SunCast

Spenser Meeks, a former engineer turned messaging strategist who helps clean energy teams clarify presentations. He explains why saying less speeds deals. Short intros, a four-part self-introduction, and two core stories are highlighted. Practical tactics for consistency and faster buy-in are discussed in concise, actionable conversation.

Nico had the chance to sit down in person with today’s guest — and as you’d expect, that face-to-face conversation brings a level of depth, candor, and nuance you don’t always get.Emilie Flanagan, Founder and CEO of Carson Power, has built her career across Southeast Asia, Europe, and the U.S. — from advising on energy markets at KPMG to working inside a European family office, and eventually leading more than 200 megawatts of community solar development in New York before launching her own platform.In this conversation, Emilie shares how her approach to development has evolved in real time — including the decision to integrate battery storage early, and what that actually changed in how her team evaluates, structures, and advances projects.We also spend time on the part of development that doesn’t get talked about enough: working with communities — what builds trust, what breaks it, and why more projects stall there than most developers are willing to admit.What she got wrong early — and how it changed the way she buildsWhy she left a successful role at Borrego to start Carson PowerHow experienced developers think about capital, risk, and disciplineWhere projects actually succeed — or fail — long before construction🎧 Who This Episode Is ForSolar and storage developersEnergy investors and capital providersAsset ownersFounders building infrastructure businessesIf this episode resonated with you, I’d love to hear what stood out — or who you think we should feature next. Just reply and let me know.And if you know someone building in this space, share this episode with them.I’m Nico Johnson, and this is SunCast.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.Check out OpenSolar OS 3.0 at: https://suncast.media/opensolarIf 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!SunCast is also sponsored by Nextpower!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/nicomeoLinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/nickalus

Every year, the industry says the same thing.“C&I solar is about to take off!”And yet, it never quite scales the way we expect.Could this year finally be the year?In this live panel from Intersolar, Nico Johnson sits down with Joe Ross (CPS America), Rob Smith (ABC Supply), Tim Montague (Clean Power Consulting), and Jim Wood (SEG Solar) to unpack what’s really happening in the commercial and industrial market.The opportunity is real—but it’s uneven, complex, and highly dependent on where you operate.Battery storage is starting to shift the conversation. Falling costs, rising electricity prices, and new incentives are making projects pencil in ways they didn’t before. But storage alone isn’t the answer.This discussion explores the full picture—from workforce challenges and customer education to capital competition and regional market dynamics.Expect to learn:🔹 Why C&I solar is growing, but still not scaling across all markets🔹 How storage is improving project economics—and where it actually works🔹 What’s holding projects back, from education gaps to competing capital priorities🔹 Why transitioning from residential to commercial is harder than it looksThe ingredients for growth are finally coming together.The question is whether this is the moment C&I solar truly breaks through.Press play and decide for yourself.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.Check out OpenSolar OS 3.0 at: https://suncast.media/opensolarIf 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!SunCast is also sponsored by Nextpower!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/nicomeoLinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/nickalus

What do you do when your entire market disappears?That’s not a thought experiment for Michael Bergey. It’s the story of his career.Long before solar dominated rooftops, distributed wind was solving real problems across rural America — lowering energy costs for customers who didn’t care about climate narratives, only outcomes. Then policy support vanished. Oil prices collapsed. And later, cheap solar took over.Most companies didn’t survive.Bergey Windpower did.In this conversation, Michael walks through what it actually takes to stay in the game when incentives disappear, competitors pivot, and the market moves faster than your business model.But there’s a deeper takeaway here.The customers driving distributed energy today don’t all look the same — and they don’t all think the same either. Wind and solar, once seen as separate paths, are now serving the same need: control, resilience, and economics that work.Expect to learn:⚡ What really happened to small wind after the 1980s policy collapse⚡ How solar’s cost curve forced a complete reset of the business⚡ The engineering decisions that made small wind viable again⚡ Why farmers — not homeowners — are driving adoption todayIf you’re building in clean energy right now, this may give you a new perspective on staying power and resilience.👉 Press play to see what happens when the market turns against you.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.Check out OpenSolar OS 3.0 at: https://suncast.media/opensolarIf 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!SunCast is also sponsored by Nextpower!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/nicomeoLinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/nickalus

