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

In her inspiring new book, Rural Renaissance, social entrepreneur, author and clean energy non-profit CEO Michelle Moore offers a vision of thriving rural communities where clean power is the spark that leads to greater investment, vitality, and equity. Additionally, Moore argues that we have everything we need in hand today to make this vision a reality.   In this wide ranging discussion with Freeing Energy, Moore breaks down the key elements that will shape a rural renaissance.  Learn how the work being done by Groundswell, the non-profit she leads, is helping to develop community power by connecting solar and energy efficiency with economic development, affordability, and quality of life. Plus, Moore shares the practical, value-driven steps each of us can take to help accelerate this transition. Useful Links: Groundswell: https://groundswell.org/ Groundswell Program Areas: https://groundswell.org/programs/ Michelle Moore’s Book: https://islandpress.org/books/rural-renaissance Use Promo Code “Rural” for 20% off.  US Green Building Council LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design):  https://www.usgbc.org/leed From Interstitial: Generation180 September 2022 Study on Solar in K-12 Schools in the US.  https://generation180.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/BrighterFuture2022.pdf  Generation180 https://generation180.org/ New York Times Article: Facing Budget Shortfalls, These Schools Are Turning to the Sun For Full Podcast Transcript Visit Here: https://www.freeingenergy.com/podcast-095-michelle-moore/

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 Burg, CEO and Co-founder of SimpliPhi 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 🎙️ – SunCast Podcast Emily Chasan – The Energy Gang at Wood Mackenzie Gil Jenkins – Climate Positive Podcas Tim Montague – Clean Power Hour Joshua Porter - The Solar Coaster Podcast Bill Nussey – The Freeing Energy Project

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.