SunCast

Getting a solar project approved is one thing. Building enough trust that the community welcomes the next project is another.
In this Part 2 of Nico Johnson’s conversation with Lauren Glickman, the focus shifts from what solar and agriculture can accomplish together to what developers must do to make those benefits credible and durable.
Lauren explores why agrivoltaics cannot be treated as a one-size-fits-all practice. Grazing, crops, pollinator habitat, and other agricultural uses have very different economics, which means the policies and incentives designed to encourage them may need to differ as well. She also explains why permitting certainty and agricultural tax treatment can sometimes matter more than another financial subsidy.
But the larger lesson is about trust.
Lauren shares what can happen when agricultural commitments disappear after a project changes ownership, why farmers should be compensated for the expertise they bring to project development, and why showing up only when you need a permit means starting the relationship at a disadvantage.
For developers, the responsibility extends beyond getting today’s project built. Every promise kept or broken influences how that community responds to the next solar project.
If you missed Part 1, we made the case for solar + farming; in this Part 2, we ask what it takes to make that partnership last.
Are there other technologies you’ve scouted on the frontlines of the Clean Energy Revolution that you think we should be covering here on SunCast?
Hit us up - team@suncast.me with your feedback & recommendations.
If you want to connect with today's guest, you’ll find links to their contact info in the show notes on the blog at https://suncast.media/episodes/.
Our Platinum Presenting Sponsor for SunCast is CPS America!
You can learn more about all the sponsors who help make this show free for you at www.suncast.media/sponsors.
Remember, you can always find resources, learn more about today’s guest and explore recommendations, book links, and more than 950 other founder stories and startup advice at www.suncast.media.
We'd love if you'd leave us a 5 ⭐ rating & review and it's never been easier: https://www.ratethispodcast.com/suncast
Subscribe to Valence, our weekly LinkedIn Newsletter, and learn the elements of compelling storytelling: https://www.linkedin.com/newsletters/valence-content-that-connects-7145928995363049472/
You can connect with me, Nico Johnson, on:
Twitter - https://www.twitter.com/nicomeo
LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/nickalus
(00:00) Developing Project Certainty in Agrivoltaic Policy
(02:55) Financial Incentive Limitations Across Diverse Agrivoltaic Practices
(05:10) Permitting Reform and Farm-By-Right Statutes
(10:00) Ensuring Durability in Long-Term Developer Commitments
(12:10) Embedding Agricultural Obligations into Land Lease Options
(15:28) Compensating Farmers and Proactive Community Pre-Engagement
(18:00) Overcoming Post-Energization Host Community Ghosting
(20:08) Maryland's Agricultural Tax Treatment and Certification Model
(22:16) Aligning Clean Energy and Conservation Through Uncommon Dialogue
(26:48) Spotting Agrivoltaic Greenwashing and Enforcing Practical Accountability
(29:39) Rapid Fire Insights on Agrivoltaics and Policy
(31:03) The 10-Year Future of Solar and Agriculture Integration
(32:39) Rewarding Long-Term Commitments Beyond Project Energization

For years, the solar industry has defended development on agricultural land by arguing that solar can help keep farms in the family and protect them from more permanent forms of development. Lauren Glickman thinks the opportunity may be bigger than that.
For nearly five years, Lauren has helped shepherd policy and communications at Encore Renewable Energy, one of the Northeast's leading community-scale renewable energy developers and a longtime advocate for brownfield redevelopment and more sustainable land use. In Part 1 of this two-part SunCast conversation, she makes the case for thinking about solar and farming as partners rather than competing land uses.
Lauren points to SEIA analysis showing that far more prime farmland is sitting fallow than is occupied by solar, and shares an Encore project in Vermont where a former gravel pit now generates electricity while providing pasture for a local sheep farmer.
Nico and Lauren explore what current agrivoltaics research is actually showing, where the evidence is still developing, how grazing and larger livestock can expand the opportunity, and why farmers themselves may be the most credible voices for explaining the benefits.
The bigger question is not simply how much farmland solar occupies. It is how much agricultural value solar can preserve, restore, or create.
And this is only Part 1. On Thursday, Lauren returns to tackle the harder half of the equation: how developers earn community trust, design better incentives, and make sure agricultural promises survive for the life of the project.
