Green Giants: Titans of Renewable Energy Podcast

Wes Ashworth

Welcome to Green Giants: Titans of Renewable Energy, a podcast dedicated to unveiling the stories, insights, and strategies of the most influential leaders in the renewable energy sector. Our mission is to offer a platform where the voices of innovators, pioneers, and visionaries in renewable energy are amplified, sharing their journey, challenges, and triumphs with a global audience.

  1. 2d ago

    John Berger on Otovo, AI, and the Solar Service Crisis

    In this episode of Green Giants: Titans of Renewable Energy, Wes Ashworth sits down with John Berger, CEO of Otovo, to unpack one of the most important and under-discussed problems in distributed energy: the solar service crisis. Otovo began as a European rooftop solar marketplace, but under John’s leadership, the company is being reshaped into an AI-enabled energy service platform for homes and businesses across Europe and the United States. The new model focuses on what happens after solar panels, batteries, generators, EV chargers, and other behind-the-meter assets are installed. Who monitors them? Who fixes them? Who answers the phone when something goes wrong? John Berger brings a rare operator’s perspective. Before Otovo, he founded and led Sunnova for more than 12 years, helping build one of the most recognized residential energy companies in the United States. Today, he is applying those lessons to a different problem: creating the service layer that distributed energy needs in order to scale reliably.  The conversation explores why installation and service are fundamentally different businesses. Berger explains why installation is a construction business measured in weeks and months, while service is a logistics business measured in hours and days. That distinction matters as more homeowners and businesses are left with orphaned solar systems, unreliable support, and unclear warranty paths. Wes and John also dive into Otovo’s acquisition-led growth strategy, including the company’s expansion into the United States, its growing service footprint, and the importance of building density and scale in field operations. They discuss how Otovo is using its proprietary AI platform, Endurance, to reduce software costs, automate workflows, support dispatch, improve response times, and change the economics of energy service.  This episode also looks ahead to the grid. As solar, storage, EV chargers, generators, and load management become more common behind the meter, reliability becomes essential not only for customers but also for virtual power plants and grid participation. Berger makes the case that service is not a side issue. It may be the missing precondition for distributed energy to become real infrastructure. Topics covered include: The shift from solar installation to long-term energy serviceWhy behind-the-meter assets need a dedicated service layerThe difference between construction businesses and logistics businessesHow orphaned solar customers became a major industry problemOtovo’s reinvention from European marketplace to AI-native service companyHow Endurance is changing the cost structure of field serviceWhy AI matters only if it improves speed, cost, reliability, and customer experienceThe role of batteries, generators, EV chargers, and load managers in home energyWhat virtual power plants need before they can scaleWhy the future of residential energy may look more like Amazon Prime than traditional utility serviceThis is a timely, candid conversation about where the energy transition gets real. More solar and batteries matter, but the next phase depends on whether those systems actually work, whether customers trust them, and whether someone is accountable for keeping them online. Links: John Berger on LinkedIn Otovo's Website Wes Ashworth: https://www.linkedin.com/in/weslgs/ Email: wes@leegroupsearch.comhttps://leegroupsearch.com/green-giants-podcast/https://leegroupsearch.com/

