Green Giants – Episode 51

Wes Ashworth (05:16)

Yeah, I love that. I love those journeys that are just kind of like it’s a little bit unplanned and unscripted, right? But it all works out, and you end up in the right place. And that it’s really cool always to see that and see those passions align, and it happened that way. As you mentioned, we talked about how you’ve been with EVS for over a decade. Share a little bit of the story, just how you helped launch the solar division and grow it into what it is today.

Sohan Das (05:38)

Yeah, so as I mentioned, just the beginning of my solar story here at EVS. But obviously, had a lot of good coworkers, partners, and clients. And there have been a lot of good infection points along the way as well. Obviously, starting with solar, we dive straight into utility-scale solar.

But then we got quite involved in the community solar market as well in Minnesota. So, we’re doing both utility-scale and community solar right off the gates. Good inflection points for us, when it comes to the growth journey, happened in 2017 when we started doing battery storage as well. And at that time, you know, we have been very lucky, and being at the right place at the right time is so important, and these kinds of things, right?

So, we got a chance to work on one of the largest co-op-owned battery storage projects here in Minnesota. At 38 megawatt hours at that time, I think it was built in 2018. We started doing some engineering in 2017. So, at that time, still very early. Lithium-ion fast phosphate batteries, which were again, at that time, we just cobbled together.

We didn’t have the Fluences of the world or the Powins of the world, but we had an enclosure manufacturer from the factory in Michigan. And then we had these batteries from China, and we kind of put them all together and just created a system, an integrated system at that time. So that was a good inflection point for us and kind of helped, I would say, helped us get on the rocket ship of batteries as well.

Although we did see a big shift to utility-scale batteries right after COVID. So we kept doing a lot of kind of smaller battery projects in 18, 19, 20, almost. Another inflection point was when we kept adding disciplines. So, EVS was historically a civil and survey company. So, we have always been doing civil and survey, and the company is 46 years old. But we added electricity in 2014.

So that was an inflection point. Then 2019, we added structural. So that became another push towards becoming a one-stop shop. So, that’s how we pride ourselves on being a one-stop shop for especially for EPC clients and for the audience like EPCs, engineering procurement, and construction groups. So, they are some of our major clients.

After COVID was another, obviously, we saw a little bit of downturn during COVID, but then the leadership, Dennis and Andy, along with our leadership team, had the vision of saying, hey, we are gonna hold onto our people. We are not gonna downsize. This will come back, right? And that really paid dividends in 2021 when the work came roaring back, and we were extremely busy in 2021.

Since then, we got really another jump and we ended up adding substation design in early 2021. At the end of 2021, we added Geotech capabilities. And then 2022-23, just last year, we added SCADA capabilities. And then January of 2025, we added transmission engineering capabilities as well. So yeah, it’s been just a great ride and just a lot of different inflection points on the way, which really helped us catapult to where we are today.

Wes Ashworth (08:41)

Absolutely, it’s incredible. And it’s clear your journey has been both personal and transformational for EVS. Now we looked at how things began. I want to shift gears and talk about how you’ve helped steer that growth, both as a leader and a culture setter. So, starting out, EVS has grown, as we mentioned, from 30 to over 200 employees since you joined, which is incredible growth.

Any other kind of key inflection points in that journey? You definitely shared most of those there in the timeline, but anything else that comes to mind in that growth trajectory?

Sohan Das (09:18)

Yeah, I think acquiring the right clients at the right time was important. We did start with utility scale jobs, to really cement ourselves in the utility scale space, we had to bring in some of the skills, like adding good hydrology capabilities was important, and adding good power studies capabilities was very important. And then also, as we kept adding, we always tried to listen to our client’s feedback, we don’t try to do things in a vacuum. So, when we heard that a one-stop shop approach is very much desired, the way we added our capabilities, we saw more clients come in, and some of the important clients came in. And also like we are doing a lot of work for developers as well now. So, in addition to all the inflection points I mentioned, getting those strategic clients at the right time throughout our journey was very important for us, too.

Wes Ashworth (10:13)

Without a doubt. The other piece of that is just fostering a culture of innovation and purpose, especially while you’re scaling rapidly in such a dynamic industry as this. So, how do you do that? How did you do that? And how do you continue to foster that culture of innovation and purpose?

