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Vic Shao
3x cleantech founder & CEO | Investor | Mentor
Vic Shao is a distinguished figure in the cleantech industry, known for his role as a founder and CEO with a proven track record in solar, energy storage, and EV charging infrastructure. He has a history of successful exits from cleantech ventures, delivering significant returns for VC investors and colleagues. Vic's notable successes include AMPLY Power, Inc., which was acquired by bp in December 2021, and Green Charge Networks, which was acquired by ENGIE in April 2016.
Vic Shao's educational background includes an MBA from the Haas School of Business at the University of California, Berkeley, and a BS in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Virginia. With this solid academic foundation, Vic has been able to excel in the complex and dynamic field of cleantech innovation and business development.
Throughout his career, Vic Shao has held key leadership positions in various organizations. He has served as the Founder & CEO at DC Grid, Inc., President at bp pulse fleet (formerly AMPLY Power), Founder & CEO of AMPLY Power, Inc., and Board Member at New Energy Nexus. Additionally, he has contributed his expertise as the Chairman and Co-Founder & CEO of ENGIE Storage (formerly Green Charge). Vic's diverse experience also includes roles as a Management Consultant, COO/VP Product Dev at MobileAria, Inc., and Group Manager at Oracle Corp. With his versatile background, Vic brings a wealth of knowledge and insights to the cleantech sector.
Highlights
Why I started DC GRID, Inc.
During my time with AMPLY and bp pulse deploying EV charging infrastructure across the U.S., nearly every single one of my projects required a utility service upgrade - anywhere from 500kW on the low end to multiple megawatts of power per site on the upper end. From coast to coast, timeframes are 4 - 6 months for less than a megawatt to many years (or maybe never ?!?) for 5 MW+. I’m pretty convinced that access to power is the main barrier to EV adoption in this country, especially for larger weight class EVs. 2024 is an inflection point for electric load growth, with EVs and data centers serving AI compute scaling at the same time.
Before AMPLY, at my energy storage business, utility interconnection was again the chokepoint for deployment. Over the years, my colleagues in the renewable space, whether it’s solar, wind, energy storage or EV charging, have dealt with ever-changing interconnection rules and extremely long wait queues. The rules often vary with the utility (there are 2,000+ in the U.S), across 50 states, and the federal government. Hooking up to the grid, whether it’s transmission or distribution, has become a painfully slow and expensive proposition. It’s no wonder renewable adoption is happening slower than many other parts of the world. Privately, many utility executives I know have expressed the same frustration.
It’s time to supplement the AC distribution grid in order to rapidly connect renewable generation to DC loads - faster, cheaper, and cleaner are the goals. More announcements to come in the months ahead.
