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Clean Power Hour

The Clean Power Hour podcast is speeding the clean energy transition. Tim Montague and John Weaver highlight clean energy innovations shaping the next generation of renewable energy sources. We discuss the latest solar PV, battery storage, wind, water, wave, and other low-carbon technologies. We answer the question: How can we decarbonize the economy? We promote the economic opportunity of electrifying everything – transportation, energy, industry, and the built environment. Let’s speed up the clean energy transition together. Join the movement – www.CleanPowerHour.com

Latest Episodes:

Solar, Vanadium Flow and a Flywheel: Inside G&W's Microgrid #369 Sep 15, 2026

Show notes

G&W Electric's vanadium flow + flywheel microgrid matched a full year of frequency regulation revenue in under three months

Vanadium flow batteries rarely anchor a commercial microgrid, but G&W Electric built one around a solar, battery, and flywheel system at its Bolingbrook, Illinois headquarters. John Gounaris, VP of Global Marketing, and John Pederson, Principal Staff Engineer and the project's manager, walk Tim Montague through the build.

G&W Electric manufactures switches, reclosers, and grid automation gear used across US utility grids, and its 121-year-old campus needed resilient power to protect production. The project runs on Intelligent Generation's earn, save, protect framework: earn through frequency regulation, save on capacity charges, protect with backup power. Tim presses the guests on capex, opex, and why they skipped lithium-ion.

The conversation covers real storm performance in 2026, revenue swings, and how domestic vanadium sourcing shaped the battery choice.

Gounaris and Pederson explain the choices behind one of the few flywheel microgrids in operation:

Why did G&W skip lithium-ion for a vanadium flow battery?
How does a flywheel hold full building load for 62 seconds?
What earned G&W more in 10 weeks than all last year?
How much of an industrial bill do capacity charges reach?
Which US source supplied the vanadium, and why does it matter?
How did the microgrid perform during the 2026 Chicago storms?

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John Gounaris | LinkedIn

John Pederson | LinkedIn

G&W Electric | Innovative Power Grid Solutions & Electrical Systems

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The Clean Power Hour is produced by the Clean Power Consulting Group and created by Tim Montague. Contact us by email: CleanPowerHour@gmail.com

Corporate sponsors who share our mission to speed the energy transition are invited to check out https://www.cleanpowerhour.com/support/
The Clean Power Hour is brought to you by CPS America, maker of North America’s number one 3-phase string inverter, with over 6GW shipped in the US. With a focus on commercial and utility-scale solar and energy storage, the company partners with customers to provide unparalleled performance and service. The CPS America product lineup includes 3-phase string inverters from 25kW to 275kW, exceptional data communication and controls, and energy storage solutions designed for seamless integration with CPS America systems. Learn more at www.chintpowersystems.com

How Do You Get 20 MW When the Utility Offers 7? #368 Sep 10, 2026

Show notes

Speed to power: Bala Ramamurthy of Critical Loop on cutting grid connection from years to days with modular microgrids.

Speed to power is the problem Critical Loop was built to solve. Bala Ramamurthy is the founder and CEO of Critical Loop, a California modular microgrid company that brings megawatts to industrial facilities and data centers when a utility interconnection is years away. Before energy, Bala spent 12 years at SpaceX as chief engineer on the first human spaceflight mission, and he applies that same high-reliability systems thinking to the grid.

This conversation covers how their Cygnus controller orchestrates batteries and on-site generation to close the gap between what a utility can deliver and what a site needs. Tim pushes Bala on the hard questions: whether Critical Loop competes for scarce batteries, and why a site like San Diego International Airport needs them at all. It matters now because load growth is outpacing what the grid can build.

Here is what this conversation reveals about closing the gap between grid capacity and industrial demand:

How do you power a 20-megawatt site when the utility offers seven?
Why does a rocket engineer see the grid as the same problem as a launch?
What does Critical Loop's Cygnus controller actually do on site?
When does a temporary bridge microgrid become a permanent asset?
Why does San Diego International Airport need Critical Loop at all?
What keeps a founder up at night as load growth outpaces the grid?

Critical Loop is betting that the fastest way to add power is not to build more grid, but to orchestrate what a site already has. Bala Ramamurthy makes the case that a controller, batteries, and on-site generation can close the gap between what a utility delivers and what a factory or data center needs, turning a years-long interconnection wait into weeks.

For anyone building, financing, or powering industrial load right now, this conversation is a look at how speed to power becomes a business.

