Insuring the Solar Revolution: Managing Risks in a Changing Climate with Hunter Johnson | EP214

In this episode of the Clean Power Hour, Tim Montague talks with Hunter Johnson, Vice President of Alliant Insurance, about the crucial role of insurance in the solar industry and how climate change is impacting the way insurance companies assess and underwrite solar projects.

The discussion covers various factors that solar installers, developers, and asset owners need to consider when insuring their projects, including geographic location, weather risks (hail, lightning, wildfires, floods), equipment quality and availability of replacement parts, and Operations & Maintenance (O&M) practices.

Hunter sheds light on the evolving underwriting process, where insurance carriers are becoming more stringent in their assessment of project sites, equipment manufacturers, vegetation management plans, and emergency response plans. He also explains how rigorous O&M programs can help asset owners reduce their insurance rates.

Additionally, Hunter delves into the trends affecting the insurance industry, such as rising rates, higher deductibles, longer waiting periods for business interruption insurance, and capacity constraints. He also touches on the role of reinsurance and the emergence of captive insurance solutions for larger installers.

Throughout the discussion, Hunter emphasizes the importance of considering climate change's impact on weather patterns and the increasing frequency of catastrophic events like hail storms, hurricanes, and wildfires, which can significantly affect the insurability and financial viability of solar projects.

Overall, this episode provides valuable insights for solar professionals on navigating the complex world of insurance and mitigating risks associated with climate change to ensure the long-term success of their projects.

Social Media Handles
Hunter Johnson
Alliant Insurance

Transcript

Hunter Johnson: 0:38

The short answer is you can buy insurance for for anything, you got enough money for it. Yes, we insured of business interruption or BI insurance. If there's a, you know, a claim or cover, call them off, you know, hailstorm fire Equipment Breakdown, the insurance companies will start replacing your lost production after a certain period of time, up to typically 12 months for a site.

intro: 1:07

Are you speeding the energy transition? Here at the Clean Power Hour, our hosts Tim Montague and John Weaver bring you the best in solar batteries and clean technologies every week want to go deeper into decarbonisation? We do too. We're here to help you understand and command the commercial, residential and utility, solar, wind and storage industries. So let's get to it together and we can speed the energy transition.

Tim Montague: 1:35

Today on the Clean Power Hour insurance for clean energy projects, I'm Tim Montague your hosts check out all of our content at Clean Power hour.com. Give us a rating and review on Apple and Spotify. If you would, that helps others find this content, please subscribe to our YouTube channel. And reach out to me on LinkedIn. I love hearing from my listeners. My guest today is Hunter Johnson. He is the vice president of Alliant insurance. Welcome to the show.

Hunter Johnson: 2:02

I Sam, thanks

Tim Montague: 2:03

for having me. As I was saying in the pre show, I know very little about insurance. But I know that it is an important part of clean energy assets. And the thing that I'm particularly interested in Hunter is how climate change is impacting the insurance industry. Because, you know, even in the solar just in solar industry, we we are looking at historical weather models to predict how a solar farm is going to perform. But the thing is, is that the last 10 years are very different than the previous 100 years. And things are so things are changing. The needle is moving, there's more storms, there's more hail. There's more hot weather, solar does not like hot weather. And there's other stuff to fly fires, floods, droughts, etc. But anyway, tell us a little bit about yourself, Hunter, how did you come to insurance and especially the niche now of working in clean tech?

Hunter Johnson: 3:07

Yeah. So I'm out of Missouri, I got into insurance about 10 years ago, straight out of college. It was a good fit for me, I'm a big numbers guy, big nerd. But I also love dealing with people and helping to solve problems. So just seemed to be a good fit for my personality and for what I like to do. And you know how I like to help people be successful. We've been involved in the solar industry. My team specifically down here in Missouri for about the past five years, got involved on the utility scale side working with asset management, asset managers, namely and out of that, as we've found ourselves working in a variety of different deals across the United States, both on the utility scale, CNI, and residential install installer side. So it's a it's a unique industry, specifically here in Missouri, Arkansas, Illinois, a whole lot different than what you see in California, North Carolina, Florida, as well. So it's been really fun.

