SunCast

One of the most common assumptions in business is that responsibility should be earned only after years of experience.
After more than two decades as a Navy F/A-18 fighter pilot and instructor, Jason Knapp came to a different conclusion: capability often follows responsibility, provided organizations are willing to invest in training, honest feedback, and continuous learning.
That philosophy shaped his transition into clean energy, where he worked across battery manufacturing, supply chains, and policy advocacy, helping lawmakers better understand the technologies shaping America's energy future. Now, after years of advocating from outside government, Jason is running for Congress because he believes the people writing energy policy should understand the technologies, industries, and communities those decisions affect.
This isn't a conversation about politics. It's about leadership, organizational culture, and why expertise belongs in the rooms where important decisions get made.
Expect to learn:
🔹 Why the military trusts young people with extraordinary responsibility
🔹 How continuous learning creates stronger leaders and better teams
🔹 Why battery storage is about reliability, resilience, and national security
🔹 What clean energy leaders can learn about public service and civic engagement
Whether you're leading a company, developing clean energy projects, or thinking about how our industry can better shape its future, this conversation offers practical lessons on leadership, responsibility, and service.
Give it a listen.
Are there other technologies you’ve scouted on the frontlines of the Clean Energy Revolution that you think we should be covering here on SunCast?
Hit us up - team@suncast.me with your feedback & recommendations.
If you want to connect with today's guest, you’ll find links to their contact info in the show notes on the blog at https://suncast.media/episodes/.
Our Platinum Presenting Sponsor for SunCast is CPS America!
You can learn more about all the sponsors who help make this show free for you at www.suncast.media/sponsors.
Remember, you can always find resources, learn more about today’s guest and explore recommendations, book links, and more than 875 other founder stories and startup advice at www.suncast.media.
Subscribe to Valence, our weekly LinkedIn Newsletter, and learn the elements of compelling storytelling: https://www.linkedin.com/newsletters/valence-content-that-connects-7145928995363049472/
You can connect with me, Nico Johnson, on:
Twitter - https://www.twitter.com/nicomeo
LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/nickalus

A single battery cell can shut down an entire storage plant.
It's one of the many operational realities that make battery storage fundamentally different from solar, and one of the reasons software, analytics, and automation are becoming just as important as the batteries themselves.
Ty Fenton, Director of Data Analytics at FlexGen, joins Nico Johnson to explore what really happens after a battery project is commissioned. From managing thousands of individual cells to processing enormous volumes of operational data, Ty explains why operating battery storage requires a completely different mindset than operating solar. They also explore how AI data centers are creating new demands for battery storage and why operators are rethinking the role batteries will play in supporting the next generation of digital infrastructure.
Expect to learn:
🔹 How one underperforming battery cell can dramatically reduce an entire site's output
🔹 Why battery storage is fundamentally more complex to operate than solar
🔹 How predictive analytics identify failures before they impact performance
🔹 Why AI data centers need batteries for more than backup power
If you're building, operating, or investing in battery storage, this conversation offers a practical look at the operational challenges that will define the industry's next chapter.
Are there other technologies you’ve scouted on the frontlines of the Clean Energy Revolution that you think we should be covering here on SunCast?
Hit us up - team@suncast.me with your feedback & recommendations.
If you want to connect with today's guest, you’ll find links to their contact info in the show notes on the blog at https://suncast.media/episodes/.
Our Platinum Presenting Sponsor for SunCast is CPS America!
You can learn more about all the sponsors who help make this show free for you at www.suncast.media/sponsors.
Remember, you can always find resources, learn more about today’s guest and explore recommendations, book links, and more than 875 other founder stories and startup advice at www.suncast.media.
Subscribe to Valence, our weekly LinkedIn Newsletter, and learn the elements of compelling storytelling: https://www.linkedin.com/newsletters/valence-content-that-connects-7145928995363049472/
You can connect with me, Nico Johnson, on:
Twitter - https://www.twitter.com/nicomeo
LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/nickalus

Last year, solar and storage accounted for more than 80% of all new power generation capacity added in the United States.
So why does our industry still behave like the underdog?
In this special collaboration between SunCast and Energy Empire, Nico Johnson and Jigar Shah sit down with Dan Shugar, one of the most accomplished entrepreneurs in solar, to explore a question that reaches far beyond technology, manufacturing, or policy.
Perhaps our biggest challenge isn't building projects...
...it's learning how to lead?
Dan has spent four decades helping shape the modern solar industry. In this candid conversation, he explains why solar has already won on economics, why domestic manufacturing became a strategic imperative long before it became political, and why the industry's greatest opportunity now is changing how it communicates with policymakers, communities, and the public.
The conversation also explores the leadership principles that have kept Dan's core team together across multiple companies, how semiconductor thinking helped him see around corners before the rest of the market, and why culture remains one of the most durable competitive advantages in business.
Jigar adds another important dimension, arguing that clean energy's biggest challenge is no longer proving the economics.
It's winning the narrative.
Together, they make the case that the next decade won't be defined by better technology.
It will be defined by better leadership.
Expect to learn:
🔹 Why Dan believes solar is no longer "alternative energy"
🔹 The COVID-era decision that reshaped his manufacturing strategy
🔹 How semiconductor thinking helped him anticipate solar's cost curve
🔹 Why keeping the same leadership team together for decades became a competitive advantage
🔹 Why communications, not technology, may be the industry's next great challenge
🔹 What it means for clean energy to stop thinking like an underdog and start leading like the dominant force it has become
It’s our turn. Are we ready?
Are there other technologies you’ve scouted on the frontlines of the Clean Energy Revolution that you think we should be covering here on SunCast?
Hit us up - team@suncast.me with your feedback & recommendations.
If you want to connect with today's guest, you’ll find links to their contact info in the show notes on the blog at https://suncast.media/episodes/.
Our Platinum Presenting Sponsor for SunCast is CPS America!
You can learn more about all the sponsors who help make this show free for you at www.suncast.media/sponsors.
Remember, you can always find resources, learn more about today’s guest and explore recommendations, book links, and more than 875 other founder stories and startup advice at www.suncast.media.
Subscribe to Valence, our weekly LinkedIn Newsletter, and learn the elements of compelling storytelling: https://www.linkedin.com/newsletters/valence-content-that-connects-7145928995363049472/
You can connect with me, Nico Johnson, on:
Twitter - https://www.twitter.com/nicomeo
LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/nickalus

