Jigar Hasmukh Shah (born August 30, 1974) is a prominent American clean energy entrepreneur, investor, and public servant who served as the Director of the United States Department of Energy's (DOE) Loan Programs Office (LPO) from 2021 to 2025. He is widely recognized for his pioneering work in solar finance, specifically the "no-money-down" solar leasing model that significantly expanded the accessibility and adoption of renewable energy in the United States. Throughout his career, Shah has focused on scaling market-driven solutions to accelerate the global transition to a clean energy economy. Born in Modasa, India, Shah immigrated to the United States with his family as an infant. He was raised in Sterling, Illinois, where he attended public schools. His academic foundation in energy systems began at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, where he earned a Bachelor of Science degree in mechanical engineering in 1996. He later pursued advanced business education, graduating with a Master of Business Administration from the Robert H. Smith School of Business at the University of Maryland in 2001. Shah began his professional journey in the solar industry with an internship at AstroPower while a student at the University of Illinois. Following his graduate studies, he worked as an analyst for BP Solar, where he gained insights into the challenges and limitations of the solar market. Recognizing the primary barrier to adoption—the high upfront capital costs for customers—he developed a business plan for a new company during his MBA program. In 2003, he founded SunEdison. Under his leadership, the company introduced the "solar-as-a-service" business model, utilizing long-term power purchase agreements (PPAs). This innovation allowed commercial, government, and residential customers to deploy solar energy systems without initial capital investment, a model that revolutionized the industry and turned SunEdison into the largest solar services company worldwide at the time. After his tenure at SunEdison, Shah pivoted to nonprofit leadership and climate advocacy. In 2009, he became the founding CEO of the Carbon War Room, a global nonprofit organization established by Sir Richard Branson and Virgin Unite to harness entrepreneurial forces to deploy climate solutions at scale. During his time there, he worked to identify and remove market barriers that prevented the adoption of existing clean technologies. In 2013, he authored the book "Creating Climate Wealth: Unlocking the Impact Economy," in which he argued that climate change solutions could generate competitive financial returns when mainstream capital is aligned with scalable entrepreneurship. In 2014, Shah co-founded Generate Capital, an infrastructure investment firm focused on financing and operating sustainable infrastructure projects in sectors such as distributed energy, electric vehicles, and organic waste management. As president of the firm, he continued his work of bridging the gap between innovative clean energy technologies and the capital required to deploy them. In March 2021, Shah was appointed by Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm to lead the U.S. Department of Energy's Loan Programs Office. At the time of his appointment, the office had been relatively dormant for years. Under Shah's direction, the LPO underwent a massive expansion, particularly following the passage of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act and the Inflation Reduction Act. During his tenure, which lasted until January 2025, Shah managed a portfolio with substantial loan authority—eventually growing to $400 billion—intended to commercialize emerging clean energy technologies and decarbonize critical sectors of the economy. He was instrumental in revitalizing the office’s function, overseeing the review and approval of complex financial packages for diverse projects including advanced battery manufacturing, nuclear power, and electric vehicle infrastructure. Following his departure from the DOE in early 2025, Shah returned to the private sector, joining the venture capital firm Powerhouse Ventures as a part-time partner. Throughout his career, Shah has remained a visible figure in the energy sector, contributing his expertise as a podcast host, most notably as a founding co-host of "The Energy Gang," and as a thought leader on the intersection of public policy, private investment, and climate action. His legacy is defined by his persistence in proving that renewable energy infrastructure can be a viable, profitable asset class, thereby shifting the global perspective on the economic feasibility of decarbonization.