Las Vegas – September 18, 2026 -- Former CBS Evening News anchor Scott Pelley will interview solar executive Jared Schoch on stage at RE+ 2026 in Las Vegas on November 17, marking a rare public appearance pairing a veteran broadcast journalist with a solar industry founder.
RE+ 2026 session pairs 60 Minutes journalist with solar founder to mark 20 years of industry change
The panel, titled "20 Years of Riding the Solar Coaster: The Past, Present and Future of an Industry in a Constant State of Change," will run at RE+ 2026, described as North America's largest clean energy event. Pelley spent nearly 25 years at 60 Minutes and received 51 Emmy Awards, four duPont-Columbia Awards and three George Foster Peabody Awards during a four-decade journalism career that included reporting from Ukraine, Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan.
Schoch has overseen more than 3 gigawatts of solar projects worth over $5 billion
Schoch, founder and chairman of TurningPoint Energy, a national solar developer building community and utility-scale projects across the United States, has managed more than 3 gigawatts of solar and energy efficiency projects representing over $5 billion in investments across more than two decades in energy infrastructure. Before founding TurningPoint Energy in 2014, he held leadership roles at Johnson Controls, SunEdison and SOLON Corporation.
New book on solar industry leadership publishes one week before the RE+ conversation
Schoch's book, "SOLAR COASTER: The Untold Story of the Solar Industry and One Man's Journey Leading with Soul," will be published by Regalo Press on November 10, 2026, seven days before the RE+ session. The book examines the operational realities of financing, building and leading solar businesses amid policy shifts, grid interconnection bottlenecks and volatile market conditions, alongside Schoch's account of a four-month sabbatical he describes as a turning point in his career.
The RE+ discussion will draw on both the book and Schoch's tenure at TurningPoint Energy, framing his approach to leadership around what he terms purpose-driven decision-making rather than purely financial metrics.