For decades, the energy industry has treated its biggest challenge as building more power.
Sean Kelly thinks that's the wrong question.
As CEO and co-founder of Amperon, Sean spends his days helping utilities, traders, generators, and some of the world's largest electricity users anticipate what's coming next. And what he's learned is surprisingly simple: the grid's biggest challenge isn't producing enough electricity. It's knowing when, where, and how demand, weather, and renewable generation will collide.
That shift is changing everything.
In this Tactical Tuesday conversation, Sean explains why Amperon is moving beyond traditional deterministic forecasting toward probabilistic forecasting, giving customers a range of possible outcomes instead of a single answer. More importantly, he makes the case that the future of the grid won't be won by building for all 8,760 hours of the year. It will be won by managing the handful of hours that matter most.
Expect to learn:
🔹 Why deterministic forecasting is giving way to probabilistic decision-making
🔹 How AI, data centers, and renewable generation are changing the way power markets operate
🔹 Why flexibility may create more value than simply adding more generation or transmission
🔹 How better forecasting gives utilities, traders, and large energy users something even more valuable than certainty: time
Whether you develop projects, operate assets, trade power, or simply want to understand where the grid is headed next, this conversation offers a practical new lens for thinking about the future of electricity.
Now press play, and see if Sean changes the way you think about the grid.
Are there other technologies you’ve scouted on the frontlines of the Clean Energy Revolution that you think we should be covering here on SunCast?
Hit us up - team@suncast.me with your feedback & recommendations.
If you want to connect with today's guest, you’ll find links to their contact info in the show notes on the blog at https://suncast.media/episodes/.
Our Platinum Presenting Sponsor for SunCast is CPS America!
You can learn more about all the sponsors who help make this show free for you at www.suncast.media/sponsors.
Remember, you can always find resources, learn more about today’s guest and explore recommendations, book links, and more than 875 other founder stories and startup advice at www.suncast.media.
Subscribe to Valence, our weekly LinkedIn Newsletter, and learn the elements of compelling storytelling: https://www.linkedin.com/newsletters/valence-content-that-connects-7145928995363049472/
You can connect with me, Nico Johnson, on:
Twitter - https://www.twitter.com/nicomeo
LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/nickalus

Everyone agrees we need more distributed energy. The harder question is: who pays for it?
That's the question Molly Bauch has been wrestling with.
As North American Connected Energy Lead at Accenture, Molly helped develop a new model that connects one of the fastest-growing sources of electricity demand with one of the country's biggest energy challenges.
The idea is surprisingly simple.
Data centers need community support and faster paths to power. Millions of low-income households need access to affordable solar and storage. What if those two needs could solve each other?
In this conversation, Molly explains how Accenture, Grid Alternatives, and a growing coalition of partners are creating a playbook that helps data centers invest directly in distributed energy, lowering energy costs for families today while laying the foundation for tomorrow's virtual power plants.
If it scales, this isn't just another financing model. It could reshape how we think about paying for grid infrastructure altogether.
Expect to learn:
🔹 Why one in five American households is now behind on their electricity bill
🔹 How data centers can help fund solar and storage deployment
🔹 Why virtual power plants may outcompete new peaker plants on both cost and speed
🔹 What still has to happen before this model becomes fully bankable
Whether you work in utilities, distributed energy, infrastructure, or data centers, this conversation offers a fresh perspective on one of the biggest questions facing the industry today:
How do we build the grid we need without asking ratepayers to shoulder the entire burden?
Are there other technologies you’ve scouted on the frontlines of the Clean Energy Revolution that you think we should be covering here on SunCast?
Hit us up - team@suncast.me with your feedback & recommendations.
If you want to connect with today's guest, you’ll find links to their contact info in the show notes on the blog at https://suncast.media/episodes/.
Our Platinum Presenting Sponsor for SunCast is CPS America!
You can learn more about all the sponsors who help make this show free for you at www.suncast.media/sponsors.
Remember, you can always find resources, learn more about today’s guest and explore recommendations, book links, and more than 875 other founder stories and startup advice at www.suncast.media.
Subscribe to Valence, our weekly LinkedIn Newsletter, and learn the elements of compelling storytelling: https://www.linkedin.com/newsletters/valence-content-that-connects-7145928995363049472/
You can connect with me, Nico Johnson, on:
Twitter - https://www.twitter.com/nicomeo
LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/nickalus