In this episode, Esther and Amy discuss innovation, continuous learning, and the courage to bring your ideas out into reality. Quotes “Energy education is a fundamental building block of participation.” – Esther Morales “Part of what energy education and access to energy education does is it creates a synergy between people’s values and how they can actually show up in the world with work.” –  Esther Morales “There’s a difference between knowing some things and then knowing how that translates into workforce, into implementation, into what you can do with it.” – Amy Simpkins “Everybody ..read more

Diane Dandeneau is a serial entrepreneur and lifelong artist. She has had a passion for renewable energy since living in a passive solar home while going to art school in NM. Her purpose in life is now focused on creating functional and beautiful integrated renewable energy, EV charging and energy management solutions that allow her customers to focus on their business while achieving the highest return on investment possible.   ..read more

In this episode, Vanessa Benkert shares her passion for working in the renewable energy field, the power of storytelling and innovation, and an overlooked, yet important piece of the solar puzzle: transporting solar panels with reusable packaging. Learn more: https://www.pvpallet.com/ With ~20 years of experience, Vanessa has a proven track record of developing and executing marketing initiatives for a range of companies, from small startups to large international organizations. Her skillset includes big picture thinking as well as hands-on tasks like website development, graphic design, and ..read more

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 ..read more

In this episode, Erika Ginsberg-Klemmt shares her family’s journey to creating Gismo Power, her joy in driving EVs and traveling the seven seas, as well as her drive to make solar solutions more accessible to everyone. Quotes “It’s fun to run on sun.” – Erika Ginsberg-Klemmt “Ease of interconnection, especially for small systems, would really explode growth.” – Amy Simpkins “There are things that have to be addressed at a regulatory level that can help more than just this technology.” – Amy Simpkins “I feel like I’m much more of a public servant, much more of an activist than an entreprene ..read more

In this episode, Julia Souder shares her passion for Long Duration Energy Storage (LDES) and shares her ideas on how global organizations can work together to make it more widespread as an extremely resilient energy solution. Quotes “We are a huge part of the solution in the green energy transition.” – Julia Souder “Despite what they tell you, it’s not a solved science.” [battery energy storage] – Amy Simpkins “LDES really does de-risk the transition. It just needs more doors opened to play on the playground with everyone else.” – Julia Souder “LDES is at the tipping point to provide the be ..read more

In this episode, Laura and Amy discuss the energy storage and microgrid landscape, with a peek behind the curtain as Amy Simpkins finally answers her own questions as CEO of muGrid Analytics and microgrid architect. Fresh from the RE+ 2023 conference, Amy and Laura explore the gap between the marketing around battery systems as solved science versus how much more research is truly necessary. Amy explains why 15 years of industry experience led to muGrid’s transition from strictly energy consultants to software vendors, tackling the current chasm between actual economic results delivered and ho ..read more

In this episode, Amy and Ali discuss lithium mining and how it affects the clean energy future. Ali Haji is the CEO of ION Energy - a leader in the exploration and development of lithium salars within Mongolia and a strong pioneer in the third wave of the green energy revolution. Together, Ali and Amy explore the split between mobility/electric vehicles and stationary batteries, the supply and demand of minerals (including the rising cost of lithium and the importance of recycling) as well as lithium extraction technology, and lithium vs other chemistries, like vanadium oxide, in addition to ..read more

On this episode’s one year anniversary, we are sharing for the first time our recording from the LIVE episode with Julia Hamm on her last days as the founder of Solar Power International (now RE+) and President and CEO of SEPA. This episode was recorded at RE+ in September 2022. Quotes: “We all want to accelerate this transition as fast as possible but we cannot do it in a way that sacrifices reliability or affordability or resiliency and most certainly not equity.”  – Julia Hamm “All players – no matter where they sit in the value chain – are going to have to partner in ways that they ..read more

Jennifer Gray Thompson is a lifelong resident of Sonoma Valley in Northern California. She attended Santa Rosa Junior College and graduated from Dominican University in 2001 with degrees in English and History. After teaching high school for 10 years, Jennifer went on to earn a master’s degree in Public Administration from University of Southern California’s Price School of Public Policy. Post graduate school, Jennifer worked for the Sonoma County Board of Supervisors. She is the CEO of After the Fire, an initiative of 501c3 nonprofit Rebuild NorthBay Foundation (RNBF), which was founded afte ..read more