Episode 896
896: The Solar Industry’s Unfinished Business | with Suvi Sharma, SolarCycle
The solar industry scaled faster than almost anyone expected. But in the rush to deploy, one part of the system never fully got built.
In this episode, Nico Johnson sits down with Suvi Sharma, founder of Solaria and now co-founder and CEO of SolarCycle, to talk about what happens after solar works. Suvi explains why end-of-life planning, repowering, and material recovery are no longer edge cases - they’re becoming core infrastructure challenges for the industry.
This conversation goes beyond recycling. It’s about maturity. About what it means for solar to grow up as an industry, and how decisions made twenty years ago are shaping today’s constraints - from glass durability to supply chains to capital planning.
Suvi shares why he came out of “retirement” to start another company, how he’s building a system designed for scale, and what developers, operators, and policymakers are still underestimating.
If you work anywhere near solar deployment, ownership, or manufacturing, this episode may change how you think about the full lifecycle.
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