Connect with Guest:

Balachandar Ramamurthy | LinkedIn

Critical Loop Website

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The Clean Power Hour is produced by the Clean Power Consulting Group and created by Tim Montague. Contact us by email: CleanPowerHour@gmail.com

Section 232 Is a Price Floor, Not a Tariff: Solar Module Prices Explained. Sep 08, 2026

Show notes

Section 232 tariffs are reshaping solar module pricing across the United States. Tim Montague and co-host John Weaver sit down with returning guest Chris Lettman, a solar module supply chain and technology expert with Imperial Star Solar.

Chris explains why the new policy works as a price floor, not a simple tariff, setting a minimum import price plus a 15 percent tax on cells, wafers, and modules. The three break down domestic cell shortages, First Solar litigation, and how developers hedge against monthly price hikes.

Anyone buying solar panels before the December 4 deadline needs this pricing and procurement picture.

Chris Lettman answers the pricing questions every solar buyer is asking before December 4:

Why is Section 232 a price floor instead of a normal tariff?
How much do imported, hybrid, and fully domestic modules now cost per watt?
Which companies make solar cells in the U.S. today?
How is John Weaver stockpiling modules to beat rising prices?
Why does only PERC ship domestically while TOPCon stays blocked?
What happens to overseas module factories after December 4?

Section 232 changes the math for every solar buyer heading into 2027. The tariffs raise prices across all three module tiers and close the gap between imported and domestic panels, with fully imported modules near 45 cents per watt and fully domestic near 53. Imports look set to stop around December 4, domestic cell supply stays tight behind ES Foundry and Saniva, and buyers like John Weaver are stockpiling now to beat monthly price hikes. Tim, John, and Chris disagree on whether the policy drives real U.S. manufacturing or adds cost and friction, but they agree on the takeaway: know your pricing tiers, lock in supply early, and plan procurement through 2027 before the next increase hits.

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The Clean Power Hour is produced by the Clean Power Consulting Group and created by Tim Montague. Contact us by email: CleanPowerHour@gmail.com

Derek Hansen on what makes a solar company great, not just good #367 Sep 01, 2026

Show notes

Clean energy company culture is what separates good solar EPCs from great ones, and Mynt CEO Derek Hansen has a name for how he builds it: inspire, empower, support.

Company culture in the solar and storage industry gets talked about far less than it should, and this episode makes the case for why that needs to change.

Derek Hansen is CEO and co-founder of Mynt, a vertically integrated development, engineering, and construction firm that builds solar and battery storage projects for commercial real estate owners and other solar developers. Tim Montague hosts this conversation, framing it around a question that gets skipped in the industry: what actually separates a good company from a great one.

In this episode, you'll learn:

Why Mynt is shifting its project mix from mostly solar toward majority battery storage
How Derek Hansen's inspire, empower, support philosophy drives EPC leadership
What personality assessments and one-on-one conversations reveal about a team member's strongest work
How Mynt built a buddy system to pair complementary skill sets on project teams
Why Mynt chose to unionize its install crews under IBEW after California's new prevailing wage mandate
The reason Hansen ties personal significance and legacy to day-to-day work at a growing EPC

If you work in solar, storage, microgrids, or the broader energy transition, this conversation offers practical insights into building stronger teams, creating meaningful company cultures, and preparing for the next phase of distributed energy.

Connect with Derek

Derek Hansen | LinkedIn

MYNT

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The Clean Power Hour is produced by the Clean Power Consulting Group and created by Tim Montague. Contact us by email: CleanPowerHour@gmail.com

What does it take to build solar that lasts 30+ years? #366 Aug 27, 2026

Show notes

Solar asset management inside a 35-year ownership model: CJ Colavito and Jay Smith of Standard Solar explain what it actually takes to own distributed generation projects for decades, from evaluating tracker and inverter reliability to redesigning inverter specs around eventual failure.

In this episode of Clean Power Hour, Tim Montague sits down with CJ Colavito, General Manager of Integrated Project Teams, and Jay Smith, VP of Operations and Maintenance and Asset Management, to discuss what they have learned from developing, building, owning, and operating commercial and community solar projects.

The conversation goes deep on one of the biggest challenges facing the solar industry: how to balance cost, performance, reliability, and long-term asset value.

