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 doing this work. How do we make it easier for them to get the information they need?” – Sierra Fan“I’m really excited about innovations that have their roots internationally, that are being brought back into the ‘developed world.’” – Sierra Fan“Distributed energy is no longer out of sight, out of mind. You start to see all these stove pipes start to come down; that energy really does touch everything.” – Amy Simpkins“There’s urgency that we need all these solutions to get on the ground and we need people to work together … to speed up the deployment of all these things where the technology is already there.” – Sierra FanSierra Fan is the Co-Founder and COO of illu, providing software solutions for solar, storage, and EV charging companies to more easily onboard and manage their installers and technicians. She also founded Mee Panyar, a developer of solar and storage microgrids in Myanmar. Previously, she financed more than $10Bn in energy and infrastructure projects while at Morgan Stanley, including 1.7GW of utility-scale renewable energy in the US.Resources:Check out illu’s website: https://www.illu.works/.Connect with Sierra on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sierrafan/ . If you enjoyed the conversation, please share the episode with other innovators. Leave us a positive review and subscribe to Power Flow on Apple podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen to podcasts. Check out our awesome merch! You can even apply to be a sponsor or a guest.You can follow Power Flow Podcast on LinkedIn, Instagram, and Facebook. Thank you for listening. See you at the whiteboard!
Jan 30, 2024
39 min
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 entrepreneur.” – Erika Ginsberg-KlemmtIn 1990, realizing that she wanted to see more of the world before she sold it, Erika abandoned an upwardly mobile position at a travel agency for a one-way ticket to the South of France. She lived and worked in Cannes, Paris and Hamburg before embracing the liveaboard life with her husband on their sailboat Pangaea for the last seven years. The spirit of Pangaea's Wandering Website took form decades ago as an informal newsletter while she studied at UC Berkeley. Indigenous of Laguna Beach, California, Erika became a grassroots Technomad, faithfully maintaining her wireless Internet updates while sailing around the globe. Then the word "blog" arrived on the scene and she stopped writing for 20+ years, raising her 3 kids and establishing her first company, SRQUS LLC, with which she bootstraps GismoPower. Now she's a solar justice peace-seeker and kochluffel (look it up.)Resources:Check out Gizsmo Power’s website: https://gismopower.com/.Connect with Erika via email: [email protected]. If you enjoyed the conversation, please share the episode with other innovators. Leave us a positive review and subscribe to Power Flow on Apple podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen to podcasts. Check out our awesome merch! And hey, we’re new, so you can even apply to be a sponsor or a guest.You can follow Power Flow Podcast on LinkedIn, Instagram, and Facebook.
Dec 12, 2023
37 min
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 benefits.” – Julia SouderAboutJulia Souder is a strategic executive with over 20 years of expertise in the energy and environmental sectors as a coalition builder and advocate. She has been a longtime champion of clean energy technology, working extensively to support environmentally friendly technologies and equitable policies.Julia leads the LDES Council’s strategy and vision to enable the advancement of long duration energy storage to the center stage of the energy transition worldwide.Julia served as the Executive Director of the Long Duration Energy Storage Association of California (LDESAC). While there, she led the education and outreach of emerging and existing long duration energy storage developers, focusing on its importance to grid reliability and meeting climate goals.Julia launched JAS Energies in 2019 to bring inclusive, diverse, and equitable transitions and policies into fruition. She provided a deep understanding of challenges facing the US electricity sector in reducing carbon emissions, building renewable energy projects, creating markets, and implementing a clean energy vision. Previously, Julia was a Director at the The Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), focused on market and energy policy creation and implementation, creating coalitions and interpreted real-time grid operations and transmission planning.Julia’s prior roles include senior positions at Clean Line Energy Partners, North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC), and the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE).Resources:Check out the LDES council’s website: https://www.ldescouncil.com/.Connect with Juila on LinkedIn.If you enjoyed the conversation, please share the episode with other innovators. Leave us a positive review and subscribe to Power Flow on Apple podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen to podcasts. Check out our awesome merch! And hey, we’re new, so you can even apply to be a sponsor or a guest.You can follow Power Flow Podcast on LinkedIn, Instagram, and Facebook. Thank you for listening. See you at the whiteboard!
