Solar Maverick Podcast

12 episodes scanned. 38% of ad slots promote the show's own products.

Recent Episodes

1. SMP 306: How AI Is Changing Utility Scale Solar Design?

   Nov 3, 2026

   Orçun Başlak, Co-Founder and CEO of PVX AI, explains how the company's software uses AI within AutoCAD to design utility-scale ground-mount solar projects, starting from terrain before placing modules and racks. The conversation covers how soil conditions, foundations, and early site selection affect construction costs, along with the value of reducing design rework. The episode also touches on AI adoption, software security, battery storage placement, and PVX AI's expansion into the U.S. market.

2. SMP 305: Illinois Storage Takes Off as America’s Power Needs Grow

   Oct 26, 2026

   Co-hosts Benoy Thanjan and David Magid give a short "The League" segment on energy market developments. They cover Illinois' standalone utility-scale storage solicitation, with its 20-year contracts for differences, and the workforce shortage in nuclear and high-voltage electrical work. They close by discussing federal permitting reform as a financing issue and Google's 20-year power agreement tied to an AEP fuel cell project in Wyoming.

3. SMP 304: How to Grow Your Business Without Doing Everything Yourself

   Oct 20, 2026

   Vin Infante, a mental performance coach, entrepreneur, and former FDNY firefighter, joins Benoy Thanjan to discuss why founders become bottlenecks and how to build systems that let a business run without them. He describes helping a solar business owner cut his workweek from six days to four while growing sales through documented processes, delegation, and team training. The conversation also covers AI prompting, human oversight, personal branding, protecting one's time, and leading with value.

4. SMP 303: Climate Week NYC: What’s Next for Renewable Energy Development?

   Oct 17, 2026

   Co-hosts Benoy Thanjan and David Magid recap their takeaways from Climate Week NYC, including a clean energy finance panel and Eons' risk and resiliency summit. They discuss the energy constraints created by AI and data center demand, speed to power, nuclear development risks such as EPC abandonment and workforce needs, and New York's nuclear and utility-scale battery storage initiatives.

5. SMP 302: Climate Week NYC: Financing Clean Energy, Powering AI & Building the Workforce

   Oct 10, 2026

   Benoy Thanjan shares takeaways from Climate Week NYC on turning clean energy commitments into financed, built projects, covering community engagement, permitting, supply-chain traceability, cybersecurity, and AI-driven demand for behind-the-meter generation and storage. The episode then features an interview with Kristy Drutman, co-CEO and founder of Green Jobs Board, recorded at the Green Jobs Pavilion during Climate Week. She describes the platform's community of job seekers and the pavilion's career programming connecting employers with candidates for climate and social impact roles.

6. SMP 301: Solar's Next Chapter: Affordability, Storage and the Grid

   Sep 29, 2026

   Sachu Constantine, Executive Director of Vote Solar, discusses state-level policy as the critical driver of solar deployment and affordability. Topics include interconnection and permitting reforms, solar plus battery storage's role in grid reliability, plug-in solar for renters and apartment dwellers, rising electricity demand from data centers and AI, and the political headwinds facing clean energy despite solar's cost competitiveness and speed to market.

7. SMP 300: 300 Episodes Later, Why We’re Still Bullish on Solar

   Sep 18, 2026

   In this milestone 300th episode of the Solar Maverick Podcast, host Benoy Thanjan celebrates with longtime co-host Nate Jovanelli, Founder and CEO of SunRaise Capital, reflecting on the evolution of the residential solar industry since the podcast's inception. They discuss how much has changed since 2018—including the shift from viewing batteries as solar accessories to positioning solar as a battery accessory, the persistent challenge of customer acquisition costs, the advantages of regional installers over national players, and the critical role of rising electricity costs in driving adoption. The conversation covers policy uncertainty, interconnection complexities, changing customer demographics, and why solar plus storage represents the industry's greatest opportunity over the next decade. Both remain bullish on solar's long-term growth despite near-term headwinds.

8. SMP 299: From 9/11 Survivor to Solar Maverick: A Life Driven by Purpose

   Sep 10, 2026

   Benoy Thanjan, founder and CEO of Reneu Energy and host of the Solar Maverick Podcast, sits down with co-host Li Wang to share his personal account of surviving the September 11 terrorist attacks while inside One World Trade Center. Benoy recounts being in the lobby when the first plane struck at 8:46 a.m., narrowly escaping death by mere seconds, and describes witnessing the chaos, evacuating alongside first responders, and seeing the second plane hit. The conversation explores how this traumatic experience fundamentally shifted his life purpose, leading him away from fossil fuel finance toward renewable energy and solar development, and how he channels survivor's guilt into meaningful work including community solar projects in New York and disaster relief efforts in Puerto Rico.

9. SMP 298: When Energy Becomes a National Security Issue

   Sep 1, 2026

   Benoy Thanjan and David Magid examine how clean energy is becoming increasingly connected to national security, grid resilience, and government policy. They discuss Michigan's new statewide permitting process for utility-scale solar, Westinghouse's proposed nuclear microreactor at Fort Drum, the national-security risks of foreign-made solar and storage equipment, and California's record renewable-energy curtailment.

10. SMP 297: Solar Gets Complicated: AI, Storage, Inverters & Grid Challenges

    Aug 26, 2026

    David Magid joins host Benoy Thanjan to discuss how the solar and clean energy industry is becoming increasingly complex, driven by policy uncertainty, storage integration, supply chain concerns around inverters, and grid constraints. The conversation covers Massachusetts' 83E energy storage solicitation, ERCOT's massive queue of data center applications, and the critical importance of understanding tariffs, cybersecurity, interconnection, permitting, and financing alongside traditional solar development.