Power comes in many forms, and with newfound approaches to solar, the industry is setting the pace for the climate tech sector. A recent visit to Oslo for the region-defining event of the year — Oslo Innovation Week, powered by Oslo Business Region — found me on top of Norway’s national soccer stadium. Over Easy Solar founder and CEO Trygve Mongstad sat down to discuss an unlikely journey from researcher to entrepreneur, headlining the vertical solar panel revolution.
Dr. Rod Berger: The entrepreneurial path is often as unique as the person behind the solo pursuit. Please share your transition from research to Over Easy Solar.
Trygve Mongstad: I spent many years as a physicist, and about a decade ago, I was more comfortable in a lab with my dreadlocks. The transition wasn’t immediate, but I was drawn to challenges outside my comfort zone. I realized I wanted to do something impactful and saw an opportunity in solar energy that few had explored. The move was driven by a growing confidence and the supportive societal framework in Norway, which encourages taking risks.
Berger: When you were growing up, were you creative? Would you say you had an innovative spirit early on?
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Mongstad: Growing up in Norway with educators as parents made my life quite typical. However, even as a child, I was fascinated by innovation. I remember sketching floating wind turbines at the age of ten. While I was a quiet and shy boy, the idea of creating solutions for environmental challenges was always there.
Berger: You have been public about the impact of your time In Malawi on the work you are doing today. How does the Norwegian ecosystem of support compare with your time overseas?
Mongstad: My experience in Malawi was transformative. It’s one of the poorest economies in the world, yet the enthusiasm and positivity of the people is incredible. I learned a lot about happiness and community values, which differ from Norway’s more structured support system.
Berger: Let’s talk about sustainability and its role in your path forward as a company.
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Mongstad: Sustainability has been at the core of my mission from the very start. It’s not just about creating a product; it’s about contributing to a better world. In Norway, sustainability is part of the everyday conversation, and I hope to embody it in my company.
Berger: What challenges have been the most daunting for you as a CEO?
Mongstad: Coming from the research sector, understanding the language of investors has been a challenge for me. The financial climate is tough, and while there’s recognition of the need for sustainable solutions, bridging the gap between innovation and investment remains a daily endeavor. I am encouraged, though, by the increased awareness among investors about the long-term benefits of supporting sustainability-focused ventures.
Berger: How have you navigated the pressures of entrepreneurship while maintaining your stated mission?
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Mongstad: It’s about perspective. I regularly reflect on our progress, which helps me appreciate the journey. While many might scoff, I enjoy writing monthly investor reports because they allow me to see our tangible progress. It’s a balancing act, but the drive to create meaningful impact keeps me motivated and focused on the bigger picture.
Mongstad’s understated presentation shouldn’t dissuade onlookers from honing in on Over Easy Solar’s rapid ascent. There is a quiet and engaging confidence about Mongstad that reminds us that it isn’t always the bluster of an entrepreneur that reigns supreme but rather the belief in oneself to constantly churn against convention and comfort toward a common goal.
[I have edited and condensed this interview for clarity.]
The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect Fair Observer’s editorial policy.
Freelance journalist at work – illustration by Eloise Faber
There is a hole in my bank account where £5,000 should be.
That hole represents the £ 5,000 worth of articles I have written as a freelance, but not yet been paid for.
Since many of these articles have not yet been published, I have no idea when I will get paid for them. In one case, I have been waiting since May.
I am not alone. Most, if not all, freelances are in this situation every month, waiting for articles that are paid on publication to be published.
Sometimes, depending on whether I have spent my time that month writing news or features for newspapers or magazines, the hole stretches bigger. There have been several times when I have been owed over £10,000 for work completed, but not yet paid for. It is not at all uncommon for me to have to wait six months or more to get paid for work I have filed on time and to the brief. Once, I had to wait over a year.
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In all of these cases, I – like other freelances – fear the unexpected. What if news breaks which makes the article I have written irrelevant, out of date or somehow inappropriate to publish? What if a new editor takes over and decides to ditch the copy? Will I get paid in full? Or will I be paid a kill fee – so just 50% of what I am owed?
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For years, freelances like Anna Codrea-Rado have been campaigning against kill fees. Yet publications continue to expect freelance journalists who have filed according to the brief, and on time, to accept just half of what was agreed in advance. This practice leaves you, as a freelance, constantly on edge, worrying about whether or not you will be paid. Whether, even if you wrote exactly what the editor said they wanted, you will struggle to pay your bills that month.