Tim, CJ, and Jay also discuss:

• Why thorough project diligence can reduce delays, change orders, and budget overruns

• Standard Solar's integrated project team model and its focus on execution excellence

• The challenges of rooftop solar and why project scale matters

• Connector reliability, wire management, and lessons from thermal events

• What Standard Solar looks for when selecting tracker technology

• Tracker reliability, maintenance, snow shedding, and hail protection

• Standard Solar's approach to inverter selection and long-term reliability

• Why inverter failures can have a much greater financial impact than the initial equipment cost

• The importance of manufacturer support and warranties over the life of a project

• How changing supply-chain and foreign entity requirements are affecting equipment decisions

• Adding AC-coupled batteries to existing community solar projects

• How Standard Solar is adapting its business as the solar market and technology continue to evolve

The episode comes at an important moment for the industry. As solar portfolios grow and assets age, the focus is increasingly shifting from simply adding megawatts to ensuring those assets can perform reliably over the long term.

Listen to the full conversation for an inside look at how an experienced solar owner-operator thinks about technology, reliability, O&M, project execution, and the future of distributed solar.

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Jay Smith LinkedIn

CJ Colavito LinkedIn

Standard Solar Website

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The Clean Power Hour is produced by the Clean Power Consulting Group and created by Tim Montague. Contact us by email: CleanPowerHour@gmail.com

Foreign Inverter Ban Hits US Solar: Here's What Changes Aug 25, 2026

Show notes

The Federal Communications Commission's new ban on foreign-produced solar inverters left the industry without clear answers on warehoused stock, firmware updates, and grid cybersecurity risk.

On this episode of The Clean Power Hour Live, hosts Tim Montague and John Weaver break down the foreign inverter ban alongside new Section 232 solar tariffs that set a 38 cent per watt minimum price on modules. They also cover a Reuters report on Chinese electric truck exports climbing as diesel prices spike across Southeast Asia, a 30% efficient perovskite-silicon solar panel from Tandem PV headed to market this fall, and a phishing scam using fake zoning invoices to target solar contractors. Recorded live on August 21, 2026, this episode covers solar policy, battery storage, and grid security in one sitting.

EPISODE HIGHLIGHTS

FCC added foreign inverters and communication devices to its Covered List on July 28, citing grid cybersecurity risk from remote firmware updates. (PV Magazine)
Section 232 solar tariffs raise panel costs. New tariffs set minimum import prices of 38 cents per watt for modules, 22 cents for cells, and roughly 14 cents for wafers. (PV Tech)
Chinese electric truck exports climb amid Iran war fuel spike . (Reuters)
Tandem PV ships a production-quality 30% efficient perovskite-silicon panel (PV Magazine).
Enphase launches the IQ Battery C80 commercial battery. The 80 kWh AC-coupled unit delivers up to 40 kVA of continuous power and targets small commercial and industrial demand charge management projects. (Enphase)
Octopus Energy customers earn nearly 100 million pounds in solar export payments. (Solar Power Portal).
Security alert: fake zoning permit invoices target solar contractors. John shares an AI-generated phishing email built from public permit records, disguised as a $6,700 town zoning fee. (Blue Sky)

This episode is built for solar installers, project developers, and policy watchers tracking how tariffs and cybersecurity rules are reshaping equipment sourcing. With Section 232 tariffs taking effect in December and the FCC inverter ban already in force, procurement decisions made this fall carry real cost and timeline consequences.

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The Clean Power Hour is produced by the Clean Power Consulting Group and created by Tim Montague. Contact us by email: CleanPowerHour@gmail.com

How to Build a Great Solar Company: Lessons from LightWave Solar CEO Chris Koczaja #365 Aug 21, 2026

Show notes

Chris Koczaja grew LightWave Solar to 30 million dollars by refusing to chase every deal. This is the discipline that got him there.

Chris Koczaja is the CEO of LightWave Solar, a residential and commercial solar and storage installer in Nashville, Tennessee, now in its 20th year in business.

In this conversation, Tim Montague asks Koczaja what actually separates a good solar company from a great one: recruiting and retaining strong teams, planning so thoroughly that execution has no surprises, a philosophy Koczaja calls building boring solar, and never betting growth on a single revenue stream, a rule he calls three ways to win. They also cover why LightWave solar refuses to install unproven technology, how residential battery storage is changing the customer conversation, and what's shifting across the Tennessee Valley as utilities adjust to rising demand and changing federal incentives.

In this episode:

What separates a good solar company from a great one
Why LightWave builds boring solar on purpose
Koczaja's three ways to win growth framework
Why LightWave waits to adopt new battery and inverter technology
How LightWave retains talent, including its boomerang employees
Building a strong reputation in a market with bad actors
Residential battery storage, resiliency, and home microgrids
The Tennessee Valley Authority and the changing grid
The ITC phase-out and what it means for installers

The residential ITC phased out at the end of last year, and the commercial ITC begins phasing out through 2029, while the storage ITC runs through 2032, a gap Koczaja says is already changing how LightWave pairs solar with storage.