Sohan Das (10:28)

Yeah, a lot of it goes down to our culture itself. And Andy is a big part of it. He is our president. And, you know, obviously, I support Andy with everything when it comes to culture, but he really kind of takes a lead on setting the tone for the company when it comes to culture. Also working with the HR team. But we are a very transparent organization. So, we do our annual strategic planning. We talk about what things we should focus on for the future, but also how we can improve our current work through innovation and all of that. And we share that with our company. We share that, going to our directors groups, so they will, based on our strategic plan for the next 10 years, five years, three years, they will create their own plans based on that.

And, we will talk a little bit about AI and automation. And so that’s one of the things we are looking into is really improving our automation and how to integrate AI into some of the work that we do. But yeah, we do share that with our company so that we are all aligned on the vision, but also all aligned on the strategy as well. Once we do that, share that high-level strategy with our people, we don’t have too many people kind of trying to do something that is not moving in the same direction, all of us pushing in the same direction. So, the transparency really helps.

Wes Ashworth (11:30)

Absolutely, that’s good stuff. Overall, thinking about the culture, what kind of people thrive at EVS in that growing dynamic environment? And then, how do you attract talent in such a competitive space?

Sohan Das (11:57)

Yeah, so that’s actually an easy one for me to answer because we have talked about it so much, and it goes down to our core values. So, we very carefully selected our core values and people, and our core values are respect, humility, and integrity. And then service excellence and continuous improvement. So, we have like narratives for every single one of them. I won’t go through every single one of them, but people when people interview at EVS, we talk about all of our core values.

Sometimes, obviously, we screen people for their technical acumen and aptitude, but then the core values part cannot. We just tell them, and we say, hey, if you align with it, you’re in the right place. If you don’t align with it, maybe EVS is not the place for you, right? So, what we have seen is that it aligns with a lot of people, especially people who are trying to get into the renewables industry. They hear these core values. They are like, this totally aligned with our core values. And obviously, people talk to their peers, or they will, we have people who have even worked at EVS and then gone somewhere else. You know, typically they would still really stand behind what we are as a culture, as a company. Word gets around, right? So, I think we have been able to, you know, create a good reputation, good brand for ourselves in the industry, and that really helps bring in the talent.

Wes Ashworth (13:01)

Yeah, absolutely, it’s incredible and I love it. It is so cool how really, as you just said, when you really know your core values and you stick by them, you talk about them a lot, you have those stories to support them, as you said, and even talking about that really openly with candidates through the interview process throughout, you’re right. People self-eliminate, a lot of times, or they’re really drawn in even more so, and like, oh my gosh, that’s me. I want to be a part of that. So yeah, it’s really, really cool.

Scaling a company while maintaining a strong culture is really no small feat. It’s very difficult to do. But also, the technical challenges in the field are just as complex. And so, let’s zoom in on some of the engineering hurdles you faced and what you’re seeing across the industry. So, one of the things you mentioned, documentation gaps, especially with international vendors and their impact on field work. Talk to us about that. What needs to improve across the industry?

Sohan Das (14:09)

Yeah, this one is specific to battery storage. Solar, obviously, we have been doing it for many, many years now. Things have quite a bit standardized at this point. Battery storage is still new. So, we see a lot of international vendors coming in. And sometimes what we are missing is proper documentation or even understanding of NEC, understanding of UL standards, especially if they don’t have a whole lot of engineers in the US.

They would send over the documentation to the owners, and we would start reviewing it, and we were like, we are missing this information. So, in fact, we ended up helping some of those international vendors as well, creating their installation manuals, creating their documentation, QCing there, if they need any CQOs or UL listing or not, but we had to go through that first, right?

We had to go through that pain first to say, even our clients, sometimes the developers or the EPCs, they ended up telling some of the vendors that, hey, why don’t you use EVS, who are engineers to help you improve your documentation. But it’s obviously getting better. In all the companies, the new entrants always obviously struggle, especially if they are foreign vendors. But the ones who are already established have already gotten much better. And we see that standardization is happening in battery storage right now.

Wes Ashworth (15:09)

Yeah, absolutely. And another hot topic has been balancing grading versus pile strength. What’s the real trade-off there, and should developers understand better and maybe give a little bit of context in terms of, if somebody’s not deeply entrenched in the industry, maybe they don’t really understand what that means? But give us a little bit of that.

