Watt it Takes: Jigar Shah, Former Director, Loan Programs Office (LPO)

May 15, 2025

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1:15

Jigar Shah

Loan Programs Office (LPO)

Jigar Shah is the Co-Managing Partner of Multiplier LLC, an advisory services firm; a part-time venture partner at Powerhouse Ventures; and a co-host of the Open Circuit podcast from Latitude Media.

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In this special episode, Emily spoke with Jigar about his LPO journey — from the invitation to join the government, to stepping away from a thriving business, to leading an agency he had once called irredeemable. During his tenure, Jigar led the LPO in committing over $108 billion to 53 companies, supporting clean energy and advanced technology infrastructure across more than a thousand sites nationwide. They talked about what it took to rebuild trust in LPO, what it was like trying to shift how Silicon Valley and venture capital saw the role of Washington, and where we go from here.

Jigar Shah is an energy entrepreneur, investor, and strategist who was featured on the 2024 TIME100 list of the world’s most influential people. He is co-Managing Partner of Multiplier LLC, a boutique advisory firm helping clean energy, cleantech, and climate tech companies accelerate their growth. Shah most recently served as Director of the U.S. Department of Energy Loan Programs Office, the federal government’s clean energy investment vehicle. He transformed the agency, overseeing a tenfold increase in loan authority and deploying $108 billion in debt financing for clean energy and advanced transportation projects across the United States. Prior to his government service, Shah was co-founder and President of Generate Capital ($10B AUM), which largely invented low-cost, infrastructure-as-a-service financing. Previously, Shah founded SunEdison, where he pioneered third-party power purchase agreement solar financing. He successfully sold SunEdison for $389 million. Shah also served as the founding CEO of the Carbon War Room, a global non-profit founded by Sir Richard Branson and Virgin Unite to help entrepreneurs address climate change.Shah is a co-host of the popular podcast “Open Circuit” from Latitude Media. Originally from Illinois, Shah holds a B.S. from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and an M.B.A. from the University of Maryland.

“Now that our sector is just so large, we’re going to need to rewrite all the rules and say, we’ve established that there’s this $50 trillion opportunity to rebuild the world. Now let’s figure out what all the tools are to best help these founders reach financial success for themselves and their family, but also good investor returns so that that part of the process also can be sustainable.”