SMP 106: The Future of Solar on Agriculture Land with Dual-Use

Episode Summary In this episode of the Solar Maverick Podcast, Benoy talks with Drew Pierson who is the head of sustainability at BlueWave and Iain Ward who CEO of Solar Agricultural Services(“SolAg”).  Iain and Drew speak about dual-use which is installing solar on farmland and the primary agricultural activities are continued.  They speak about many interesting topics like the many benefits of dual-use and which states have or developing dual-use incentives.    Benoy Thanjan Benoy Thanjan is the Founder and CEO of Reneu Energy, as well as an advisor for several solar startup companies. Reneu Energy is a premier international solar energy consulting firm and developer, and the company focuses on developing commercial and industrial solar, as well as utility-scale solar plus storage projects. The company also consults related to financing for solar projects and hedges environmental commodities.  Benoy received his first experience in Finance as an intern at D.E. Shaw & Co., which is a global investment firm with 37 billion dollars in investment capital. Before founding Reneu Energy, he was the SREC Trader in the Project Finance Group for SolarCity, which merged with Tesla in 2016. He originated SREC trades with buyers and co-developed their SREC monetization and hedging strategy with the senior management of SolarCity, to move into the east coast markets. Benoy also worked at Vanguard Energy Partners, Ridgewood Renewable Power, and Deloitte & Touche.   Drew Pierson Drew Pierson, head of sustainability at Boston-based BlueWave.  BlueWave has successfully developed over 130 MW of solar in Massachusetts since 2010, including driving innovation in community solar and dual-use development, Drew is a renewable energy project developer with over ten years’ experience in clean energy, real estate, and regional economic development issues. As Head of Sustainability at BlueWave, Drew seeks to raise the bar for sustainability-based enterprise by leading the company’s agrivoltaic and dual-use solar business strategy in multiple states.   Iain Ward Iain Ward is an agriculture consultant/ expert  and the CEO of Founder of Solar Agricultural Services(“SolAg”) that works with BlueWave to ensure that the land the projects are being developed on will benefit and/or improve from the project and that farmers have viable land moving forward. Iain provides insight in the podcast into how solar developers should be turning to agriculture experts to work with them to achieve success on these regenerative agriculture projects.   Stay Connected: Benoy Thanjan Email: [email protected]  LinkedIn: Benoy Thanjan Website: https://www.reneuenergy.com   Drew Pierson Website:  https://bluewave.energy Linkedin:  https://www.linkedin.com/in/drewpierson/ Email:  [email protected] Webinar on Sustainable Solar Development with Drew as one of the panelists:  https://bluewave.energy/bw-resources/webinar-sustainable-solar-development   Iain Ward Website: https://www.solaragservices.com Linkedin:  https://www.linkedin.com/in/iainward8/   Subscribe to our podcast + download each episode on iTunes,Podbean, and youtube. This episode was produced and managed by  Podcast Laundry (www.podcastlaundry.com)