Tim Montague: 4:12

What are they major in your mind, the major considerations that solar installers, developers and asset owners need to be thinking about when it comes to ensuring solar projects. And this, this has to do with their customers, okay, the, the residential and CNI facility owners who are going to be hosting solar facilities, but then also the IPPs. We're going to be long term asset owners of say portfolios of community solar, what are the major considerations? And then maybe we can dig into some of the nuances. But I really like to paint a should you just set the table for our audience on what are the major considerations?

Hunter Johnson: 4:56

Yeah, from a, from a risk management insurance side of things. There are a lot of factors that are, you know, somewhat uncontrollable, but geography location is probably the biggest piece right now. And depending on where you're located, that you know, someone out of your hands, but coastal risks are are inherently going to sustain more loss than you would you would see in the Midwest. So, you know, those are things to be cognizant of. We're seeing a lot of construction of all types, but it's specifically solar being built and more high, catastrophic weather prone areas just due to land costs, lease costs, and sprawl. You know, land is one thing that they're not making more of out there, and it's harder, harder to come by. So it's cheaper leases are going to be in low lying floodplain areas, and things like that. So when constructing or developing a site, or designing a site, it's really important to understand those geographic geographic considerations, and then also design the site to sustain direct hail hits, what type of weather anomalies, you're gonna see, are you in a wildfire prone area? Are you in a flood prone area? And then what type of, you know, convective storm? Frequency Do you see at that location, so we're seeing, not your traditional claims like, flood, hurricane, hail, causing a lot of damages, we're also seeing lightning strikes. Being a big proponent of interruption, you know, the losses and Equipment Breakdown claims that they were seeing. And that's, you know, across the Midwest included, so there are a lot of different things to consider when building a site right now.

Tim Montague: 6:52

I mean, I think it's a given that people are avoiding roelens, even though the rents are cheaper and loions. The you know, developers know that you don't want risk of flood and and it makes it difficult to finance a project. But but there are so many things that we can't control like hail, lightning, tornadoes, here in the Midwest, where we luckily, wildfire is not a major concern for us here in the Midwest. But, of course, that's a concern out west. And, and I've heard of, well, solar arrays do catch fire, it's hard to believe, but solar arrays do catch fire. And, and solar panels will burn if they get hot enough. But but the things that I notice in the in the solar trade magazines, you know, in the solar news is is for sure hail. And, you know, everybody asked that question, when they're considering solar Does, does it withstand hail? And the answer is yes, to a limit. And you know, they're tested basically to one inch hail, well, you can have, you know, baseball sized hail, and that's going to destroy your solar. And those events are changing, my understanding is that those events are becoming more frequent. And, you know, you really, I mean, there are some, there are some emerging products to help control. You know, the tracker manufacturers are thinking about this, and is there a specific way that it can, you know, go into a hail stow facing away from the wind, perhaps to avoid the direct hits and that kind of thing. But is there other things that, that we energy professionals just aren't thinking enough about when it comes to technology to avoid or reduce the risk of catastrophic weather events?

Hunter Johnson: 9:04

I wouldn't say there's stuff that is not being thought about, you know, there's certainly a lot of research and advancements happening, you know, in the productions of these modules, and also, you know, research on most efficient, so angles, stuff like that. But inherently, the more technology that you put into the, to the site to avoid losses, those are going to be more expensive to construct as well. So there's that fine line of the project still central with the, with these, you know, different racking that we're installing and different technology, more expensive panels that we're putting into resist the likely or possible hailstorm. Does that, does that work? So there's always that that cost benefit analysis that needs to be done. But there's a lot being done. And I think these panels are getting more resistant over time, they're better quality manufactured, and they're also getting cheaper as well, which is helpful. But there's kale is one of those things that you will be around and it's just something that we're having by schooling insurance.

Tim Montague: 10:19

So is there is there a pie graph or something though, that explains here are the the major risk factors for a solar farm in Missouri, and you can say, oh, yeah, you know, 20% is going to hail 20% too. high wind.