Sohan Das (15:41)

One of the things, and this is not just EVS, but all engineering firms in the utility scale sector work on quite a bit, is value engineering. So obviously we have to engineer the project to meet codes and standards and to withstand whatever the PPA duration is, 25 years, 40 years. So, we design it to those standards. Now, but then, the challenge we get from our clients, which we always like to rise up to the challenge, is value engineering.

Back when I started in solar, the discussion was all about electrical, right? Because, like cable lengths, optimized cable lengths, know, low voltage, medium voltage, DC, AC, all of that. But a lot of them have been kind of vetted out and moved towards standardization. In the last four to five years, the focus has been more on civil and structural is what we have seen. So obviously, we do a lot of work with trackers.

And for those who don’t know, we have to move a lot of dirt because trackers are like 300 feet long. So, to kind of make sure they are, the sites that we get these days are not like flat and nice. They’re like, they have a lot of topo, they have a lot of terrain. So, to place those trackers, you know, and these days they’re train-falling trackers already. So that helps. In the past, it was more just straight trackers, and you had to kind of grade the land and move them along.


But then you have to also balance it with pile lengths for structural. So, that balancing act is very critical. And we work a lot with our EPC clients to understand, well, what is the right amount of value engineering we need to do here? You move X amount of cubic yards, or you’re going to increase the length by X feet. Which one is more economical? So, we work very closely with them to understand what is economical. The exciting part that we are doing right now, and you’ll see.

We are going to do a little bit of a marketing splash about it too, in the near future, is our automated software tool that we have created, especially for grading and pile lengths, like those two things. So, I won’t share the name yet on the podcast, but it will come out very soon.

But we have our own tool developed using Python to really kind of do 50 iterations, 100 iterations, right? And in a very short amount of time to give you all these options, like this is going to be your number of cubic yards of grading you’ll need, versus this is the pilot that you might need. And so that’s what our clients like is a lot of options. then they have the actual pricing of the material. We don’t have the pricing of the material, but at least they got the information to make their best decision moving forward.

Wes Ashworth (18:15)

Yeah, just make an informed decision, really have all the options laid out. I mean, that’s the important piece of it. Another component. So, O&M or Operation and Maintenance is often overlooked. What are the most common issues you’re seeing post construction, and better question is, how can they be prevented?

Sohan Das (18:15)

Yeah, so that’s definitely been an Achilles heel for me, I can speak for ourselves, but I’m sure others have seen it in the industry too, especially when projects switch hands. We design it for the specs of our clients or the EPCs, and the developers; we look at their specs as well. So, we make sure that we are meeting their specs. Quite often, the part that sometimes gets overlooked is the O&M part, right?

And we would engineer for whatever seating is needed, and we’ll spec it out, right? But somebody has to do the right amount of seating and right amount of maintenance, and also let that seating grow, right? So, sometimes when the project switches hands, somebody sells it to somebody else, and they might miss that part. And we have seen that happen quite often. And then problems occur, and then we talk about it, right? Like, hey, what happened? And we talk about, okay, we did put it in our drawings.

Somehow, this got missed, or somehow this is not followed. And sometimes it’s also like just understanding, right? In some cases, there could be, let’s say, water on site. Like if a site is extremely flat, it might be acceptable to have a certain level of water on the site when you get a certain amount of rain, like a hundred-year storm or a 500-year storm. Our most important job is to protect the equipment. And that’s something we negotiate with our clients, right?

But then, when somebody else buys the project, they might look at it and be happy. And they’re saying, well, why is there standing water on site? And obviously, we need to meet all codes and regulations, but some of it is acceptable. And some of it is already negotiated. But sometimes, the end owner is coming into it a little bit cold, and they’re a little bit surprised to see that. So, a lot of education is needed when it comes to those kinds of issues. And I think just a lot of due diligence is needed.

These are the O&M practices that the current owner and the future owner need to collaborate, maintain, and make sure these are happening right so that nobody is surprised later on.

Wes Ashworth (20:30)

Yeah, you mentioned standing water one. Are there other kinds of common ones you see pop up a lot, where something is missed, or do these issues pop up later down the road?

