Scaling Clean

Tigercomm
  • 3.7 (3)
  • BUSINESS

Scaling Clean is the podcast for renewable energy leaders, investors, and advisors. Think of this as a cross between NPR's "How I Built This" and The New York Times' "Corner Office." Host Melissa Baldwin interviews CEOs, founders, and executives across solar, wind, storage, EVs, and more. Guests share founder journeys and insights on fundraising, M&A, retention, marketing, and hard-earned lessons on building resilient, profitable companies in the clean economy. Produced by Clare Quirin and powered by Tigercomm, the leading U.S. cleantech communications firm.

  1. 4D AGO

    Episode 56: Eli Andrews, CEO and Co-Founder of civicIQ, on Turning Community Opposition into Dialogue

    Community opposition isn’t constant. It's dynamic. What communities believe, fear, or support can shift at a moment’s notice. My latest Scaling Clean guest, Eli Andrews, CEO and Co-Founder of civicIQ, is building a new model for community engagement that treats public sentiment as something to listen to, measure, and respond to over time. civicIQ helps developers gauge community sentiment, counter misinformation, and build genuine local support long before projects reach a planning board.  Here are three big takeaways from our conversation: 🔹 Opposition isn’t static. It changes over time. civicIQ’s data shows that shifts in national narratives can quickly influence what people believe. Developers who assume sentiment is fixed risk missing these changes. 🔹 Invite the community into CapEx-friendly decision-making. Instead of asking communities if they support or oppose a project, civicIQ invites neighbors into the design process – choices like pollinator grasses, buffer zones, or solar grazing.  🔹 AI could help re-ground conversations in shared facts. Eli described early experiments using transparent AI conversations trained on narrow, trusted knowledge bases to help people explore information and question misinformation. The goal isn’t persuasion, it’s what he calls “narrative regrounding.”

    34 min

  2. FEB 6

    Episode 55: Chris Finley, TruGrid CCO, on What Actually Breaks Battery Storage Projects

    Battery storage capacity has grown +5x in the U.S. since 2021. But as storage scales, so does the complexity around controls, labor, and integration.  My latest Scaling Clean guest, Chris Finley, Chief Commercial Officer at TruGrid, has spent more than 20 years building utility-scale solar and storage projects across 16 countries, totaling over 8 GW of deployed capacity. At TruGrid, he helps developers, asset owners, and utilities navigate the messy middle of storage deployment, where projects are won or lost long before commissioning. Here are three big takeaways from our conversation: 🔹 Most storage issues come from the blind spots between OEMs, controls providers, EPCs, and asset owners. Each stakeholder is focused on their slice of risk. Without clear integration planning before construction, those gaps turn into lost revenue. 🔹 Labor may be the biggest constraint ahead. With massive infrastructure buildout competing for the same tradespeople, risk comes down to workforce availability. 🔹 Speak less, listen more. You don’t have all the answers, so surround yourself with the people who do and learn as much as you can.

    39 min

  3. JAN 20

    Episode 54: Abby Hopper

    Abigail Hopper, CEO of Solar Energy Industries Association, has steered our sector through turbulent waters and overseen tremendous growth. That includes a 7-fold expansion in U.S. solar from 36 GW to 255 GW. On January 30, Abby will step down as CEO, marking the end of a remarkable 9-year tenure. As a female executive, Abby has been a particularly inspiring leader for me. I was struck by her sense of self and her advice on receiving feedback: Be open to it, but don’t let it become your identity. Your sense of what’s right, and who you are, can’t be built from other people’s opinions. Here are three big takeaways from our conversation: 🔹 Impact and empathy can coexist. Leadership isn’t just about growth, but about making people feel welcome in the process. 🔹 Clear is kind. Abby navigated COVID layoffs and policy fights by seeing that honesty and being direct build far more trust than just being “nice.” 🔹 A new chapter in life does not always need to start with a job title. As Abby prepares to step down, she’s focused less on what role comes next and more on the quality of life she wants to build.

    34 min

  4. JAN 6

    Episode 53: Jan Andersen

    With the interconnection queue topping 2.6 terawatts of proposed generation and storage, we need faster, smarter ways to build transmission. My latest Scaling Clean guest,  Jan Andersen, CEO and founder of Jubilee Transmission, is doing exactly that. What stood out most in our conversation was Jan’s take on a clean energy blind spot: Opposition is playing to win while we’re playing to be right. Here are three big takeaways from our conversation: 🔹 The belief that clean energy is noble can blind us to the reality of how communities and politics actually work. Opposition plays hardball and fills the void when developers don’t address local concerns directly. 🔹 The hard part about building transmission is the routing, land access, and stakeholder alignment, not the wires themselves. But early outreach and planning decisions can make the buildout process easier, and determine whether opposition ever gains traction.  🔹 You can’t outsource community relationships. The developer has to own local engagement. Otherwise you’re handing your project’s fate to someone who isn’t accountable for the outcome.

