The Solar Maverick Podcast is the insiders guide to where the solar and energy markets meet entrepreneurship and trailblazing. Hosted by Benoy Thanjan - a serial entrepreneur and founder of Reneu Energy
Episodes
Tuesday Jun 25, 2024
Tuesday Jun 25, 2024
The League is a new podcast with my co-host David Magid! You give us 5 minutes, we give you the latest clean energy trends.
Weekly Energy Briefings Episode #1 is live .
Episode 2 – Jan 2024 Briefing Highlights:
-NY has 2GWh of Community Solar.
-Largest Storage CA Project
-Midwest Community Solar Opportunity
-A Lot of M&A Activity
Exclusive insights from industry experts navigating the constantly changing renewable energy industry.
Keeping YOU in the know and empowered, this series is your weekly power hub for the latest in project finance, renewable energy, and power generation.
IF you have any questions or comments, reach out to us info@reneuenergy.com.
Tuesday Jun 11, 2024
Tuesday Jun 11, 2024
Episode Summary
In this episode of the Solar Maverick Podcast, Benoy speaks with Herve Billet and the Joe Marhamati who are the founders of Sunvoy. Sunvoy is the first and only solar customer portal and fleet management system built for solar installers by a solar installer. Herve and Joe discuss how their software helps solar installers, what they learned from working at the Department of Energy, and they speak about their entrepreneurship experiences.
Benoy Thanjan
Benoy Thanjan is the Founder and CEO of Reneu Energy and he is also an advisor for several solar startup companies. He has extensive project origination, development, and financial experience in the renewable energy industry and in the environmental commodities market.
This includes initial site evaluation, permitting, financing, sourcing equipment, and negotiating the long-term energy and environmental commodities off-take agreements. He manages due diligence processes on land, permitting, and utility interconnection and is in charge of financing
and structuring through Note to Proceed (“NTP”) to Commercial Operation Date (“COD”). Benoy composes teams suitable for all project development and construction tasks. He is also involved in project planning and pipeline financial modeling. He has been part of all sides of the
transaction and this allows him to provide unique perspectives and value. Benoy has extensive experience in financial engineering to make solar projects profitable.
Before founding Reneu Energy, he was the SREC Trader in the Project Finance Group for SolarCity which merged with Tesla in 2016. He originated SREC trades with buyers and co-developed their SREC monetization and hedging strategy with the senior management of SolarCity to move into the east coast markets.
Benoy was the Vice President at Vanguard Energy Partners which is a national solar installer where he focused on project finance solutions for commercial scale solar projects. He also worked for Ridgewood Renewable Power, a private equity fund, where he analyzed potential investments in renewable energy projects and worked on maximizing the financial return of the projects in the portfolio. Benoy also worked on the sale of all of the renewable energy projects in Ridgewood’s portfolio.
He was in the Energy Structured Finance practice for Deloitte & Touche and in Financial Advisory Services practice at Ernst & Young. Benoy received his first experience in Finance as an intern at D.E. Shaw & Co., which is a global investment firm with 37 billion dollars in investment capital. He has a MBA in Finance from Rutgers University and a BS in Finance and Economics from the Stern School of Business at New York University. Benoy was an Alumni Scholar at the Stern School of Business.
Herve Billet
He is a father, serial entrepreneur, investor, engineer, Master Electrician on a mission to fight climate change.
Ipsun Solar installs residential and commercial solar PV systems. They are a licensed General Contractor in 3 U.S. States: Virginia, Washington DC and Maryland.
Ipsun Tech has a software called Sunvoy to automate communication and tasks for solar companies and provide a solar installation company with a white label customer portal. Sunvoy also offers a tool to manage a solar fleet. Check it out at www.sunvoy.com
Before co-founding Ipsun Power I was with Accenture consulting with Fortune 500 companies, U.S. Federal agencies and large non-profits:
- Greenhouse Gas emission calculations for the U.S. Department of Energy Headquarters.
- Business development work for Accenture's Sustainability Services
- Lead a Digital implementation team for Goodwill International Industries
- Provided strategy and sales support to large accounts including the International Monetary Fund (IMF), World Bank, UNICEF, United Nations, U.S. Department of Labor
He co-founded my first company when I was 21, a solar car organization www.solarteam.be meant to highlight the capabilities of solar power.
