SunCast Media

💥 From 25kW fire stations to 5MW turbine factories...
Cherry Street Energy is scaling distributed power in a big way.

Mitsubishi Power, a gas turbine manufacturer outside Savannah, now powers its facility with a 5MW solar field built by Cherry Street.

And that's just one example.

Michael Chanin, CEO of Cherry Street Energy, joined us live at RE+ to break it down 👇

🔹 Average project size jumped from 200kW to 350kW in under 2 years
🔹 Still serving small sites (25kW) and major industrial clients (5MW)
🔹 Owning and operating the power plant — not just building it
🔹 Supporting everyone from schools to global manufacturers

Whether it's a firehouse or a factory, Cherry Street treats every install like it's powering a city.

It’s not just solar.
It’s distributed infrastructure, branded and trusted like a Boeing 737.

We don't get more solar deployed by adding more people
we get there by removing waste in the system.
How? (Patrick Crane explains...)

“Offer one consistent, simple workflow… lead → design → proposal → cash collection → BOM → PM → procurement… so as you scale, you don’t keep adding people. Level off headcount. Improve margins by saving time.”

What changes when you remove friction?

🔹 More margin without price games
🔹 Faster install timelines
🔹 Happier customers who bring their friends
🔹 A sales motion where solar is bought, not sold

If you run sales or ops at a solar company, this is your ex*****on checklist.

🎥 Watch the short clip, then catch the full SunCast episode with Patrick Crane (OpenSolar) for the step-by-step.

Nick Josefowitz looked at rooftop solar prices across the globe...
..and was outraged. 😡

"American families were paying tens of thousands of dollars more
than families in England, Australia, Japan, and Germany.
And that’s outrageous. We should not stand for that."

We’ve brought down the cost of panels.
We’ve brought down the cost of batteries.
We’ve even brought down the cost of racking and inverters.

So why is rooftop solar still wildly expensive in the U.S.?

🔹 Permitting is slow, complex, and inconsistent
🔹 Interconnection is a bureaucratic bottleneck
🔹 Each project becomes a one-off, artisanal nightmare
🔹 And families pay the price—literally

The result?
What should be a mass-market product becomes a luxury service.

Nick’s answer?

🔹 Start Permit Power - a nonprofit focused on fixing the root cause
🔹 Reform the broken systems instead of profiting from them
🔹 Unlock affordable, fast solar installs for everyone

Because no one should pay more for clean energy just because of a ZIP code.

This short clip sets the stage.
The full interview goes deep on how we actually fix it.

📺 Watch the clip

“A heat pump is just like an air conditioner… but smarter.”
That’s how Stephen Lake, founder of Jetson, explains it.

Most people don’t know this:

➡️ In cooling mode, it pulls heat out of your home.
➡️ In heating mode, it pulls heat in from the outside—even below freezing.
➡️ One system, two directions.

Sounds simple, right?
So why do only 10% of homes in the U.S. have one?

Stephen joined me on the SunCast Podcast to break it down:

🔹 15% of U.S. energy use is tied to heating & cooling—one of the biggest carbon offenders.
🔹 Heat pumps have been around for decades, but the “green premium” makes them almost double the cost of gas furnaces.
🔹 Contractors are still trained in gas, not electric, slowing adoption.
🔹 The process—permits, rebates, electricians, paperwork—is so painful most homeowners give up.

That’s why he built Jetson.
All-electric fleets. In-house install crews. One-day installs.
Think “Tesla + Apple” for HVAC.

Stephen already sold his last company to Google.
Now he’s betting big on making heat pumps mainstream.

🎧 In this episode, you’ll learn:

✅ Why modern heat pumps are 300–400% efficient (no, it’s not magic)
✅ How Jetson slashes install costs by half
✅ Why your furnace is overdue for retirement
✅ What it takes to electrify 100 million homes

Do you think heat pumps will become the default for home heating and cooling by 2030?

Drop your thoughts 👇

We may never need to mine new rare earth minerals again.
Let that sink in.

(Here’s why…)

ReElement Technologies is producing high-purity critical minerals
- from a waste stream you probably least expect.

Not only that…
They’re doing it at or below China’s cost.

That’s not just innovation.
That’s a shot across the bow of a global monopoly.

Mark LaVerghetta said it best:

“We produce high purity, critical mineral outputs that we
believe is at the low end or below the Chinese cost point.”

Their method?

🔁 Recycling and reclamation
♻️ Advanced separation tech from Purdue
🧪 Zero toxic waste

And the result?

🔹 Reshoring national supply chains
🔹 Reducing reliance on foreign refining
🔹 Powering EVs, semiconductors & defense
🔹 Skipping the environmental toll of new mines
🔹 Competing globally — without compromising values

This is what energy innovation actually looks like.

📺Watch the full conversation with Mark LaVerghetta
to see how coal waste became a cornerstone of clean tech.