Expect to Learn:
🔹 Why the 43-to-1 farmland statistic changes the solar debate
🔹 How Encore turned a former gravel pit into productive pastureland
🔹 What current agrivoltaics research reveals about crops and livestock
🔹 Why farmers must lead the conversation about solar's agricultural benefits
If we're serious about protecting American farmland, maybe it's time to stop asking how much land solar occupies and start asking how much agricultural value it creates.
Listen in for a different perspective on the future of solar and farming.
Are there other technologies you’ve scouted on the frontlines of the Clean Energy Revolution that you think we should be covering here on SunCast?
Hit us up - team@suncast.me with your feedback & recommendations.
If you want to connect with today's guest, you’ll find links to their contact info in the show notes on the blog at https://suncast.media/episodes/.
Our Platinum Presenting Sponsor for SunCast is CPS America!
You can learn more about all the sponsors who help make this show free for you at www.suncast.media/sponsors.
Remember, you can always find resources, learn more about today’s guest and explore recommendations, book links, and more than 950 other founder stories and startup advice at www.suncast.media.
We'd love if you'd leave us a 5 ⭐ rating & review and it's never been easier: https://www.ratethispodcast.com/suncast
Subscribe to Valence, our weekly LinkedIn Newsletter, and learn the elements of compelling storytelling: https://www.linkedin.com/newsletters/valence-content-that-connects-7145928995363049472/
You can connect with me, Nico Johnson, on:
Twitter - https://www.twitter.com/nicomeo
LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/nickalus
(00:00) Reframing the Solar and Farmland Debate
(03:35) Dismantling the False Solar vs Farming Narrative
(06:01) How Solar Is Creating New Farmland
(08:31) Turning Compromised Land into Active Grazing Pasture
(13:13) Research and Crop Performance in Agrivoltaic Systems
(17:02) Dual-Use Solar Lessons from European Markets
(17:45) Connecting Agrivoltaics to Farm-to-Table Markets
(22:32) Elevating Farmer Voices in Clean Energy Storytelling
(24:24) Integrating Cattle and Large Livestock into Solar
(27:07) Local Economic Benefits of Solar Weed Management
(29:55) Land Reversibility and Long-Term Grid Energization
(33:06) Key Takeaways on Solar and Agricultural Stewardship

AI is changing electricity demand faster than the grid was built to accommodate it. But the more interesting question may not be how much power data centers need.
It may be what that electricity is worth to them.
If AI workloads can economically justify power prices far above those of traditional industrial customers, that creates enormous economic headroom. Could that help pay for grid modernization, new capacity, flexibility and cleaner generation? And what happens if utilities, developers and investors build for demand that ultimately arrives more slowly, or not at all?
That is the question at the center of this episode.
Hans Royal, Co-Founder & President of RP Energy, began thinking about it while on sabbatical from Schneider Electric. He came across the traditional gas heat-rate concept and started asking whether there was a similar way to measure the conversion of electricity into AI intelligence. That led him to create Compute Heat Rate, a metric for estimating how much different AI workloads can afford to pay for power.
David Siap, Senior Manager for Energy at CREO, brings the other side of the equation. His work asks what it actually costs to add reliable capacity, how investors should evaluate the AI-driven demand boom, and which investments still make sense if the forecasts prove too optimistic.
Peter Kelly-Detwiler, co-founder of NorthBridge Energy Partners and a longtime demand-response operator, tests both ideas against the realities of power markets, interconnection, flexibility and ratepayer risk. Episode 976: Thursday, October …
Expect to learn:
🔹 Why AI may behave very differently from traditional industrial electricity customers
🔹 How Compute Heat Rate helps explain the economics of AI power demand
🔹 Why flexibility may depend more on grid access than electricity price alone
🔹 Which investments still look sensible if data center demand falls short of today's forecasts
🔹 How AI could become a source of capital for a stronger grid, and what has to go right for that to happen
If you're trying to understand where AI, power markets and clean energy investment are actually headed, this conversation gives you a much better map.
Are there other technologies you’ve scouted on the frontlines of the Clean Energy Revolution that you think we should be covering here on SunCast?