Sohan Das (20:39)

Gem and scour. I’m not a civil engineer, obviously, but being in those discussions quite a bit, erosion issues sometimes, and scour issues, they do come up. Yeah, especially when it comes to O&M practices and later on in the stages. So, definitely solid engineering is needed, making sure to adhere to those engineering specs that construction requires. And then we need those three pieces of the stool, or else it’s not gonna stand. The third one is being O&M proper O&M practices.

Wes Ashworth (21:05)

Yeah, absolutely. And as we talked through some of those technical pain points, it’s clear many of them stem from deeper issues, especially around education, shared understanding. And I want to dive into the kind of knowledge gaps that you’re often bridging and how the industry is evolving in response. So, you have talked about the need for better education in the industry. What are the top things you find yourself sort of explaining over and over to clients or partners?

Sohan Das (21:35)

Obviously, like erosion, hydrology-related things that we have to explain. Also, on the electrical side, what is appropriate value engineering versus what is making sure that everything is safe when it comes to grounding, when it comes to capacity? So, we do a lot of education with our clients on that. And our clients are very reasonable people.

We are able to explain to them well why these things need to be done. And obviously, we have to pay very close attention to value engineering. They do understand the need for some of these. Sometimes it might be like, are we using so many grounding rods? Or those discussions come up, right? And we try to do a good job of explaining the reasoning behind it.

And I think we can do something that all engineering companies can do more of is just general education for the industry. Part of me being here in this podcast, I hope that some of our clients or some of our industry peers hear this also helps them.

Wes Ashworth (22:25)

Absolutely. And one of the other things we touched on was just the impact of mid-project changes. And I wanted to dig into that a little bit. So how can developers better understand the true impact of those mid-project changes, like swapping out modules or on timelines and budgets, and just what that impact looks like?

Sohan Das (22:48)

Well, budgets never change, do they? That’s a running joke. Whenever we talk to our clients and we talk about it, they say. When was the last time we changed a module in a project? Well, it was yesterday. So yeah, I guess some of the education that needs to happen on that means we obviously totally understand and our clients are fair, right? Like when modules change, we have to do rework. They’re very fair people, and we get change orders.

But what actually strains the work is the perception of how quickly this can be turned around, right? Like we change a module, but unfortunately, there are a lot of downstream effects, right? Sometimes we have to not only redo the layout, but also read some studies. We have to look at grading, all the aspects. It’s just not one discipline that is being impacted. It’s multiple disciplines. And so sometimes clients might think that it should take two weeks, but in reality, it will take four weeks.

Obviously, we are always trying to make sure we are staying very competitive when it comes to scheduling without compromising quality. Some of that, this is a phenomenon that occurs all the time that we have to explain why this is going to take so much time because there are a lot of domino effect things that happen with module changes, inverter changes, or any component that changes. Or even like if they missed something in the ALTA survey, and all of a sudden, we find out there’s like four of these wells that were not caught in the survey, and then the layout changes everything, changes, there is a lot of domino effect that goes on with it.

Wes Ashworth (24:13)

Absolutely. And just the evolution of the industry. So, you’ve mentioned that hydrology is now getting tackled earlier in the process. I guess why is that so important, and how has that changed project outcomes?

Sohan Das (24:29)

Yeah, it is extremely important because it’s always a chicken and egg situation, right? Because, in the past, the civilian noble effort like, let’s try to spend the least amount of money possible to get this project interconnected and permitted before construction starts. Now, well, there is investment in the industry, and there is more education. So now people are trying to really kind of right-size how much engineering needs to be done on the front end.

And hydrology became a really big topic. Obviously, we need an auto survey, we need Geotech, but hydrology will really allow us to understand where to put the panels. So, it’s a part of creating a Bilibili map, it’s a part of creating a constraints map. if we don’t do it, hydrology will tell us the elevation of the water after a hundred-year rain or a 500-year storm. And that’s becoming more common.

We are seeing like, back-to-back 500-year storms in two years sometimes in some areas, right? So that topic has become such a hot topic. And if you don’t know the elevation of the water in certain locations, we are not able to design, and we cannot wait until 90 % to do the hydrology study, because we would have done all of our design by that time. Then somebody says, You shouldn’t be putting your panels here. Then we have to do the redesign.