Oct 31, 2023
35 min
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 how much more is possible, as well as why the financials are vital.According to Amy, “The intelligent economic decisions are critical for any kind of battery technology and that is something that gets lost.”Quotes - all by Amy Simpkins“The entire value proposition of an energy storage system is in its control, in its decision making piece.” "No matter which element on the periodic table you are using, you still have to intelligently command the battery to work and make intelligent decisions that will deliver financial results from your battery.” "In order to actually deploy energy storage and associated hybrid systems, they have to generate revenue."“We’ve made the transition from consultants who said what could be possible to a product vendor who says we can DO this. It’s not just probable, it’s possible, and we’re doing it.”AboutAs co-founder and CEO at muGrid Analytics, Amy Simpkins solves wicked problems at the intersection of energy technology and economics using math and modeling. muGrid provides bankable techno-economic analysis, optimized control, and project development of renewable energy, energy storage, and microgrids to maximize economic return, increase energy resilience, and promote energy equity in the US and around the world. Amy is also an internationally recognized speaker on innovation and iterative development for entrepreneurs. She is the author of Spiral: A Catalyst for Innovation and Expansion and host of the Power Flow Podcast, which amplifies diverse voices in the energy revolution. Prior to muGrid, Amy designed and operated spacecraft as a Systems Engineer with Lockheed Martin. Her technical expertise includes system and software architecture, system-level performance modeling, and design tradespace analysis. Amy holds an MS in Astronautical Engineering from the University of Southern California and an SB in Aeronautics and Astronautics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.Connect with Amy on LinkedIn.Check out muGrid’s website.Connect with muGrid Analytics on LinkedIn or Facebook.If you enjoyed the conversation, please share the episode with other innovators. Leave us a positive review and subscribe to Power Flow on Apple podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen to podcasts. Check out our awesome merch! And hey, we’re new, so you can even apply to be a sponsor or a guest.You can follow Power Flow Podcast on LinkedIn, Instagram, and Facebook. Thank you for listening. See you at the whiteboard!
Oct 10, 2023
57 min
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 how much the grid can actually support.According to Ali, “Batteries, in essence, are going to fuel the growth of everything.”*A correction: The Mercedes car mentioned got 1000 km (621 miles) on a single charge, not 1000 miles.Quotes“We need to bring more resources online to help fuel this electrification.” – Ali Haji“Ultimately with today’s prices, it’s clear and evident there is a massive supply chain gap that needs to be filled in order for us to carry on down this path of the clean energy revolution.” – Ali Haji“Education is paramount. People don’t realize the importance of mining and what it’s doing to allow us to move towards this revolution. It’s an integral part of essentially everything we do, yet as far as I can remember, no one in school ever learned about mining.” – Ali Haji“Moving into a future where we can view mining through an environmental lens and an ethical lens is going to be important in the future.” – Amy Simpkins“Mining is a big part of everything that we do, whether we like it or not, but the best way to move forward is to educate people on its importance, but also ensure that we’re doing it sustainably.” – Ali Haji“The fact that people are starting to think about where their energy comes from, where the equipment is coming from, where the raw materials that goes into that equipment is coming from signals a positive shift and makes me, in spite of all evidence, optimistic.” – Amy SimpkinsAbout/ConnectAli 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. Since 2019 the company has been aggressively growing its assets in its extensive growth strategy through acquiring new resources and sites.Website: https://www.ionenergy.ca/You can connect with Ion Energy on Youtube, LinkedIn, Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook.If you enjoyed the conversation, please share the episode with other innovators. Leave us a positive review and subscribe to Power Flow on Apple podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen to podcasts. And hey, check out our awesome merch! You can follow Power Flow Podcast on LinkedIn, Instagram, and Facebook. Thank you for listening. See you at the whiteboard!
Sep 26, 2023
41 min
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’ve never partnered before… there needs to be a lot more intentionality about understanding where other players are coming from and then partnering with them in order to achieve common objectives.” – Julia Hamm “Utilities are going to have to partner in an unprecedented way going forward.” – Julia Hamm“Rest is revolutionary. Rest is innovative.” – Amy SimpkinsIf you enjoyed the conversation, please share the episode with other innovators. Leave us a positive review and subscribe to Power Flow on Apple podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen to podcasts. Check out our awesome merch! And hey, we’re new, so you can even apply to be a sponsor or a guest.You can follow Power Flow Podcast on LinkedIn, Instagram, and Facebook. Thank you for listening. See you at the whiteboard!