Joe Marhamati
What gets him out of bed every day is helping solar installers learn from my lived experience in building an 8-figure solar business, not just the successes but also the mistakes. In my current role as co-founder and CFO of Sunvoy, he help solar installers build their brands by building a white-labeled customer portal and fleet management platform to bring together all of their fleet data into a single location. He is also passionate about helping solar installers with their tech stack, growth strategy, management and leadership direction, and exit plans.
Stay Connected:
Benoy Thanjan
Email: info@reneuenergy.com
LinkedIn: Benoy Thanjan
Website: https://www.reneuenergy.com
Herve Billet
Website: https://sunvoy.com/
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/hervebilliet/
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/marhamati/
Join Reneu Energy and the Solar Maverick Podcast for the Summer Solstice Fundraiser
Celebrate the peak of summer with us at the Summer Solstice Fundraiser, hosted by Reneu Energy and the Solar Maverick Podcast. This special evening will take place on Thursday, June 20, from 6 PM to 10 PM at Hudson Hall in Jersey City, NJ. As we revel in the longest day of the year, we'll also be raising funds for the Let's Share the Sun Foundation, which aids impoverished communities in harnessing solar energy. Thanks to your support, we raised $2,250 for this great cause from our previous events.
Event Details
Venue: Hudson Hall, a Czech biergarten and smokehouse co-owned by Benoy, CEO of Reneu Energy.
Time: 6 PM to 10 PM, with an open bar from 6 PM to 8 PM and delicious food throughout the evening.
Tickets: $64 per person. You can RSVP using the link provided below.
Sponsorship Opportunities: If you're interested in sponsoring this event and helping make a difference, please respond to this email.
https://www.tickettailor.com/events/reneuenergy/1256198
Thursday May 30, 2024
Thursday May 30, 2024
Episode Summary
In this episode of the Solar Maverick Podcast, Benoy speaks with John Langhus who is the Chief Commercial Officer of Photon Vault. Photon Vault is a developer of revolutionary thermal energy storage technology for the utility-scale market. John speaks about their early stage energy storage technology, how they will produce green power cheaper than most renewable energy technologies, and federal incentives for their unique technology.
Benoy Thanjan
Benoy Thanjan is the Founder and CEO of Reneu Energy and he is also an advisor for several solar startup companies. He has extensive project origination, development, and financial experience in the renewable energy industry and in the environmental commodities market.
This includes initial site evaluation, permitting, financing, sourcing equipment, and negotiating the long-term energy and environmental commodities off-take agreements. He manages due diligence processes on land, permitting, and utility interconnection and is in charge of financing
and structuring through Note to Proceed (“NTP”) to Commercial Operation Date (“COD”). Benoy composes teams suitable for all project development and construction tasks. He is also involved in project planning and pipeline financial modeling. He has been part of all sides of the
transaction and this allows him to provide unique perspectives and value. Benoy has extensive experience in financial engineering to make solar projects profitable.
Before founding Reneu Energy, he was the SREC Trader in the Project Finance Group for SolarCity which merged with Tesla in 2016. He originated SREC trades with buyers and co-developed their SREC monetization and hedging strategy with the senior management of SolarCity to move into the east coast markets.
Benoy was the Vice President at Vanguard Energy Partners which is a national solar installer where he focused on project finance solutions for commercial scale solar projects. He also worked for Ridgewood Renewable Power, a private equity fund, where he analyzed potential investments in renewable energy projects and worked on maximizing the financial return of the projects in the portfolio. Benoy also worked on the sale of all of the renewable energy projects in Ridgewood’s portfolio.
He was in the Energy Structured Finance practice for Deloitte & Touche and in Financial Advisory Services practice at Ernst & Young. Benoy received his first experience in Finance as an intern at D.E. Shaw & Co., which is a global investment firm with 37 billion dollars in investment capital. He has a MBA in Finance from Rutgers University and a BS in Finance and Economics from the Stern School of Business at New York University. Benoy was an Alumni Scholar at the Stern School of Business.
Chief Commercial Officer of Photon Vault
John is an experienced solar developer, entrepreneur, attorney, and business leader.