Hunter Johnson: 10:40

Yeah, there is, in Surprisingly, a lot of it's just Equipment Breakdown. And it's maintenance of your site. And it's how well you're managing your site, from, you know, replacement parts components, your vegetation management, you know, I had, I've had a couple of claims where we had critters getting to come components that are tuned up wires are crawling into in boxes and creating fires, my head of rattlesnake, burn up several inverters and a couple of strings of panels. I mean, it's, it's crazy the types of claims that we see managing these, but the pricing of the more frequent claims are going to be more Equipment Breakdown and losses that could be minimized if there was better procedures from the lnM. And the asset management standpoint on replacing these damaged components or having access to price replacement parts to get these things up and running sooner.

Tim Montague: 11:35

So is that something that an asset owner can can, for example, create a very rigorous Oh, nm program and thereby reduce their rates? Because they have, you know, built in that they're going to do a physical site visit every six months or something like that?

Hunter Johnson: 11:53

100%? Yes, five, six years ago, the underwriting process of underwriting one of these sites or facilities was totally different than it is today, historically, we'd look at, you know, where's the site located? How large is it? You know, who built it, you know, things like that. Now, we're getting down to, you know, who the OEM of the panel design and the racking, who's the inverter manufacturer, you know, we're looking at the direction that these things are facing. You know, we're looking at elevation, all sorts of different underwriting components that are going in, you know, how far away is the sense from, from the edge of the the modules? What are their vegetation management plan look like? Do we have replacement parts, you know, all sorts of things that are to be expected now during the underwriting process that historically weren't. And so you can really see a different tier of manager that has answers quality answers to these can produce, you know, site plans, emergency response plans, has lists of all replacement parts, have things in stock, you know, all sorts of things like that, that helps minimize the amount of downtime that you're seeing as a result of a claim.

Tim Montague: 13:11

And I'm going to ask a bunch of relatively stupid questions, you'll have to forgive me. But can can if you're an asset owner, you know, you're banking on a certain amount of productivity from a site, right? You want you want you want the model the financial model, to to be met by reality, right? You want the solar farm to produce as many kWh or megawatt hours of electricity, as you predicted. So that the project is financially viable, right? And obviously, if things are breaking, whether that's panels or inverters, or even racking, right, the tracker can break and, and you're not getting as much production out of it. But can you ensure that production? And? Because yeah, I'm just curious, what exactly can be insured about a, let's say, a community solar, you know, a one to five megawatt solar farm?

Hunter Johnson: 14:11

Well, yeah, well, short answer is you can buy insurance for for anything, do you got enough money for it? Yes, we insure it's called business interruption, or BI insurance. If there's a, you know, a claim or cover, call the law, you know, hailstorm fire, you know, Equipment Breakdown, the insurance companies will start replacing your last production after a certain period of time, up to typically 12 months for a site. And so what's developed over the, in the recent years is that duration of time, you know, think of your deductible, that they start replacing your last production has gone from, you know, we used to be able to have three day waiting periods, and it went to 15 days, and it was a 30 day, it's not uncommon to see a 45 day waiting period or a 90 day waiting period on specific locations, which means the insurance company won't start paying for your loss production until, you know, your site's been down for 30 days, 45 days, 90 days. So, these financial models that a lot of these sites were sold on, have not been accurate, and you kind of hit the nail on the head. A lot of these sites aren't as productive or not meeting the model projections. And a lot of it has to do with the downtime from some of these weather events that weren't in those financial models. Production from Um, whether interruptions whether it's or whether cloud cover and things like that, where, you know, you're only hitting 80% productivity even without, you know, whether it's damaging the site. So all of that can be ensured. That's more of like a solar foot project or solar put product if if we're just not producing as much energy as we thought we would. Both both things can be insured. Yeah.

Tim Montague: 16:05

Okay. And what are some of the trends that you see, you said that the process of going through underwriting has changed dramatically in the last five years? What are some of the major trends that you see I know insurance rates are going up across the board in the world in general, not just in clean energy, but in all forms of insurance? But what are the what are the trends that our listeners would be interested to know?