Sep 11, 2023
34 min
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 after the devastating fires in the North Bay of San Francisco in October 2017. RNBF is an organization dedicated to helping the region rebuild better, greener, safer, and faster. In summer of 2021, RNBF created After the Fire USA in response to the prevalence of massive megafires in response to climate change and wildland imbalances. Our tagline remains “Recover. Rebuild. Reimagine.” Jennifer is nationally recognized as a leader in the space of wildfire and has presented at several national conferences on the issue by invitation of the US Chamber of Commerce Foundation, HAC, Fannie Mae, Brownsfield, Smart Cities, FEMA, and many more. She is cofounder of CANVAS, an association of professional leaders in disaster working together to “listen locally, act regionally, reform nationally.” Jennifer is the creator and host of the How to Disaster podcast, which highlights proven and effective leaders with great ideas in the space of disaster. She is on the board of directors of La Luz Center, a nonprofit serving primarily the Latino community in Sonoma Valley.Jennifer interviewed Amy Simpkins on How to Disaster on Enhancing Equity and Sustainability back in September of 2021.Quotables“Every single community can recover at the same rate as another community if they are offered the right tools and capacity and funding and support.” - Jennifer Gray Thompson“Energy is also an ecosystem.” – Jennifer Gray Thompson"What is good for the ecology is good for the economy." – Jennifer Gray Thompson“The renewal of faith in humanity is really common in disaster places.” – Jennifer Gray Thompson“The American culture is very good in a crisis and is very good at stepping in with heroics in a crisis. But what we’re bad at culturally is taking responsibility for our neighbors and our communities prior to the crisis.” – Amy Simpkins“Disaster is a great leveler and a great teacher.” – Jennifer Gray Thompson“There is a way forward and I believe clean energy is at the center of that.” – Jennifer Gray ThompsonIf you enjoyed the conversation, please share the episode with other innovators. Leave us a positive review and subscribe to Power Flow on Apple podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen to podcasts. And hey, we’re new, so you can even apply to be a sponsor or a guest.You can follow Power Flow Podcast on LinkedIn, Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, and Tik Tok. Thank you for listening. See you at the whiteboard!
May 17, 2022
47 min
Trained as an architect, Jordana is passionate about socially-driven multidisciplinary projects that advance climate resilience and social justice. Currently, she is the Manager for Climate Resilience & Equity at Resilient Cities Network (R-Cities). At R-Cities, she focuses on supporting cities in developing actions and implementation projects with climate resilience and equity lens. Prior to her work at R-Cities, she worked at Building Energy Exchange (BE-Ex), developing BE-Ex's industry resources in response to climate change. Before BE-Ex, she worked as a sustainability consultant and community development officer providing high-performance technical assistance and development aid for Hurricane Sandy's multifamily recovery and resiliency efforts. She graduated from Pratt Institute with a Bachelors in Architecture, and is a LEED Green Associate. She holds certifications from the Environmental Leadership Program and the Global Leadership Human Impacts Institute. Lastly, in 2019 she launched and co-founded Women of Color Collective in Sustainability (WOC/CS) - the only global digital collective and community that is 100% dedicated to advancing women of color working across the sustainability industry. Since then the community has brought together over 5,000 women of color through virtual and in-person events, social media channels, a digital community, and online publication. Referenced episode Episode 2.03 On Intentionality & Intersections in Energy with Melanie Santiago-MosierQuotables“What does resilience actually mean?” – Amy Simpkins“The way I would define resiliency would be threefold: the ability to survive, the ability to adapt, and the ability to grow/thrive, no matter what kind of shocks and stresses.” – Jordana Vasquez“The best thing you can do as an ally is listen. Don’t make assumptions.” – Jordana Vasquez“Our reliance on fossil fuels for power and transportation needs to change.” – Jordana VasquezJordana mentioned a quote by JFK: “Fix the roof while the sun is shining.”“As communities, as cities, as a country, we are in a really unique position as a society to demand how we want to live in cities, how we want to power our cities, and how we want to prepare the next generation.” – Jordana VasquezIf you enjoyed the conversation, please share the episode with other innovators. Leave us a positive review and subscribe to Power Flow on Apple podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen to podcasts. Check out our awesome merch! And hey, we’re new, so you can even apply to be a sponsor or a guest.You can follow Power Flow Podcast on LinkedIn, Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, and Tik Tok. Thank you for listening. See you at the whiteboard!
