SunCast Media

💥 From 25kW fire stations to 5MW turbine factories...
Cherry Street Energy is scaling distributed power in a big way.

Mitsubishi Power, a gas turbine manufacturer outside Savannah, now powers its facility with a 5MW solar field built by Cherry Street.

And that's just one example.

Michael Chanin, CEO of Cherry Street Energy, joined us live at RE+ to break it down 👇

🔹 Average project size jumped from 200kW to 350kW in under 2 years
🔹 Still serving small sites (25kW) and major industrial clients (5MW)
🔹 Owning and operating the power plant — not just building it
🔹 Supporting everyone from schools to global manufacturers

Whether it's a firehouse or a factory, Cherry Street treats every install like it's powering a city.

It’s not just solar.
It’s distributed infrastructure, branded and trusted like a Boeing 737.

Nick Josefowitz looked at rooftop solar prices across the globe...
..and was outraged. 😡

"American families were paying tens of thousands of dollars more
than families in England, Australia, Japan, and Germany.
And that’s outrageous. We should not stand for that."

We’ve brought down the cost of panels.
We’ve brought down the cost of batteries.
We’ve even brought down the cost of racking and inverters.

So why is rooftop solar still wildly expensive in the U.S.?

🔹 Permitting is slow, complex, and inconsistent
🔹 Interconnection is a bureaucratic bottleneck
🔹 Each project becomes a one-off, artisanal nightmare
🔹 And families pay the price—literally

The result?
What should be a mass-market product becomes a luxury service.

Nick’s answer?

🔹 Start Permit Power - a nonprofit focused on fixing the root cause
🔹 Reform the broken systems instead of profiting from them
🔹 Unlock affordable, fast solar installs for everyone

Because no one should pay more for clean energy just because of a ZIP code.

This short clip sets the stage.
The full interview goes deep on how we actually fix it.

📺 Watch the clip

“A heat pump is just like an air conditioner… but smarter.”
That’s how Stephen Lake, founder of Jetson, explains it.

Most people don’t know this:

➡️ In cooling mode, it pulls heat out of your home.
➡️ In heating mode, it pulls heat in from the outside—even below freezing.
➡️ One system, two directions.

Sounds simple, right?
So why do only 10% of homes in the U.S. have one?

Stephen joined me on the SunCast Podcast to break it down:

🔹 15% of U.S. energy use is tied to heating & cooling—one of the biggest carbon offenders.
🔹 Heat pumps have been around for decades, but the “green premium” makes them almost double the cost of gas furnaces.
🔹 Contractors are still trained in gas, not electric, slowing adoption.
🔹 The process—permits, rebates, electricians, paperwork—is so painful most homeowners give up.

That’s why he built Jetson.
All-electric fleets. In-house install crews. One-day installs.
Think “Tesla + Apple” for HVAC.

Stephen already sold his last company to Google.
Now he’s betting big on making heat pumps mainstream.

🎧 In this episode, you’ll learn:

✅ Why modern heat pumps are 300–400% efficient (no, it’s not magic)
✅ How Jetson slashes install costs by half
✅ Why your furnace is overdue for retirement
✅ What it takes to electrify 100 million homes

Do you think heat pumps will become the default for home heating and cooling by 2030?

Drop your thoughts 👇

Data centers aren’t waiting for the grid to catch up.

They’re building their own backup - and changing the energy game in the process.

At the Kiterocket Lounge at ACP in Phoenix, we sat down with experts from:

✅ Equinix

✅ QTS Data Centers

✅ Clayco

✅ MGM Transformer Company

The conversation? 🔥

How data centers are evolving from passive loads to active grid participants—and what that means for clean energy.

They’re investing in:

🔋 Onsite batteries and fuel cells

🌡️ Liquid cooling and heat recovery

🌎 Renewables—but only if they can deliver at speed and scale

⚠️ For solar and storage developers, the message is clear:

Move faster. Get more reliable. Or get left behind.