It is not unheard of for editors to ‘ghost’ freelances, especially those who are writing for them for the first time. On social media, I’ve seen freelances pleading for advice from other freelances, explaining that after they filed their copy, the editor went silent. Stopped replying to emails. Failed to publish. Weeks have now gone by, they say. And they don’t know what to do.
When this happens, the freelance is left hanging, in limbo, unsure what has happened and why, no idea whether they will ever get paid.
Reading these posts makes me – a freelance with 20 years’ experience, who regularly writes for national newspapers and magazines – feel so powerless. So scared. What if I pitch an editor I don’t know and end up in the same boat?
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Another big problem freelances often face is around late payments. When you are paid on time every month without fail, it must be difficult to imagine how scary it is when the fee you were owed for a piece and were expecting within 30 days of publication does not arrive on time. Often, there is no apology and no explanation. It is up to the freelance to chase it up and find out what is going on, take it up with accounts or spend time trying to figure out why the payment didn’t arrive on time.
This can be incredibly stressful and distracting, especially when you have bills to pay and need the money by the end of the month. It also takes time away from pitching and writing – in other words, time which, as a freelance, you would prefer to spend earning a crust. Yet paying a freelance is rarely a commissioning editor’s top priority, and many freelances worry about ‘bothering’ editors with payment issues, fearing they will be blacklisted for complaining.
It is appalling that kill fees, payment on publication and late payments are widespread practices in journalism. It creates barriers to journalism, ensuring that only those with a financial safety cushion can afford to work as freelance journalists.
That is why, as head of the freelance chapter of the nonprofit organisation Women in Journalism – which campaigns for equality and diversity – I have been working with the founders of the freelance community Freelancing for Journalists, Emma Wilkinson and Lily Canter, along with Codrea-Rado, to create some best practice Freelance Guidelines for editors.
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These guidelines, which have been welcomed by the NUJ and Journo Resources, offer practical guidance in three key areas: payment and fees, pitching and writing, and rights, to address all of the issues I have raised here – and more.
We are calling for the abolition of kill fees and payment on publication, rate and fee transparency, fit-for-purpose payment processes, help with late payments, publicly available pitching guidelines, fair copyright payment licences and clear policies on bylines, safety and insurance for freelances.
Women in Journalism has sent these guidelines out to editors across the industry, in the hope that change is possible. And, as my partner Lily Canter put it in our press release, we also hope that these guidelines will empower freelance journalists to challenge poor practice and negotiate fair rates and working conditions.
In my opinion, the way this industry treats its lowest-paid and most precarious workers should shame us all. It doesn’t matter whether you are freelance or an editor – we must all do what we can to change that.
Reading the interview piece with Yuval Sharon, artistic director of the Detroit Opera House (“Singing a new tune”, Life & Arts, FT Weekend, September 28), he comments that “opera can seem like an outdated, inaccessible and out-of-reach art form” but he argues this is “not a symptom of the art . . . [but] a symptom of how that art is produced”.
However, rather than addressing this by planning to stage Mozart’s Cosi fan tutte with the four central lovers played by robots — Sharon’s next production at the Detroit Opera — I feel there is another way to improve accessibility, through the choice of venue, and the less inhibiting the better. Sharon should also focus on audience inclusion.
In this I would refer him to the groundbreaking work in Birmingham by the great, and much missed artistic director of the Birmingham Opera Company, Graham Vick.
Vick, who died from the complications of Covid in 2021 aged 67, staged both classical and more modern operas in non-theatrical spaces such as disused warehouses or marquees — Birmingham Opera Company having no fixed home.
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His productions involved hundreds of local volunteers, of all ages and backgrounds, who sang and acted alongside professional artists, achieving singing and dramatic values second to none.
Vick widened opera’s appeal to a new audience by avoiding some of opera’s conventions; sometimes the innovation was as simple as changing the original title of an opera to something more tantalising.
For example Mozart’s Don Giovanni became He Had it Coming! And Vick would have had no time for robots.
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As Hurricane Milton tore through Florida this week, tornadoes, floods and storm surges left a trail of destruction and displaced millions of people and at least 16 people have died.
More than two million homes and businesses are without power and thousands of people have been rescued from flooded areas.
The category three storm hit the Sunshine State, where residents were still cleaning up from Hurricane Helena.
We hear from four Florida residents who tell us their reasons for living in a state that’s frequently hit by hurricanes.
Rail companies admit current ticketing system is complex and the government is promising reform
Despite what the name suggests, an Anytime train ticket does not always mean you can travel on the railway at any time – if you’re using a young person’s railcard.
And there are several other cases being shared on social media with people being told to pay hundreds by courts for underpaying fares by only a few pounds.
