Hi, my name is Solomon, and I'm professionally curious about things I don't fully understand.
"Hi, Solomon."
That's it. That's the blog.
This blog? It's not expertise. It's my learning journal, published weekly for reasons I'm still figuring out.
Okay, fine. Let me explain
Two weeks ago, I sat in a due diligence session for a deal we'd eventually close. Eight figures. Multiple sites. The kind of transaction that makes it into industry newsletters.
I've structured and led similar deals before. Many times. I am a PE. An MBA. A PMP and a host of other alphabet soups I sometimes forget. I've sat across from ministers and development banks. I've built models that convinced very smart people to write very large checks.
The technical advisor asked about harmonic distortion.
I nodded thoughtfully, wrote "harmonic distortion???" in my notebook, and said, "Let's have our technical team dive deeper on that."
That night, I learned about harmonic distortion. Also discovered I'd been confusing it with power factor correction for years. After twelve years in this industry. Twelve.
The Paradox of Experience
Here's what nobody tells you about renewable energy careers: Success and expertise are barely correlated.
I've closed deals worth more than some (very very small) countries' energy budgets. Still can't explain reactive power properly without using beer. I've led project finance structuring for portfolios across multiple markets. Still Google "what is curtailment" more than I'd like to admit. My signatures are on agreements that power hundreds of homes. My Excel models still have circular references I can't find.
This isn't false modesty. It's the reality of working in an industry that evolves faster than any of us can learn.
The press releases talk about megawatts and millions. They don't mention the learning curve that never actually flattens. They don't capture the moment when you realize the 23-year-old analyst understands the technical specs better than you ever will.
And they definitely don't mention that this is perfectly normal.
This Is My Weekly Brain Dump
Every week, I'm going to share everything I think I know about renewable energy. Which, fair warning, changes weekly. Sometimes daily. Sometimes mid-sentence.
I'm not here to teach. I'm here to learn in public. My superpower isn't knowing things—it's knowing that I don't know things, and being weirdly comfortable with that.
Here's what you're signing up for:
Technical Stuff I Just Learned e.g How to model degradation (spoiler: everyone's guessing)
Financial Models and Crying e.g The art of hiding circular references
Legal Documents Nobody Reads e.g Contract terms I pretend to understand
Business Development Reality e.g Why every site is "strategic" and "world-class" and The mysterious "local partner" requirement
Sales and Other Lies We Tell e.g "Turnkey solution" and other phrases that mean nothing and The art of confident confusion
Every week, I encounter:
Technical specs that might as well be hieroglyphics
Financial structures that break my brain
Legal terms that make me question the English language
Business strategies that assume physics works differently in different countries
Conceptual ideas that made me read 15 academic papers, 10 blogs, 47 tweets and 1million videos in a tiktok dumbscroll rage
And every week, I do what any professional does: I learn just enough to be dangerous, take notes, and try to be slightly less confused tomorrow.
This blog is those notes. That rollercoaster of confusion and clarity, documented weekly.
What You Won't find on this Blog
You Won't Find:
Claims of expertise I don't have
Polished thought leadership
Answers to everything
Certainty about anything
My ego (lost it somewhere in Year 2)
fake modesty (I genuinely don’t know many things)
My Actual Qualifications
Let me be clear about what I bring:
✓ Stubborn curiosity - I'll read 47 technical manuals until something clicks
✓ Professional shamelessness - I'll ask "stupid" questions in front of anyone
✓ Obsessive note-taking - Every lesson learned, documented and shared
✓ Pattern recognition - After enough deals, you start seeing the same mistakes
✓ Access to actual experts - And the wisdom to defer to them constantly
Why Share My Ignorance?
Because I have a theory: In fast-moving industries, the gap between experts and the rest of us isn't fixed. It's constantly shifting. Today's expert knowledge is tomorrow's Google search. Today's confused note-taking is tomorrow's working knowledge.
I'm not trying to become an expert. I'm trying to become competent, one confused Google search at a time. And maybe, if I document the journey from confusion to clarity, it'll help someone else who's frantically Googling under their desk.
So every week, I'll dump my confusion here. The technical concepts I'm grappling with. The financial models I'm building (and breaking). The legal terms I'm pretending to understand. The business development strategies I'm testing.
Maybe you'll learn something. Maybe you'll teach me something. Maybe you'll just feel better knowing someone else is also googling "what is a busbar" at 3 PM on a Tuesday.
What's the Catch?
My math might be wrong. Please check it.
No, seriously. Check it.
Everything I write comes with an asterisk.
*Results may vary
*Consult actual experts
*Math might be wrong
*Please check my work
This isn't false modesty. It's survival. The fastest way to learn in this industry is to be publicly wrong and have someone smarter correct you. So please, correct me. Teach me. Share better methods.
The comment section is smarter than the author. That's not a bug; it's the whole point.
This isn't The Expert's Guide to Clean Energy. It's The Impostor's Guide. My notes from the journey between "I have no idea" and "I think I understand."
Come learn with me. Or come teach me. Either way, welcome to the support group. Coffee's in the corner. Circular references are on the left. Existential crises are straight ahead.
Let's figure this out together.
—S (Chief Impostor, spreadsheet whisperer, caffeine casualty)
P.S. - To everyone who's answered my basic questions over the past twelve years with patience instead of judgment: Thank you, You're why I still have a career. This blog is partly your fault.
P.P.S. - Found an error? Perfect. That's how we learn. Drop a comment and help me update my notes. Promise I'll fix it in v47_FINAL_FINAL_actually_final.
P.P.P.S. - Yes, I'm writing this instead of fixing that circular reference in my model. No, I don't know where it is. Yes, I'm using IFERROR to hide it until Monday.
Subscribe to The Impostor's Guide to Clean Energy. Weekly notes from the confused side of clean energy. Bring your questions, your corrections, and your patience. New posts every Friday, or whenever the coffee kicks in.
Not expertise. Just expensive experience and continuing education. Come for the honesty. Stay for the shared bewilderment. Leave with slightly less confusion.
Disclaimer: Actually learning in public. Not an expert. Defer to people who actually know things. Math definitely needs checking.
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