Hunter Johnson: 16:37

Yeah, on a utility scale side, the trends really are these insurance carriers trying to return to a state of profitability. And to do that, inherently, they have to increase rate, as he just mentioned, they also have to change. You know, their deductible structure. So you're going to see larger deductibles on your on your projects, you're going to see longer waiting periods, if you did have your site, lose productivity for a sustained period of time, you're going to see not as much insurance available to you at the marketplace, we call this capacity. So if I have a $50 million project, you know, historically, the insurance carrier would say I'll, I'll ensure the full 50 million I'll give you full limits for wind and hail for flood, you'll also have 50 million you name it. Now you're going to see, you know, sure I'll ensure your 50 million site $50 million site, but I only give you $5 million with a flood insurance only give you $5 million with the wind hail coverage. And so you're seeing that as well. And that's going to continue until they hit that inflection point of, are we charging enough premium? Do we have asset owners taking on enough risk from a deductible waiting period standpoint to where we're adequately pricing these projects, for the events or for the losses that we're seeing so that we're all making money here?

Tim Montague: 18:03

The Clean Power Hour is brought to you by CPS America. The maker of North America's number one three phase string inverter with over six gigawatts shipped in the US. The CPS America product lineup includes three phase string inverters ranging from 25 to 275 kW, their flagship inverter, the CPS 252 75, is designed to work with solar plants ranging from two megawatts to two gigawatts, the 250 to 75 pairs well, with CPS America's exceptional data communication controls and energy storage solutions. Go to chin power systems.com To find out more. And then there's the this whole phenomenon of reinsurance, right. And are you in the reinsurance business?

Hunter Johnson: 18:50

We are as a as an organization Alliance. Yeah. Yeah.

Tim Montague: 18:53

And so you're insuring other insurance companies whose losses from catastrophic events are going up over time? You know, and, and sometimes these companies go out of business. I don't know if if there's been anything in clean tech that has been so dramatic, but what? Yeah, what? What are the what are the megatrends? You know, that are points of conversation. In your office?

Hunter Johnson: 19:28

Yeah. So, you know, on the reinsurance side, you're seeing some of the same issues, mainly from a capacity standpoint. And so, if I'm buying insurance for my house, good analogy, let's say I'm buying insurance from travelers from my house, I've got a$500,000 house and a $1,000 deductible, I have a claim, you assume travelers is ensuring that full 500,000 Well, on large commercial solar projects, that's not necessarily how that works is, you know, the insurance carrier travelers in that example, is really only insuring that first $5,000 for the loss, for example, and then they actually buy insurance for themselves. So instead of saying I'm on the hook for that full$500,000 loss, I you know, insurance carrier am only responsible for the first 5000 I shift that that other $495,000 of risk off the reinsurance market, the in the reinsurance space, those attachment points are getting higher, and the cost to purchase that reinsurance is increasing as well. And so when you go to buy that policy from travelers, and that again, Apple, you're seeing the price increase at your premium level. And it's getting more and more difficult for them to place that, that insurance. And if they're having to take on a higher, you know, attachment point that of being able to say, I'm going to shift my risk and 5000 instead, I'm going to have to shift my risk at 25,000. Well, that limits the number of policies that, you know, travelers in this example is able to sell, you know, across the board. And so they're getting more stringent and deploying their limited amount of capacity more selectively across the market. So it's getting harder to place projects, as well, at the same time, is kind of the the full circle roundabout there.

Tim Montague: 21:21

It's getting harder to place projects. Is that what you said?

Hunter Johnson: 21:25

Yes, yeah, I mean, there are a lot new, there are a lot of new entrance, there are a lot of mgas available, but you're seeing fewer carriers being able to ensure a full portfolio, you know, a lot of its going to have what we call like a pro rata share, or, you know, tiered placement. So you'd have, you know, carrier x, right 25% of a portfolio carrier, why another 25% in interior Z, right the into the other 50 Instead of being able to go to one insurance company to place your entire portfolio, you're now having to get more creative and, and, you know, go out to London and find different syndicates that are able to, you know, place a, you know, a tiered or pro rata share program is getting more more complex every year that goes by, I

Tim Montague: 22:14

would imagine, too, that you have a purview into, for example, types of equipment, certain OEMs. And, and getting a signal on, well, here's equipment that has a very high level of performance. And here's a manufacturer that has a lot of problems and a lot of breakdowns. Does that go into the calculus when you're underwriting a project or portfolio?

