The Surge in Solar: A Conversation with Thomas Leyden, Senior Director at EDF Renewables

As one of the early solar pioneers, Tom has over 30 years has held a number of executive management positions. He was VP of Sales and Marketing at EPV, a thin-film PV (photovoltaic) manufacturer, and at WorldWater, a remote-power and water pumping company installing solar projects in Africa and Asia. He served as VP of East Coast Operations for PowerLight, the commercial PV pioneer bought by SunPower, where he ran SunPower’s East Coast office in Trenton, NJ, and later was VP of US Commercial Development at SolarCity. In 2012, he became CEO of the start-up Solar Grid Storage that was acquired by Sunedison in 2015. He joined EDF Renewables in 2016 to help develop and deliver innovative solar and storage business models. In New Jersey, Tom has been responsible for close to 100 solar projects with customers such as Johnson & Johnson, Bloomberg, JC Penney, and Princeton University. He is currently developing a second Princeton solar project of 15 MW at 9 sites around campus. 

Tom has served the industry in various other roles, including President of MSEIA and MDV-SEIA, board member of national SEIA and PV Now, and advisor to the Interstate Renewable Energy Council. Mr. Leyden holds a BA from Princeton University, class of '77, S'78, daughter 2012.

Jeremiah Thoronka (BT): What is your role at EDF Renewables North America?

Thomas Leyden (TL): I am serving as a Senior Director at EDF Renewables Distributed Solutions.

BT: What has kept you excited and passionate about this industry? 

TL: The need to move away from burning fossil fuel for our energy has been apparent for long time, and I have been motivated by the opportunity to move to a renewable energy future. Since the early 1980s, I have been able to travel to different countries around the globe and have seen firsthand the destruction that mining and burning fossil brings, and particularly for those with the least among us. But I’ve also seen the impact that solar and other renewables can bring to communities -- simple things like pollution free solar lighting, or solar water pumping to make access to clean water a reality. I’ve seen in my career, and participated in, the rapid decrease in solar energy (and wind) costs that now is the best, cheapest, and most quickly deployed source of new energy. Make no mistake, we have the technology and know-how to beat back the ravages of climate change. We now just need to have the leadership and political will necessary to drive the policies to support it.  

BT:  What emerging technologies have you been exposed to as a leader at EDF Renewables that you are most excited about? 

TL:  With solar there have been incremental improvements in technology, but the main driver is cost reduction, and that includes equipment costs, better installation techniques, and most importantly, financial structures that recognize the certainty of output and reliable long-term revenues. We have made great progress on all fronts making solar the cheapest source of new energy anywhere. I’m also excited about the emergence of batteries for large scale energy storage. Until recently, the technology and costs were too high, but with the developing electric vehicle market exploding, the costs of batteries has come down drastically. This opens up new opportunities to use batteries to store solar and wind making it available 24-hours a day, even when the sun is not shining or the wind not blowing. This development will enable more solar and wind on the grid and will continue to help bring down the cost of energy over the next few years – making it even more cost-effective.

BT: How are companies best disposing of the waste that comes from solar panels after their lifespan?

TL: This has been an issue for many years. In most cases, a typical solar panels will produce energy up to 50 years, but at some point will reach end of life, creating millions, if not billions of panels that need to be replaced. The latest development in the sector is making it possible for almost everything to be recycled leaving little waste behind. Most solar panels have no toxic material and can be easily recycled at the end of life. And for some thin-film solar panels there are programs that have been rolled out to tackle issues with cadmium, or other chemicals that cannot be removed easily. The future looks promising as solutions to these challenges have been proposed and a lot of research is also being carried out.

BT: What are some of the challenges for the private sector to finance renewable energy development?

TL: This is an interesting question, and as I said earlier, the evolution of financing of solar has made a huge difference in the industry’s ability to reduce costs and deploy projects. The key is for private investors to have certainty in the performance of solar, and importantly, a high degree of certainty in the returns it will provide. Both of these have proven true over the last decade thereby attracting billions of dollars in investment in renewable energy projects. 

