Financing the Clean Energy Transition: A Conversation with Jigar Shah
How Clean Energy Technologies Get from the Lab to Commercial Scale
Join us in conversation with Jigar Shah—entrepreneur,
financier, and one of the most influential voices in the U.S. energy transition
Wednesday, April 29th
4 pm Eastern / 1 pm Pacific
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When we advocate for climate policy, we're really pushing for economic signals that move capital. This session is about understanding that machinery.
How does a clean energy technology get from the lab bench to commercial deployment at scale? Who writes the checks at each stage, and what are they looking for? Where do deals die, and why? How do the successful ones scale quickly?
CCL is honored to host Jigar Shah for a candid conversation about how new clean energy technologies actually get funded.
Wayne Willis, co-lead of the Geothermal Power Action Team, will interview Jigar and explore topics including:
- The capital stack, stage by stage. Fit-for-purpose capital from R&D grants through commercial project finance—and why the right money at the right stage makes all the difference.
- Getting across the “Valley of Death.” Why do some promising technologies never make it out of the lab or achieve full commercial viability? Understand the challenges at each stage and the policy tools and financing vehicles that address them.
- The Fervo case study. How enhanced geothermal crossed the commercialization divide, from its 2017 founding to a $421 million project finance closing in March 2026 and an impending IPO.
- The hyperscaler pull. Why AI-driven data center load growth is reshaping the economics of clean firm power, and what that means for our advocacy.
Live Q&A will follow.
This conversation is open to CCL Action Team leaders, Group Leaders, national staff, and members interested in the economics behind the policies we advocate. Sharper understanding of capital flows makes for sharper advocacy.
If you care about how clean energy actually gets built and financed at scale, this is a conversation you won't want to miss.
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Wednesday, April 29th, 4 pm ET / 1 pm PT
About Our Speaker
Jigar Shah is a clean energy entrepreneur, financier, and one of the most influential voices shaping the U.S. energy transition. He was named to the 2024 TIME100 list of the world's most influential people.
Jigar founded SunEdison in 2003, pioneering the "no money down" power purchase agreement model that transformed the solar industry. He later served as founding CEO of the Carbon War Room and co-founded Generate Capital, a specialty finance firm focused on sustainable infrastructure.
From March 2021 to January 2025, Jigar directed the U.S. Department of Energy's Loan Programs Office, growing its loan authority from $40 billion to $400 billion following passage of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and the Inflation Reduction Act. Under his leadership, LPO announced 53 deals totaling roughly $107 billion in committed project investment across advanced nuclear, enhanced geothermal, long-duration energy storage, clean hydrogen, solar manufacturing, advanced vehicles, and tribal energy.
Since leaving DOE, Jigar co-founded Multiplier, an advisory firm helping clean energy entrepreneurs scale and achieve better exits, and serves as founding advisory chair of Deploy Action, a nonprofit focused on state-level grid reform and electricity affordability. He co-hosts two podcasts, Open Circuit and Energy Empire, and authored Creating Climate Wealth: Unlocking the Impact Economy and many other books.