Sales agent Cerys Piper told The Bolton News she didn’t even know she was being prosecuted for incorrectly using her 16-25 railcard until contacted by a journalist.
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She bought an Anytime Day Return ticket to travel to work in Wigan and used the railcard to get £1.60 off the £4.80 ticket price.
But before 10am, these railcards cannot be used to get discounts on Anytime tickets – which Cerys says she was unaware of. The court issued her a fine of £462.80 and she now has a criminal record.
At the heart of the matter is a ticketing system that customers think is too confusing and feels like it is trying to catch them out.
These are a few of the many difficulties passengers might encounter:
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‘Anytime’ fares that can only be used at certain times of day depending on the type of railcard discount they have been bought with
Tickets for a destination that are only valid if you travel via a particular station
Train companies which let you buy tickets from an onboard conductor on some of their lines but not on others
Some routes only allowing travel with printed, rather than digital, tickets
Companies say passengers should check rules and regulations, which are freely available for people to read. Customers argue they are not made clear enough when buying tickets to begin with.
Typically a train company will write to a passenger who has been suspected of fare evasion by a conductor.
They will review the circumstances and decide whether to prosecute for evasion, for a byelaw offence – which is much less serious – or take another action, such as settling out of court or dropping the case entirely.
‘Undermining public trust’
Passenger watchdog Transport Focus has pleaded for train companies to treat passengers more fairly when they mistakenly underpay their fares.
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“We know from talking to passengers how confusing the current system is – no one thinks you should have to spend ages checking detailed rules and restrictions before getting on a train,” says Alex Robertson, chief executive of Transport Focus.
“This is one of the reasons why we have long argued for the need to simplify fares and ticketing … Passengers must be able to trust that penalties are given only to those who deserve them.”
Chris Annous, from the research organisation More in Common, says their work shows British people are frustrated with public bodies who penalise those who break rules accidentally.
“That train companies are so intensely pursuing those who make minor mistakes when navigating the complicated ticketing process, and not showing the same resolve on improving conditions for passengers, cuts to the heart of why so many feel the country simply isn’t working for ordinary people,” he says.
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The government agrees and the Department for Transport has promised “the biggest overhaul of our railways in a generation, including simplifying fares”.
Among the options they are considering are pay as you go and digital season tickets that can be used across the rail network.
The new Labour government believes this will reduce train delays and cancellations as well as simplify fares – but private rail companies warn this will not necessarily fix the industry’s problems.
They point out that the letter to Mr Williamson and the prosecution of Ms Piper were all carried out by Northern, a publicly owned train company.
“Creating an easier ticketing system requires regulatory change by the government and the legislation currently going through Parliament to change who runs the trains won’t fix that,” says Andy Bagnall, chief executive of Rail Partners, which represents private train firms.
“This isn’t a problem that can be solved by simply removing the private sector from the railway.”
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A spokesman for Northern says their conductors have “a very difficult role in dealing with repeated and deliberate fare evaders and identifying customers who have made a genuine mistake”.
He adds they understand ticketing is complex and are talking to the government and the wider rail industry about how to simplify fares.
‘Follow London’s system’
A report published earlier this year suggested that a simpler ticketing system would help restore public faith in railways and generate more revenue which could be reinvested in the network to make it better.
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It was commissioned by the Rail Industry Association, which represents a variety of companies including train manufacturers, signal makers and ticketing firms.
Sam Bemment, who wrote the report, says the technology for a simple ticketing system already exists but that historically there hasn’t been enough political willpower to put it in place.
“The railway has essentially been a political football,” he explains. “The political cycles mean there has been no leadership or direction as to what we want ticketing to look like.”
He points at London’s contactless payment system for tickets – which works across local railways, the underground and buses – as being a world-leading example of how a good ticketing system functions.
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He says such a system might be possible under Great British Railways, even if the body just allows tickets to be used across different rail companies – it doesn’t necessarily need to nationalise them.
“I think when we move to GBR, if we can bring everything under one roof, then you as the passenger have a relationship with the railway instead of all these many corporations.”
The arrangement could mean that all tickets are bought from, and all complaints dealt with, by one organisation – a simpler system than the current one.
“Government and infrastructure move slowly,” adds Mr Bemment. “But this right now seems to be picking up a bit of speed and momentum.”
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BBC Radio 4 examines What Are the Railways For? It’s a question which has been ignored in previous reorganisations – which typically take place after a crisis or a disaster. Daniel Brittain travels to Greater Manchester to understand how the rail industry has changed and what its place in Britain’s society might be in the future.