BT: How do you think countries should finance their renewable energy projects? Should they go for commercial enterprise funds, state public funds, or try to enter using a public-private partnership framework? 

TL: From my experience in the sector, I have seen many countries adopt energy policies and laws that encourage investment in the renewable sector. Different financing frameworks have worked for different countries depending on their context and market. We can learn from these successes and continue driving market growth. In most places, the public-private sector framework has been successful opening opportunities for investors and governments that want better and cleaner energy development.

BT: Since the inception of COVID-19, we have seen an instance where oil price plunged below zero in the world market. Do you think the decrease in oil price will impact countries that heavily depend on cheap oil?

TL: For sure, we never saw it coming, and this pandemic has created a huge and scary economic blow. The worldwide industry shutdowns are dealing a severe blow to the global economy and especially countries that have built their economies on fossil fuel exports. Oil flooded the international market and, most companies in the oil business realized they must do something fast for them to survive. However, even before COVID-19, we have witnessed most oil companies reducing exploration, shutting down drilling, and closing some of their wells due to lack of demand with costs exceeding revenues. The anticipated collapse of the industry has caused some of these companies to shift to new and cleaner energy generation such as wind, solar, and hydrogen – and directing their investment to promote research and deployment in those areas.

BT: Many African states are still figuring out policies that could boost their transition process. What lessons could African states learn from rapid growth in renewables on the North America market? 

TL: I think most important lesson is for Africa to focus more on distributed energy resources rather than large central power plants. The grid in the US is moving away from the central model to a distributed one comprised of solar, wind, gas peakers, and energy storage -- that is not only cleaner and more cost-effective, but is more resilient and able to quickly adjust to major weather events. US policy makers woke up to this fact after Superstorms Katrina in 2005 and Sandy in 2012 caused widespread power outages and destruction. Africa can be a leader in this taking advantage of its diverse renewable energy sources, and disperse population, but more work needs to be done developing a skilled workforce and creating policy frameworks that will attract investment to the continent. 

The rapid growth in the US has helped make renewable energy more affordable and the grid more reliable.  African states have the opportunity to skip over the national/centralized grid system to a more distributed and smart-grid system. Among other things, generating and delivering power where it is needed, helps mitigate the high energy loss over long transmission lines to the end-users.

BT: How has COVID-19 affected the progress we have made on divesting from fossil fuels and transitioning to renewables, as most countries try to use the cheapest means possible to provide access to energy for their citizens?

TL: This pandemic may have an effect to some extent; however, it is too early to quantify to what extent. Many companies in the sector are reporting issues with supply chain, delays in permitting, and access to capital as funding sources pause and re-group waiting to see the full extent of the damage to the economy and capital markets. 

BT: Economics went on their knees and most have barely survived to this point; factoring in that the U.S walked away from the Paris Agreement, do you think countries will consider it when they fully reopen their economics? 

TL: This is an incredibly good question. Just as I said earlier on, the consequences of the pandemic on many international agreements post COVID-19 may be difficult to analyze or quantify at this stage. However, the tendency for most countries to focus on economic recovery while neglecting climate is high; most governments will be focused on stabilizing their economics. But in truth, there is only one way for the US to get back into the Paris Agreement, and indeed to provide global leadership in addressing climate change, and that’s to change the political leadership in Washington. We will see on November 3rd. 

BT: If you can go back in time and influence a decision that related to energy, what would you change?

TL: The oil embargoes of 1973 and 1979 by Arab members of OPEC, made Americans aware of our dependence on foreign oil. In 1979 President Carter launched what he called “the moral equivalent of war,” creating many federal policies that supported energy efficiency and renewable energy development. I took that to heart myself and started my first solar energy company in 1980 selling and installing solar hot water systems. Unfortunately, successor administrations back-tracked on those policies. Had the federal government, and many states, maintained those programs I believe we would be light years ahead on clean, reliable and low-cost energy, with a radically safer and more sustainable planet.  Clearly, if I could go back in time and could influence policy, I would focus on maintaining and improving those rational and sustainable energy policies that support efficiency, renewable energy, and the massive job creation that goes along with it.