Building a deep background in corporate and transactional law, he practiced initially with the preeminent New York law firm of Sullivan & Cromwell, working from Melbourne, Australia on an array of industry-leading cross border securities and M&A transactions. Later he spent ten years with NYSE–listed Forest Oil Corporation, culminating in the role of Managing Director of Forest’s International Business Unit, based in Cape Town, South Africa. He completed over $4Bn of acquisitions and divestitures at Forest.
Since 2013, he has focused on a mix of legal and business roles in the solar energy industry, working as a developer, owner, and consultant on more than 250MW of solar energy projects (over $500M of deployed capital), primarily as General Counsel and VP of Business Development with New Energy Equity of Annapolis, MD a national leader in the development of Commercial and Industrial-scale solar energy projects.
John lives in Norwich, Vermont with his wife and two sons where has served as an elected member of his local town government and is an active leader in his church.
He graduated with a B.A. in political science from Colorado College and a J.D. from New York University School of Law.
His favorite bands are The Indigo Girls, Evanescence, and whatever bands his sons are in at the moment. On the weekend, you might find him listening to live music or making pizza in his backyard brick oven.
Stay Connected:
Benoy Thanjan
Email: info@reneuenergy.com
LinkedIn: Benoy Thanjan
Website: https://www.reneuenergy.com
Website: http://www.photonvault.com/
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/johnlanghus/
Email: jlanghus@photonvault.com
Photon Vault Linkedin Page: https://www.linkedin.com/company/photon-vault/
Join Reneu Energy and the Solar Maverick Podcast for the Summer Solstice Fundraiser
Celebrate the peak of summer with us at the Summer Solstice Fundraiser, hosted by Reneu Energy and the Solar Maverick Podcast. This special evening will take place on Thursday, June 20, from 6 PM to 10 PM at Hudson Hall in Jersey City, NJ. As we revel in the longest day of the year, we'll also be raising funds for the Let's Share the Sun Foundation, which aids impoverished communities in harnessing solar energy. Thanks to your support, we raised $2,250 for this great cause from our previous events.
Event Details
Venue: Hudson Hall, a Czech biergarten and smokehouse co-owned by Benoy, CEO of Reneu Energy.
Time: 6 PM to 10 PM, with an open bar from 6 PM to 8 PM and delicious food throughout the evening.
Tickets: $64 per person. You can RSVP using the link provided below.
Sponsorship Opportunities: If you're interested in sponsoring this event and helping make a difference, please respond to this email.
https://www.tickettailor.com/events/reneuenergy/1256198
Monday May 13, 2024
Monday May 13, 2024
The League is a new podcast with my co-host David Magid! You give us 5 minutes, we give you the latest clean energy trends.
Weekly Energy Briefings Episode #1 is live .
Episode 1 – Jan 2024 Briefing Highlights:
-Interest Rates increase as impacted solar development
-Transferibility Update of Tax Credits
-Domestic Adder-IRA
-Update on Brookfield Transactions
Exclusive insights from industry experts navigating the constantly changing renewable energy industry.
Keeping YOU in the know and empowered, this series is your weekly power hub for the latest in project finance, renewable energy, and power generation.
IF you have any questions or comments, reach out to us info@reneuenergy.com.
Tuesday May 07, 2024
Tuesday May 07, 2024
Episode Summary
In this episode of the Solar Maverick Podcast, Benoy speaks with Sandhya Murali who is the Co-Founder & COO of Solstice. Solstice connects households and businesses to local clean energy sources that provide guaranteed annual savings. Sandhya speaks about churn and retention for their community solar customers, partnering with solar developers on RFPs for their customer acquisition strategy, and how the Inflation Reduction Act has impacted their business.
Benoy Thanjan
Benoy Thanjan is the Founder and CEO of Reneu Energy and he is also an advisor for several solar startup companies. He has extensive project origination, development, and financial experience in the renewable energy industry and in the environmental commodities market.
This includes initial site evaluation, permitting, financing, sourcing equipment, and negotiating the long-term energy and environmental commodities off-take agreements. He manages due diligence processes on land, permitting, and utility interconnection and is in charge of financing
and structuring through Note to Proceed (“NTP”) to Commercial Operation Date (“COD”). Benoy composes teams suitable for all project development and construction tasks. He is also involved in project planning and pipeline financial modeling. He has been part of all sides of the
transaction and this allows him to provide unique perspectives and value. Benoy has extensive experience in financial engineering to make solar projects profitable.
