Episode 100 of Green Giants: Titans of Renewable Energy marks a major milestone and captures a pivotal shift happening across the solar industry.
In this episode, Wes Ashworth sits down with Howard Wenger, President of Nextpower, a company delivering a utility-scale solar integrated platform designed to improve performance, reliability, and speed at scale.
With more than four decades in solar, Howard brings a rare perspective. He has helped build and scale companies from the earliest days of the industry to today’s global deployments exceeding hundreds of gigawatts. At Nextpower, he is leading the transition from fragmented system design to a fully integrated approach that combines hardware, software, and data into a unified platform.
This conversation explores how solar power plants are being redefined in response to rising electricity demand, increasing system complexity, and the need for long-term performance certainty.
Key topics covered in this episode include:
Howard also reflects on key moments that signaled solar’s ability to scale, including the development of one of the world’s first 10 megawatt solar parks, and how the industry has evolved from a niche market to a global energy backbone.
A central theme throughout the episode is accountability. When systems are fragmented, responsibility is distributed and performance can suffer. An integrated platform approach brings design, execution, and operations into closer alignment, improving reliability and reducing risk over the life of the asset.
Looking ahead, the conversation outlines what a fully integrated solar power plant could become by 2030. Systems that are engineered to work together from the start, supported by software and automation, and capable of delivering consistent, insurable performance over decades.
As solar continues to scale as one of the fastest and most cost-effective sources of new power, this episode provides a clear view into how the industry is evolving and what it will take to meet the next wave of demand.
Links:
Wes Ashworth: https://www.linkedin.com/in/weslgs/
