RENEW's Renewables Going Mainstream Podcast

Paul Schurink founded ZAP Concepts in The Netherlands in 2011. He holds the degree Master of Business in Energy systems (MBE) and has over 30 years event power experience in international projects (Olympics Athens & Torino, UEFA Championships, Volvo Ocean Race, and many large scale international music festivals). Paul is a specialist in grid-connected systems, battery systems, and zero/low emissions power and works across the globe on high profile live events of all types.

Michael is a dynamic and innovative global Sales & Marketing and Business Development Leader with a passion for conceiving and launching game-changing products and strategies. He is passionate about inspiring and engaging clients to adopt new, innovative technologies and approaches.  Michael brings over 14 years of experience in the development of energy storage technologies, mainly ultracapacitor, and batteries. Over the course of his career, he has led the deployment of the very first ultracapacitor-powered start-stop systems used in automotive, the very first starter module for trucks, busses, and trains, the development of the Chinese hybrid bus market and has been one of the foremost pioneers in the automotive sector, working with the likes of BMW, Mercedes Benz, GM, VW Group and many others including their respective Tier1 suppliers. As VP Business Development at Maxwell Technologies, the global leader in Ultracapacitor based energy storage, he leads the massive growth phase of the company, leading to major automotive design-in wins, explosive growth in hybrid bus application and various innovative solutions for integrating Maxwell’s products into various energy storage solutions. Under his leadership, the revenues grew from $7m to more than $132m, close to 1900% of growth over 7 years.    For the European startup Skeleton Technologies, Michael led the push into the automotive and transportation sectors, providing guidance for this company to become the leader in Europe for ultracapacitor and similar power storage technologies. As the Sr. VP of Business Development, he enabled the company to achieve the funding goals needed for the continuing growth over the next years into a high volume manufacturer.  Prior to joining the field of energy storage, Michael worked for premium auto brands including BMW Group, where he headed up the transportation design group at BMW Group DesignworksUSA. As the Director of Transportation Design Management, he introduced the consultancy to the airline, airframe, and business aviation world working with the leading companies in their respective fields. Creating the philosophy to always look at the end-user without omitting the objectives of the actual client. His clients roster included global companies such as John Deere, Caterpillar, Airbus, Singapore Airlines, Boeing, Embraer, Gulfstream, Siemens, PACCAR, Volvo, Delta Airlines, Heidelberg, and many more.  During his time with Boeing, he headed up the design efforts for new interiors for a set of long-range/high capacity aircraft programs, exploring new service concepts, seating layouts, and cabin architectures. Program manager for the MD-2015 narrow body future flight deck, integrating new avionics technologies into a cohesively integrated, pilot driven product. Considered to be at least a decade ahead of its times. But all started with being an automation engineer for Boeing introducing the latest robotics and manufacturing technologies on various aviation programs.  He was a participant of the Mercedes-Benz, a Daimler subsidiary, management training program during which he rotated among various global locations. Projects for car, bus and truck divisions of Daimler, from research, planning, production, purchasing to the assistant program manager for the CL line (high-end coupe) at Mercedes Benz.   He is an engineer by training with an MS from the University of Karlsruhe in Germany.

With over twelve years experience, M&C Hybrid Energy is one of Ireland's leading green, renewable energy solution providers. We're a husband and wife team and based in Co. Cavan. We are built with the noble purpose of supporting and educating Irish homeowners and businesses to become more energy-efficient and understand the benefits of doing so, as renewable and green energy becomes increasingly relevant. We launched in 2009, and as you can imagine business has changed dramatically since. We were somewhat ahead of the curve and mass customer demand. But now, our business is growing exponentially and we expect that to continue throughout 2020 and beyond. Consumers and businesses continue to better understand the cost-saving and eco-friendly benefits of sustainable energy technologies. In addition, Government is pushing on to 'close the gap' in its binding 2020 renewable energy target of 40% and its vital businesses like our support with this. Micheal is a plumber by trade and has 25 years experience working in both Ireland and in the US. When he moved home in 2006, he diversified to renewable, recognizing the growing need for a concerted effort from Ireland's energy professionals to endorse and provide green solutions. He spent three years researching new technologies across Europe and launched M&C Hybrid Energy in 2009. Micheal in the Managing Director of the company. He is fully qualified in Biomass, Solar PV, Solar Thermal, Heat Pumps and Wood Pellet Stoves. Carmel joined the business in 2009 and her role is largely operational, in the office overseeing the delegation of a project, managing a project's budget, overseeing company finance and marketing and ensuring overall customer satisfaction.

