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California’s clean energy story is often told through solar and batteries, but the real challenge isn’t building the technology, it’s connecting it. Across the state, schools, water districts, and city governments want to deploy microgrids to cut costs and boost resilience, yet many projects are stuck in interconnection queues, waiting years to come online. The result? Communities lose out on cheaper, cleaner power, and essential services remain exposed to grid instability.

In this episode of Transmission, we hear from Ali Chehrehsaz, CEO of TerraVerde Energy, who has spent over 15 years helping California’s public agencies navigate this landscape. He explains why interconnection has become the biggest bottleneck for solar and storage, how agencies can take control of their energy future, and what reforms are needed to deliver resilience at scale. It’s a conversation about turning ambition into action and about building clean power where it matters most.

Key topics covered:

• Why interconnection, not incentives, is now the biggest barrier for solar and storage.

• How microgrids can cut costs and strengthen resilience for schools, cities, and water districts.

• The lessons from 15+ years of deploying clean energy in California.

• Why public agencies are uniquely positioned to lead in the transition.

• What reforms are needed to fix the queue and speed up deployment.

About our guest:

Ali Chehrehsazis CEO of TerraVerde Energy, advising public agencies across California on deploying microgrids, solar, and batteries to cut costs, improve resilience, and accelerate the clean energy transition. For more information on TerraVerde, head to their website.

About Modo Energy

Modo Energy helps the owners, operators, builders, and financiers of battery energy storage solutions understand the market - and make the most out of their assets.

All of our interviews are available to watch or listen to on the Modo Energy site. To keep up with all of our latest updates, research, analysis, videos, conversations, data visualizations, live events, and more, follow us on LinkedIn. Check out The Energy Academy, our bite-sized video series breaking down how power markets work.

California’s biggest clean energy bottleneck with Ali Chehrehsaz (TerraVerde Energy)

Transmission