Hunter Johnson: 22:44

Very much. So. Yes. So and that's something that's changed in the past two, three years is getting more critical on on who the manufacturers of inverters namely, right now there's, there are a couple of names in the industry that are like saying Voldemort to Harry Potter reader is the the insurance underwriters just don't want to hear them. And the issue is, some of these manufacturers have have stopped manufacturing direct replacements to certain components, or the manufactured overseas, and there's some supply chain issues to get the replacement components over here. And they're just not available. There's the glut and supply in with some specific manufacturers. So that's an issue. And some central inverter, there's a central inverter manufacturer that we've had some issues with as well. So what insurance companies insurance carriers, the people providing the coverage for these sites have started doing is, okay, we're going to underwrite your entire portfolio. But if you have this, you know, OEM at this site, we're going to implement different deductibles or limit coverage just for that one site in response to that to help protect ourselves because we know you know, at a large scale bases that they're having issues supplying direct replacement parts, and that sites probably if we have a claim there, you're going to be down longer than you would if you were not it was that made by the OEM? Sure.

Tim Montague: 24:19

Yeah, I think that's definitely one of the things driving the trend from central to string inverters is it's easier to have replacement parts on site. You can just have a shipping container with string inverters in it, right? Whereas central inverter may or may not fit into any container. Yeah, yeah. But yeah, not to mention the cost. So well, I have a couple questions related to this. Is there is there like a guide that you issue, a white paper or a guide for developers and asset owners saying, Hey, guys, here's how to, you know, ease your pain and improve insurability and reduce your rates over the long haul?

Hunter Johnson: 25:07

We do. Yeah. So we are acquiring line energy practice, you know, pushes out white papers and good things for developers to have quarterly. We, you know, an enterprise level we publish quarterly updates as well. One thing we don't do is publish the names of those OEMs to, you know, be cognizant of, not healthy to sling mud, right. But you know, it is it is important to be aware how how to best position your portfolio for success in the marketplace right now. And a lot of that is going to be the partners that you choose to operate that site from an owner standpoint, and from an asset management standpoint, because they are the ones that will be able to respond, you know, and even up a lot quicker.

Tim Montague: 25:58

I mean, Bloomberg has gotten famous for their tier one list, which includes solar modules, and inverters. And what many energy professionals don't realize is this is more about the financial standing of the company in the manufacturer than it is about the quality of the equipment. There are two separate, there's two separate things there. And it's, it's more about, like the likelihood of the company being in business in five years. Yeah, and yeah, you can have fantastic products that are very high quality, but are not tier one, because the company that makes them doesn't have a certain brawn financially. And the inverse, right, you can have a tier one module or inverter that, you know, is made by a huge multinational manufacturer, but has relatively low performance in the field. And that's where organizations like PBL come into play, right, that are doing this, you know, these standardized equipment testing and, and reporting a huge fan of what PBL does. But in that regard, is is there, is there a parallel universe to to the Bloomberg tier one in the insurance world?

Hunter Johnson: 27:19

Short answer, yes. You know, a lot of the more reliable and more financially stable manufacturers are, are typically the ones that have the better quality products and will be around, you know, a lot of these sites are aging as well. So we've got sites that are, you know, 1015 years old, and it's the manufacturer is no longer around. What happens when you have a claim? How do you replace those exact components to get the site back up and running? That's important consideration when sharing it the insurability of a project.

Tim Montague: 27:53

Cool. Well, I'm a little hobbled because I don't know what I don't know. Like, what else should? What else should installers, developers and asset owners be thinking about when it comes to insurance? For the, for them, for themselves and for their customers? Yeah,