Dan started the company in 2017 after a number of sales & marketing leadership roles from PLCs to start-ups. Dan has built and managed teams with exceptional people and is both an operational and strategic thinker. Dan assembled the founding team and has been the main driver of business development. His initial fundraising efforts have secured €250K of grants as well as seed funding. What is OTEC? OTEC is an application of solar energy that exploits the heat that the ocean captures from the sun’s rays. It possesses huge environmental advantages over fossil fuels and nuclear power; avoids land-use problems associated with renewable energy technologies such as solar, wind, biomass, and hydroelectric power; and has the potential to produce far more useful and affordable energy than could be obtained from other renewable sources. For more information, visit the OTEC Global Resources website.

David R. Rubenstein co-founded CE+P on June 1, 2007 and assumed the position of Chief Operating Officer at that time. He then elevated to the positions of CEO and President on November 1, 2013. He has been an active and successful business owner in the Los Angeles area for more than 30 years. Mr. Rubenstein has worked to grow his chemical distribution company from a small niche supplier of ammonia to becoming the largest industrial ammonia supplier in the Southwestern United States. After graduating from Winona State University in Winona, Minnesota in 1986 with a Bachelor of Business Administration and minors in accounting and sociology, Mr. Rubenstein began working for Koboy-Reslabs Company, Inc. (“Koboy”). Koboy, based in suburban Chicago, was a supplier of ammonia and related products used in the blueprint, microfilm and garment industries. At that time, Koboy had just purchased the ammonia division of National Research and Chemical (“NACCO”) located in the Los Angeles area. Mr. Rubenstein was hired to develop the California division of Koboy. In 1987, Mr. Rubenstein was asked to head both the Chicago and Los Angeles divisions of Koboy. In 1988, Mr. Rubenstein purchased the California division and renamed it Pacific Diazo Products (“PDP”). In the 1990s, the traditional industries of blueprinting, microfilming and garment pattern reproduction evolved and in turn, reduced the need and use of ammonia. Mr. Rubenstein was successful in redirecting the scope of PDP’s business by supplying ammonia to larger users such as power plants (used for pollution control), water & wastewater facilities (for purification of water), refrigeration facilities, and a host of other technologies that require ammonia. During this time, PDP increased its assets in order to keep up with growing demand for its products. The increase came in the way of chemical storage tanks, large chemical mixing equipment and the addition of straight trucks, chemical tractors and tank trailers and field service trucks used by PDP’s technical service personnel. PDP also established additional facilities in Arizona and the central valley area of California. PDP grew to own a fleet of vehicles that carried products throughout California, Arizona, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah and Colorado. PDP developed a Field Service crew that installed and maintained ammonia storage tanks and systems at customers’ locations and responded to chemical leaks. PDP assembled the largest fleet of delivery trucks for industrial ammonia products in the Western United States and had perhaps the largest industrial ammonia inventory capacity in Southern California. PDP began construction of a state-of-the-art distribution facility in Riverside, California. On December 31, 2007, Mr. Rubenstein sold PDP to Airgas, Inc., a major U.S. industrial gasses company. During his time with PDP, Mr. Rubenstein participated in numerous industry associations. Mr. Rubenstein has served on the board of directors of the Western Reprographics Association and the National Association of Chemical Distributors. He currently serves as a Trustee of Winona State University’s Foundation and received a Winona State University Distinguished Young Alumni Award in 2009. He is married and has two daughters and a son and resides in Manhattan Beach, California.

Benoy Thanjan is the Founder and CEO of Reneu Energy and he is also an advisor for several solar startup companies. He has extensive financial experience in the renewable energy industry and in the environmental commodities market. 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.

Yaniv Kalish is the Founder and CEO of SolarKal. Leading operations out of the company’s New York City Headquarters, he propels SolarKal’s mission of accelerating the expansion of solar energy as the main source of global power generation. After personally observing many prospective commercial solar energy clients face decisioning obstacles throughout the procurement process, Yaniv believed procuring solar energy deserved a simpler and more transparent solution. Therein, Yaniv founded SolarKal in 2015 creating the premier marketplace where SolarKal expert advisors could connect a trusted network of solar providers with organizations seeking to transition to solar. With over a decade of industry experience ranging from origination to financing, to developing solar photovoltaic (PV) systems, Yaniv offers a wide range of solar industry knowledge and is regarded as a thought leader in the space.  Yaniv holds a Bachelor of Science degree in mechanical engineering from Tel Aviv University and a Master of Business Administration (MBA) from Columbia Business School

Ian Lowe is the CEO and Founder of Arduro Sustainable Rubber, an advanced materials company building a circular economy for the waste tire and rubber industry. Prior to Arduro, Ian was a Project Finance Investment Banker with Piper Jaffray. He focused on financing Power Plants and Advanced Manufacturing facilities that incorporated new renewable and sustainable technologies. Ian started his career at JPMorgan, becoming the Global Financial Controller for the Power & Gas businesses. He received his MBA from NYU Stern.

