TechTalk: Energizing the Future: A Renewable Energy Company's Cutting-Edge Solutions for a Sustainable Energy Ecosystem

Joley Michaelson: 

Thank you so much. Thanks for having me. I'm very excited to have the opportunity to talk to you today and to talk to your audience today. 

Janina Teoxon: 

Perfect. So, to kick off our conversation, can you introduce yourself and The Sun Company for our audience? 

Joley Michaelson: 

Yeah, so I'm Joley Michaelson. I'm the CEO of The Sun Company Americas. The Sun Company is a master developer and integrator of renewable energy solutions. We are a technology developer, including a state-of-the-art battery technology, as well as software technologies. We develop, construct, maintain, and own investment quality energy systems. We do that through our cutting-edge energy as a service model that is both for commercial and residential customers. And we leverage, on a daily basis, AI-driven analytics to optimize renewable energy adoption, as well as machine learning software that we currently are developing. 

Janina Teoxon: 

It's great to hear. And it sounds like The Sun Company is really making an impact in the renewable energy space, and I learned that you are tackling a major issue in the energy space, so I'd love you to break that down for us. What specific problem is The Sun Company addressing in the renewable energy market? 

Joley Michaelson: 

Yeah, so I like to say that The Sun Company is addressing our energy problem. Our energy problem, what is that? How do I define that and how are we addressing it? Currently, our energy is insecure, unreliable, lacks resiliency, is expensive and costs continue to go up, it's not sustainable, and it's not efficient. And so, when I set out to start The Sun Company, I took all of those issues and I said, I believe if we're going to go through a major energy transition, we need to play the long game and we need to solve for all of these issues that we have. And I call that the energy problem, and that's why we say we're building the energy ecosystem of the future that does what we need to do to eliminate those issues. 

Janina Teoxon: 

Now, that's really put things into perspective, and it's one thing to talk about problems in energy in broad terms, but when you break it down just like that, it makes it so clear why innovation is so crucial. And that brings me to your technology because solving energy problems requires some game-changing solutions. So, tell us about your technology and how does it accelerate the solution to this problem? 

Joley Michaelson: 

So, The Sun Company, as I mentioned, we have several different technologies, and I'll talk about each of those for you. One is our independent renewable energy power plant, another is our insight digital twin software, and our long duration redox flow battery. And so, between those three technologies, we're able to address every problem that I laid out earlier. In our independent renewable energy power plants, we are able to come in and build custom build scalable microgrids, tailored to any business or community's needs that provide complete energy and independence from the traditional grid, as well as creating that security, reliability, resiliency, savings, sustainability, and efficiency that I mentioned earlier. In order to be able to do that, you have to have certain hardware and software. And when I started the company, we spent about a year in research and development looking for different solutions because again, we are a developer, owner-operator, and master integrator. So, we didn't necessarily have to set out to develop our own technologies. We could have used things in the market if I felt like they were going to solve those problems. 

I ultimately did not. And we began the quest for development of our own technology. On our hardware side, which are our redox flow battery technology, it is a non-toxic, completely renewable, no rare earth metals, no safety issues from fire or explosive with 7X the energy density and 20X the power density. What that means for the average consumer and for businesses and industrial complexes out there is that they're able to have what's called long duration storage. Long duration storage is classified as being able to store power over four hours. What that means is that they can generate their own power through some generating form, maybe solar, maybe wind, and they can store that power for days at a time if needed to provide them with power as needed. So, they're not reliant upon a grid-tied system in the event of a hurricane or in the event of a cyber-attack, or in the event that they just want to be energy independent. 

The undergirding piece to the development of this technology, as well as the delivery more importantly, and the delivery of systems and solutions that solve these problems is our insight digital twin software. It models and optimizes energy systems in real time, it ensures the projects deliver the highest ROI, and it optimizes the performance of the microgrid throughout its life cycle. 

Janina Teoxon: 

That's amazing. You got some great technology here, and as an accountant, I can appreciate the importance of increasing ROI because we look at this financial metric all the time and it sounds like you are truly setting new standards in the industry with your innovative approach. And we know that the ability to innovate while keeping efficiency and scalability in mind is key to really making a real difference. And speaking of scaling, we know that every startup faces challenges when trying to grow. Can you share some of the obstacles The Sun Company has encountered in scaling your solutions? And also, are there any strategies you've employed to overcome these challenges? 

Joley Michaelson: 

Sure. So, I think one of the first ones that comes to mind is just educating the market on our energy problem, like we started this conversation with making it really clear, so that people understand the energy problem and that energy problem touches every one of us. Every day, our lives depend on being able to have secure, reliable, affordable energy, and that need is only going to continue to grow as things are electrified as AI comes on board, as EV cars and vehicles are adopted at a greater rate. So, it's an education piece. That's the first obstacle. The second is navigating regulatory barriers because policies vary state by state, slowing adoption, these services are needed. The last one, and probably the one that is very dear to my heart as a barrier is high capital costs and the lack of investment in women. 

