We Didn’t Start the Fire

<p><em>Could you do us a favor? Take our listener survey so we can give you more relevant content:&nbsp;</em><a href="http://bit.ly/gtmpodcast" target="_blank"><em>bit.ly/gtmpodcast</em></a></p><p>The world’s fifth-largest economy looked more like a developing country last week, as PG&amp;E purposefully cut power to millions of people in Northern California for days.</p><p>We knew this was coming. The growing safety and financial risk of wildfires in the state mean mass power outages will become more common. But in this case, PG&amp;E was slammed for the way it handled things.</p><p>We’ll dig into the scope, the fallout, and the solutions of California’s power shutoffs due to wildfire threats.</p><p>Then: Dyson made a big business out of selling $400 hair dryers and $500 vacuum cleaners,&nbsp;but it couldn’t make a high-end electric car work. We’ll talk about why Dyson wrote off its EV plans.</p><p>Finally, the Trump administration lifts a tariff exemption for bifacial solar panels. So why are these two-sided solar panels becoming so popular now?</p><p>Additional resources:</p><ul><li><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/10/12/business/pge-california-outage.html" target="_blank">New York Times</a>: Inside PG&amp;E’s Control Room</li><li><a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2019-10-11/dyson-s-expensive-road-from-electric-to-invisible-cars" target="_blank">Bloomberg</a>: What Happens When a Vacuum Company Tries to Make an Electric Car</li><li><a href="https://www.greentechmedia.com/squared/the-lead/has-bifacial-solar-finally-moved-from-theoretical-to-practical" target="_blank">GTM Squared</a>: Has Bifacial Solar Finally Moved From Theoretical to Practical?</li></ul><p><em>Support for this podcast is brought to you by&nbsp;</em><a href="https://en.sungrowpower.com/" target="_blank"><em>Sungrow</em></a><em>. With the world’s most powerful 250-kilowatt, 1,500-volt string inverter, Sungrow is providing disruptive technology for utility-scale projects.</em></p><p><em>Subscribe to GTM podcasts&nbsp;