Episode Summary

In this episode of Solar Maverick, Manish Nayar, the founder and managing partner of OYA Solar, shares his entrepreneurial experience and perspective with Benoy and discusses how a Canadian company made its home in the United States solar market.  Whether you are in the research stage or a veteran business owner, this episode is a ray of light for solar entrepreneurs.

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 sources financing for solar projects and hedges both energy and environmental commodities. Reneu Energy has brokered $27 million in environmental commodity transactions.  

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.

Manish Nayar

Manish Nayar is the founder and Managing Partner of OYA Solar. Manish has led the growth of the company and its resulting 1000MW+ North American development pipeline. Manish has developed, constructed or transacted on over 500MW of solar assets in the last 10 years. Prior to OYA, Manish was with the investment banking group at Merrill Lynch & Co. where he focused on corporate finance, M&A and restructuring of companies in the diversified industrials group. Prior to Merrill, he was CEO of Judricks Enterprises Ltd, a global tier 1 supplier of powertrain and transmission components to the automotive and heavy equipment industries. He holds an MBA from the Kellogg School of Management with majors in Analytical Finance and Strategy as well as a B.E.Sc in Computer Engineering and a B.Sc in Applied Mathematics from the University of Western Ontario. He is also a licensed Professional Engineer in the Province of Ontario.

Insights from this episode:

• Details on OYA Solar, the reason Manish founded the company, and what their plans are for future growth.
• Benefits of not having a government-sponsored Investment Tax Credit.
• Strategies for finding solar markets to focus on in the United States and where OYA Solar is developing projects.
• How development in community solar and utility-scale projects have matured.
• Benefits of extending access to the solar market to include low-to-moderate income (LMI) communities.
• How OYA Solar approaches different solar trends, including storage and electrification targets.
• Details on what it takes to be an entrepreneur in the solar industry and key traits that will help you succeed. 

Quotes from the show:

• On switching from Canada to a United States solar market: “We foreshadowed that the market would slow down and ultimately close as the government incentives were starting to step down pretty drastically. That’s when we pivoted to the US [United States].” 一 Manish Nayar, Episode #70
• On the Investment Tax Credit: “If we’re putting the economics aside, I think it would be more beneficial for us, as developers and owners, but perhaps less-attractive for tax-equity investors.” 一 Manish Nayar, Episode #70
• On OYA Solar’s projects in New York: “For us, we felt that size and the scale of the market were really attractive and we felt that we had a good differentiating factor in our development process.” 一 Manish Nayar, Episode #70
• “I think developers have gotten much better at anticipating the needs of the community and the stakeholders.” 一 Manish Nayar, Episode #70
• “It’s pretty amazing how the tenure [of solar contracts] has changed so quickly in such a short amount of time.” 一 Benoy Thanjan, Episode #70
• On increasing solar access to the LMI [low-to-moderate income] community: “This is really democratizing solar for all of us and LMI [low-to-moderate income] is a key component to that so we think that we have to be part of the solution to solve it.” 一 Manish Nayar, Episode #70
• “You pretty much do everything.” 一 Benoy Thanjan, Episode #70
• “Community solar projects represent more near-term development for us and we think we can add a lot of value on the utility side, as well.” 一 Manish Nayar, Episode #70
• On current trends in the solar market: “The biggest that we are seeing right now is storage. I really believe that storage prices are going to follow the same trend as module prices.” 一 Manish Nayar, Episode #70
• “This is all exciting stuff. It’s basically disruption of the traditional electricity industry and it sounds like you guys are in the forefront with doing solar and storage.” 一 Benoy Thanjan, Episode #70
• “As an entrepreneur, you have a vision for what you want your company to be and for what you want to do and I think, regardless of what you hear from other people, if you’re really committed and dedicated to it, you’ll make it happen.” 一 Manish Nayar, Episode #70

Stay Connected:

Benoy Thanjan

Email: info@reneuenergy.com 

LinkedIn: @bthanjan

Website: https://www.reneuenergy.com

Manish Nayar

Email:  manish.nayar@oyaventures.com">manish.nayar@oyaventures.com 

LinkedIn: Manish Nayar

Twitter:  OYA Solar

Facebook: OYA Solar, Inc.

Website: https://oyaventures.com

Sponsor:

We would like to thank Schwerd Consulting for sponsoring this episode of the Solar Maverick Podcast.

Schwerd Consulting is a leading solar consulting firm dedicated to design, engineering, and owner representation in all areas of solar photovoltaics (PV) for the Commercial & Industrial and Utility markets. At Schwerd Consulting they like to say that We Know Solar. We don’t just Do Solar. What sets them apart is their 100% focus on solar and understanding the business of their clients. In its 5 years of business, Schwerd Consulting has provided services for approximately 450 MW of PV across over 330 sites and 15 states plus the Caribbean. That total includes 300MW of completed designs and engineering, and 150MW of consulting and owner rep services. Let Schwerd Consulting take the burden off you and bring ease and expertise in all areas of Engineering & Design or help you navigate the technical world of solar. If you are interested in learning more about Schwerd Consulting, you can call 215-219-6718 or email at admin@schwerdconsulting. Schwerd Consulting’s website is www.schwerdconsulting.com.

Steve Schwerd who is the Owner of Schwerd Consulting was interviewed on Episode 17 and Episode 48 of the Solar Maverick Podcast and Episode 42 of which he was on panel discussion on How Solar Technology is Changing the World.

They are involved with the trends, technologies, vendors, policies, utilities, codes, and financial considerations for the industry. Therefore, value add for them is not just a slogan, it’s what they practice in order to have loyal customers and gain trust.

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This episode was produced and managed by  Podcast Laundry (www.podcastlaundry.com)