SMP 122: The author of the Freeing Energy Book Discusses How Local-Scale Solar and Batteries are Disrupting the Energy Industry!

Episode Summary

In this episode of the Solar Maverick Podcast, Benoy speaks with Bill Nussey about his new book Freeing Energy which is a must read if you are in the solar industry or interested in solar.  The book focuses on how innovators are using local-scale solar and batteries to disrupt the global energy industry from the outside in.  Freeing Energy is a deeply researched, actionable guide for anyone that cares about the future of energy—from startups, policymakers, investors, and utility leaders to the families and communities that want cleaner, cheaper energy today.  Some of the interesting things that Bill speaks about Solar and Storage Technology is not fuel, the inevitable of having too much solar electricity, and why China is dominating solar manufacturing.

Benoy Thanjan

Benoy Thanjan is the Founder and CEO of Reneu Energy, as well as an advisor for several solar startup companies. Reneu Energy is a premier international solar energy consulting firm and developer, and the company focuses on developing commercial and industrial solar, as well as utility-scale solar plus storage projects. The company also sources financing for solar projects and hedges both energy and environmental commodities. 

Benoy received his first experience in Finance as an intern at D.E. Shaw & Co., which is a global investment firm with 37 billion dollars in investment capital. Before founding Reneu Energy, he was the SREC Trader in the Project Finance Group for SolarCity, which merged with Tesla in 2016. He originated SREC trades with buyers and co-developed their SREC monetization and hedging strategy with the senior management of SolarCity, to move into the east coast markets. Benoy also worked at Vanguard Energy Partners, Ridgewood Renewable Power, and Deloitte & Touche.

Bill Nussey

Bill Nussey is the founder of the Freeing Energy Project, whose mission is to accelerate the shift to cleaner, cheaper energy. Prior to Freeing Energy, Bill spent most of his career as a tech CEO. His first company, which he co-founded in high school, provided graphics software for early, text-based personal computers. His second company, Da Vinci Systems, was started out of his college dorm room and grew to serve millions of users across 45 countries. Later, he spent several years as a venture capitalist with Greylock. In 1998, he left the firm to run a portfolio company, iXL, which went public and grew to almost $500 million in revenue. After iXL, he joined Silverpop as CEO. Silverpop grew to nearly $100 million and became a global leader in cloud-based marketing. In 2014, IBM acquired the company and made it the foundation of the IBM Marketing Cloud. Shortly after the acquisition, Bill was promoted to VP Corporate Strategy out of IBM’s world headquarters in New York. Bill’s companies have created thousands of jobs and billions of dollars in value.

Bill’s journey into clean energy began with a TED Talk, which grew into 100+ articles and, most recently, a top ten energy podcast called The Feeing Energy Podcast.  All of this supported and ultimately led to his upcoming book called Freeing Energy.

Supported by 320 interviews across the world, the book’s mission is to help readers understand a powerful new approach to accelerating the shift to clean energy. The core ideas focus on decentralized (or local) energy, novel business models, and new approaches to ownership and finance. 

In 2018, Bill co-founded Solar Inventions whose mission is to commercialize a set of scientific breakthroughs for improving silicon photovoltaics.

Bill received a degree in electrical engineering from North Carolina State University and an MBA from Harvard Business School. He holds several patents, has published two books and sits on several commercial and non-profit boards. Bill and his family are involved in a handful of projects providing off-grid, resilient electricity in places like East Africa and Puerto Rico.

 

Stay Connected:

Benoy Thanjan

Email: info@reneuenergy.com 

LinkedIn: Benoy Thanjan

Website: https://www.reneuenergy.com

 

Bill Nussey

 

Purchase Freeing Energy on Amazon: 

https://www.amazon.com/Freeing-Energy-Innovators-Local-Scale-Batteries/dp/B09MZLF2L9/ref=sr_1_1?crid=2DCX78UTL1AMN&keywords=freeing+energy&qid=1648512232&sprefix=freeing+energy%2Caps%2C96&sr=8-1

 

Linkedin:  https://www.linkedin.com/in/billnussey/

Website:  https://www.freeingenergy.com

He was on Episode 82 of the Solar Maverick Podcast with Ben Damiani on their startup Solar inventions.

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/solar-maverick-podcast/id1441876259?i=1000491304732

 

Subscribe to our podcast + download each episode on iTunes,Podbean, and youtube.

Subscribe to our podcast + download each episode on iTunes,Podbean, youtube, and most of the major podcast platforms.

This episode was produced and managed by Podcast Laundry (www.podcastlaundry.com)