    33 min

  5. 12/04/2025

    Episode 52: Gareth Brown

    I recently chatted with Gareth Brown, CEO and co-founder of Clir Renewables, for Scaling Clean. Gareth's company built a risk intelligence platform that helps investors manage massive wind, solar, and storage portfolios — over 200 GW of data! What I loved most was Gareth's point on go-to-market strategy. You could have the world's best technology, but if you don't nail a repeatable sales process, you can’t scale. Here are three big takeaways from our conversation: 🔹 In renewables, the “fuel” is free, but it’s also difficult to measure!  🔹 Go-to-market discipline is just as important as product quality. 🔹 Great teams run on impact.

    32 min

  6. 11/04/2025

    Episode 51: Akshay Sagar

    On the latest episode of Scaling Clean, I sat down with a leader who built his career in oil and gas with companies like Schlumberger and Halliburton. Akshay Sagar is now the CEO of the world’s largest solar O&M provider, NovaSource Power, managing more than 30 GW of solar and storage projects worldwide. I love Akshay’s advice about focusing on people and not being intimidated when people around you bring great ideas. Here are three big takeaways from our conversation: 🔹 Great leadership starts with people, not assets. Akshay says every organization is made up of two things: “people and steel,” and steel can always be replaced. The true differentiator is talent. Surround yourself with people more talented than you are, invest in them, and never be intimidated by their ideas. 🔹 Turnarounds demand culture, creativity, and accountability. Having managed three major corporate turnarounds, Akshay insists that workplace culture outweighs strategy. Success comes from setting shared values - ownership, discipline, urgency, accountability, and austerity - and adapting your business structure to fit the moment rather than copying someone else’s model. 🔹 Focus is a superpower. Instead of chasing every new opportunity, focus on what your business does best. Expanding too far can pull attention away from your core strengths. Most of us think we can do it all, but lasting success often comes from going deeper, not wider. Identify the distractions, and have the discipline to say no.

    34 min

  7. 10/30/2025

    Episode 50: Jacob Susman

    On the latest episode of Scaling Clean, I got to interview a man who’s navigated not one, but two successful exits. Jacob Susman is the Senior VP of Development at top-tier project development company Electric Hydrogen, which recently acquired his green hydrogen company, Ambient Fuels. Jacob unpacked what it takes to build, grow, and successfully sell a clean energy company. Here are three big takeaways from our conversation: 🔹 Start building relationships long before you need them. Jacob’s path to multiple successful exits was paved by years of relationship-building. He served on several boards, forming lasting relationships across the sector. Those connections later became essential in opening doors to partnerships and acquisitions. 🔹 Communication in tough times should be clear, quick, honest, and direct. After 25 years in clean energy startups, Jacob has learned that communication can make or break a team. He’s led through crises, market swings, and tough personnel calls, and says the key is to communicate clearly and quickly. When hard news hits, be honest and direct. “How you comport yourself in these moments is going to be telling about your long-term reputation around the sector.” 🔹 Know when to say no. Early in his career, Jacob’s team pushed through a small 10 MW wind project that nearly burned them out. Just because something can be done doesn’t mean it should be. Sometimes the smartest move is to stop, reallocate people to higher purposes, and focus on projects that advance your real strategy. In fast-growing sectors like green hydrogen, discipline is a superpower.

    32 min

  8. 10/23/2025

    Episode 49: Alon Mashkovich

    My latest Scaling Clean guest is Alon Mashkovich, the CEO of enSights, an AI profitability software that helps solar C&I owners capture missing revenue. Alon saw that 70% of solar projects were missing production forecasts. Now, the enSights software helps 6,000+ global clean energy assets stay profitable by getting to the root cause of project failures.   Here are Alon’s big three points:  🔹 Local insight drives global growth:  Global expansion requires more than a good product; it demands deep market understanding. Identify pain points and tailor your approach to local regulations, and cultural dynamics. Establish a physical presence and immerse yourself in local culture.  🔹 Build investor trust through revenue: Build investor trust by linking business values to revenue. Sales, even small ones, prove impact and attract investors, turning ideas into scalable businesses. Addressing market pain points is easier with a strong team and culture. 🔹 Build trust for tough conversations: Every market has pain points, and a strong team and culture make solving them easier. It's challenging, but when efforts align with business impact, everything shifts.

    28 min
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Ratings & Reviews

3.7
out of 5
3 Ratings

About

Scaling Clean is the podcast for renewable energy leaders, investors, and advisors. Think of this as a cross between NPR's "How I Built This" and The New York Times' "Corner Office." Host Melissa Baldwin interviews CEOs, founders, and executives across solar, wind, storage, EVs, and more. Guests share founder journeys and insights on fundraising, M&A, retention, marketing, and hard-earned lessons on building resilient, profitable companies in the clean economy. Produced by Clare Quirin and powered by Tigercomm, the leading U.S. cleantech communications firm.

Information

  • Creator
    Tigercomm
  • Years Active
    2022 - 2026
  • Episodes
    56
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © Tigercomm
  • Show Website
    Scaling Clean

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