Sean White‘s Solar and Energy Storage Podcast

This is my first interview with a real US Military General and I am honored that he took the time to meet with me. I am not worthy!

 

John Kem is in the civilian sector now and is the President of American Battery Factory! In this podcast we discuss their huge Gigafactory, which they are building in Arizona and which will go online towards the end of 2025 making made in the USA lithium iron phosphate (LFP) lithium-ion batteries. They are working on prismatic battery cells, which are as big as 1kWh each! In the podcast we talk about the manufacturing processes and how the battery materials are put together in a factory that can produce 4GWh per year of battery cells.

 

Topics covered:

 

American Battery Factory

Lithium Iron Phosphate (LFP)IRA = Inflation Reduction Act

Army Corps of Engineers

Civil WorksMining

Battery cell production and safety

Investment and manufacturing scale of American Battery Factory

The process and challenges of battery cell manufacturing

Battery factory

American Lithium Mining

Cobalt in the Congo

Gigafactory

Abundance and toxicity of Lithium, Iron and Phosphorous

Big Battery Cell

Folding Cells

Prismatic Battery Cell

314 Ah cells x 3.2V = 1kWh/cell

Half of a shoebox size cell

Bigger is better

Pouch and cylindrical battery cell comparison

Prismatic folding speed increased

Longer cycle life

Fiji Water bottle shape comparison

Chemical Mixing

Anode and Cathode layers

Thin coating

Isotropic graphite = consistent shape

Narrow film

LFP is the cathode

LFP mix in vats

Absorption capacity for ions to flow

Buy pre-mixed LFP

Separator between anode and cathode

Foils

Cans - Aluminum

Food can people making battery can for prismatic battery (cell casing)

Stationary Energy Storage Systems

Smart grid

Underground mining operations

Drag racing and LFP

Range anxiety

Home to GWh ESS

Tax credit survival vs. competitive manufacturing

Made in America with Chinese parts

Smartest people in the world come to America

Energy storage is required for net zero

Investing and buying American Battery Factory

Privately held now

Series A and Series B funding defined

Accredited investors and venture capital

 

Check out the American Battery Factory website: www.americanbatteryfactory.com

 

For good luck, give this podcast 5️s

 

Learn more at www.solarSEAN.com and be sure to get NABCEP certified by taking Sean’s classes at www.heatspring.com/sean

Joe McCabe has been in the solar industry since before there was a solar industry. In this podcast we talk about many things. 

 

Here is a list of topics:

 

ASES Fellow

American Solar Energy Society www.ASES.org

International Solar Energy Society www.ISES.org

MREA = Midwest Renewable Energy Association

SMUD = Sacramento Municipal Utility District

PVUSA Davis California

PV Policy

SAM software

PV Reliability Workshop Nerdfest

Golden Colorado

SANDIA

Community Solar Gardens

Bifacial Solar<

Vertical Bifacial produces more than tilted south no matter what the direction

Higher latitude better for vertical bifacial

Vertical bifacial requires smaller wires because of lower Isc

Clipping

Hanging vertical bifacial to swing in the wind.

North facing PV for used PV

PV module size increasing

PV efficiency not important; LCOE (levelized cost of electricity) is important. 

Monofacial

Agrivoltaics

Agrisoltaics

Dual use of land

Mark Fitzgerald

Jane Wiseman

IREC = Interstate Renewable Energy Council

NABCEP Entry Level

Praise Ward Bower!

George Kelly

NREL

NABCEP Exam Committees

Photovoltaic effect

Conduction band

Photoelectric effect

Becquerel

Einstein

Quantum mechanics

Thermodynamics

Nuclear engineering

Schrödinger’s equation

Straw bale construction

SERF = Solar Energy Research Facility

SERI = Solar Energy Research Institute

Neutron Scatter

Cadmium rods

Neutron magazine

Smart Inverter Working Group

Dan Shugar

Howard Wenger

PG&E

PV for $9/watt in 90s

Richard Swanson and Swanson’s curve

Colorado Public Utilities Commission

CALISO

California Independent System Operator

BIPV

California Energy Commission (CEC)

Community Solar Garden

Solar Shares

Stupid grid vs. smart grid

Grid following and grid forming inverters

Reactive power

Rule 21 Smart Inverter Working Group

Smart Inverter Classes

Hermann Scherr

Frieberg Germany 

Smarter E in Munich (formerly Intersolar)

