Episode 685

685: How this Zillow-like Software Simplifies the Land Permitting Process for Large-Scale Solar; Robin Laine, CEO of Transect

Published on: 21st March, 2024

Permitting. The word is enough to send shivers down the spines of most PV professionals.

Obtaining permits for solar projects, no matter the scale, is a major roadblock in the transition to renewable energy, and often causes project delays that last weeks or even months. Robin Laine, CEO & Co-founder of Transect,is working to simplify the land permitting process for solar developers.

Robin, who has a background in environmental consulting, founded Transect to address the inefficiencies plaguing the solar project permitting process. Their due diligence software is designed to streamline site assessments for land developers in the renewable energy industry. Transect reduces assessment timelines from weeks to minutes by leveraging an innovative mix of public and proprietary datasets, and helps developers ensure they are focusing their efforts on the right properties and activities to get more solar through the permitting queue.

Expect to learn: 

  • How Robin and her co-founder collected and leveraged freely available land data to create a desperately needed tool for developers
  • How Transect developed their Minimum Viable Product (MVP) 
  • Why Transect's early success with customers like Recurrent Energy set them apart from competitors and positioned them as a leader in the field.
  • What it took for Transect to acquire significant clients and secure Series A funding.
  • Transect’s plan to continuously innovate and iterate products to maintain market relevance and accelerate the energy transition.

Robin Laine's story showcases the entrepreneurial spirit needed to make the clean energy transition more efficient and accessible. 

Ready to get inside the mind of a creative front-line solar warrior? Hit play!

If you want to connect with today's guest, you’ll find links to his contact info in the show notes on the blog at https://mysuncast.com/suncast-episodes/.

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Mentioned in this episode:

CPS July 2024 V2

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About the Podcast

SunCast
Your resource for developing a clean energy or climate tech career
Nico Johnson takes you into conversations with those at the forefront of Renewable Energy.

SunCast gives an inside look into what is happening in renewable energy. From conversations with the biggest Solar Panel manufacturers in the world to the small startups creating the future of renewable energy, such as carbon capture and battery technology breakthroughs.

SunCast is dedicated to providing the knowledge, research, tools and expert guidance you need to understand, grow and be ahead of the curve in the fastest-growing markets in the world.

Featuring over 600 conversations, Nico has interviewed people from Tesla, SolarCity, Trina Solar, Meyer Burger, Conergy, SunEdison, Energy Vault and even the US Government... to name a few. Covering topics such as Solar Power, Wind Energy, Batteries, Electric Vehicles, Carbon Capture, Finance, Hydrogen, and more.

You can watch SunCast on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@SunCastMedia

...or view the full archive of SunCast episodes here: https://mysuncast.com/suncast-episodes