The Solar Journey Podcast – Details, episodes & analysis

In our second episode of the season, Torsten is joined at The smarter E in Munich by trailblazing solar analyst Jenny Chase, who was the first member of the BloombergNEF solar analyst team. Jenny, who has spent over 17 years shaping solar market intelligence, shares her journey from studying physics at Cambridge University to leading one of the world’s top sources for solar data and analysis.

Jenny walks us through the early days of solar, back when the price of polysilicon was astronomical and when installing half a terawatt of PV in one year (as we are on track to do in 2024) would've been unthinkable. She reflects on how solar has evolved to become an essential driver of the global energy transition and discusses the many challenges of analyzing an ever-changing and rapidly evolving market.

An extremely engaging conversation, sprinkled with her signature wit and no-nonsense approach, Jenny speaks to the joys of building a team, the perils of management, and the importance of doing what you love (which may or may not include tending to a flock of multi-generational geese).

PLUS: On the Espresso segment, Sven Albersmeier-Braun reports from the new Solar & Storage Live Zürich event. Sven is from upstart Chinese power electronics and battery supplier Sigenergy, and he describes how the residential battery market in Switzerland is undergoing a transition, as fears of power shortages begin to fade.

We're kicking off Season 2 of The Solar Journey with solar industry leader Howard Wenger, President of Nextracker! In this episode, host Dr. Torsten Brammer dives deep into Howard's incredible 40-year journey, from waiting in gas lines during the 1970's oil crisis to leading one of the world's most innovative solar tracker companies. Howard shares how he fell in love with photovoltaics (spoiler: he may bleed silicon!) and never looked back. He walks us through the early days of solar, when costs were sky-high, and people thought he was chasing a pipe dream. Fast forward to today, and Nextracker is celebrating 100 gigawatts of solar trackers shipped. Get a behind-the-scenes look at what drives Nextracker's success and hear Howard's insights on what it will take to push solar energy and clean tech to the next level. PLUS: On the Espresso segment, Radovan Kopecek from ISC Konstanz joins us live from Anaheim, California – from the RE+ trade show and conference. He provides an update on solar manufacturing in the US and how intellectual property issues are creating challenges for prospective cell producers in the country. He also hints at an opportunity for non-Chinese cell makers that may present a profitable sales channel in the currently challenging market situation.

In episode #014 Dr. Torsten Brammer speaks with the University of Freiburg located in Fahnenbergplatz, Germany.

Dr. Brammer is the host and founder of The Solar Journey Podcast, and currently serves as the CEO of WAVELABS Solar Metrology Systems GmbH, and CEO for Photovoltaic Research and Consulting.

With the University of Freiburg, Dr. Brammer discusses his personal solar journey and what he's learned as the show's host (from other solar experts). Tune in to hear more. 

Connect with Dr. Torsten Brammer on LinkedIn. 

** Find this episode's transcript on The Solar Journey website, on the blog page, under interviews **

In episode #013 Dr. Torsten Brammer speaks with Dr. Pierre Verlinden. Dr. Verlinden is a photovoltaic (PV) scientist with 40 years of experience in high-efficiency silicon solar cell technology, IBC silicon cells, Concentrator photovoltaic (CPV), multi-junction III-V solar cells, detectors, optoelectronic and power devices.

The founder and managing director of Amrock, he specializes in design, process development and integration, modeling and characterization. His experience also includes the transfer of PV technology from University to Manufacturing, and the design and construction of PV manufacturing plants.

Dr. Brammer and Dr. Verlinden discuss the key milestones in PV-tech, sustainability in PV, recruitment, and what it takes to get solar to the next level. Tune in to hear all about what Dr. Verlinden is doing in the solar industry and more.

Connect with Pierre Verlinden on LinkedIn. 

** Find this episode's transcript on The Solar Journey website, on the blog page, under interviews **

Another new episode this way comes with double the power. This week Dr. Brammer is joined by Konrad Perényi and Steffen Mangold of Solytic. Solytic is a digital platform used to maximize solar performance to save costs, drive profits, and extend life cycles. Its mission is to automate top performance for solar PV.

Konrad Perényi and Steffen Mangold are two of the four founders and focus on the marketing place/marketing, and tech/product respectively. Started in 2009, Solytic has come a long way since its humble beginnings and continues to change the world. Tune in to hear more about the company and what they're doing to advance solar.

Connect with Konrad and Steffen on LinkedIn.

** Find this episode's transcript on The Solar Journey website, on the blog page, under interviews **

The hits keep on coming with another episode of The Solar Journey with Dr. Torsten Brammer. In episode #11 Dr. Brammer speaks with Andreas Bentzen of Otovo. Based in Oslo, Norway, Andreas acts as CTO and Co-Founder of Otovo, and Owner and Founder of Beacon. Andreas received his Master of Science in Physical Electronics at NTNU and his Ph.D. in Physics at UiO. In this episode, Torsten and Andreas discuss key pressure points in solar, how Otovo qualifies suppliers, and what it takes to get solar to the next level. Connect with Andreas on LinkedIn.