Intersolar in San Diego and Long Beach

RE+ conferences

Making education fun

University of Arizona Reactor

How PV works

Photons

Grid Forming and Grid Following Inverters

Donating a kidney to Bill Brooks

Freiburg Germany

NABCEP Certification

Energy Ideas

Renewable Energy Steward

Giant Bifacial module 

Joe Mccabe recommends Bill Brooks on LinkedIn 

Blue light inside a reactor

Integrated Resource Plan (IRP)

Carl Weinberg

Paul Fenn

Community Choice Aggregation = CCA 

Eicke Weber

RE+ Texas

Sean Sings ABC 123 at NABCEP Conference

 

Homework Assignment read: Leverage Points, Places to Intervene in a System by Donella Meadows

 

Joe McCabe LinkedIn Page

 

Joe’s email: energyideas@gmail.com

 

Learn more at www.solarSEAN.com and be sure to get NABCEP certified by taking Sean’s classes at  www.heatspring.com/sean

In this podcast, we learn how UL issues first certification to UL 9741 (and UL 1741 SA) for an AI-Driven Vehicle-to-Grid Compliant EV Charger to Fermata Energy.

 

https://www.ul.com/news/ul-solutions-issues-first-certification-ul-9741-and-ul-1741-sa-ai-driven-vehicle-grid

 

Alex Cattelan has been working on EVs for 2 decades and has experience engineering many famous electric and hybrid vehicles, including the Chevy Volt for GM. She also has extensive experience working for Polaris, Johnson Controls and many others.

 

At the end we decide to go to Burning Man together on a bidirectional electric bus and she is going to teach me how to do wheelies on an electric motorcycle. Nothing can compete with the torque of electric motors, much more than those old fashioned explosion driven motors.

 

Here are some of the topics we cover:

UL 9741 EVPE (Electric Vehicle Power Export Equipment)

John Deere EVs

AI for EVPE

Software engineering

Drive trains

Electric vehicles  

Nissan Leaf

Chevy Volt
Lithium-ion batteries

Hybrid

EPA (U.S. Environmental Protection Agency)

Mechanical Drivetrain

CO2

UL 9741 & UL 1741

VPP (Virtual Power Plant)

Cost Savings

Public utility commission (PUC)

Stationary Storage

Nissan Leaf

Nissan Kicks

Bidirectional charging

Commercial fleets

Bus fleet

Johnson Controls

Pop a Wheelie

Ford F-150

Cyber Truck

Tesla

Developing Software

AI Driven Data Science

Residential bidirectional chargers

 

Check out Alex on LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/alexandra-cattelan-59abbb11

 

Email: alex.catelan@fermataenegy.com

 

Check out the Fermata website: https://fermataenergy.com

 

Learn more at www.solarSEAN.com and be sure to get NABCEP certified by taking Sean’s classes at www.HeatSpring.com/Sean

One week before recording this podcast, Garret Little passed his NABCEP PVIP exam, scoring impressively after nine years since his first attempt. In this episode, we discuss his exam experience, memory techniques, and the differences between the Ecotech and HeatSpring prep classes. Garret shares insights on what’s essential for passing exams and highlights the NABCEP courses available.

Garret also brings his international experience, having installed PV systems in Nepal and Colombia.

Topics Covered:

• Exam prep and strategies
• NABCEP certifications (PVIP, ESIP, PVA, and more)
• Online vs. in-person testing
• Memory techniques and learning methods
• Insights from Garret’s exam journey

Garret expresses his gratitude to Sean for the impactful HeatSpring courses that helped boost his confidence and knowledge:

This course really covered everything I experienced on the exam and in all honesty, to me it seemed it presented quite a bit more information and material than the NABCEP covered, at least from my experience . For example, I don't think I had one string sizing question, conduit fill, or even conductor sizing with derates (if my memory serves me right). It was not nearly as much calculations as I had anticipated, aside from interconnection calcs, which were all fairly similar.

With that being said, I feel tremendously more knowledgeable than I was even just a few months ago prior to taking this course and I am so thankful for that. Thank you again so much for working with Heatspring on these courses to provide such  thorough, entertaining, and educational content. It feels so incredibly good to not only have passed the exam, but to feel that much more educated.

To prepare for any NABCEP exam, check out Sean's online classes at HeatSpring.com/SEAN and explore more at SolarSEAN.com.

