Podcast Episodes

From Backup to Backbone: How Batteries Are Reshaping the Grid

Season 17 Episode 873

Batteries aren’t just supporting the grid anymore, they are defending the grid.

Chris Finley, CCO of TruGrid, joins Nico on stage at PowerUp Live to explain how battery storage has shifted fr…

Published on 1 month ago

The Landfill Explosion That Changed Tesla’s Fire Strategy

Season 17 Episode 872

A Powerwall delivery truck flipped. No fire. No smoke. Seemed safe.

They tossed those Powerwalls into a landfill. Four days later—explosion!

That incident didn’t just make headlines; it change…

Published on 1 month, 1 week ago

10 Years Later - Adam James on Building Teams, Time & Impact

Season 17 Episode 871

This episode marks ten years of SunCast - and the return of its very first guest.

In 2015, a young GTM Research analyst named Adam James joined host Nico Johnson for the debut episode explor…

Published on 1 month, 1 week ago

How FEOC Rules Are Reshaping Solar Procurement in 2025 | 4 Experts Weigh-in

Season 17 Episode 870

“Is your project really compliant?”

That’s the billion-dollar question developers across the U.S. are asking as Foreign Entity of Concern (FEOC) rules tighten their grip on clean energy tax c…

Published on 1 month, 2 weeks ago

How Two Unlikely Founders Are Rewiring the Way Solar Gets Built | Ben Callam & Maksim Markevich of PVFarm

Season 17 Episode 869

What happens when a builder and a coder decide to fix solar’s biggest disconnect?

In this episode, SunCast host Nico Johnson sits down with Maksim Markevich and Ben Callam, the co-founders of…

Published on 1 month, 2 weeks ago

Roofing and Solar Are Merging, Is This the Future of Residential Solar? | James Mason, ABC Supply

Season 17 Episode 868

Roofers are entering solar. Solar pros are adding roofing. 

How are these trades getting the training & resources required to level up and provide the appropriate level of service to homeowne…

Published on 1 month, 2 weeks ago

How Energy Aid Is Rescuing 185,000 Orphaned Solar Homes | Nick Sherman

Season 17 Episode 867

Did you know that more than 185,000 solar customers in the US have been abandoned by their installers? How will we take care of these “Orphaned” solar systems? Is this a golden opportunity o…

Published on 1 month, 3 weeks ago

Are Batteries the New Substations? | Wärtsilä’s Bold Vision for Grid-Scale Storage

Season 17 Episode 866

Storage Isn’t Backup—It’s Infrastructure

Wildfires, heat waves, and AI-fueled data centers are pushing our grid to the edge. The question is no longer whether we need storage—it's whether we'…

Published on 1 month, 3 weeks ago

This Could Unlock Solar for 23 MILLION Property Owners (and Renters)

Season 17 Episode 865

Why are millions of apartment rooftops still empty while single-family homes cash in on solar savings?

Turns out it’s an accounting problem – a technicality known in industry jargon as the “s…

Published on 2 months ago

Michael Chanin: Building a 100-Year Clean Energy Company

Season 17 Episode 864

From firehouses to jails to major manufacturing hubs, Cherry Street Energy is redefining what it means to build a distributed power plant—and they’re just getting started.

CEO Michael Chanin …

Published on 2 months ago