Before founding Reneu Energy, he was the SREC Trader in the Project Finance Group for SolarCity which merged with Tesla in 2016. He originated SREC trades with buyers and co-developed their SREC monetization and hedging strategy with the senior management of SolarCity to move into the east coast markets.
Benoy was the Vice President at Vanguard Energy Partners which is a national solar installer where he focused on project finance solutions for commercial scale solar projects. He also worked for Ridgewood Renewable Power, a private equity fund, where he analyzed potential investments in renewable energy projects and worked on maximizing the financial return of the projects in the portfolio. Benoy also worked on the sale of all of the renewable energy projects in Ridgewood’s portfolio.
He was in the Energy Structured Finance practice for Deloitte & Touche and in Financial Advisory Services practice at Ernst & Young. Benoy received his first experience in Finance as an intern at D.E. Shaw & Co., which is a global investment firm with 37 billion dollars in investment capital. He has a MBA in Finance from Rutgers University and a BS in Finance and Economics from the Stern School of Business at New York University. Benoy was an Alumni Scholar at the Stern School of Business.
Sandhya Murali
Co-Founder & COO of Solstice
She is responsible for finances, product development, solar developer relationships, and financial inclusion. Sandhya began her career in Barclays’ investment banking division in New York and London, advising on and executing public equity transactions for Technology, Media and Telecom companies, and was also deeply involved in Barclays Philanthropy.
Her volunteer work included Endeavor, Women’s World Banking, and Barclays’ Social Innovation Fund. During graduate school, Sandhya worked at Buen Power Peru, a for-profit social enterprise that distributes solar lamps and water heaters to off-grid communities in Peru. She holds a BBA from the University of Michigan and an MBA from the MIT Sloan School of Management, where she received the Sustainability Certificate.
Stay Connected:
Benoy Thanjan
Email: info@reneuenergy.com
LinkedIn: Benoy Thanjan
Website: https://www.reneuenergy.com
Sandhya Murali
Website: https://solstice.us/
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sandhyamurali/
Thursday Apr 18, 2024
Thursday Apr 18, 2024
Episode Summary
In this episode of the Solar Maverick Podcast, Benoy spoke about the proposed community solar legislation in California with Derek Chernow with CCSA, Stephanie Doyle from SEIA, and Steve Campbell from Vote Solar.
Benoy Thanjan
Benoy Thanjan is the Founder and CEO of Reneu Energy and he is also an advisor for several solar startup companies. He has extensive project origination, development, and financial experience in the renewable energy industry and in the environmental commodities market.
This includes initial site evaluation, permitting, financing, sourcing equipment, and negotiating the long-term energy and environmental commodities off-take agreements. He manages due diligence processes on land, permitting, and utility interconnection and is in charge of financing
and structuring through Note to Proceed (“NTP”) to Commercial Operation Date (“COD”). Benoy composes teams suitable for all project development and construction tasks. He is also involved in project planning and pipeline financial modeling. He has been part of all sides of the
transaction and this allows him to provide unique perspectives and value. Benoy has extensive experience in financial engineering to make solar projects profitable.
Before founding Reneu Energy, he was the SREC Trader in the Project Finance Group for SolarCity which merged with Tesla in 2016. He originated SREC trades with buyers and co-developed their SREC monetization and hedging strategy with the senior management of SolarCity to move into the east coast markets.
Benoy was the Vice President at Vanguard Energy Partners which is a national solar installer where he focused on project finance solutions for commercial scale solar projects. He also worked for Ridgewood Renewable Power, a private equity fund, where he analyzed potential investments in renewable energy projects and worked on maximizing the financial return of the projects in the portfolio. Benoy also worked on the sale of all of the renewable energy projects in Ridgewood’s portfolio.
