Early life
Born in India, Shah moved to the United States with his family when he was one year old. Shah moved to Sterling, Illinois, Sterling, Illinois 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, Champaign-Urbana, and an MBA from the University of Maryland.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 (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 and as a contractor for the United States Department of Energy, Department of Energy 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 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 appointed Shah to direct the United States Department of Energy'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
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