    49 min

  2. Jun 26

    Liam Ryan of Streetleaf: The Solar Streetlight Revolution Hidden in Plain Sight

    Streetlights are one of the most overlooked pieces of community infrastructure. Most people only notice them when they fail. But for builders, developers, utilities, municipalities, and storm-prone communities, streetlighting can quietly shape project timelines, infrastructure costs, public safety, resilience, and long-term operating models. In this episode of Green Giants: Titans of Renewable Energy, host Wes Ashworth sits down with Liam Ryan, CEO of Streetleaf, a Tampa-based company building off-grid, solar-powered streetlighting systems with integrated batteries, controls, remote monitoring, and a managed service model designed to remove the friction of traditional grid-tied lighting.  Liam’s path into clean infrastructure was anything but conventional. After studying economics at Cornell and working in wildlife conservation in Mozambique, he returned to Tampa during the pandemic and began exploring a streetlighting challenge tied to land development in Florida. What started as a practical problem has grown into a national infrastructure story, with Streetleaf now working across builders, developers, utilities, public spaces, and resilience-focused applications.  The conversation goes far beyond solar panels on poles. Liam explains why the real competition is not just the grid, but the cost and complexity of trenching, conduit, utility coordination, delays, maintenance contracts, and long-term community fees. Streetleaf’s model is built around a simple but powerful equation: if the solar panel, battery, controls, and communications stack can cost less than connecting a streetlight to the grid, the cleaner option can become the practical default. Wes and Liam also dig into storm resilience, one of Streetleaf’s strongest proof points. In hurricane-impacted communities, Streetleaf’s off-grid lights have continued operating when conventional grid-tied systems went dark, turning streetlights into visible anchors of safety and continuity during outages. Liam shares how events like Hurricane Ian, Helene, Milton, and wildfire recovery work in Hawaii shaped Streetleaf’s product, operations, and sense of purpose.  This episode also explores what it takes to sell new infrastructure into conservative markets. Liam breaks down how Streetleaf reduces adoption risk for builders and utilities, why managed service matters, how national relationships with major homebuilders helped shift the company from early adoption to mainstream credibility, and why “smart infrastructure” only matters when it creates real value. If you care about renewable energy, distributed infrastructure, resilient communities, land development, utility innovation, or the hidden systems shaping how we build, this episode will change the way you look at the streetlight outside your window. In this episode, we cover: Why streetlights are a hidden infrastructure bottleneckHow Streetleaf’s off-grid solar streetlights change project economicsWhy trenching, utility coordination, and delays create hidden costsHow solar streetlighting supports hurricane and outage resilienceWhat conservative buyers need before adopting new infrastructureWhy managed service can accelerate clean technology adoptionHow Streetleaf is scaling through builders, developers, utilities, and municipalitiesWhat “smart streets” should really mean in practical termsWhy the future of infrastructure may be cleaner, simpler, and more distributedLinks: Liam Ryan on LinkedIn Streetleaf's Website Wes Ashworth: https://www.linkedin.com/in/weslgs/ Email: wes@leegroupsearch.comhttps://leegroupsearch.com/green-giants-podcast/https://leegroupsearch.com/

    42 min

  3. Jun 19

    Drew Maggio of Highmark on Heat Pumps and the Hidden Energy Inside Cities

    What if the next major clean energy opportunity is all around us in the systems cities already use every day? In this episode of Green Giants: Titans of Renewable Energy, host Wes Ashworth, President of Lee Group Search sits down with Drew Maggio, Technical Director at Highmark Building Efficiency, to explore how heat pumps, waste heat recovery, wastewater energy transfer, subway systems, data centers, thermal energy networks, and building electrification are reshaping the future of urban decarbonization. Drew brings a rare blend of hands-on mechanical experience, engineering depth, and real-world building systems expertise. At Highmark, he works across emerging HVAC and plumbing technologies, regulatory compliance, industry partnerships, and the practical challenge of helping advanced building efficiency solutions make it from concept to installed, operating assets. This conversation starts with the fundamentals: why heat pumps are not simply electric boilers, why coefficient of performance matters, and why building electrification requires more than swapping fossil fuel equipment for electric equipment. Drew explains how the best projects depend on insulation, sizing, design assumptions, controls, contractor familiarity, and a clear understanding of how buildings actually operate. From there, the episode expands into a bigger idea: cities are full of hidden thermal energy. Wastewater flowing through sewer systems, heat trapped in subway tunnels, data centers rejecting excess heat, and buildings cooling year-round can all become part of a smarter thermal energy ecosystem. Wes and Drew also discuss wastewater energy transfer, why adoption has been slower in New York than in some other cities, how thermal energy networks could allow buildings to share heat like the electric grid shares power, and why Local Law 97 is pushing building owners to rethink long-term compliance and operating costs. This episode is especially relevant for professionals in renewable energy, HVAC, building efficiency, real estate, engineering, sustainability, infrastructure, and energy policy. It is a practical, systems-level look at how cities can decarbonize not only by generating more clean power, but by recovering, moving, storing, and sharing the energy already inside them. Topics include: Heat pumps and building electrificationWaste heat recovery from sewers, subways, and data centersWastewater energy transfer and thermal energy networksNYC Local Law 97 and compliance-driven retrofitsThermal storage and flexible building loadsBuilding envelope performance and project sizingThe future of urban decarbonizationLinks Drew Maggio on LinkedIn HIGHMARK's Website Wes Ashworth: https://www.linkedin.com/in/weslgs/ Email: wes@leegroupsearch.comhttps://leegroupsearch.com/green-giants-podcast/https://leegroupsearch.com/