I came across a really cool YouTube video, rivaling Mr. Beast, but for solar, which was a purple bearded solarboi going off on Rapid Shutdown UL 3741 PV arrays, I immediately contacted him and a week later, here we are recording this podcast. This guy is entertaining and we are lucky to have him in the industry. This industry needs to be fun!!

 

derek the solarboi has 3 NABCEP Certifications

 

PVIP (PV Installation Professional)
PVCMS (PV Commissioning and Maintenance Specialist)
PVSI (PV System Inspector)

Altogether that looks like:

 

derek the solarboi, NABCEP PVIP, PVCMS & PVSI

 

That is a total of 18 letters after his name, making him super special!

 

We talk about some controversial subjects, including Rapid Shutdown and I always try to be bifacial and take both sides for educational purposes, but encourage my guests to have strong opinions. If you have a strong opinion, let’s get you on the show!

 

Here are some of the topics we covered:

Other rad solar creators, like Solar Goat (https://linktr.ee/solargoat) and The Solar Slayer (https://thesolarslayer.com/)
Rapid shutdown methods
UL 3741 PVHCS (PV Hazard Control Systems)
Array level rapid shutdown
2019 NEC (serious joke)
NABCEP Certifications
Social media
Water flow in conduit 
DC arc faults and ground faults
Ironridge (press release and installation addendum can be found here: (https://www.ironridge.com/2024/02/27/flush-mount-systems-listed-to-ul-3741/)
Sollega
SMA
Residential UL 3741 (solarboi’s video
Peter Greenberg the String Inverter Activist
RE+
Purple

 

solarboi has decided to remain anonymous for this podcast. This is really cool, my first anonymous guest!

 

You can see all of solarboi’s links at www.solarboi.com
YouTube: www.youtube.com/@derekthesolarboi
Mastodon: https://mastodon.energy/@solarboi
TikTok: https://tiktok.com/@thesolarboi
Instagram: https://instagram.com/thesolarboi

 

Learn more at www.solarSEAN.com and be sure to get NABCEP certified by taking Sean’s classes at www.HeatSpring.com/Sean

Great conversation with Tyler Hortin! His company does everything from Wh to GWh and focuses on prismatic cells that are almost 1kWh! This makes for less cells and less connections that can go wrong. The technology here is Lithium-Iron Phosphate (LFP) and we will talk about the supply chain and implications of the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA). They are affiliated with American Battery Factory, so we talk a little bit about manufacturing in the USA towards the end.

 

Key Words:

Lithium Iron Phosphate
Prismatic Battery Cell
Battery Manufacturing in the USA
How he get the Iron
LPF
Lithium (L)
Iron (FE)
Phosphorus (P)
Great Salt Lake
Battery management system (BMS)
Marine Battery
NMC
Alternator
DC to DC Charger
Shore Power
Energy Storage System
UL 9540 & 9540A
DC Interconnected System
Cabinet size
American Battery Factory
How long does it take to build a battery factory?

 

Check out Tyler on LinkedIn:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/tyler-hortin-90469945/

 

Check out his website:
https://lionenergy.com

 

Learn more at www.solarSEAN.com and be sure to get NABCEP certified by taking Sean’s classes at www.HeatSpring.com/Sean

Tor "Solar Fred" Valenza is a regular in the solar industry. Tor has a podcast called Probably True Solar Stories, which takes his expertise as a former Hollywood writer and merges that with the solar industry. Some of his Hollywood work was on popular shows, such as Stargate SG-1, Dharma & Greg, and The Dead Zone. Tor's current day job is he is a chief solar public relations geek at UnThink Solar, a solar PR and communications firm.

 

In this podcast we talk about how Tor Valenza became Solar Fred and how he made stories about solar.

 

Topics covered:

The history of branding about Solar Fred
How his fascination in solar energy began as a kid in NYC Central Park

Solar on the White House

Sungevity

Danny Kennedy

Solar Head of State

Great way to promote solar
Probably True Solar Stories Podcast
Murder by Solar Drone
President of the US as a solar installer
The 6000 Year Story of Solar Energy book by John Perlin
Clean nuclear power being used as a disguise for a nuclear weapons program
Solar installation war (Green War).
Nuclear bros
Energy deep state
Sean almost killed by carbon monoxide as a kid
Solar makes you the most money<

Steam turbines for solar PV energy storage with hot rocks

www.powermag.com/volcanic-rock-offers-new-take-on-energy-storage
Agrivoltaics
CSP = Concentrated Solar Power
Cadmium Telluride
Recycle, Reuse and Reduce
Solar feasibility on the north side of the roof
Solar wedding at a Tweet Up at SPI

