Jigar Shah (born August 30, 1974) is the director of the Loan Programs Office in the

US Department of Energy The United States Department of Energy (DOE) is an executive department of the U.S. federal government that oversees U.S. national energy policy and manages the research and development of nuclear power and nuclear weapons in the United States. ...

. Shah gained prominence as an American clean energy entrepreneur, author and podcast host. Shah is known for work to create and advocate for market-driven solutions to

climate change In common usage, climate change describes global warming—the ongoing increase in global average temperature—and its effects on Earth's climate system. Climate change in a broader sense also includes previous long-term changes to ...

. He authored the book ''Creating Climate Wealth: Unlocking the Impact Economy,'' published in 2013. Shah maintains that climate wealth is created when mainstream investors team up with entrepreneurs, corporations, mainstream capital, and governments at scale to solve the big problems of our time while generating compelling financial returns – not concessionary returns.

Early life

Born in India, Shah moved to the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

with his family when he was one year old. Shah moved to Sterling,

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolitan areas include, Peoria and Rockf ...

when he was eight years old. Shah has attended public school from elementary school through his Masters. Shah holds a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from the

University of Illinois The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (U of I, Illinois, University of Illinois, or UIUC) is a public land-grant research university in Illinois in the twin cities of Champaign and Urbana. It is the flagship institution of the Univer ...

, Champaign-Urbana, and an MBA from the

University of Maryland The University of Maryland, College Park (University of Maryland, UMD, or simply Maryland) is a public land-grant research university in College Park, Maryland. Founded in 1856, UMD is the flagship institution of the University System of M ...

Business initiatives

Shah is the co-founder and President of Generate Capital. Shah founded SunEdison in 2003, where he pioneered “no money down solar” and unlocked a multi-billion-dollar solar market, creating what was largest solar services company worldwide. The company simplified solar as a service through the implementation of the

power purchase agreement A power purchase agreement (PPA), or electricity power agreement, is a contract between two parties, one which generates electricity (the seller) and one which is looking to purchase electricity (the buyer). The PPA defines all of the commercial te ...

(PPA) business model. That model changed the status quo, allowing organizations to purchase solar energy services under long-term predictably priced contracts and avoid the significant capital costs of ownership and operation of solar energy systems. Shah sold SunEdison in 2008. Shah is author of ''Creating Climate Wealth: Unlocking the Impact Economy''. The book talks about the prominent role of business model innovation, more than new technology, in attracting mainstream capital and unlocking transformational change. In the book, the author pictures reaching our 2020 climate change goals as means to create the next economy with the equivalent of 100,000 companies worldwide, each generating $100 million in sales. Shah argues that, while new technical innovation is valuable, deployment of existing technologies are the key to reaching our near-term climate targets. He cofounded Carbon War Room with Richard Branson and Virgin United, an organization that worked to harness the power of entrepreneurship to deploy solution technologies at scale. He served as CEO from 2009 to 2012. Shah previously worked in strategy for

BP Solar BP Solar was a manufacturer and installer of photovoltaic solar cells headquartered in Madrid, Spain, with production facilities in Frederick, MD, India and the People's Republic of China. It was a subsidiary of BP. History In 1981, BP acquire ...

and as a contractor for the

Department of Energy A Ministry of Energy or Department of Energy is a government department in some countries that typically oversees the production of fuel and electricity; in the United States, however, it manages nuclear weapons development and conducts energy-re ...

on alternative vehicles and fuel cell programs. Shah has called to end all energy subsidies, including those for renewable energy, to "create a level playing field." He has donated repeatedly to the

Climate Hawks Vote Climate Hawks Vote is a grassroots advocacy group that supports candidates and elected officials whom it identifies as making action on climate change a top priority. Founded in 2013, it consists of a super-PAC, Super PAC and a 501(c) organizatio ...

Political Action Super PAC since 2016 per FEC records.

The Energy Gang

Shah was a founding co-host of The Energy Gang, a podcast dedicated to exploring the technological, political and market forces driving energy and environmental issues. On a 2017 episode, Shah introduced the Jigar Shah Rule - "Countries should not have stupid policy". As noted by co-host Stephen Lacey, the new ruling is pulled directly from the Jigar Shah Playbook, which suggests you must have competitive options such as volumetric reductions and feed-in tariffs, and the way these were designed seven to eight years ago do not work.

Loan Programs Office

Energy Secretary

Jennifer Granholm Jennifer Mulhern Granholm (born February 5, 1959) is a Canadian-American lawyer, educator, author, political commentator, and politician serving as the 16th United States secretary of energy since 2021. A member of the Democratic Party, she pre ...

appointed Shah to direct the

United States Department of Energy The United States Department of Energy (DOE) is an executive department of the U.S. federal government that oversees U.S. national energy policy and manages the research and development of nuclear power and nuclear weapons in the United Stat ...

's Loan Programs Office (LPO) in March 2021. The office provides $40 billion in loan authority to early-stage energy companies and climate technologies. Under Shah, the LPO has more than doubled its staff and has reviewed more than 100 applications from climate tech companies seeking loans totaling more than $100 billion.

References

External links

Jigar Shah – Department of Energy

Creating Climate Wealth
//

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* {{DEFAULTSORT:Shah, Jigar American climate activists HuffPost writers and columnists Living people Environmental bloggers 1974 births American bloggers American chief executives Energy economists Appropriate technology advocates Indian climate activists People associated with solar power Businesspeople from Washington, D.C. American nonprofit executives 21st-century American businesspeople Renewable energy commercialization Environmental ethics People associated with Greenpeace People from Aravalli district People from Sterling, Illinois