Hunter Johnson: 28:14

I mean, installers are kind of seeing a totally different difficulty in insurance. Or when it comes to insurance, right now, they have different things to consider them, you know, an asset owner or an asset manager. A lot of their insurance is going to be mostly casualty driven. So we're talking about general liability, auto work comp, type considerations compared to just, you know, ensuring the actual assets, you know, that typically, they're going to have more employees as well. So we have things like medical marijuana and employment practices, trends to keep be aware of as well. And unfortunately, on that side of the business, auto insurance and liability insurance is no easier to place than property insurance right now. So you're seeing on the in the residential and solar market, last year was a very tough year. You know, a lot of their business is dependent on interest rates, and how easy it is for the homeowner to finance a solar array on the roof. And so if you go from 3%, financing to 9%, financing in a period of eight to 12 months, it really impacts your ability to sell these, these projects. So that was tough. Fortunately, I think homeowners are getting to a new state of normal in our industry, we're seeing that across the economy as well. I mean, lations just went up last month, even with these record high interest rates, so people are getting accustomed to to buying high ticket items at a much higher rate. So hopefully we see sales rebound. But last year stuff and what you're seeing are a lot of liability claims on roofs I've got a fire that I'm gonna go out to Tennessee to next week. That was from an install two years ago. And so that is impacting how many carriers are willing to insure these installers. And just four or five years ago, there was an abundance of insurance companies that were willing to offer insurance to these installers both on the residential and commercial side, because it was a new industry. Insurance carriers didn't know what they didn't know. Even being a 1520 year old industry that's still young in the in the world of insurance. And so these insurance carriers were weren't really sure what types of claims they'd be seeing what the product liability, you know, standpoint was And we're seeing a lot of liability claims come out of that. And so the abundance of carriers is just continuing to shrink. And so we're seeing larger installers look at more like loss sensitive or you know, creative risk financing products like route captives, single parent captives, things like that to, to provide insurance. I

Tim Montague: 31:02

didn't understand those last two things you said?

Hunter Johnson: 31:05

Yeah, so captive insurance is getting really popular, both on the utility scale side to some extent, but more more, more prevalent on the installer side. Okay, so yeah, so a captive very simply is an insurance company that's wholly owned by its, by its members, by its insurance. And so you, you know, maybe have a group of people that say, Hey, we are tired of having to buy insurance in the marketplace, and we're tired of seeing 10% to 10% increases every year, we think we can provide our own insurance more efficiently. And so you go out with either other members or by yourself and go by or go solicit the same services, you know, actuaries attorneys, accountants, running paper, you know, all those types of things. You're able to underwrite your own own losses, your own risk, and then you're kind of insulated from, you know, with the with the marketplace is seeing from a trend standpoint. So that is becoming much more popular for larger installers right now.

Tim Montague: 32:11

Fascinating. Sounds like is, I

Hunter Johnson: 32:14

think so most people fall asleep by now.

Tim Montague: 32:18

It sounds like in a way, that's like a buying Co Op. There's an organization called Amicus in the solar industry, I don't know if you're familiar. At and where installers can, you know, they they join this they pay an annual fee, and then they participate in in a group I have equipment and thereby achieve a discount. Is that a good analogy to this captive insurance phenomena? Yeah,

Hunter Johnson: 32:45

from a 35,000 foot level, yes, that there could be a good way to put in it really is, if we're coming together, in we are providing our own insurance, and we're able to do it more cost effectively and more transparently than we can in the marketplace. You know, exactly how much of your dollars are going to pay for those fixed cost services that you need to find. And then you also know how many of your dollars are going to pay claims. And if you, you know, pay less claims, then you set aside to or do you have less claims and you set aside to pay for that difference gets returned to the members versus just going to the profitability of the insurance company that underwrote the policy. And so it's a very creative way, and it's a great fit for the right organization.

Tim Montague: 33:37

So in our last few minutes together, together, what else you know, is on your mind, what keeps you up at night? What are you? What are you both excited and, you know, concerned about with regards to the direction that the industry is going? I mean, we're massively growing the industry now. Right. And, you know, today, solar is around 5% of the grid, you know, it by 2050, it's going to be 50% of the grid. It's, it's going to 10x. And and so that's, that's a huge shift that is is happening. So I'm curious, yeah, what what is the future look like? And what is it that keeps you up at night?