    46 min

  4. Jun 12

    Fusion Gets Real: Will Regan on Pacific Fusion’s Path to Clean Firm Power

    Fusion has spent decades sitting just beyond the horizon. But according to Will Regan, Founder and Chief Scientist at Pacific Fusion, that story is changing fast. In this episode of Green Giants: Titans of Renewable Energy, host Wes Ashworth, President of Lee Group Search, sits down with Will to explore why fusion is moving from a distant scientific promise into a practical race around execution, manufacturing, modularity, and real-world clean energy infrastructure. Will brings a rare perspective to the fusion conversation. Before co-founding Pacific Fusion, he served as an ARPA-E Fellow, spent more than seven years at X, Alphabet’s moonshot factory, and helped create the original vision and team behind Mineral. Today, he is helping lead Pacific Fusion’s effort to commercialize pulsed magnetic inertial fusion, a pathway designed around modular pulser systems, compact chambers, and simplified fusion targets.  The conversation breaks down fusion in plain English, including why it has the potential to deliver abundant, clean, firm power with low land and material requirements. Will explains how Pacific Fusion’s approach differs from laser-driven inertial fusion and magnetic confinement systems, and why recent breakthroughs at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Sandia National Laboratories, and in pulsed-power hardware helped make 2023 the right moment to build a company around this pathway.  A major theme throughout the episode is that fusion progress cannot be judged by vague headlines alone. Will walks through a more useful scorecard, from scientific proof of concept to scientific gain, net facility gain, power gain, and ultimately affordable power. Pacific Fusion’s stated near-term objective is net facility gain by 2030, meaning more fusion energy out than the total stored energy input to the machine.  Wes and Will also dig into the industrial reality behind commercial fusion: why modularity matters, why targets can make or break the economics, what it takes to move from one successful fusion shot to repeatable infrastructure, and how a future fusion plant could fit into the grid as clean firm power alongside solar, wind, storage, geothermal, hydro, and nuclear fission. This episode is a grounded look at one of the most ambitious frontiers in energy, without the hype. Fusion may still face major challenges in repetition, durability, supply chains, fuel, workforce, and cost. But the opportunity is enormous: clean, reliable, high-density energy that could reshape what is possible for the grid, industry, and global abundance. In this episode, we cover: Why fusion is entering a new chapter focused on executionHow Pacific Fusion’s pulsed magnetic inertial fusion approach worksWhat the 2022 NIF and Sandia breakthroughs changedWhy modular pulser systems could matter for cost and scaleThe difference between ignition, scientific gain, net facility gain, and power gainWhy Pacific Fusion is targeting net facility gain by 2030How fusion could support clean firm power and real grid reliabilityWhy fusion will need engineers, technicians, tradespeople, and builders, not just PhDsWhat a future of abundant clean energy could unlockLinks: Will Regan on LinkedIn Pacific Fusion's Website Wes Ashworth: https://www.linkedin.com/in/weslgs/ Email: wes@leegroupsearch.comhttps://leegroupsearch.com/green-giants-podcast/https://leegroupsearch.com/