He was in the Energy Structured Finance practice for Deloitte & Touche and in Financial Advisory Services practice at Ernst & Young. Benoy received his first experience in Finance as an intern at D.E. Shaw & Co., which is a global investment firm with 37 billion dollars in investment capital. He has a MBA in Finance from Rutgers University and a BS in Finance and Economics from the Stern School of Business at New York University. Benoy was an Alumni Scholar at the Stern School of Business.
Derek Chernow
WESTERN REGIONAL DIRECTOR of CCSA(“Coalition for Community Solar Access”)
Derek is a highly accomplished clean energy leader. He previously served as Executive Director of the California Alternative Energy & Advanced Transportation Financing Authority (CAEATFA), where he led all operations for the California agency charged with financing clean energy projects to spur economic development. Before CAEATFA, he spent many years working in the California State Legislature, including in the CA Senate Budget Subcommittee on Resources, Environmental Protection, Energy & Transportation and as a Chief of Staff for multiple members. He also held leadership positions advocating for clean energy and environmental protection including Acting Director at the California Department of Conservation. In his spare time, he serves on the Board of Directors of the Sacramento Tree Foundation.
Stephanie Doyle
She is the California State Affairs Director for SEIA(“Solar Energy Industries Association”). SEIA is the national trade association for the U.S. solar industry. Stephanie was the regulatory Director for California for Vote Solar, Climate Policy Associate for The Nature Conservancy, and the Director of National Partnerships and Outreach for Ciizens’ Climate Lobby, She also has experience as the On Deck Climate Tech Fellow and Fellow at the Clean Energy Leadership Institute.
Steve Campbell
Steve is the Regulatory Director for the West for Vote Solar. Vote Solar is a non-profit policy advocacy organization with the mission of making solar more accessible and affordable across the United States. He worked as Western States Policy Director at Grid Alternatives and Associate Program Manager, Energy Efficiency and Climate Action at Association of Monterey Bay Area Governments.
Stay Connected:
Benoy Thanjan
Email: info@reneuenergy.com
LinkedIn: Benoy Thanjan
Website: https://www.reneuenergy.com
Derek Chernow
Website: https://communitysolaraccess.org/
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/derek-chernow-9a358444/
CCSA Summit: https://web.cvent.com/event/4d08858f-5aef-4a10-8340-6111b45325fd/summary
Stephanie Doyle
Website: https://www.seia.org/
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stephanieedoyle/
SEIA Events: https://www.seia.org/events
Steve Campbell
Website: https://votesolar.org/
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/allthink/
Google: California Community Solar CPUC Public Comment
Proceeding No. A.22.05.022
Thursday Apr 11, 2024
Thursday Apr 11, 2024
Episode Summary
In this episode of the Solar Maverick Podcast, Benoy speaks with Annika Colston who is the President and Founder of AC Power. AC Power is an award winning NYC certified (“Women Business Enterprise”) WBE focused on converting low value land into revenue-generating solar energy sites. Annika speaks about many interesting topics like the complexities of developing on disturbed land, the impact of the Inflation Reduction Act, and her suggestions to start a clean energy company.
Benoy Thanjan
Benoy Thanjan is the Founder and CEO of Reneu Energy and he is also an advisor for several solar startup companies. He has extensive project origination, development, and financial experience in the renewable energy industry and in the environmental commodities market.
This includes initial site evaluation, permitting, financing, sourcing equipment, and negotiating the long-term energy and environmental commodities off-take agreements. He manages due diligence processes on land, permitting, and utility interconnection and is in charge of financing
and structuring through Note to Proceed (“NTP”) to Commercial Operation Date (“COD”). Benoy composes teams suitable for all project development and construction tasks. He is also involved in project planning and pipeline financial modeling. He has been part of all sides of the
transaction and this allows him to provide unique perspectives and value. Benoy has extensive experience in financial engineering to make solar projects profitable.
Before founding Reneu Energy, he was the SREC Trader in the Project Finance Group for SolarCity which merged with Tesla in 2016. He originated SREC trades with buyers and co-developed their SREC monetization and hedging strategy with the senior management of SolarCity to move into the east coast markets.
Benoy was the Vice President at Vanguard Energy Partners which is a national solar installer where he focused on project finance solutions for commercial scale solar projects. He also worked for Ridgewood Renewable Power, a private equity fund, where he analyzed potential investments in renewable energy projects and worked on maximizing the financial return of the projects in the portfolio. Benoy also worked on the sale of all of the renewable energy projects in Ridgewood’s portfolio.