Hit us up - team@suncast.me with your feedback & recommendations.
If you want to connect with today's guest, you’ll find links to their contact info in the show notes on the blog at https://suncast.media/episodes/.
Our Platinum Presenting Sponsor for SunCast is CPS America!
You can learn more about all the sponsors who help make this show free for you at www.suncast.media/sponsors.
Remember, you can always find resources, learn more about today’s guest and explore recommendations, book links, and more than 950 other founder stories and startup advice at www.suncast.media.
We'd love if you'd leave us a 5 ⭐ rating & review and it's never been easier: https://www.ratethispodcast.com/suncast
Subscribe to Valence, our weekly LinkedIn Newsletter, and learn the elements of compelling storytelling: https://www.linkedin.com/newsletters/valence-content-that-connects-7145928995363049472/
You can connect with me, Nico Johnson, on:
Twitter - https://www.twitter.com/nicomeo
LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/nickalus
(00:00) The Explosive Surge in Data Center Load Growth
(02:33) What Is a Megawatt Hour Worth to AI?
(05:53) Defining Compute Heat Rate: Converting Electrons to Intelligence
(09:14) Quantifying AI’s $5,630/MWh Willingness to Pay
(10:41) Frontier Models vs. Commodity Inference Workloads
(14:41) The Economic Paradox of Data Center Flexibility
(18:09) Speed to Power and Interconnection Delay Economics
(22:35) Beyond LCOE: The Marginal Cost of Firm Capacity
(27:41) How AI Capital Distorts Clean Energy Investments
(35:21) Grid Interconnection Rules and Jurassic Park Analogies
(38:19) How Training vs. Inference Loads Impact the Grid
(45:07) Proving Empirical Demand Response for Large Data Centers
(48:53) Phantom Loads and Capacity Price Spikes in PJM
(55:09) Social License to Operate and AI’s Power Future

A strong brand should do more than make your company recognizable. It should help your people understand what the company stands for, who it serves, and how to make better decisions as the business grows.
Aimee Tuck has spent more than 25 years helping clean energy companies do exactly that. She is the founder of Corbae Creative and author of Powerful Branding, a remarkably practical workbook that takes branding far beyond logos, colors, and websites.
In this conversation, Aimee and Nico dig into the mechanics behind the book: how to get a founder’s vision out of their head, interview employees and customers, uncover gaps between what leadership believes and what the market experiences, and decide which parts of a brand should remain fixed as the company evolves.
They also get very practical about the work most companies skip. Why should you interview former customers? What can an asset review reveal? How do customer profiles keep marketing focused without limiting sales? And what happens when company values become actual tools for hiring, performance conversations, and leadership decisions?
Aimee’s book provides the worksheets and process. This episode gives you a guided tour through some of the most useful parts.
If your company is growing, fundraising, entering a new market, or considering a rebrand, start here before approving the next logo or website.
Are there other technologies you’ve scouted on the frontlines of the Clean Energy Revolution that you think we should be covering here on SunCast?
Hit us up - team@suncast.me with your feedback & recommendations.
If you want to connect with today's guest, you’ll find links to their contact info in the show notes on the blog at https://suncast.media/episodes/.
Our Platinum Presenting Sponsor for SunCast is CPS America!
You can learn more about all the sponsors who help make this show free for you at www.suncast.media/sponsors.
Remember, you can always find resources, learn more about today’s guest and explore recommendations, book links, and more than 950 other founder stories and startup advice at www.suncast.media.
We'd love if you'd leave us a 5 ⭐ rating & review and it's never been easier: https://www.ratethispodcast.com/suncast
Subscribe to Valence, our weekly LinkedIn Newsletter, and learn the elements of compelling storytelling: https://www.linkedin.com/newsletters/valence-content-that-connects-7145928995363049472/
You can connect with me, Nico Johnson, on:
Twitter - https://www.twitter.com/nicomeo
LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/nickalus
(00:00) Moving Beyond the Logo in Clean Energy Branding
(02:48) Why 90% of Rebrands Misdiagnose the Problem
(05:10) Lessons from 25 Years in Solar Marketing
(08:29) Translating Technical Hardware into Customer Benefits
(12:38) Why Successful Brand Strategy Starts Internally
(16:25) The Branding Tree: Roots, Identity, and Touchpoints
(18:51) Defining Vision, Mission, and Target Customer Profiles
(22:22) Exposing Organizational Dissonance Through Team Interviews
(29:38) The Strategic Value of Interviewing Lost Customers
(33:01) Navigating Rebrands During Series A and M&A
(36:18) Turning Brand Values into Management Rules and KPIs
(41:57) The Framework: Non-Negotiable vs Evolving Brand Assets
(44:01) Practical Brand Audit Questions for Clean Energy CEOs
(52:22) Using Brand as an Executive Decision-Making Filter

What if the difference between winning support and losing your audience isn’t better data, but knowing how to tell the story?