Check out Tor on Linkedin:

linkedin.com/in/tor-solar-fred-valenza-3150015

Check out his website:

www.unthinksolar.com

Here is where to find Tor's Podcast:

www.probablytruesolar.com/

 

Learn more at www.solarSEAN.com and be sure to get NABCEP certified by taking Sean’s classes at www.HeatSpring.com/Sean

In this episode we are triple fortunate to have three of the smartest individuals in a discussion on science and policy from the Federation of American Scientists (fas.org), a nonpartisan think tank connecting scientific research with policy making to address today’s most urgent needs. Transition to renewable energy is urgent! We talk about how we can transition to solar fast, and how science and policy need to work together to get the job done, and how individuals can get involved.

 

Guests:

Erica Goldman, on systems thinking and solar
Alice Wu, on tipping points
Zoë Brouns, on the workforce needed to meet the moment

 

Topics discussed:

• American Climate Corps, which is an IRA program intended to mobilize the green workforce on par with the FDR programs (see Civilian Conservation Corps), modeled similarly to the successful AmeriCorps.
• DOE (US Department of Energy)
  

  • Virtual Power Plant Commercial Liftoff Report
  • DOE Commercial Liftoff homepage
  • Clean Energy Talent Workforce report
• FAS History
• Manhattan Project Los Alamos
• Clean Energy and Climate Policy
• Science, Policy and Policy Entrepreneurship
  

  • SUBMIT YOUR IDEAS!
• Congress
• White House
  

  • Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) 2022
  • Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL) 2021
• Follow FAS’s work via their newsletter

I am honored to have hosted the podcast with the most intelligent people ever on any podcast in history. Erika, Alice and Zoë's backgrounds are very impressive! Be sure to click on their names above, or find them on LinkedIn to see what I mean. We are talking Einstein-level conversation at times, especially when Alice told us about triplet excitons. This is an exciting conversation!

 

Learn more at www.solarSEAN.com and be sure to get NABCEP certified by taking Sean’s classes at www.HeatSpring.com/Sean

In this show we talk about the different stages of development of solar projects, which are projects that are from 1MW in size to GW sized projects.

 

Matias Sigal is an entrepreneur and has worked with many startups and incubators in different countries. He started off by being born in Argentina, and is currently a resident of Israel (which we discuss at the end of the podcast).

 

Matias has a company that developed software, which works sort of like Zillow for multimillion dollar solar projects. 80% of potential projects do not get developed, because they are missing some of the criteria. REplace can analyze thousands of potential sites at once, so that early stage developers do not have to spend 30 minutes per site analyzing things independently. His software can do over 100 years of hard work with the click of a button.

 

Some of the topics we cover:

 

8 stages of project development

Community Solar (contrasting with and not Community Choice Aggregation)

Agrivoltaics

GIS

Israel, Argentina and Europe

CapEx & OpEx

 

Matias Sigal LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/matiassigal/

REplace website: www.renewableenergy.place

 

Learn more at www.solarSEAN.com and be sure to get NABCEP certified by taking Sean’s classes at www.HeatSpring.com/Sean

In this podcast we talk about safe portable Energy Storage Systems (ESSs). Jon and Viridi are located in Buffalo NY.

 

Topics covered:

 

Portable ESS

Building and Fire Codes including the International Residential Code (IRC) and the International Fire Code (IFC).

Occupied Spaces

Habitable Spaces

UL 9540

UL 9540A

UL

CSA

Thermal Runaway

How Viridi is safer

Cathodes and Anodes

NMC = Lithium Nickel Manganese Cobalt Oxide

LFP = Lithium Iron Phosphate

NCA = Lithium Nickel Cobalt Aluminum Oxide

Specific Energy vs. Energy Density

How Viridi Portable ESSs saved Burning Man

How Ford won Pike's Peak race in Colorado using Viridi to charge EV race

Sunbelt Rentals using Viridi portable ESS

How using a portable ESS with a diesel generator is much cleaner and less expensive and uses less diesel for the same amount of energy, than a diesel generator alone.

 

Here is where to find Viridi:

www.viridiparente.com

 

Here is where to find Jon Williams CEO and Founder:

www.viridiparente.com/about/<

 

Learn more at www.solarSEAN.com and be sure to get NABCEP certified by taking Sean’s classes at www.HeatSpring.com/Sean