The residential solar playbook did not just change. It got torn up.If you are still operating like yesterday’s incentives, product assumptions, and sales motions will carry you forward, this episode is a reality Margins aren’t disappearing overnight. They’re leaking — in places most contractors don’t even notice.In this live conversation from IESNA 2026, Nico Johnson sits down with Rob Smith and Eric Cieslak of ABC Supply to break down where solar contractors are quietly losing profit — and where the smartest operators are starting to take it back.From jobsite efficiency and logistics to financing-driven product decisions, this episode connects the dots between day-to-day operations and long-term business survival. ABC Supply brings a unique vantage point, seeing how contractors across the country are adapting — or failing to — as the market shifts.If you’re still running your business the way you did two years ago, this conversation will challenge you to rethink what’s actually driving your margins today.Expect to learn:🔹 Where contractors are losing margin in time, labor, and logistics🔹 Why contractors need a new operating playbook in a finance-driven solar market🔹 Why planning with your distributor can unlock real efficiency gains🔹 How storage and product selection are impacting ROI🔹 Why disciplined, regional contractors may have the advantage right nowThe margin is still there — just not where it used to be.Press play and find out where to look.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.Check out OpenSolar OS 3.0 at: https://suncast.media/opensolarIf 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!SunCast is also sponsored by Nextpower!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/nicomeoLinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/nickalus

Tristan Bannon, CellCube CCO, veteran of vanadium flow systems. Aric Saunders, Noon Energy commercialization lead, building a 100-hour reversible electrofuels approach. Anna Siefken, LDES Council policy director, advocating market design for long-duration storage. They discuss 100-hour and multi-hour storage technologies, vanadium and zinc chemistries, rising commercial momentum, resilience needs, and procurement and policy barriers.

Rebekah Pierce, a first-generation farmer and author who runs multi-site solar grazing, shares how solar shifted from lifeline to landscape-changing tool. She talks about the business of solar grazing, where the economics work and fail. She explores misconceptions about prime farmland, developer missteps, scaling limits, and how agrivoltaics could reshape farm viability.

Jon Parrella, CEO of Terraflow and energy infrastructure entrepreneur focused on battery and power solutions for AI data centers. He explains how AI turned data centers into rapid, volatile loads. He covers massive power swings, why interconnection models fail, limits of lithium-ion cycling, controllability and regulatory shifts, and how flow batteries can act as a shock absorber to stabilize grids.

Russell Gold, former Wall Street Journal energy reporter turned EVP at T1 Energy, brings insider perspective on clean energy. He discusses why solar and storage are racing ahead while wind lags. He explores transmission bottlenecks and the rise of behind-the-meter solutions. He also examines how storytelling shapes where capital flows and what U.S. manufacturing needs to compete globally.

Most C&I solar projects don’t fall short because of the solar itself.They struggle because deals aren’t structured correctly, markets are misunderstood, or developers take on opportunities that were never a fit to begin with.In this episode of SunCast, Nico Johnson sits down with Aaron Wilson, co-founder and CEO of Solar One, to unpack what actually separates projects that get built and deliver long-term value - from the ones that stall, get delayed, or fail to meet expectations.Aaron didn’t come up through traditional solar channels. He started in commodities - trading steel and silicon across Europe and China - before moving into development and building Solar One into a vertically integrated C&I solar company operating in markets like Long Island and Texas.Along the way, he’s:Built projects in markets most developers overlookedHelped stand up hundreds of megawatts in Texas - before the market was readyMade deliberate decisions to walk away from residential solarAnd developed a disciplined approach to choosing markets, customers, and dealsIn this conversation, we explore:🔹 Why Solar One chose C&I over the residential gold rush🔹 What business owners actually need from a solar partner in an era of rising electricity costs🔹 Why great entrepreneurs are driven by purpose, not ruled by fear🔹 How to evaluate whether a market is actually viable (vs just “hot”)🎧 Listen now to learn how to build C&I solar projects that actually deliver.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.Check out OpenSolar OS 3.0 at: https://suncast.media/opensolarIf 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!SunCast is also sponsored by Nextpower!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/nicomeoLinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/nickalus