Kip Larson Appointed CTO of 8minute Solar Energy

Los Angeles-based solar and energy storage leader 8minute Solar Energy announced that the company has appointed its first Chief Technology Officer (CTO), Kip Larson. Larson will look to improve on 8minute’s existing technological expertise in his new role, applying cutting-edge approaches to 8minute’s already best-in-class suite of smart power plants and associated products and services.

Larson brings with him over 10 years of experience taking charge of technology teams and bringing about transformational change at global companies such as Amazon, Amazon Web Services, and Convoy.

At Amazon, he built with his team the technology required for directing a global network of millions of warehouse employees, steering billions of dollars of warehouse investment, and enabling the company to react with lightning speed to customers' changing needs.

“Clean energy is becoming more and more a technology business – the work we do designing cutting-edge power plants is more akin to smartphones than drilling for oil wells,” said Tom Buttgenbach, Founder and CEO, 8minute. “As we envisioned where we needed to go to power the clean energy solutions of tomorrow, we looked to the places where technology and software have revolutionized industries – and that is where we found Kip. We are thrilled to have him join our leadership team and help us transform our nation’s electric grid.”

In the role of CTO, Larson’s experience and leadership will be imperative as 8minute’s technical teams establish reliable and scalable clean energy solutions that will aid in powering the lives of millions of Americans and deliver on renewable energy goals while driving the cost of electricity down.

“Modern software technology has incredible promise to transform how physical equipment, from trucks to power plants, serve customers and businesses. The clean energy transition represents the greatest opportunity our economy has ever seen to leverage this technology to improve human well-being. I am thrilled to bring my experience to 8minute, and to join a team that is leading the push to solve one of the world’s greatest problems – climate change – by building towards a clean energy economy,” said Larson.