He was in the Energy Structured Finance practice for Deloitte & Touche and in Financial Advisory Services practice at Ernst & Young. Benoy received his first experience in Finance as an intern at D.E. Shaw & Co., which is a global investment firm with 37 billion dollars in investment capital. He has a MBA in Finance from Rutgers University and a BS in Finance and Economics from the Stern School of Business at New York University. Benoy was an Alumni Scholar at the Stern School of Business.
Annika Colston
Annika Colston founded AC Power to bring a unique vision to solar PV project development and management on landfill and brownfield sites. Annika has been developing alternative energy projects for nearly two decades and has experience across all aspects of project development. She has worked with all stakeholders needed to make alternative energy projects successful. These stakeholders include governments, local municipalities, Fortune 500 companies, landowners, utilities, and more. The breadth of her experience makes her capable of solving conflicts and bringing teams together to ensure success.
Annika has a unique ability to bring projects to operation on time and within budget. Ms. Colston has been a senior manager of four start-up companies that sourced private and public capital to drive investment in environmentally and socially beneficial projects. Annika has a long track record of successfully taking projects through the entire development process including origination, contract negotiations, due diligence, financing and investor approvals, permitting, structuring off-take agreements, equipment procurement, construction contracting, and operations.
Prior to AC Power, Annika was Vice President at PV Navigator where she originated and developed over 50 MW of solar projects on landfills and brownfields. From 2011 to 2014, Ms. Colston was President of C2i Methane where she developed and sold a portfolio of landfill gas to energy projects. Ms. Colston's work experience includes entities that were market leaders such as E+Co, which invested seed capital in sustainable development projects in Africa using innovative investment structures; EcoSecurities, a first of its kind company marketing Kyoto Protocol projects globally; and Blue Source, the largest carbon credit portfolio in the US.
Stay Connected:
Benoy Thanjan
Email: info@reneuenergy.com
LinkedIn: Benoy Thanjan
Website: https://www.reneuenergy.com
Annika Colston
Website: https://www.acpowerllc.com/
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/annika-colston-9681624/
Thursday Mar 28, 2024
Thursday Mar 28, 2024
Episode Summary.
In this episode of the Solar Maverick Podcast, Benoy speaks with Laura Pagliarulo who is the President and Founder of SolaREIT. SolaREIT™ invests in land related to solar and battery developments through land acquisitions, lease monetization, and project re-powering. Laura speaks about many interesting topics like how their cost of capital is lower compared to development capital, why it is better for developers to lead with land purchase option than lease option with the land owner, and solar trends.
Benoy Thanjan
Benoy Thanjan is the Founder and CEO of Reneu Energy and he is also an advisor for several solar startup companies. He has extensive project origination, development, and financial experience in the renewable energy industry and in the environmental commodities market.
This includes initial site evaluation, permitting, financing, sourcing equipment, and negotiating the long-term energy and environmental commodities off-take agreements. He manages due diligence processes on land, permitting, and utility interconnection and is in charge of financing
and structuring through Note to Proceed (“NTP”) to Commercial Operation Date (“COD”). Benoy composes teams suitable for all project development and construction tasks. He is also involved in project planning and pipeline financial modeling. He has been part of all sides of the
transaction and this allows him to provide unique perspectives and value. Benoy has extensive experience in financial engineering to make solar projects profitable.
Before founding Reneu Energy, he was the SREC Trader in the Project Finance Group for SolarCity which merged with Tesla in 2016. He originated SREC trades with buyers and co-developed their SREC monetization and hedging strategy with the senior management of SolarCity to move into the east coast markets.
Benoy was the Vice President at Vanguard Energy Partners which is a national solar installer where he focused on project finance solutions for commercial scale solar projects. He also worked for Ridgewood Renewable Power, a private equity fund, where he analyzed potential investments in renewable energy projects and worked on maximizing the financial return of the projects in the portfolio. Benoy also worked on the sale of all of the renewable energy projects in Ridgewood’s portfolio.
