope and scale of DOE work across the energy landscape. Garrett explains how innovators and entrepreneurs can tap into vast resources to help vet, test, fund, pilot and even commercialize the energy technologies shaping our future. 

Freeing Energy founder Bill Nussey and Dr. Jemma Green, Co-founder and Executive Chairman of Australian-based Power Ledger take us on an illuminating journey into emerging peer-to-peer electricity trading business models, where P2P pilot programs are proving themselves and how distributed ledger technologies, like blockchain, are helping to securely and accurately track local energy trading.

Host Bill Nussey catches up with Steph Speirs, CEO and Co-founder of community solar leader, Solstice, to learn how her team is using a game changing, door-opening mechanism to bring clean energy to people who cant get it. And, why re-defining the energy customer experience is critical to growth and a more inclusive energy future.

Advocates, innovators and entrepreneurs, here is a discussion you don't want to miss. Listen in as Samir Ibrahim, CEO and Co-Founder of SunCulture, shares how his vision for the first affordable, widely available solar powered irrigation system in East Africa took shape, the impact that system is having on lives there and the business challenges he has faced along the way.

In this second of a two part series, John Farrell, Director of Energy Democracy at the Institute for Local Self Reliance,  walks us through how the power and influence of investor owned utilities is trampling customers and how necessary changes in that relationship can benefit all parties.

In this first of a special two part interview, John Farrell, Director of Energy Democracy with the Institute of Local Self Reliance, describes the challenges and barriers we face in shifting to clean local energy and the programs his leading think tank believes will move us toward a more equitable energy future. 

Renowned journalist, editor and Atlantic Council Senior Fellow, Steve LeVine joins host Bill Nussey and shares how the dramatic recent innovations in battery technology will change your world in just five years and completely redefine entire industries.

Innovators and entrepreneurs, listen up. Join in as Abby Hopper, President and CEO of the Solar Energy Industries Association takes us on an insider's tour of the policies the solar industry is advocating with the new administration, how those policies are shaped, and what a diverse solar industry needs to do to continue growing.

Utilities and Consumers in California are in a pitched battle over the value of residential solar generated electricity fed back to the grid. It’s important because the money consumers are paid for their excess solar directly affects how quickly their panels pay for themselves. If the state’s utilities have their way in the upcoming “Net Metering 3.0” debates, California’s local energy market could get shut down overnight. Listen in as Bernadette Del Chiaro, Executive Director of the California Solar and Storage Association, explains net metering, California’s 2021 review process, and offers a way advocates of clean energy to lend their voice to this critical issue.

Simplifying the permitting and inspections of residential PV system installation may be the perfect local opportunity for making a big change in the solar industry, but is the young industry up for the challenge? Solar industry leaders, Yann Brandt, CEO of SolarWakeup,  and Mike Casey, President and founder of Tigercomm, share why one piece of the growth puzzle is squarely in the hands of local clean energy advocates, what tools they have to work with, and the simple actions they need to begin taking now to keep growth going.

Strap on your walking shoes and listen in as Michael Chanin, founder and CEO of Cherry Street Energy, takes us on a walking tour of the beautiful Emory University Campus in Atlanta GA where one of the largest and coolest deployments of on-site solar power at a higher education institution in the Southeast is being developed. From seven stories up on a high rise parking deck with its sea of solar panels back down to ground level where electrical conduit becomes a work of art, Chanin shares details with podcast Host Bill Nussey about the vision, the leadership and some deft engineering skills being used to help Emory meet aggressive greenhouse gas emissions reduction goals while providing electricity to the campus at rates lower than the local utility.

Solar panels by themselves are just 10% of the cost of a residential solar system, yet US buyers are paying significantly more than homeowners in other parts of the world.  Why is this? The answer is “soft costs” -- the design, permitting, and sales costs associated with system installation in the US.  And, if this leading architect of the modern clean energy era has his way, we will see big cost savings in the near future.  Listen in as Andrew “Birchy” Birch, co-founder and CEO of Open Solar, unfolds his solution to reducing some of the most unnecessary costs of going solar.

Hosts Bill Nussey and Sam Easterby offer up some of their favorite tidbits from 2020 shaping  the local renewable energy story and take a peek at what’s in store for 2021 on the technology, policy and adoption fronts.