SunPower founder Dick Swanson is an icon in the American solar industry -- an elder statesman, if you will.

Swanson led groundbreaking solar research in the '70s, experimented with all kinds of solar cell types, broke efficiency records, and helped take SunPower from scrappy startup to global manufacturer. 

Oh, and he’s also known for Swanson’s law -- even though he didn’t actually create the law.

In this bonus episode of The Energy Gang, we feature a wide-ranging conversation with Swanson about the early days of solar research, the difficulties in raising money, and building a solar manufacturing business at scale, as well as what the future holds for photovoltaics.

This podcast is sponsored by SolarEdge, a leader of the DC optimizer market and a leading supplier of inverters to the U.S. residential market.