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Solar Energy This Isn't Your Daddy's World Solar Coaster From Jared Schoch · Arroe Collins Like It's Live

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  Speaker 1: I don't know how you run your streaming platforms when
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  Speaker 1: you're trying to watch TV. Right here is the Disney Channel.
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  Speaker 1: Over here is Hulu. There's Netflix. There's got to be
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  Speaker 1: something on. It's almost Halloween. What are we going to do?
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: Is there something over here I can check into? Why
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  Speaker 1: can't we just do it all in one place? Like arrow.net, A-R-R-O-E.net.
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  Speaker 1: One place, 21 different podcasts to choose from. From My
• 0:22
  Speaker 1: Day of Play to The Choice, The Daily Mess, Foodie
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  Speaker 1: Paradise if you love your cooking. How about Vocal Defrag
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  Speaker 1: and even YA Authors? Arrow.net, A-R-R-O-E.net. 21 different choices in
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  Speaker 1: one place. Enjoy your exploration. Jared, I am so excited
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  Speaker 1: to share a conversation with you because you are speaking
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  Speaker 1: my street. My entire life, all I've ever believed in
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  Speaker 1: is solar energy. But by God, the more and more
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  Speaker 1: you dig into it, the more and more mountains I
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  Speaker 1: feel like that we're facing. What are you seeing on
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  Speaker 1: your side, Jared?
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  Speaker 2: Well, I will tell you that we just surpassed 10%
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  Speaker 2: solar electricity as a percentage of the total energy mix
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  Speaker 2: in the United States. Nice. It took us 20 years
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  Speaker 2: to go from zero to 10. The good news is
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  Speaker 2: something in the ballpark of two-thirds of all new energy
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  Speaker 2: generation that's forecast to come online in the next couple
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  Speaker 2: of years is solar and battery storage combined. I wouldn't
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  Speaker 2: be surprised if we're at 20% in five, six years.
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  Speaker 1: See, I love that kind of language because North Carolina
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  Speaker 1: has become that state. I mean, you're driving down this
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  Speaker 1: beautiful highway and all of these solar fields are out there.
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  Speaker 1: I'm inspired by that. But am I just the consumer
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  Speaker 1: that's uneducated still? How can we get more involved in
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  Speaker 1: this as listeners and as real people?
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  Speaker 2: Gosh, that's a great question. You know, I think the
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  Speaker 2: most important thing is that your voice is heard. And
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  Speaker 2: when I say your voice is heard, you got to
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  Speaker 2: go to your political leaders. Unfortunately or fortunately, however you
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  Speaker 2: want to look at it, energy in this country is
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  Speaker 2: incredibly political because it's a critical infrastructure that we all
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  Speaker 2: have to use every single day. That means that our
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  Speaker 2: policy leaders at the local, the town and county and
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  Speaker 2: city levels, as well as the state level, And then
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  Speaker 2: at the national level are all critically important to try
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  Speaker 2: to support this and do more with this. In fact,
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  Speaker 2: I think I saw just the other day that I
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  Speaker 2: think it was Duke Energy in North Carolina just committed
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  Speaker 2: to a huge amount of new renewable energy in the
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  Speaker 2: coming years as well.
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  Speaker 1: See, and that's what I love about the way that
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  Speaker 1: we are doing our modern day agriculture, because instead of
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  Speaker 1: having a giant empty field out there, we're using it
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  Speaker 1: to outreach to other people by putting solar energy out there.
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  Speaker 1: It is not a negative. And I want people to
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  Speaker 1: understand that this is really a truly beautiful step into
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  Speaker 1: the future.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, you know, and there's something really cool coming that
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  Speaker 2: we're seeing kind of piloted and starting to become more mainstream.