I'm sure all of know that less than 2% of capital in the US goes to women and most of the capital in that 2% go to CPG type of organizations. And so, for a woman raising 50 to hundreds of millions in capital, that has been a significant barrier. I'm proud to say that we have deployed strategies that have resulted favorably for us in tapping capital markets. I've raised over $10 million in equity and debt so far, and so we have been able to overcome that. We've also been able to overcome some of the other obstacles through the use of our energy as a service model, eliminating financial barriers with low risk and pay-as-you-go structures for customers. We've also eliminated some of our barriers through our inside digital twin platform, making energy smarter, more resilient, and more cost-effective, which makes the education piece easier, as well as the regulatory barrier easier to overcome. 

Janina Teoxon: 

I love how you've really identified these three obstacles or barriers and how The Sun Company's overcoming these challenges and it's impressive that you are tackling these challenges. Again, it's one thing to develop a great technology, but overcoming these real-world challenges is a totally different battle, so that's truly impressive. So, was there a pivotal moment in The Sun Company's journey that significantly impacted your direction or growth? 

Joley Michaelson: 

Yeah, so the first one that comes to mind is our partnership with Pacific Northwest National Laboratory. We secured the exclusive US license for zinc-polyiodide flow battery technology. This technology, as I mentioned, is a breakthrough with its high density of 7X energy, 20X power. Another one would be the fact that this chemistry offers the longest duration of any flow battery in the market. That long duration enables cost-effective, scalable, and sustainable energy usage. So, that's a main pivotal moment for us. 

Another one has been standing firm in our values and turning down investment that didn't align with us. I always tell people I started the company for three major reasons, and the third one was to be what I called a living breathing example of Capitalism 2.0, where we solve societal problems and create stakeholder alignment through what we do, and that we are a relationship-based values organization and we thread every business objective on a regular, if not daily basis, through our values. And so, who you choose to have invest in you will make a difference of whether a company can stay the course. Another example of that is we are a Delaware Public Benefit Corporation, which is a C Corp designation that most people aren't familiar with. It allows us as a Delaware Public Benefit Corporation, which is a C Corp designation, that allows us to have more of a triple bottom line focus on people, profit, and planet. 

And so, turning down misaligned capital has been a significant pivotal moment throughout The Sun Company's journey. I would say the last thing that comes to mind is becoming a revenue generating while maintaining control of the business, which a lot of times when people get to the point that I've brought The Sun Company to, they no longer have the controlling interest of the company. I still own 98% of the company and we are a revenue generator serving Fortune 100 companies, as well as bringing our battery technology to market in the next 12 to 18 months. 

Janina Teoxon: 

Wow. It's amazing. And those are certainly key turning points that propelled The Sun Company to where it is today. And it's always interesting to me how these experiences not only shape the vision and strategy of the company, but also the mindset of a leader. So, now, Joley, shifting to the bigger picture, the policy and regulation have a huge influence on the renewable energy sector. How do you see the current regulatory and policy trends affecting The Sun Company's role within the renewable energy sector, and what position do you envision your company taking in response to these changes? 

Joley Michaelson: 

Yeah, so yes, there are and there always have been. I've been in this space since 2009, policy headwinds at the federal level. And depending on the administration at times, there's attempts to slow incentives, maybe roll back incentives or regulations, but the macro trends remain, and that is the adoption rate of renewables. That is the cost of renewables going down and actually solar being the cheapest form of energy we have today. And so, these macro trends, including the ones that I spoke of earlier, of a significant increase in demand in a system where the grid is archaic and fragile and vulnerable, as well as underdeveloped for what we face from AI and EV charging development, there isn't really a lot of overarching concern. We continue to be a voice that and work with our regulators to push renewables forward, but the macro trends continue to point in the direction that there's no going back. 

Janina Teoxon: 

That's an insightful perspective. I know navigating the regulatory landscape is always a challenge, but it's good to see that The Sun Company's positioning itself for the future.  

Joley Michaelson: 

The other thing I would add to that is that corporate adoption of renewables is at an all-time high and businesses are prioritizing energy independence and cost savings over political uncertainty.  

Janina Teoxon: 

Right. That's good. And know Joley, our firm works with many clients in the renewable energy sector, and it's just, to me, very inspiring to see companies like yours led by a woman, leading the way with these innovative solutions. 

Joley Michaelson: 

Thank you. I appreciate that. 

Janina Teoxon: 

Right. This has been an amazing conversation, Joley. Thank you for taking the time to have a conversation with me today. 

Joley Michaelson: 

Yeah, I would love to. And I look forward to doing it again. 

Janina Teoxon: 

Right, absolutely. And before we wrap up, where can our audience connect with you or how can our audience connect with you and learn more about The Sun Company? 

Joley Michaelson: 

Yeah, so they can connect with me directly at joley@tsc.energy, joley@tsc.energy, and they can connect with us online at The Sun Company. 

Janina Teoxon: 

Perfect. Thank you again, Joley. And thanks to our listeners for tuning into TechTalk, the entrepreneurs and innovators who turn to EisnerAmper for audit, tax, advisory, and outsourcing solutions to help propel their business forward. Again, subscribe to the EisnerAmper podcast to listen to TechTalk episodes or visit EisnerAmper.com for more tech news you can use. 

Transcribed by Rev.com