Gediz Karaca is the CEO of Odqa Renewable Energy Technologies Limited which is a venture-backed engineering spinout developing cheapest on-demand solar power from the University of Oxford. He has 8 years of mega-project construction management experience and has led the development of over $1bn of assets including the development of complex engineering projects such as water supply systems, subway stations, skyscrapers and bridges. He is a civil and geological engineer by training and holds an MSc in Construction and Engineering Management from Bogazici University and an MBA degree from the University of Oxford's Saïd Business School.

Community Power Partners (“CPP”) is a leading Community Solar Customer Acquisition Firm active in New York and all Community Solar States. As an affiliate of Matrix Solar Development, a New York based Community Solar Developer, and stemming from professionals with over 60 years of combined experience in real estate development, energy sales and renewable energy development, CPP is well positioned to leverage their expertise and offer the most compelling and effective Community Solar Customer Acquisition product on the market. Launched in April 2018 CPP was initially formed to fill a void in the customer acquisition space that became apparent the during due diligence process for Community Solar Customer Acquisition and Subscription Management for its own portfolio. Due to inefficiencies and strong demand in the market, CPP has since expanded its service offering to other Community Solar Developers, Subscription Management Companies and Asset Owners Nationwide.

George has over twenty years of new product development experience in a range of industries including specialty materials, automotive and renewable energy. He founded TechScale Solutions in 2014 to assist companies in transitioning clean energy technologies into viable commercial products. George leads the consulting engagements and has worked with a range of large scale and start-up clients in the areas of fuel cells, hydrogen generation, energy storage and microgrid development. Prior to founding TechScale Solutions, he was the Vice President of Engineering at Hy9 Corporation where he led engineering and product development initiatives to transition the company into a viable commercial entity. He drove a shift from technology development to commercialization of low-cost, high-performance hydrogen generators and hydrogen purifiers for the stationary/backup power industry. Previous to Hy9, he was the Manager of Component Development Engineering at UTC Power (division of United Technologies Corporation) where he developed technical solutions and supply chain relationships to reduce costs of key components in stationary and automotive fuel cell power plants. He has also held product development positions at W.L. Gore and Associates which were focused on the development of high strength polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) materials for industrial and consumer applications. He holds a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from Worcester Polytechnic Institute.

Co-Founder and CEO Mark Latham started the Panel the Planet in 2016 with a team of eco-entrepreneurs to advise and educate clients on how to make the best decisions from both an economic and green perspective. Mark has always approached business with a client first attitude, believing that the only way to create long lasting relationships was to put the client first and the bottom line second. Since 2011, Mark has gained broad industry experience, including commercial level solar, lighting, and water conservation efforts that are now saving Southern California in excess of 100 million gallons of water per year. After many years of learning the business, Mark decided that his personal vision of operation would best be served by starting an independent firm to better meet the client’s needs. By virtually eliminating operational and overhead costs seen with previous ventures, the PTP model would not only allow for both greater control and transparency over project management, but also create a better negotiating and leverage position with vendor partners on projects that would significantly reduce the cost to client. In 2018, Mark began a Joint Venture company, Planet Optima, which allows for more of a whole building approach of renewables that are driven by client needs and state or utility funded incentive programs, largely focussed on the Multi-Family sector. 2020 will likely gross 8 figures across the two entities.

With an extensive background in Finance, Tom started researching renewable energy during his time as an oil and bond trader on the Chicago Board of Trade. Realizing the tremendous economic and social benefits it would provide society, Tom broadened his knowledge while enrolled in a specialized MBA program for renewable energy, and made the transition to the energy and solar industry, applying his financial background throughout the journey. Tom’s experience, motivation, and vision took him to the next level, and he started Transition Energy in early 2019. Transition Energy primarily develops and finances mid-size solar projects, and is gearing up for a huge market opportunity during this transition to the new era of energy.

Jim Spano’s strong financial background as well as his expertise in real estate and land development gives him a unique perspective among solar energy developers. Mr. Spano has played a key role in the development of projects totaling over 300 MWs in solar generation facilities. Mr. Spano is a managing partner of Spano Partner Holdings and leads other ventures as a nationally recognized expert in solar development and finance. He is the co-founder and head of originations at RadiantREIT, which will be the first solar mortgage real estate investment trust in the country, established to offer long-term, fixed-rate debt that enables more self-ownership for developers and healthier balance sheets. Jim is also the co-founder of My-Resi, an energy storage development company using aggregated residential solar plus storage to operate as virtual power plants. Lastly, Jim is a co-founder of Above Grid, a DG development company partnered with a global utility. He is the founder and president of the New Jersey Solar Grid Supply Association (NJSGSA), vice president of the Mid-Atlantic Solar & Storage Industry Association (MSSIA), on the board of the International Battery and Energy Storage Alliance (IBESA), a conference committee member of the Intersolar North America Conference, and an advisory board member to several renewable energy companies in the United States.