S2: Carbon | E9: James Allston – How software is driving the clean energy transition Abstraction

Show Summary |



Episode 9 of this carbon-focused series is with Orkestra Co-Founder, James Allston.



Solar and batteries often provide a significant financial return when used in a commercial setting. However, James has little faith that with current software, humans can deploy clean energy at the level required to prevent our planet from warming a further 1.5 degrees.



That’s why three energy experts, James, Chris, and Michael, created Orkestra. Orkestra makes understanding the financial return on solar and battery projects incredibly easy, before helping businesses sell, install, track, and optimise these projects into the future.



Tune in to hear about the Orkestra solution and James’ hot takes on what the immediate future looks like for Australian and global businesses that rely on public energy markets.



Timestamps |

2:00 - Orkestra’s beginnings

7:00 - why Orkestra was born from people saying James’ consulting service was too expensive

9:00 - The tradeoff between educating customers and building a true product-led software business

12:00 - How does Orkestra fit into carbon markets and what impact does it actually have

14:30 - Orkestra’s customers and who benefits

17:30 - The value of in-front-of-the-meter, neighbourhood and behind-the-meter batteries

25:00 - Where in Australia is the best place to install solar at the home

28:00 - Impact of Russia / Ukraine on electricity prices here in Aus and why AEMO shut our energy markets down

30:00 - why pricing volatility and the movement to renewables actually drives a greater commercial pressure to adopt decentralised energy technology

38:00 - Orkestra’s focus on scope 1 and 2, and James’ thoughts on scope 3

40:00 - James’ perspective on what matters most to being a successful founder



Connect |

James’ Linkedin - https://www.linkedin.com/in/jamesallston/

Orkestra website - https://www.orkestra.energy/