Interview: Julian White, partner, Nokomis Energy

Along with partners Brendan Dillon and Dan Rogers, Julian White started their company, Nokomis Energy, around four years ago when they noticed a shift in the solar energy industry — a change that came with a business opportunity. Larger solar developers were pulling out of the industry due to narrowing revenue and increasing project difficulty. White had experience doing this work on a national scale and launched his own company to bring national experience to a regional market. To date, Nokomis has created nearly 250 acres — or 50 megawatts — of solar. A majority of this is in community solar sites, or the creation of solar sites that landowners, organizations, utilities and residents can utilize. Clean Energy Economy MN reports that renewable energy sources made up nearly one-third of Minnesota’s energy sources last year. President Joe Biden has also laid out a plan to cut the nation’s greenhouse gas emissions in half by the end of the decade. White tells reporter Kelly Busche that he expects the solar industry to continue growing. But first, he says, the industry needs to overcome misaligned incentive structures and rethink energy distribution systems.