** Find this episode's transcript on The Solar Journey website, on the blog page, under interviews **

We're back with another episode of The Solar Journey podcast with Torsten Brammer! This week, in episode #010, Torsten speaks with Radovan Kopecek, Co-founder and Director of ISC Konstanz.

Dr. Radovan Kopecek, born in Brno (former Czechoslovakia), obtained his Diploma in Physics at the University of Stuttgart in 1998 in the field of Superconductive Fullerides. In addition, he studied for one year at Portland State University (Oregon, USA) where he obtained a Master of Science degree in 1995. During his studies, he worked at the Max-Planck-Institut (MPI) and at the Institute of Physical Electronics (IPE) in Stuttgart as a research assistant in the field of crystalline Si for PV applications. He joined Professor Ernst Bucher´s group in 1998 for his Ph.D. dissertation, which he completed in November 2002 in the field of Thin-Film Silicon Solar Cells.

One of the founders of ISC Konstanz Dr. Kopecek is working as a full-time manager and researcher since January 2007 and is currently the leader of the advanced solar cells department dealing with novel cell technologies. He is responsible for several European and national research projects. Since 2017 he is a board member of EUREC and from 2018 on a founding member of AtaMoS-TeC in Chile.

The overall goal is to turn Germany´s energy supply to 100% solar and other renewable energy resources until 2030 and to assist other countries with the same goal. 70TW PV till 2050 is possible.

Connect with Radovan on LinkedIn.

** Find this episode's transcript on The Solar Journey website, on the blog page, under interviews **

We were very fortunate on Episode #009 of The Solar Journey Podcast, to host Tobias Schuett, CEO of German company DZ-4.

DZ-4 is Germany’s first distributed utility company that sells solar PV energy to residential homeowners in a “behind the meter” concept.

Tobias is a true entrepreneur and solar PV passionate with a proven track record of successfully developing, executing, and growing new business opportunities. In his roles, he's been able to push the limits of what has been considered financeable (be it large-scale solar PV projects, a start-up with a complex business model, or portfolios of residential solar PV systems). All his activities correlate with his core values: reliability, common sense, solutions-driven, sustainability, partnerships.

Connect with Tobias on LinkedIn.

** Find this episode's transcript on The Solar Journey website, on the blog page, under interviews **

On Episode #008 of The Solar Journey Podcast, we're honored to host Harald Överholm, founder (and CEO) of Swedish solar company Alight.

Founded in 2013, Alight (previously Eneo) is the leading solar Power Purchase Agreement provider in the Nordics. Alight is committed to helping large corporations save money and do good, now and in the long term, through sustainable solar technology.

Harald Överholm is based in Stockholm and has a Ph.D. from Cambridge, where he focused on market development of the US solar PPA market. He's a solar energy believer with 10+ years of experience. Building the solar corporate PPA market in the EU, helping businesses across Europe switch to solar and pay less for energy (than they pay their utility) while displacing fossil energy is his main game.

Connect with Harald on Linkedin.

** Find this episode's transcript on The Solar Journey website, on the blog page, under interviews **

Episode #007 of The Solar Journey Podcast is a little different than our previous episodes. Our honored guest is Alexandra Münzer. She was introduced to us as the “Mother of European Guarantees of Origin,” and we used the opportunity to take a deep dive into a very complex topic: The scope and application of the Guarantees of Origin (GOs) System (also known as green certificates) in Europe.

We peppered Alexandra with questions about the purpose, practical application, and possible shortcomings of the GO-System. This system is at the heart of Europe’s goal to become the first carbon-neutral continent by 2050.

We learned a lot and are excited to share these fundamental insights with our listeners.

Alexandra Münzer is the Managing Director of Greenfact. Greenfact is a market intelligence and price transparency service in the renewable energy industry. She holds a Ph.D. in physics with a special focus on semiconductor sensors, from TU-München. Alexandra was born in Austria, studied in Germany, and now lives in beautiful Oslo, Norway.

Connect with Alexandra on Linkedin.

Show notes

(Interesting points covered in this episode for those of us on our own Solar Journey):

- [00:04] Alexandra's big move from Germany to Norway

- [00:12] Explaining green certificates as if speaking to a child

- [00:18] The GO and its international counterparts

- [00:21] How the GOs are traded

- [00:36] Oversupply of GOs on an annual basis

- [00:42] Market pricing of different green electricities across Europe

- [00:56] The three different scopes of carbon emissions of corporations

- [01:04] Who are typical customers of Greenfact?

- [01:08] What can individuals do to be more conscious in their power choices?

- [01:10] How do you see the future of renewable energy playing out?

** Find this episode's transcript on The Solar Journey website, on the blog page, under interviews **