So, the good news is that not a huge dollar item to tackle on the front end. So, I think our clients and developers are really understanding the value of just getting it done at the front end so that if there’s an issue later on, we don’t have to. And even more important than redesign, it’s the time lost, right? Because now we’ll need another four to six weeks to just do the design again, right? Because we didn’t run the hydrology study. So that would hurt them a lot.

Wes Ashworth (26:07)

Yeah, absolutely. So, education, which we covered a bit of there, is part of the equation, but innovation is moving really fast, too. Let’s talk about where the puck is headed. So, what new technologies are catching your eye and how are they reshaping how we think about project design and delivery, and kind of that? So, looking ahead, what technologies or trends are you most excited about, whether it’s long-duration storage, green hydrogen, AI-assisted engineering, or anything else?

Sohan Das (26:39)

Yeah, so that’s a lot of things packed into one sentence, but I’ll break it down into what we are doing with AI and automation, and then we’ll talk about what the future markets are looking like, at least from our perspective. So, when it comes to AI and automation and these innovations, we actually break it down into two specific buckets.

One is automation, which is really kind of improving our processes through software like Python or Fortra, and we look at all disciplines, like how we can deliver our layouts better, quicker, faster, like standardizing our wire schedules. Also, like as I mentioned, for grading and pilots using Python to develop our own tool in-house to do multiple iterations so that we can give a lot of options to our clients. That all falls in that automation bucket.

It’s not just to reduce time, which it does reduce time, but it’s also to provide a lot more value. In the past, we could have provided like 10 options. Now we can provide 50 options, right? If that’s what they need, right? So that’s really the automation part.

When it comes to the AI part, we are working on some initiatives that are, that is, you have not put as much effort ever in the past. And we put Raj Pawar, who used to lead our PV and BESS group in the past, but now he is in charge of automation. Basically, he’s the director of client management and innovation. So, innovation is a big part of what he does. we’re working with some external groups and all of that to create our own AI platforms to really help with engineering.

But obviously, keeping in mind quality as number one, table stakes, right? Like whatever we do, we cannot compromise quality. And then second is, yes, hopefully they will really not only improve our quality, but again, we can check so many things, right? From many different angles, using AI to really kind of assist our engineers. And that engineering judgment will always be needed because we cannot ask AI to be a PE.

So, somebody has to take the liability, which will be us as the engineer of record. But AI will really be there as a co-pilot, as a lot of people say, to assist our engineering needs. Now, when it comes to what technologies we see in the future, I am a big proponent of long-duration battery storage, like long-duration solutions. Our industry just needs more of them.

We do have a really good solution with short duration, with lithium-ion prices have really come down now. It might go up a little bit because of tariffs, but overall, when you compare pricing from 2019 to now, it’s not even a comparison. It has really plummeted. So even with tariffs, I think it will still be competitive. But then long duration, I’d love to see more investments in green hydrogen, right, and really kind of generating that power through solar and wind, if possible, right?

For green hydrogen, I love the iron-air solutions, Form Energy. I really like some of the neat, at one time, like vanadium flow solutions for flow batteries. There are other solutions out there for flow batteries as well. One of the technologies that I really liked is Energy Vault. Basically, they use energy to pull a concrete block up an elevator, right? And then when it comes down, it generates energy at night or whenever you need it. I would love to see those kinds of technologies become really cost-competitive, and if we can deploy them everywhere, that’ll be amazing. Obviously, I don’t know exactly how much they cost, but such a neat idea. And if we can make it very commercial, that’ll be amazing.

A lot of neat solutions out there. We are always keeping our eye out for which one becomes like a runaway winner, and we want to be in that industry. So yeah, let’s keep an eye out for that.

Wes Ashworth (30:20)

Yeah, no question. There are some really interesting technologies coming out, and just seeing how quickly it’s evolving, too. But yeah, I actually had a previous episode with Rob Piconi from Energy Vault, so I’ll notate that in the show notes as well too to go check that out. Any other sorts of technologies or sectors that you think the industry isn’t paying enough attention to, or things that deserve a little bit more attention?

Sohan Das (30:33)

Well, carbon capture is one, right? if, know, carbon capture is tied a lot to fossil fuels right now, but there’s also like direct air capture technology that’s out there, right? So, it doesn’t have to be tied to any fossil fuels, but I think it is. I don’t remember the exact country, but one of the Nordic countries, Norway or Finland, implemented a direct air capture facility.