    36 min

  5. Jun 5

    Erica Ocampo of The Metals Company on Deep-Sea Mining, Critical Minerals, and Clean Energy

    The energy transition is often discussed in terms of solar panels, wind turbines, electric vehicles, batteries, and grid infrastructure. But beneath all of that progress sits a harder question: where do the critical minerals come from? In this episode of Green Giants: Titans of Renewable Energy, host Wes Ashworth sits down with Erica Ocampo, Chief Sustainability Officer at The Metals Company, for a candid and thought-provoking conversation about deep-sea polymetallic nodules, critical mineral supply chains, recycling limits, ocean ecosystems, and the real-world trade-offs behind clean energy growth. Erica brings a rare perspective to this debate. Originally from Colombia, she began her academic journey in music before becoming a chemical engineer and sustainability leader. Her career has spanned Dow, Sims Limited, and now The Metals Company, giving her deep experience across chemicals, plastics, packaging, metals recycling, ESG reporting, circular economy strategy, and emerging critical mineral supply.  At The Metals Company, Erica works at the center of one of the most complex and controversial questions in the energy transition: whether polymetallic nodules found on the deep ocean floor can provide nickel, cobalt, copper, and manganese with a lower overall impact than some land-based mining pathways. These metals are essential for batteries, manufacturing, infrastructure, electrification, and energy security.  This episode does not offer easy answers. Instead, Erica and Wes explore the uncomfortable realities that often get left out of clean energy conversations. Recycling is essential, but it cannot meet near-term demand alone. Mineral supply chains are not just environmental systems, they are geopolitical systems. Land-based mining can carry serious social and ecological costs. Deep-sea mineral collection raises legitimate questions about ocean ecosystems, governance, monitoring, and trust.  The conversation also dives into The Metals Company’s work in the Clarion-Clipperton Zone, the nature of polymetallic nodules, the engineering behind nodule collection, the environmental studies surrounding the NORI-D area, and why Erica believes sustainability leaders must move beyond slogans and engage with evidence, risk, and trade-offs.  Listeners will hear Erica’s perspective on why discomfort can be productive, why pragmatic sustainability is not the same as compromise, and why building trust may be just as important as building technology. She also shares what it means to build ESG systems before a new industry scales, how to think about guardrails from day one, and why the future of clean energy depends on asking better questions about materials, ecosystems, communities, and accountability. Topics covered include: Critical minerals and the physical reality of the energy transitionDeep-sea polymetallic nodules and The Metals Company’s approachNickel, cobalt, copper, and manganese supply challengesWhy recycling matters but cannot solve the whole problemChina’s role in critical mineral processing and geopoliticsEnvironmental trade-offs between land-based mining and ocean nodule collectionSocial impacts of mineral extraction and Indigenous community concernsOcean ecosystem uncertainty, plume impacts, and monitoringESG strategy, governance, transparency, and stakeholder trustPragmatism, sustainability leadership, and the future of clean energy mineralsThis is a must-listen episode for renewable energy leaders, sustainability professionals, battery and EV stakeholders, mining and metals executives, policymakers, investors, and anyone who wants a more honest understanding of what it really takes to build the clean energy economy. Links: Erica Ocampo on LinkedIn The Metals Company Website The Metals Company Videos Wes Ashworth: https://www.linkedin.com/in/weslgs/ Email: wes@leegroupsearch.comhttps://leegroupsearch.com/green-giants-podcast/https://leegroupsearch.com/

