SunPower

Mm

... go back, there was SunPower had that.

They did.

And then LG NeON R were on that technology.

And now I'm reconnecting with some of the clean energy leaders with whom I'm friends to get their advice on what's working for residential solar and storage industry, to understand how installers are coping with these huge changes in business, and what industry segments, products, and services are still there to drive growth for homeowners.

So this week's guest is Tom Werner, who built the largest solar company in the world, SunPower.

He was the CEO and COB from 2003 to 2020.

SunPower, I remember when they came out back in, like, 2004.

They had the highest efficiency solar modules.

They looked great.

So I guess the fundamental question I have is like, what has changed most about building a business in solar from now compared to 11 years ago?

For episode 900 had TJ Rogers on, I think he would probably have a lot to say about what's changed the most, 'cause he was the seed money that basically got SunPower out of, uh, near bankruptcy, saved that company, uh, not once, but twice.

Some things that have changed in the intervening 11 years, we were all but begging the capital markets to pay attention in 2015.

It was a whole lot harder to raise capital.

So where our company finds itself is in this niche of being a community representative for all these abandoned systems by the thousands.

So stepping in when SunPower is out of business, Titan – Solar is out of business.

Empire Solar is out

of business.

And at the time, most people were going under or were already under.

And we had a, well, I guess you could call it an acquisition with SunPower.

That's solar, though.

All the reps are laughing right now.