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  Speaker 2: It's called agrivoltaics. And this is putting your solar panels
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  Speaker 2: high enough up where you can actually have tractors and
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  Speaker 2: related farm equipment underneath the panels. And you can also
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  Speaker 2: go ahead and grow crops underneath the panels that are
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  Speaker 2: shade managed crops, also good for for sheep and various
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  Speaker 2: animals that you're trying to graze as well. So from
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  Speaker 2: that perspective, we're seeing a tighter integration between the agriculture
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  Speaker 2: community and the solar energy community.
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  Speaker 1: Jared, you'd be so happy of a lot of these
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  Speaker 1: RVers now because we're out there inside these campgrounds with
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  Speaker 1: solar panels. And I just think that is the most
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  Speaker 1: amazing thing because to me, that's where it starts. You
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  Speaker 1: got to go ground level. And if the RVers are
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  Speaker 1: doing it, hopefully other people will be inspired to do it.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, agreed. We're also seeing solar blankets is what they're
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  Speaker 2: calling them. We're seeing them put all over the world.
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  Speaker 2: You're seeing people put solar panels on their balconies at
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  Speaker 2: their apartments and plugging them into the walls as a
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  Speaker 2: means to use electricity and generate electricity as well. So,
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  Speaker 2: I mean, they're in roof shingles. They're on roofs. You
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  Speaker 2: can put them on the ground. One of the most
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  Speaker 2: fun things about solar is it's so flexible and you
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  Speaker 2: can use it in almost any application. It really is
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  Speaker 2: the most flexible resource.
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  Speaker 1: Listeners have got to get their hands on your book,
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  Speaker 1: Solar Coaster, because I mean, you're speaking a language that
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  Speaker 1: isn't so newspaper driven. It's not your five o'clock news.
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  Speaker 1: It's not a government official doing a soundbite. This is
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  Speaker 1: a real honest to God conversation with people that are
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  Speaker 1: trying to figure out what can I do next? Because
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  Speaker 1: my electric bill this month. Oh, my God, Jared, if
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  Speaker 1: I don't start thinking solar, we're in trouble here.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, I hear you, and I appreciate that. We have
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  Speaker 2: seen the highest amount of energy growth in the country
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  Speaker 2: in the last couple of years, data centers, AI, the
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  Speaker 2: whole nine yards. And we've got to get as much
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  Speaker 2: energy online as fast as possible to support all of
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  Speaker 2: this growth. What this means is supply-demand growth. What happens
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  Speaker 2: if you don't have enough supply? Your prices go up. Right.
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  Speaker 2: And here we are again in that situation, unfortunately, right now.
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  Speaker 2: But the good news is solar deploys incredibly quickly and
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  Speaker 2: it's moving fast.
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  Speaker 1: Do you think, though, that one of the main reasons
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  Speaker 1: why we hold ourselves back and I do say it's
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  Speaker 1: a choice, we hold ourselves back because we don't want
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  Speaker 1: to get into a position of being vulnerable anymore. Because,
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  Speaker 1: I mean, we're here in Carolina. We have hurricanes. We
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  Speaker 1: have tropical storms. We fear the investment knowing that the
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  Speaker 1: next storm could whip us right off the planet.
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  Speaker 2: Sure, sure. I think that there is a double-edged sword too, right?
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  Speaker 2: If you have any belief in climate change at all,
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  Speaker 2: then putting renewable resources and clean energy resources on the
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  Speaker 2: grid is supposed to be supportive and helpful towards cleaning
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  Speaker 2: the environment and hopefully trying to tackle some of these
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  Speaker 2: challenges with storms and all the rest. On the other hand,
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  Speaker 2: clearly understand that tropical storms and the related– challenges that
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  Speaker 2: they come with hit the carolinas on a regular basis
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  Speaker 2: what i will also tell you though is that you
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  Speaker 2: know when we design solar power plants we design them
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  Speaker 2: to withstand uh not only hurricanes but in in floods
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  Speaker 2: and we have enough infrastructure in them and we put
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  Speaker 2: them high enough up to be able to maintain and
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  Speaker 2: manage in those hard situations the vast majority of the
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  Speaker 2: time so like any other power plant you know you
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  Speaker 2: have to be resilient and set up for success and
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  Speaker 2: to help support the community in those challenging times.