He was in the Energy Structured Finance practice for Deloitte & Touche and in Financial Advisory Services practice at Ernst & Young. Benoy received his first experience in Finance as an intern at D.E. Shaw & Co., which is a global investment firm with 37 billion dollars in investment capital. He has a MBA in Finance from Rutgers University and a BS in Finance and Economics from the Stern School of Business at New York University. Benoy was an Alumni Scholar at the Stern School of Business.
Laura Pagliarulo
Laura is the founder and President of SolREIT. She has worked at CleanChoice Energy, SunEdison, and WGL. She is a results driven energy and environmental professional with over 15 years of experience in electricity and gas markets, renewable energy, carbon reduction, and energy efficiency initiatives. Laura has a proven track record with designing, implementing and managing programs.
Stay Connected:
Benoy Thanjan
Email: info@reneuenergy.com
LinkedIn: Benoy Thanjan
Website: https://www.reneuenergy.com
Laura Pagliarulo
Website: https://www.solareit.com/
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/pgrana/
Email: laura@solareit.com
Tuesday Feb 27, 2024
Tuesday Feb 27, 2024
Episode Summary
In this episode of the Solar Maverick Podcast, Benoy speaks with Paul Grana who is Solar Software Leader and GM of HelioScope at Aurora Solar. Aurora’s cloud-based software transforms solar design, sales, and delivery. With just an address and electric bill, Aurora empowers you to generate a full, accurate, and customizable design for every customer. Paul speaks about many interesting topics like how AI has impacted Aurora, listening to the customer has led to the company being cutting edge, and solar trends.
Benoy Thanjan
Benoy Thanjan is the Founder and CEO of Reneu Energy and he is also an advisor for several solar startup companies. He has extensive project origination, development, and financial experience in the renewable energy industry and in the environmental commodities market.
This includes initial site evaluation, permitting, financing, sourcing equipment, and negotiating the long-term energy and environmental commodities off-take agreements. He manages due diligence processes on land, permitting, and utility interconnection and is in charge of financing
and structuring through Note to Proceed (“NTP”) to Commercial Operation Date (“COD”). Benoy composes teams suitable for all project development and construction tasks. He is also involved in project planning and pipeline financial modeling. He has been part of all sides of the
transaction and this allows him to provide unique perspectives and value. Benoy has extensive experience in financial engineering to make solar projects profitable.
Before founding Reneu Energy, he was the SREC Trader in the Project Finance Group for SolarCity which merged with Tesla in 2016. He originated SREC trades with buyers and co-developed their SREC monetization and hedging strategy with the senior management of SolarCity to move into the east coast markets.
Benoy was the Vice President at Vanguard Energy Partners which is a national solar installer where he focused on project finance solutions for commercial scale solar projects. He also worked for Ridgewood Renewable Power, a private equity fund, where he analyzed potential investments in renewable energy projects and worked on maximizing the financial return of the projects in the portfolio. Benoy also worked on the sale of all of the renewable energy projects in Ridgewood’s portfolio.
He was in the Energy Structured Finance practice for Deloitte & Touche and in Financial Advisory Services practice at Ernst & Young. Benoy received his first experience in Finance as an intern at D.E. Shaw & Co., which is a global investment firm with 37 billion dollars in investment capital. He has a MBA in Finance from Rutgers University and a BS in Finance and Economics from the Stern School of Business at New York University. Benoy was an Alumni Scholar at the Stern School of Business.
Paul Grana
Paul Grana is the Co-Founder and General Manager of HelioScope at Aurora Solar. HelioScope provides commercial solar installers with an intuitive cloud-based design platform that reduces design costs by 90%. It helps streamline solar design and sales, cuts soft costs, and accelerates project development. Before joining the team, Paul was the co-founder/CRO of Folsom Labs (which made HelioScope software and was acquired by Aurora Solar in 2021). Before that he was on the hardware side of the industry, leading Product Marketing at Tigo Energy. Lastly, he holds an SB in Mathematics from the University of Chicago, and an MBA from Harvard Business School.
Stay Connected:
Benoy Thanjan
Email: info@reneuenergy.com
LinkedIn: Benoy Thanjan
Website: https://www.reneuenergy.com
Paul Grana
Website: https://aurorasolar.com
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/pgrana/
Wednesday Feb 07, 2024
Wednesday Feb 07, 2024
Episode Summary.