TVA reserve margins are tightening as data center demand grows, pushing local power companies toward flexibility programs and local generation. For installers working with fewer incentives and a tighter grid, this conversation shows a Tennessee Valley strategy built for both.

Chris and Tim will both be at the Tennessee Valley Solar and Storage Conference, September 2 and 3 in Chattanooga, hosted by TenneSEIA.

[REGISTER FOR TENNESEIA]

Connect with Chris Koczaja

Chris Koczaja LinkedIn

LightWave Solar Website

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The Clean Power Hour is produced by the Clean Power Consulting Group and created by Tim Montague. Contact us by email: CleanPowerHour@gmail.com

How do we Remove 1.7 Trillion Tons of CO₂? #364 Aug 18, 2026

Show notes

Enhanced rock weathering pulls carbon dioxide from the air using crushed rock. Jim Mann, CEO and founder of Undo, explains how the process works and why the technology scales fast. Undo turns rock dust into permanent carbon storage and sells credits to Microsoft and British Airways at $350 a ton, a price Mann expects to halve within years.

The atmosphere holds 1.7 trillion tons of legacy CO2, and enhanced rock weathering ranks among the few carbon removal pathways built to pull carbon out for good. Jim Mann, CEO and founder of Undo, joins host Tim Montague to break down how his company spreads crushed basalt on farmland to speed up natural rock weathering by 50,000 to 100,000 times, turning atmospheric CO2 into bicarbonate that stays locked in the ocean for around 100,000 years.

Undo counts Microsoft, Barclays, British Airways, and McLaren Racing among its customers, selling durable carbon removal credits at roughly $350 a ton today, with a path toward half that price as the company scales. Mann and Montague debate whether net zero targets go far enough, why the EU's carbon border adjustment mechanism forms the backbone of a real carbon market, and what enhanced rock weathering needs to move from thousands of tons a year to the gigaton scale the IPCC says the world needs.

Here is what you will learn in this conversation about enhanced rock weathering and carbon removal economics:

You'll learn how Undo speeds up natural rock weathering by 50,000 to 100,000 times by spreading crushed basalt on farmland.
Find out why bicarbonate formed through enhanced rock weathering stays locked in the ocean for around 100,000 years.
Understand how Undo prices carbon removal credits near $350 a ton today, and why Mann expects the price to fall by half.
Hear Tim push back on net zero as a partial solution, since 1.7 trillion tons of CO2 already sit in the atmosphere.
Learn how the EU's carbon border adjustment mechanism links carbon removal to emissions trading and builds a real compliance market.

The EU's carbon border adjustment mechanism now stands in force, and similar rules move through the UK, Australia, New Zealand, Vietnam, and Cambodia. Regulators start linking carbon removal directly to emissions trading, moving today's voluntary carbon market toward a compliance market with real teeth.

If you are trying to figure out where permanent carbon removal fits next to renewables and storage in your own project pipeline or client conversations, this episode gives you the numbers to start that conversation.

Connect with Jim Mann, Undo

Jim Mann | LinkedIn

UNDO Website

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The Clean Power Hour is produced by the Clean Power Consulting Group and created by Tim Montague. Contact us by email: CleanPowerHour@gmail.com

How a 700kW Commercial Solar Project Saves $3M+ Over 25 Years #363 Aug 11, 2026

Show notes

Dual-use solar financing in action: Sunrise Solar's Richard Stoltzfus built a 700 kW behind-the-meter array for Harbor Sales Company. The build stacks a USDA REAP grant with a Maryland MEA grant and drives the customer's levelized energy cost to near zero.

A 700 kW behind-the-meter solar array now offsets 70 percent of the electric load at Harbor Sales Company, a plywood and sign-panel distributor that has run out of Sudlersville, Maryland since 1931.

Richard Stoltzfus, CEO of Sunrise Solar, and Kendrick Tice, COO of Sunrise Solar, join host Tim Montague to walk through their Chestertown-based company's build for Harbor Sales.

Montague and Stoltzfus dig into the mechanics of commercial solar incentives in Maryland, the sunset of the 30 percent federal ITC, and why rural electric cooperatives in the PJM region are capping new solar interconnections even as demand for grid capacity grows.