(To Watch the Full Video check for a link in the comments)

There’s a new way to define what a “solar tech” actually does.

For decades, solar O&M has operated without a universal standard.

No clear technician levels.
No shared skill definitions.
No training roadmap.

⚡ Those days are over. ⚡

The ANSI/SEIA 301 Standard is the industry’s first nationally recognized framework for solar operations and maintenance careers.

Built by 60+ companies.

Published through Solar Energy Industries Association and ANSI.

And now... it’s being implemented at scale by The AES Corporation.

On this week’s SunCast 🎙️, Amanda Bybee (Amicus O&M Cooperative) and Karo Fernandez (AES Clean Energy) share:

➡️ Why defining tech levels helps everyone—HR, field ops, and the techs themselves
➡️ How AES is translating the standard into practical training tools
➡️ What “operationalizing” training really looks like in the field
➡️ Why standardization helps reduce wage inflation and boost retention

This isn’t just a framework—it’s a future-proof career ladder for the workforce that keeps these assets online and optimized.

And it might just solve one of clean energy’s biggest bottlenecks.

Or tell us: Does your org have a training standard yet?

73% of solar asset losses are caused by a single threat - any guesses what that is?

And when solar panels fail under pressure or underperform bc of a weather-related phenomena, who pays?

Kaminsky has helped scores of Asset Owners answer these critical questions. As CEO of Analytics, Jason helps the clean energy industry manage its biggest risk blind spots using one powerful weapon: data.

He recently spent time with our CEO, Johnson, to break down what the numbers really say about solar project failures, the changing insurance landscape, and how developers can bulletproof their assets—financially and physically.

Nico and Jason go deep on the lessons from this year’s Solar Risk Assessment (SRA), a now-industry-standard report used by developers, banks, and even college classrooms.

Tune-in for a front-row seat to the hard truths behind underperformance, glass fractures, and the surprising role of tracker software in mitigating catastrophic loss.

Expect to Learn:

🔹 What the actual measured underperformance is across solar projects in the SRA
🔹 How the data from over 100,000 solar projects is shaping policy and pricing
🔹 Why hail insurance deductibles have skyrocketed—and how to fix it
🔹 The hidden costs of larger, cheaper, flimsier modules and the race to the bottom of the price curve

The SRA is an essential part of your toolkit if you’re building or financing solar in 2025 and beyond.

Leave your guesses in the comments on what you think is the SINGLE Largest threat we mentioned above (73% of all loss claims!), AND, what % you think the industry UNDERperforms overall (hint, it’s more than 5%)...

📺To Watch the Full Video - check the comments!

What’s killing your projects??

→ It’s not just permitting delays or lack of capital.

It’s the way you’re communicating your product’s value.

Amanda Foley, CEO of Kiterocket, sees it every day:

👉 Solar projects getting canceled due to community opposition
👉 Engineers running marketing (is that so wrong?)
👉 Founders whose messaging strategy stops at the website’s intro paragraph

In this new SunCast episode, Amanda breaks down:

✅ When it’s time for CEOs to let go of marketing
✅ The #1 messaging mistake most clean tech startups make
✅ How the media landscape has shifted (hello, Creator Economy)
✅ Why your press release quotes are probably garbage

If you’re serious about scaling your clean energy business…

This is a must-listen.

Data centers aren’t waiting for the grid to catch up.

They’re building their own backup - and changing the energy game in the process.

At the Kiterocket Lounge at ACP in Phoenix, we sat down with experts from:

✅ Equinix

✅ QTS Data Centers

✅ Clayco

✅ MGM Transformer Company

The conversation? 🔥

How data centers are evolving from passive loads to active grid participants—and what that means for clean energy.

They’re investing in:

🔋 Onsite batteries and fuel cells

🌡️ Liquid cooling and heat recovery

🌎 Renewables—but only if they can deliver at speed and scale

⚠️ For solar and storage developers, the message is clear:

Move faster. Get more reliable. Or get left behind.

He built a billion-dollar solar company.

Sold it.

Then started over from scratch. 💥

Why?

Because Dean Solon saw how broken solar still is—and decided to fix it once and for all.

At , Dean took the stage in jorts (of course).

Dropped f-bombs (on-brand).

And unveiled the blueprint for his new company: ReCreate Energy.

The mission?

Build a vertically integrated, U.S.-made solar supply chain…..that feels like McDonald’s menu on the front-end and Amazon Prime on the back.

What does that even mean?

It means:

🔹 Modules, trackers, and eBOS that snap together like LEGO
🔹 Solar installs going from man hours to man seconds
🔹 Warehouses stocked like NAPA Auto Parts for your solar field
🔹 A factory powered by children’s laughter (seriously)

This is one of the wildest, most insightful convos we’ve ever recorded.

If you care about where solar is headed, you have to watch it

👇 What do YOU think—crazy or genius?