PVG

While the U.S. residential solar industry continues to grow, there’s still work to be done to make the industry more efficient and cost-effective for customers. Certainly, developers face obstacles beyond their control, but there are also significant opportunities to drive progress and advance the industry as a whole. This episode of Latitude Media's Open Circuit podcast explores problems and potential solutions – like following successful models from Solar United Neighbors and making residential solar more attractive to utilities by adding storage.

Prior to kicking off a strategy engagement with a client, my team at PVG and I spend considerable time collaborating with the organization to design the engagement, ensuring we address the right problem from the outset. Failing to make progress due to addressing symptoms rather than the root cause is one of the most frustrating experiences when building things that matter. We have drawn inspiration from many places in designing this pre-kickoff process. One key lesson I learned was from Scott Clawson—then CEO of GSI, now Chairman and CEO of Culligan—who taught me that "red is good." GSI was the leading producer of grain storage bins in the U.S. and several other countries. Scott's tenure as CEO spanned the global financial crisis, during which he transformed the company through a rigorous yet supportive leadership style grounded in LEAN management principles. At the time, I was a first-year associate at Centerbridge Partners, the lead investor in GSI. As Centerbridge and the management team began preparing the company for sale, I visited GSI's central Illinois headquarters. Scott invited me to sit in on one of his leadership meetings, featuring a Red/Yellow/Green scorecard reviewing the company's key initiatives. I was initially surprised by the amount of yellow and even red indicators present, considering the company's strong financial performance. When I asked Scott about this, he shared the insight that has remained with me ever since: "We don't grade ourselves on a curve. Red is good." Human ingenuity is easy to underrate. I've been fortunate to work alongside immensely talented individuals who have solved problems that initially seemed insurmountable. However, I've rarely seen significant problems resolved unintentionally. And that's why red is good.

The closing of a new fund by our friends at Aligned Climate Capital signals continued market support for clean energy despite political uncertainties. Consistent with recent trends we have seen across climate tech, investors are increasingly shifting focus to companies that can deploy proven technologies and demonstrate rising revenues.

As energy demand from hyperscalers continues to grow, Geothermal is emerging as a powerful zero-carbon solution that reduces dependency on gas. Google and Meta are leading the way via partnerships with Fervo Energy and Sage Geosystems Inc. We expect that as demand grows, interest in geothermal—and competition to secure access to it—will grow.

We had the pleasure of joining Bo Ren (SVB) and Andy Weissman (Union Square Ventures) at their latest fundraising workshop where they shared great insight into the current VC landscape. Picking the right time to raise, perfecting your pitch and model, and navigating your network to ask for the right introductions are critical to fundraising success—and, its all a part of the process that the PVG team is passionate about helping founders navigate.

Investing in climate today will save everyone money and time in the future. We’re already seeing the impact of climate inaction on home insurance premiums, grocery prices, and more. Check out this great piece by Tom Steyer on The Silent Carbon Tax.

The iconic yellow school bus is about to become even better— ComEd’s V2G program will allow school districts to sell power to the grid when electric buses aren’t in use (typically a majority of the day)! Another example of how V2G technology can unlock energy and dollars.

A small but mighty co-op in Texas, Bandera Electric Cooperative, is piloting a VPP program in which homeowners connect their solar panels, batteries, EVs and more to the grid in exchange for a monthly bill credit and a more stable grid in their community. Programs like this provide critical energy and flexibility to grids and set homeowners up to benefit from one of our favorite technologies, Vehicle-to-home & Vehicle-to-grid.?

IONNA, an EV charging JV formed by some of the world’s leading automakers, is not slowing down. Their commitment to building out their “Rechargery” network shows that the future is electric—and convenient. We’re excited to see this company grow … and see the word rechargery enter daily use!

Excellent new report out from Duke. We have so much flexibility and capacity. We can handle significant load growth without new fossil generation. Electrification enables flexibility. It's all about leveraging the technology we have today to make our system smarter and more connected.