    45 min

  6. May 29

    Frank Tybor of Infravision: Rewiring the Grid with Drone Robotics

    Transmission may be the most important energy story most people are not talking about. In this episode of Green Giants: Titans of Renewable Energy, host Wes Ashworth sits down with Frank Tybor, Chief Technology Officer at Infravision, to unpack one of the biggest bottlenecks in the energy transition: how we actually build the grid fast enough to support renewable energy, AI data centers, electrification, industrial growth, and rising power demand. Frank brings a rare systems engineering perspective to the conversation. His background spans SpaceX, Energy Vault, ThinkOrbital, and now Infravision, where he is helping scale drone-enabled robotics for transmission construction. At Infravision, the mission is not simply to replace helicopters with drones. It is to rethink the full construction workflow, combining heavy-lift drones, intelligent ground equipment, specialty line hardware, software, trained crews, and repeatable field systems. Wes and Frank explore why traditional transmission construction is so difficult to scale, especially when projects depend on highly specialized helicopter operations, skilled labor, complex terrain, environmental constraints, and tight outage windows. They also dig into why the old timeline for grid buildout no longer works in a world where solar farms, data centers, and new loads can come online far faster than transmission infrastructure. Frank breaks down how Infravision’s drone-enabled system supports pilot line stringing, tension stringing, emergency response, and challenging construction environments where helicopters may be expensive, constrained, risky, or unavailable. The conversation also covers what utilities actually care about when adopting new technology: safety, reliability, cost, schedule certainty, and confidence that the system works repeatedly in real field conditions. Key themes include: Grid expansion as a critical constraint on clean energy deploymentWhy transmission construction has lagged behind other areas of energy innovationHow drone-enabled robotics can reduce risk and improve construction scalabilityThe role of intelligent ground equipment, winches, line hardware, and control systemsWhat the energy transition, AI growth, and industrial load growth mean for grid infrastructureWhy the next wave of grid innovation may come from better construction systems, not just better generationThis episode is a must-listen for utility leaders, renewable energy developers, grid infrastructure professionals, investors, policymakers, and anyone interested in the physical realities behind the energy transition. Links: Frank Tybor on LinkedIn Infravision's Website Infravision Videos Wes Ashworth: https://www.linkedin.com/in/weslgs/ Email: wes@leegroupsearch.comhttps://leegroupsearch.com/green-giants-podcast/https://leegroupsearch.com/

    44 min

  7. May 22

    Community Solar’s Hidden Engine: Trust, Access, and Scale with Sandhya Murali

    Episode: Sandhya Murali, Chief Strategy & Marketing Officer at Perch Energy Community solar is often described as a simple promise: sign up, receive credits, save money, and support clean energy. But behind that promise is a complex operating system that determines whether community solar actually works for customers, developers, utilities, and the communities it is meant to serve. In this episode of Green Giants: Titans of Renewable Energy, Wes Ashworth sits down with Sandhya Murali, Chief Strategy & Marketing Officer at Perch Energy, to unpack the hidden infrastructure behind one of the most important segments of the clean energy transition. Sandhya brings a rare combination of capital markets discipline, founder operating experience, and deep commitment to clean energy access. Before joining Perch, she co-founded Solstice, a mission-driven community solar company focused on expanding access for renters, low-to-moderate income households, and others historically left out of rooftop solar. Her earlier career in investment banking at Barclays, along with her MBA from MIT Sloan, gives her a unique lens on how mission, finance, and market design intersect in renewable energy.  This conversation moves beyond the usual case for community solar and into the work most people never see: subscriber acquisition, billing, crediting, eligibility verification, compliance, customer trust, and retention. Sandhya explains why community solar is not only about generating clean power. It is also about making sure the customer experience is reliable, understandable, and financially meaningful. A major theme throughout the episode is trust. Many customers still wonder whether community solar is real, whether there is a catch, and whether the savings will actually appear on their utility bill. Sandhya breaks down how clear enrollment, accurate billing, transparent savings, and responsive customer support all shape whether the model can scale. The episode also explores low-to-moderate income access and why Sandhya believes inclusion cannot be treated as a side initiative. She makes the case that community solar should be designed for the households most burdened by energy costs, while also remaining financeable for developers and investors. That means better program design, simplified enrollment, utility consolidated billing, and practical solutions that reduce friction without increasing risk. Wes and Sandhya also discuss Perch Energy’s role as a scaled community solar subscriber management platform. After Perch’s acquisition of Solstice, the company manages more than 3 GW across over 1,000 community solar projects in 16 states, serving more than 430,000 residential customer equivalents.  Key topics covered include:  Why the hardest part of community solar is often invisible  How subscriber management functions like critical infrastructure  Why trust is the foundation of customer adoption and retention  The importance of utility consolidated billing  How self-attestation could simplify low-income enrollment  Why community solar markets need stable policy and predictable rules  How scale helps, and where local market complexity remains  What regulators and utilities can do to improve program design  Why community solar matters in a future defined by load growth, affordability, and distributed energy For clean energy leaders, developers, policymakers, investors, and anyone working to make the energy transition more inclusive, this episode offers a practical and deeply human look at what it takes to turn clean energy access into reality. Links: Sandhya Murali on LinkedIn Perch Energy's Website Wes Ashworth: https://www.linkedin.com/in/weslgs/ Email: wes@leegroupsearch.comhttps://leegroupsearch.com/green-giants-podcast/https://leegroupsearch.com/