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  Speaker 1: This is why we need you, Jared, because this is
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  Speaker 1: not the story that we're getting from the newspaper. And
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  Speaker 1: like you said, it is a very political thing and
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  Speaker 1: they're going to be lopsided on it. And that's why,
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  Speaker 1: like you said, you've got to talk about this because
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  Speaker 1: this is stuff that I did not know.
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  Speaker 2: Well, I'm thankful for the opportunity to come online and
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  Speaker 2: speak with you about it. The book Solar Coaster comes
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  Speaker 2: out November 10. You can preorder it right now on Amazon.
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  Speaker 2: It's out there and available for your listeners to get
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  Speaker 2: now before it runs out.
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  Speaker 1: Please do not move. There's more with Jared Shock coming
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  Speaker 1: up next. The name of the book, Solar Coaster. We're
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  Speaker 1: back with Jared Shock. Turning point energy. I mean, this
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  Speaker 1: is your background. This is something that you've really invested
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  Speaker 1: your own personal life and experience into.
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  Speaker 2: I spent the last 20 years in solar energy. I
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  Speaker 2: started when we had less than 1% of the entire
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  Speaker 2: generation in the country. And now we're up to 10
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  Speaker 2: on our way to 20. And so, yes, it's been
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  Speaker 2: really a joy. I feel very blessed and privileged for
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  Speaker 2: the opportunity. to rise and scale this industry through a
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  Speaker 2: couple other companies and then starting my own company a
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  Speaker 2: dozen years ago and scaling that up as well. So absolutely.
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  Speaker 1: So then do you think that we could get more
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  Speaker 1: consumers involved if we did talk about what, you know,
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  Speaker 1: it's always in the print somewhere and people don't believe it,
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  Speaker 1: but they can turn their solar energy into an ROI,
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  Speaker 1: a return of investment. And because, I mean, it's there.
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  Speaker 1: Why don't people see this and grow with it?
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  Speaker 2: You know, it is very, very simple economics when you
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  Speaker 2: look at it. Did you know that the current administration
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  Speaker 2: last year, the Department of Energy, Energy Information Administration, who
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  Speaker 2: does all the data analysis on how much energy we use,
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  Speaker 2: how much does it cost, all that sort of thing,
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  Speaker 2: they came out with a study. And I'm going to
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  Speaker 2: read you the title of one of the slides in
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  Speaker 2: that study. The solar PV, solar photovoltaic, is the lowest
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  Speaker 2: cost of energy. It is lower than natural gas combined
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  Speaker 2: cycle on average and in most regions even without the
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  Speaker 2: tax credits. It is the cheapest energy generation resource in
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  Speaker 2: the country. So, you know, 10 years, 20 years ago,
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  Speaker 2: I know it was a very expensive resource. But we
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  Speaker 2: rode that resource all the way down to be incredibly
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  Speaker 2: cost-effective all around the world. This isn't just a U.S. thing.
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  Speaker 2: This is a global thing. And it is deploying faster
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  Speaker 2: not only in the United States but in China and
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  Speaker 2: in so many countries around the world right now. And
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  Speaker 2: it is– you don't get less expensive than solar today.
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  Speaker 2: It's just a fact. Yeah.
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  Speaker 1: The way that we're preparing for it inside this forest,
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  Speaker 1: because if you've been to Carolina, you know that we
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  Speaker 1: are the place of all living trees. And the way
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  Speaker 1: that we're preparing for it as a community, instead of
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  Speaker 1: shaving our trees down through the pruning and careful working
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  Speaker 1: with arborists and things, is that we're clearing the area
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  Speaker 1: so that we can get the solar energy here. People
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  Speaker 1: need to work with their community in order to get
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  Speaker 1: the solar energy in. It's not a one-man project here.