In this episode, the tables are turned once again. SunCast host Nico Johnson is the guest this time, joining as a featured communications expert alongside some of the industry’s most respected voices in policy and strategic communications.
Recorded live at the CHESSA Energize Summit, moderator Robin Dutta, Executive Director of CHESSA, brings together Molly Knoll of Align Energy Advisors, Jamie Nolan of Energy Empire, and Nico to tackle a deceptively simple question:
How do you make the case for solar and storage to people who don’t speak energy?
Molly starts with the facts behind how solar & storage can help directly address rising electricity costs. Then the conversation moves beyond the docket and into the work of influence.
How much information does your audience actually need? Who is the right messenger? When does data help, and when does a story work better? How do you earn enough relevance that someone actually wants to hear more?
The panel gets practical about story banks, trusted messengers, repetition, regulatory audiences, community conversations, and why saying less can often create more influence.
The opportunity is not to make energy less sophisticated.
It’s to become better at communicating it.
If you lead, sell, advocate, raise capital, influence policy, or simply need people to understand why your work matters, this conversation will make you better at making the case.
Expect to Learn:
🔹 Why strong evidence still needs a story people care about
🔹 How electricity cost drivers differ across states and utilities
🔹 Why your most effective messenger might be someone else
🔹 How to earn attention before explaining solar and storage
If your team has the facts but keeps struggling to get traction, start here.
Are there other technologies you’ve scouted on the frontlines of the Clean Energy Revolution that you think we should be covering here on SunCast?
Hit us up - team@suncast.me with your feedback & recommendations.
If you want to connect with today's guest, you’ll find links to their contact info in the show notes on the blog at https://suncast.media/episodes/.
Our Platinum Presenting Sponsor for SunCast is CPS America!
You can learn more about all the sponsors who help make this show free for you at www.suncast.media/sponsors.
Remember, you can always find resources, learn more about today’s guest and explore recommendations, book links, and more than 950 other founder stories and startup advice at www.suncast.media.
We'd love if you'd leave us a 5 ⭐ rating & review and it's never been easier: https://www.ratethispodcast.com/suncast
Subscribe to Valence, our weekly LinkedIn Newsletter, and learn the elements of compelling storytelling: https://www.linkedin.com/newsletters/valence-content-that-connects-7145928995363049472/
You can connect with me, Nico Johnson, on:
Twitter - https://www.twitter.com/nicomeo
LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/nickalus
(00:00) Communicating the Affordability Case for Clean Energy
(02:04) Beyond the Docket: Framing the Industry Narrative
(05:00) Analyzing the Drivers Behind the Electricity Affordability Crisis
(09:02) Dissecting Capacity Markets, Fuel Spikes, and Rate Increases
(13:16) Positioning Solar and Storage for Peak Demand and Resiliency
(15:27) Translating Technical Energy Data into Accessible Stories
(20:02) Tailoring Messages for Regulators, Legislators, and Communities
(25:46) Equipping Trusted Messengers with Master Messaging Tools
(31:06) Power Mapping Influencer Networks and Target Audience Avatars
(36:32) Policy Advocacy as Education and Preserving Regulatory Trust
(39:06) Aligning Clean Energy Proposals with Utility Statutory Mandates
(42:19) Reaching General Audiences in the Load Growth Era
(46:57) Building Company Story Banks and Expanding Media Reach
(52:50) Maintaining Narrative Consistency Across Multiple Regulatory Dockets
(55:19) Investing in Strategic Communications to Build Political Power