    39 min

  8. May 15

    Quino Energy’s Flow Battery Bet on Safer, Longer Grid Storage

    Energy storage is no longer a future need. It is becoming the backbone of a reliable, renewable grid. In this episode of Green Giants: Titans of Renewable Energy, Wes Ashworth sits down with Eugene Beh, Founder and CEO of Quino Energy, to explore one of the most important questions in the energy transition: how do we store renewable power affordably, safely, and for long durations? Quino Energy is developing water-based organic flow batteries that store electricity in quinone molecules, a fundamentally different approach from lithium-ion batteries and traditional vanadium flow batteries. Instead of relying on expensive mined metals or flammable battery cells, Quino is focused on organic electrolytes that can potentially lower costs, improve safety, and scale through existing flow battery infrastructure. Eugene breaks down the basics of flow batteries in simple terms, explaining how liquid electrolytes act like fuel tanks and how flow battery stacks function more like an engine. He also explains why Quino’s quinone-based electrolyte can work with existing vanadium flow battery hardware with minimal changes, creating a faster path to deployment. The conversation goes deep into the real challenges of commercialization: manufacturing, degradation, bankability, safety, and proving performance in the field. Eugene shares how Quino’s continuous, zero-waste production process converts widely available dyestuff materials into battery-ready electrolyte without downstream purification. He also discusses why non-flammable storage matters for hospitals, communities, data centers, islands, military bases, and other critical infrastructure. Listeners will also hear about Quino’s field demonstration plans, including a project serving a medical center in Lancaster, California, and the company’s strategy to repurpose existing tank storage infrastructure for grid-scale energy storage. This episode is a clear, practical look at how chemistry, infrastructure, and manufacturing come together to solve one of the grid’s biggest bottlenecks. Topics covered include: Why long-duration energy storage is becoming essentialHow flow batteries differ from lithium-ion batteriesWhy quinone-based electrolytes could reduce flow battery costsThe safety and permitting advantages of non-flammable storageHow existing fuel tank infrastructure could become grid storageWhy data centers and critical facilities are strong early marketsWhat it takes to move battery chemistry from the lab to the fieldHow Quino Energy is approaching commercialization through partnershipsIf you care about renewable energy, grid reliability, long-duration storage, battery innovation, or the future of clean infrastructure, this episode is a must-listen. Links: Eugene Beh on LinkedIn Quino Energy's Website Wes Ashworth: https://www.linkedin.com/in/weslgs/ Email: wes@leegroupsearch.comhttps://leegroupsearch.com/green-giants-podcast/https://leegroupsearch.com/

    41 min
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Ratings & Reviews

4.2
out of 5
5 Ratings

About

Welcome to Green Giants: Titans of Renewable Energy, a podcast dedicated to unveiling the stories, insights, and strategies of the most influential leaders in the renewable energy sector. Our mission is to offer a platform where the voices of innovators, pioneers, and visionaries in renewable energy are amplified, sharing their journey, challenges, and triumphs with a global audience.

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