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  Speaker 2: No, that's 100%. true. And it's interesting that you say this.
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  Speaker 2: So I think we all love our forests and we
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  Speaker 2: want to protect and maintain our forests. That is mission critical.
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  Speaker 2: It takes a ton of carbon out of the air,
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  Speaker 2: provides a lot of value to the communities and that
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  Speaker 2: sort of thing. But I will also say solar actually
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  Speaker 2: reduces the carbon emissions more and does a better job
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  Speaker 2: than forests do, candidly. And so, you know, you have
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  Speaker 2: to be careful and respectful of every community of figuring out,
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  Speaker 2: as you suggested, strategically, where can we put these solar
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  Speaker 2: rays where it makes good strategic sense for our community?
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  Speaker 2: And a good solar energy development company, the good ones
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  Speaker 2: will work with you and figure out how do we
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  Speaker 2: do this the right way?
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  Speaker 1: I wish I could have been a part of your
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  Speaker 1: guys's meeting at that big table when somebody said, by
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  Speaker 1: the way, the community thinks that these data centers are
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  Speaker 1: going to pull a lot of electricity. Oh, my God.
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  Speaker 1: Now we have another big wall in front of us
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  Speaker 1: convincing people to do solar.
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  Speaker 2: I hear what you're saying. What's more maddening is when
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  Speaker 2: you have. A federal administration that's trying to slow down
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  Speaker 2: renewable energy while at the same time, they're also suggesting
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  Speaker 2: we need to use a lot more energy. The challenge
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  Speaker 2: with a lot of the fossil resources, natural gas in particular,
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  Speaker 2: and coal is very simple. It takes a long time
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  Speaker 2: to go from, hey, let's do this to actually having
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  Speaker 2: a generating power plant for five, six, seven years. Solar
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  Speaker 2: in particular, based on the scalability and the adaptability and
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  Speaker 2: how fast it can be built, we're talking one to
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  Speaker 2: two years, maybe three in the worst case scenario. So
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  Speaker 2: the speed at which we can deploy just can't be matched.
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  Speaker 1: Dude, I feel like the old fart here because I
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  Speaker 1: remember using coal in my grandmother's stove. We used to
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  Speaker 1: do it in the oven for her in Sheridan, Wyoming.
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  Speaker 1: I mean, I came from that coal generation, Decker, Montana,
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  Speaker 1: all the way up. And now we're in this position
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  Speaker 1: where I always thought it was the most positive thing.
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  Speaker 1: If we didn't have people like you, Jared, my God,
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  Speaker 1: none of this would be happening.
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  Speaker 2: Well, hey, I grew up in the oil patch in
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  Speaker 2: the Permian Basin in Texas for a lot of my life.
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  Speaker 2: And I love my oil and gas brothers and sisters.
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  Speaker 2: And I'm not suggesting that they shouldn't be part of
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  Speaker 2: the answer and the solution. But what I would suggest
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  Speaker 2: is we need all of it and we need to
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  Speaker 2: be growing the cleanest resources we can. And so I
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  Speaker 2: totally get that. I totally respect that. And I'm right
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  Speaker 2: there with you.
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  Speaker 1: Where can people go to find out more about Solar Coaster?
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  Speaker 1: You said the book is coming out very soon, and
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  Speaker 1: I do suggest that it is great reading for them
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  Speaker 1: to sit down and patiently do this. It is not
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  Speaker 1: a novel. Go learn for yourself, listeners.
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  Speaker 2: Thank you very much. Yeah, no, it's solarcoasterproject.com. You can
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  Speaker 2: also buy it on Amazon pre-order right now.
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  Speaker 1: Please come back to this show anytime in the future
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  Speaker 1: because solar energy is an everyday thing. It is not
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  Speaker 1: at the end of summer thing. Anytime you want to
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  Speaker 1: come back, this door is always going to be open
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  Speaker 1: for you, sir.
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  Speaker 2: Hey, I really appreciate you. God bless you.