Hunter Johnson: 34:28

I think the future looks bright, I think I 100% certainty 50% of the grid will be hopefully solar, the 100% certainty with renewables by 2050. I think the thing that keeps me up at night is that renewables and solar should not be a partisan issue at the state level. And up had different states that are much further along and adapting this technology and implementing it into the overall you know, production, energy production, the state, the some states that are you know, laggards for variety different reasons of, you know, the cost of electricity in certain states is significantly lower than others, but that's the, that's the part that keeps me up at night is you know, overall, it's great for an economy to insulate, you know, integrate solar into the into the grid, I think, and it creates jobs, it's, you know, it's a good thing. And I just hope that all states can, you know, can adapt that and, you know, advance the industry nationwide, because I would hate to see polar bears. 50% of the grid but continue to be isolated in certain geographic areas of the country. So that's the one thing that I hope we improve upon.

Tim Montague: 35:48

Well, so do we, there's no doubt about that. It's frustrating that solar is a regional phenomenon. And that it's so different just crossing the border, you know, you go from Illinois to Indiana, or Illinois or Missouri for that matter. And it's night and day, right. Yeah. It's

Hunter Johnson: 36:06

funny that I live in Missouri and, you know, do business Missouri, Arkansas, Illinois, I mean, just the difference between those three states is, is tremendous. So yeah, hopefully one of these days we'll be on the same page on the same playing field, at least. I

Tim Montague: 36:23

mean, my gut tells me, You must be working a lot in Illinois, out of those three states, like there's a lot more solar happening in Illinois than any of the other two isn't there?

Hunter Johnson: 36:32

Yep. Yeah, there is. In you know, we work nationwide. We work in Florida, Texas, the Carolinas, Illinois, Ohio, is that, that's, that's where a lot of the activity is, and then, you know, Alliant nationally, we're headquartered in California. So we do a ton in California as well. Okay. Which is all all good for solar. Right.

Tim Montague: 36:55

That explains probably why we're talking actually, you know, yeah, yeah, Alliant is an early adopter, because California was an early adopter. And it's the it's the most mature market. I mean, outside of Hawaii. It's the most mature market why it's just a very small market. Cool. Well, I will I want to thank you for your time hunter. I look forward to hopefully having some of our listeners reach out to you and get their questions answered. You can find all this content at clean power hour.com Give us a rating and a review on Apple and Spotify. I mean that in all sincerity, it really helps others find the content, and subscribe to our YouTube channel. Hit that bell, please reach out to me on LinkedIn. I love hearing from our listeners or at Clean Power hour.com. Hunter, how can our listeners find you?

Hunter Johnson: 37:49

You can find me on LinkedIn also@alliant.com. That's our website. We have a lot of this information that we discussed today posted there. But yes, feel free to reach out to me. And I'm sure my contact information will be lifted here with the Fonda podcast as well.

Tim Montague: 38:07

Awesome. Well, without I'll say, have a great weekend. And let's grow solar and storage. Thanks so much.

Hunter Johnson: 38:14

Thanks, Jim. Appreciate the time.

Tim Montague: 38:17

Hey, listeners. This is Tim, I want to give a shout out to all of you. I do this for you twice a week. Thank you for being here. Thank you for giving us your time. I really appreciate you and what you're all about. You are part and parcel of the energy transition, whether you're an energy professional today, or an aspiring energy professional. So thank you, I want to let you know that the Clean Power Hour has launched a listener survey. And it would mean so much to me. If you would go to clean power hour.com. Click on the About Us link right there on the main navigation that takes you to the about page. And you'll see a big graphic listener survey, just click on that graphic, and it takes just a couple of minutes. If you fill out the survey, I will send you a lovely baseball cap with our logo on it. The other thing I want our listeners to know is that this podcast is made possible by corporate sponsors. We have chin power systems, the leading three phase string inverter manufacturer in North America. So check out CPS America. But we are very actively looking for additional support to make this show work. And you see here our media kit. With all the sponsor benefits and statistics about the show. You know we're dropping two episodes a week. We have now over 320,000 downloads on YouTube. And we're getting about 45,000 downloads per month. So this is a great way to bring your brand to our listeners and our listeners our decision makers in clean energy. This includes projects executives, engineers, finance, project management, and many other professionals who are making decisions about and developing, designing, installing and making possible clean energy projects. So check out clean power hour.com both our listener survey on the about us and our media kit and become a sponsor today. Thank you so much let's go solar and storage