May 10, 2022
48 min
A senior operations and finance executive, Claire Broido Johnson is the director of the University System of Maryland Momentum Fund. (MMF). She has a proven track record in creating and managing successful businesses and driving operations: including as founder of SunEdison and program executive at the Department of Energy during the Obama Administration. At DOE, Claire guided the deployment of $11 billion in economic stimulus funds in 2009-2010 to improve the economy through the deployment of renewable energy and energy efficiency technologies. A bottom-line focused innovator, Claire also runs CBJ Energy where she developed an energy efficiency financing product for Serious Energy, launched new products and new states for Next Step Living, and managed energy projects and research for Katerra. Recognized for financial and operational expertise, she currently serves on the boards of BlocPower.io, the National Sierra Club Foundation, and Living Classrooms. Claire is also on the advisory board of Upsurge Baltimore, a Baltimore-based incubator, and a member of Blu Ventures network of early-stage DC/Baltimore investors Claire earned a B.A. in environmental science and public policy from Harvard College, where she helped to create that major, and an M.B.A. from the Harvard Business School. Claire recommends Rocket Fuel: The One Essential Combination That Will Get You More of What You Want from Your Business by Gino and Mark C Winters to supercharge your entrepreneurial efforts. Quotables“I think finally even the most unresponsive person is realizing that climate change is here and there need to be solutions.” – Claire Broido Johnson“I think all of us who are mentors and who care about climate change have to support early stage startups with good ideas.” - Claire Broido Johnson“I have believed for a long time that the way we do innovation in this country, in general, is broken.” – Amy Simpkins “I am trying to innovate the process of innovation.” – Amy Simpkins“I move fast and break things.” – Claire Broido Johnson“The small scrappy startups are here because we believe we can make a difference fundamentally.” – Amy Simpkins“If you have one of those great ideas there’s no time like the present to find your mentor, fill your toolbox, and go make it happen because the world depends on you.” -Amy SimpkinsIf you enjoyed the conversation, please share the episode with other innovators. Leave us a positive review and subscribe to Power Flow on Apple podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen to podcasts. Check out our awesome merch! And hey, we’re new, so you can even apply to be a sponsor or a guest.You can follow Power Flow Podcast on LinkedIn, Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, and Tik Tok. Thank you for listening. See you at the whiteboard!
May 3, 2022
50 min
Dr. Veronika Wright is an electrification enthusiast, consultant, and author. She holds a PhD in Technical Physics from the Graz University of Technology in Austria and gained extensive industry experience in batteries and electrification before founding her own social enterprise, Electrified Veronika, in 2021. With a passion for people and technology, she provides education, technical advice, and mentoring in battery lifecycle management for clean transportation and energy. Having grown up in Austria and now living in the US, she lives by the mantra, “it is 100% impossible if you don’t try,” and is passionate about sharing this global perspective on the world’s “Drive to Electric.” Dr. Veronika's book: The Drive to ElectricDr. Veronika's YouTube ChannelElectrified Veronika PodcastQuotables“We’re ten years in and we’re still calling [Electric Vehicles] nascent technology.” – Amy Simpkins“[These regulations] will be driving the recycling of materials and will help turn this chaos we have right now into something we can track and hopefully into the circular economy.” -Dr. Veronika Wright“The lack of the feedback loop, the lack of accountability is a really big issue across the industry.” – Amy Simpkins“We need to bring together the transportation sector and the energy sector… it will then enable the circular economy.” – Dr. Veronika WrightResourcesDr. Veronika's book: The Drive to ElectricDr. Veronika's YouTube ChannelElectrified Veronika PodcastIf you enjoyed the conversation, please share the episode with other innovators. Leave us a positive review and subscribe to Power Flow on Apple podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen to podcasts. Check out our awesome merch! And hey, we’re new, so you can even apply to be a sponsor or a guest.You can follow Power Flow Podcast on LinkedIn, Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, and Tik Tok. Thank you for listening. See you at the whiteboard!
Apr 19, 2022
55 min
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