Here is what you will learn in this conversation about dual-use solar and commercial solar incentives:

Learn how Sunrise Solar stacked a USDA REAP grant with Maryland's MEA grant to push a customer's levelized cost of energy toward zero on a 700 kW system.
Find out how a 700 kW array offsets 70 percent of Harbor Sales Company's load and pencils out to more than 3 million dollars in savings over 25 years.
Understand why the 30 percent ITC sunset and Delmarva Power's tightening interconnection limits pushed this project from planning into construction.
Hear Kendrick Tice explain why Sunrise Solar sources its racking from one manufacturing partner instead of juggling multiple vendors, and what that does for project timelines.
Hear Tim Montague weigh in on whether rural cooperatives in the PJM region can keep pace with rising demand for grid capacity and where incentive structures differ from state to state.

Maryland's grant-stacking model, layering a USDA REAP grant on top of a state MEA grant, offers a template for other states as the federal 30 percent ITC winds down. At the same time, rural cooperatives across the PJM footprint are capping new solar interconnections, a constraint Stoltzfus and Tice say is already blocking chicken farmers and dairy operations from going solar. Professionals financing behind-the-meter projects in cooperative territory will find the co-op discussion directly relevant to deals in the pipeline right now.

Connect with Guests

Richard Stoltzfus | LinkedIn

Kendrick Tice | LinkedIn

Sunrise Solar | Website

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The Clean Power Hour is produced by the Clean Power Consulting Group and created by Tim Montague. Contact us by email: CleanPowerHour@gmail.com

Georgia's Data Center Boom Is Straining the Grid. Here's How Solar Fits In #362 Aug 04, 2026

Show notes

Georgia is the second-largest data center market in the country, and its grid is straining under load growth no one predicted five years ago. Michael Chanin, CEO of Cherry Street Energy, joins Tim to break down how behind-the-meter solar and storage are stepping in, why utilities need private capital to keep rates in check, and what a multi-gigawatt data center outside Savannah means for the region.
Tim sits down with Michael Chanin, CEO of Cherry Street Energy, a vertically integrated power company based in Georgia that develops, owns, and operates behind-the-meter solar and storage for commercial and industrial customers across the Southeast.
Georgia repealed its ban on third-party solar ownership in 2015, opening the door for "Solar Energy Procurement Agreements" (Georgia's version of a PPA). Since then, Cherry Street has built a customer base that includes Delta Air Lines, Porsche Cars North America, Gulfstream, and the City of Atlanta, offering no-cost, no-upfront-investment solar that cuts customers' energy bills and carbon footprint.
Chanin and Tim dig into what is driving unprecedented load growth in Georgia: the state is now the second-largest data center market in the US after Virginia, and OpenAI recently announced its "Project Camellia" data center campus near Savannah in Effingham County, a $20 billion, 3.2-gigawatt (3,200 MW) project built in partnership with Georgia Power. On the recording, Chanin describes the project as a joint Anthropic/OpenAI announcement and cites 4,000 megawatts of capacity; public reporting on this specific project ties it to OpenAI at roughly 3,200 MW, so that detail is worth a quick check with Chanin or Cherry Street before publishing.
Other topics covered:

How Cherry Street's economics pencil out: average customer electricity cost of 10-12 cents/kWh, build costs under $1.50/watt, and how real-time pricing has made solar competitive even against historically cheap fossil generation
Cherry Street's solar-plus-storage pilot with Georgia Power and the emerging value stack for behind-the-meter batteries (capacity payments, energy payments, demand management)
Georgia's Public Service Commission, including Chair Jason Shaw and newly elected Democratic commissioners Alicia Johnson and Peter Hubbard
Cherry Street's vertically integrated delivery model: in-house engineers, general contractors, and site supervisors that take a project from signed contract to energized system in under 100 days

Cherry Street Energy shows what happens when a state removes one legal barrier and lets the market do the rest. Georgia's 2015 shift on third-party ownership opened the door. Rising load growth from data centers and electrification is now forcing utilities, regulators, and private developers to work together on a scale nobody planned for a few years ago. Chanin's take is clear: solar and storage are not a side story in Georgia's power future. They are becoming part of how the state keeps the lights on and the bills manageable. Listen to the full conversation for the details on Cherry Street's build process, its storage pilot with Georgia Power, and what EPCs and developers should know before entering the Southeast market.
Connect with Michael Chanin, Cherry Street Energy
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/michaelchanin/
Website: https://www.cherrystreet.com/

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The Clean Power Hour is produced by the Clean Power Consulting Group and created by Tim Montague. Contact us by email: CleanPowerHour@gmail.com

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