In this episode of the Solar Maverick Podcast, Benoy speaks with Josh Goldberg who is Co-Founder and CEO of Sunstone Credit. Sunstone Credit provides flexible financing solutions for businesses of all sizes, offering solar loans with borrower-friendly terms and an efficient application process. Josh speaks about many interesting topics like how higher interest rates has impacted lending, how Sunstone is more innovative on C&I solar financing compared to banks, and which states are the best for C&I solar financing. .
Benoy Thanjan
Benoy Thanjan is the Founder and CEO of Reneu Energy and he is also an advisor for several solar startup companies. He has extensive project origination, development, and financial experience in the renewable energy industry and in the environmental commodities market.
This includes initial site evaluation, permitting, financing, sourcing equipment, and negotiating the long-term energy and environmental commodities off-take agreements. He manages due diligence processes on land, permitting, and utility interconnection and is in charge of financing
and structuring through Note to Proceed (“NTP”) to Commercial Operation Date (“COD”). Benoy composes teams suitable for all project development and construction tasks. He is also involved in project planning and pipeline financial modeling. He has been part of all sides of the
transaction and this allows him to provide unique perspectives and value. Benoy has extensive experience in financial engineering to make solar projects profitable.
Before founding Reneu Energy, he was the SREC Trader in the Project Finance Group for SolarCity which merged with Tesla in 2016. He originated SREC trades with buyers and co-developed their SREC monetization and hedging strategy with the senior management of SolarCity to move into the east coast markets.
Benoy was the Vice President at Vanguard Energy Partners which is a national solar installer where he focused on project finance solutions for commercial scale solar projects. He also worked for Ridgewood Renewable Power, a private equity fund, where he analyzed potential investments in renewable energy projects and worked on maximizing the financial return of the projects in the portfolio. Benoy also worked on the sale of all of the renewable energy projects in Ridgewood’s portfolio.
He was in the Energy Structured Finance practice for Deloitte & Touche and in Financial Advisory Services practice at Ernst & Young. Benoy received his first experience in Finance as an intern at D.E. Shaw & Co., which is a global investment firm with 37 billion dollars in investment capital. He has a MBA in Finance from Rutgers University and a BS in Finance and Economics from the Stern School of Business at New York University. Benoy was an Alumni Scholar at the Stern School of Business.
Josh Goldberg
Josh has spent the past 15+ years founding and operating businesses in the solar installation, development and financing space including Astrum Solar and Sunlight Financial. He also co-founded Legends of Learning. Having been a solar installer and business owner himself, Josh is passionate about supporting both Sunstone’s solar developer partners, and the commercial customers they serve, through Sunstone’s mission. Josh started his career as an M&A lawyer.
Stay Connected:
Benoy Thanjan
Email: info@reneuenergy.com
LinkedIn: Benoy Thanjan
Website: https://www.reneuenergy.com
Josh Goldberg
Email: Josh.Goldberg@sunstonecredit.com
Website: https://www.sunstonecredit.com
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/joshuamgoldberg/
We would like to thank our sponsor Schwerd Consulting for sponsoring this episode of the Solar Maverick Podcast.
Schwerd Consulting is a leading solar consulting firm dedicated to design, engineering, owner representation and technical consulting in all areas of solar photovoltaics and energy storage for the Commercial & Industrial and Utility markets. At Schwerd Consulting we like to say that We Know Solar. We don’t just Do Solar. What sets us apart is our 100% focus on solar, while having an extensive background in building and utility engineering, and understanding the business of our clients. We are involved with the trends, technologies, vendors, policies, utilities, codes, and financial considerations for the industry. Therefore, value add for us is not just a slogan, it’s what we practice in order to have loyal customers and gain trust.
In its 9 years of business, Schwerd Consulting has provided services for approximately 1 GW of PV across over 800 sites and 17 US states plus the Caribbean. Let Schwerd Consulting take the burden off you and bring ease and expertise in all areas of Engineering & Design or help you navigate the technical world of solar. If you are interested in learning more about Schwerd Consulting, you can call 215-219-6718 or email to admin@schwerdconsulting. Schwerd Consulting’s website is www.schwerdconsulting.com.