But those facilities can be powered through solar and wind, right, and lithium-ion batteries. So again, I’m not an expert in that particular regard, but something I think of is that if you’re able to make energy so cheap, and it doesn’t matter at what time of the day you are capturing energy, this is direct air capture. If you can get it to be affordable, and that will be a game changer, I think.

Wes Ashworth (31:16)

No, agreed. Another episode, two with DTF from DACLAB, is on the show as well too if you want to check that out and learn more about direct air capture. It’s an interesting topic. It really is. And I think when the more you look at too now, we’re looking at this energy expansion and the demand growth, and those stats are like 16 % growth and things like that. I think it’s going to have to be a part of the equation, or most likely will be.

So, there’s obviously a lot to be excited about, a lot of new technologies, a lot of changes happening. Zooming out a little bit, the big question remains: Where is the renewable energy truly headed? Where’s the market headed? So, let’s take a broader look at the industry’s current state and what the near future holds. So, there’s always a lot of noise in the media, both hype and doom. But from your vantage point, you’re in it, you’re sitting in a company, you’re helping grow, you’re helping scale the company, you’re seeing it day in and day out. What’s the real story right now from your perspective?

Sohan Das (32:30)

Yeah, so part of my job at EVS is to really look at the strategic initiatives of EVS and what markets we are going to be in. And I read a lot of CI and Wood-McKenzie reports, DNV reports, and all other reports as well. What we have seen is, you know, the solar industry really did really well in 2014. We had this hockey stick curve. But right now, mostly due to interconnection challenges, things are kind of flattening out.
I hope, like with data centers, there’s a lot of energy coming in, and we’ll still be adding a lot more solar. But there is a little bit of, we won’t see that hockey stick curve anymore, but to put into perspective, I think last year we added like 65 % of new generation added to the grid was solar, right? So, when you think about it from that perspective, that’s huge, right?

And if we continue to maintain that, like adding 50 to 60 % of new energy into the grid as solar, it’s a pretty darn good industry. So, I think we’ll keep doing that for the next 10 years. But then we also have to look internationally. There’s so much happening, so much more to do internationally when it comes to solar. And then with the combination of wind and battery storage, it’s still a very neat solution.

I was listening to one of the podcasts in the talk about when you combine solar and wind together, let’s say if we look at historical data in California for 10 years, you already see there’s a base load. Nobody considers that as a base load, but there is a base load. When you co-locate solar and wind in, let’s say, one state, you look at data for 10 years, you’ll see there’s certainly a good amount of base load created right there. Now you have batteries, and then that base load starts becoming bigger and bigger.

If we can look at data from 10, 15, and 20 years, we can say, now we can actually really rely on this base load because it has never dipped under this level for the last 10, 15 years. So, this is real stuff. So hopefully we can decongest the grid a little bit through more transmission build-out. And again, that’s another whole podcast topic that permitting is a big challenge there.

So, if we can deregulate some of those permitting needs and add more transmission to the grid, we’ll be able to add more wind and solar. But it is somewhat limited because of interconnection clogging right across the board here in the country. if that changes, think solar can still do that upward curve when it comes to more gigawatts being installed each year.

Wes Ashworth (35:02)

Yeah, absolutely. And just anything to add there in terms of what’s your outlook for the rest of 2025 and beyond, and specifically, to like how you’re positioning EVS to stay ahead of the curve?

Sohan Das (35:05)

Yeah, I mean, if you’re not living at the rock, everybody knows some of the headwinds that are going on with tariffs and the ADCBD tariffs and the liberation day tariffs and all that’s going on. So, when that happens, obviously, people get cautious and make sure to think twice about the investment. So, we are still growing, which is good in this particular market, and will continue to grow.

But just have to be very careful about, especially this year, just looking at how things pan out when it comes to tariffs. And then once that tariff, the dust is settled to some extent, I think. Then the developers will keep pushing on their projects, and then so will the EPCs, and so we will as well. But just a little uncertain next three to six months, but hopefully the dust will settle after that, and then we can kind of continue our trajectory of growth after that.

