Energy Gang - Watt It Takes: Why Steph Speirs Wants Solar For All

Watt It Takes: Why Steph Speirs Wants Solar For All

10/23/20 • 52 min

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Energy Gang

This week on Watt It Takes: Powerhouse CEO Emily Kirsch sits down with Solstice CEO Steph Speirs.

Solistice is a community solar company trying to make PV accessible to everyone.

Steph Speirs grew up one of three kids, first generation, in Hawaii. Her mom had immigrated from Korea. She knows what eviction feels like, and what it’s like to skirt homelessness. And she knows how a poor credit score can sink a human being.

She got a scholarship to a private high school, became a National Merit scholar and accrued three masters degrees at Yale, Princeton and MIT.

In this interview, we’ll hear how her time in the Obama administration led to a summer internship with the non-profit impact investor Acumen. She worked on solar lanterns in India. Her time in Yemen, India, and then Pakistan led to an awakening about energy injustice in the United States.

Solstice has now developed demand for 100 MW of community solar and just closed its biggest funding round so far.

To learn more about future speakers and attending a live event, go to Powerhouse.fund and click on the events tab. You can listen to all of the episodes of Watt It Takes here.

The Energy Gang is also brought to you by KORE Power. Based in the U.S., KORE Power is situated to meet the growing global demand of the energy storage market. KORE Power is building the first large-scale battery cell manufacturing facility in the U.S. owned by an American company. Once it’s operational, the 1-million-square-foot facility will have 12 gigawatt-hours of scalable manufacturing capacity. Learn more.

The Energy Gang is brought to you by Sungrow, the leading global supplier of inverter solutions for renewables. During these uncertain times, Sungrow is committed to protecting its employees and continuing to reliably serve its customers around the world. Sungrow has also leveraged its extensive network across the United States to distribute face masks to communities in need.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

This week on Watt It Takes: Powerhouse CEO Emily Kirsch sits down with Solstice CEO Steph Speirs.

Solistice is a community solar company trying to make PV accessible to everyone.

She got a scholarship to a private high school, became a National Merit scholar and accrued three masters degrees at Yale, Princeton and MIT.

Solstice has now developed demand for 100 MW of community solar and just closed its biggest funding round so far.

To learn more about future speakers and attending a live event, go to Powerhouse.fund and click on the events tab. You can listen to all of the episodes of Watt It Takes here.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Previous Episode

Taking Stock of Job Losses in Clean Energy

In a year when clean energy and clean vehicle jobs were supposed to increase by some 175,000, we are down by half a million jobs.

We will tell you why, and explain the numbers. What will reverse the decline?

Then: Did New Jersey just pass the most sweeping environmental justice law in the country? The new law will mean big changes for industrial sites -- and the neighborhoods that often feel their worst impacts.

And last: What about all that nice, flat water in hydropower reservoirs? Could we float solar panels on it? The Department of Energy says we could. And it would actually produce massive amounts of electricity.

E2: Clean Energy Sector Enters Final Months of 2020 Down 478,000 Jobs
Bloomberg: Most U.S. Oil Job Losses in Pandemic Are Lasting
Fortune: The Oil and Gas Industry Has Lost More Than 100,000 Jobs This Year
NJ.com: Landmark Law to Protect N.J.'s Poorest Communities From Pollution
DOE: U.S. Hydropower Potential from Existing Non-powered Dams