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