Wes Ashworth (36:06)

Yeah, no doubt. I’m optimistic. I think that’ll definitely happen. This industry is kind of like just one of the most resilient industries there is and just, and they call it, solar coaster for a reason. And you have these ups and downs and these challenges and these other external factors that really come into play. But like you said, once the dust settles, really smart people sort of get to work and start innovating, creating, and figuring out a way. Demand’s not going anywhere. I think the push is not going anywhere. So it’ll happen, it’s just timing.

So, amidst all the complexity of scaling a business, forecasting trends, it’s easy to forget the human side of leadership. And I do think it’s so important. So, before we wrap up, I want to bring things back to just your personal values and the impact you’re making beyond just leading and beyond the boardroom. So, some of those things, like you’ve done volunteer solar installs and support organizations like Habitat for Humanity and Children International. What role does service play in your life and in leadership overall?

Sohan Das (36:58)

Yeah, it’s so important. And I’m really lucky to be a part of an organization like EVS that really values community service. We, as a company, do a lot of Feed My Starving Children during Christmas. So, it definitely keeps us grounded. And we have a foundation called EVS Cares here at EVS. We have all kinds of activities sometimes to like we do Walktober. People will count their steps, and then the steps will be converted to dollars, and that dollar will be donated to your charitable organization of choice, right? And it’s also such a good thing, like for our kids, right? Because my kids are eight and five. So, they’re, in a few years, I’d love to kind of take them to feed my starving children when they can do that work, especially the five-year-old.

We’d like to do that as a family. And that will also keep them grounded, right? Because they have seen a life that is somewhat comfortable, but they should get to know what others in the world face as well. Gratitude is important, right? So, I think they will learn from that experience and develop that attitude of gratitude.

Wes Ashworth (38:05)

Absolutely, so important. And I love just the service that’s so true to who you are in your heart, and giving back and making a difference, and not just business, not just the industry, but really as a whole, and making the world a better place. I love that. Another question I want to put out there. So, what advice would you give to young professionals or professionals entering the space who really want to make a real impact in the renewable energy space?

Sohan Das (38:29)

Yeah, the good news is that I haven’t had to sell that as much to young people. We have seen people coming from these really good schools, and they’re already like very much into renewables, very much into solar battery storage. The advice I’ll give them, yes, follow your passion, right? And be inquisitive, follow your passion. The more important advice I would give is to people who are somewhat skeptical of renewable energy, like is this going to do this or that?

So, the important thing is, most of the world moves in the right direction generally. Like when you look from the 18th century, 17th century, right? So, you might have some ups and downs, but renewable energy is the right thing to do. So, it doesn’t matter if it’s solar, or if it’s wind, or if it’s geothermal, or if it’s nuclear, right? So, we have different forms of renewable energy.

 I would say believe in it, and find your way. Solar might not work for you, but geothermal might, and that’s fine, right? Or nuclear might, and that’s fine too. So don’t give up on renewable energy. I think there are always going to be ways, and even Fortune 500 organizations, they are looking not just four years, they are looking 20, 50 years down the line.

Everybody wants renewable energy for data centers because first thing is the right thing to do. Second, it’s cheaper. So, it makes twice the sense, right? So have the faith. So, as the solar coaster, we sometimes do ups and downs, but generally it has always gone up.

Wes Ashworth (39:48)

Still headed up, absolutely. Great words of wisdom there and a piece of advice. Closing thoughts, any other words of advice, things you wanna wrap up with, things that you maybe didn’t get to share that you would like to, just give you the floor, anything else that we didn’t cover.

Sohan Das (40:14)

No, I mean just in general about the industry. It’s a really fun industry to be a part of. I feel so lucky that I didn’t go into some other industry. We have really good people in the industry. And that’s what I started my career really thinking about renewables, but then it ended up becoming all about the people, right?

At EVS, our clients, or even just when I go to trade shows, right? We just have a huge bunch of good people. So, it’s so much fun to work in this industry. So, come work with us, right? Come work in this industry. That’s what I’ll say.

Wes Ashworth (40:45)

Absolutely. I love that. Great way to wrap up. That will conclude the conversation today with Sohan Das, a true builder of systems, teams, and future-forward solutions in the renewable energy space. If you enjoyed this episode, please be sure to subscribe to Green Giants wherever you get your podcasts. Share it with someone who’s passionate about clean energy and the people driving it forward. And with that, thanks for listening. Again, I’m Wes Ashworth, your host, and I’ll catch you next time with another Titan of the Renewable Energy movement.