“You caught the bad guy”: McCullough’s confession was captured on police bodycam footage
Virginia McCullough knew why the police had smashed through her front door, but part of her wondered why it took them so long to discover she had murdered her parents. “Cheer up, at least you’ve caught the bad guy,” she calmly told the officers handcuffing her. Neighbours thought John and Lois McCullough had retired to the seaside, but the reality was they were callously poisoned by their daughter. Why did she do it?
The goings-on inside the McCullough family home in Great Baddow near Chelmsford, Essex, were becoming increasingly secretive in 2019.
Relatives were asked to stay away and friends were told Mr and Mrs McCullough had retired to the Clacton area on Essex’s sunshine coast.
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The gruesome reality was very different. It would be four years before anyone found out the horrors that took place behind closed doors on Pump Hill.
John McCullough, a retired business studies lecturer, had been fatally poisoned and the 70-year-old’s body was hidden in a crudely-built tomb made out of breeze blocks and blankets.
The corpse of his 71-year-old wife, Lois, was stashed behind sleeping bags and duvets in an upstairs wardrobe.
Mrs McCullough had been battered with a hammer and stabbed, but she too had also been poisoned with prescription medication administered by her daughter.
Lois and John McCullough were duped by their daughter, who sold them dreams about her future prospects
“The curtains were always drawn and you couldn’t see if anybody was in the house,” said Phil Sargeant, who lived next door to the McCulloughs for 20 years.
“They were just like shadows, they’d move very quickly from A to B.”
Mr Sargeant now knows why there was such secrecy at his neighbours’ house.
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“I find it quite difficult even to say that Virginia murdered her parents or killed her parents,” he added.
“She’d come across as quite pleasant; she was funny, she was irreverent as well. She had a dark sense of humour.”
‘Fantasist’
In September 2023, Essex Police took a call from Essex County Council’s safeguarding team.
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A GP at Mr and Mrs McCullough’s registered practice had raised a concern for their welfare, having not seen them for some time.
Steve Huntley/BBC
The corpses of Mr and Mrs McCullough lay inside the family home for four years
Essex Police
John McCullough’s body was hidden in a makeshift tomb, covered with blankets and paintings
Their absences had been explained by their daughter, who offered a range of excuses for each appointment she cancelled on her parents’ behalf.
Conveniently for her, the country had been in Covid-enforced lockdowns for a large period of time they had not been seen.
But when police spoke to McCullough, it became clear something was not adding up – why were her parents always out of the area?
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Alan Thomson, who rented a television to the McCulloughs, also had his suspicions.
It followed a phone call from McCullough, abruptly cancelling the rental on her parents’ behalf.
When Mr Thomson’s staff arrived at the family home to pick it up, they were told they could not enter the property – and the TV was already prepared by the front door.
“I got the feeling perhaps she was a bit of a fantasist, but no way would I have thought she’d be a murderer,” he said.
“I did know that this day would come eventually,” she confessed.
“I deserve to get what’s coming, sentence-wise, because that’s the right thing to do and then that might give me a bit of peace.”
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Documents recovered inside the property painted a picture of a woman desperately trying to keep her parents from discovering a financial black hole she had dug.
Abusing their goodwill, she had been living rent free, spending their money and racking up large credit card debts in their names.
Forged letters showed McCullough had been tricking her parents into thinking they had lost money through scams. In reality, it was money “frittered away” by their daughter.
Essex Police
Virginia McCullough continued to spend her parents’ pensions after murdering them
To them, she was well-qualified, suitably employed and working hard towards becoming an artist – a future she claimed would also bring financial benefits for her parents.
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Instead, she was reaping the financial rewards of manipulating, abusing and taking advantage of her parents’ kindness.
In total, McCullough benefited from £149,697 as a result of murdering her parents – combined from their pensions and spending on their credit cards, as well as selling assets.
The court also heard she spent £21,000 on online gambling between 2019 and 2023.
Her lies – and the fear of being exposed – ultimately led to her cruelly killing her parents.
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Lewis Adams/BBC
The McCullough family home has since been blocked up with metal security barriers
Paul Hastings, a greengrocer at the Vineyards shopping centre near their home, had also noticed their disappearance.
He was told by McCullough that her parents, who used to purchase goods from his shop, were no longer living in Great Baddow.
Mr Hastings said her peculiar nature meant she could say things without arousing much suspicion.
“She came in to the shop and said ‘The police are after me, they think I killed my mum and dad’,” Mr Hastings said.
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“I thought ‘That’s a bit odd’ but didn’t think anything else of it, I just thought it was her eccentric nature.”
He explained McCullough would sometimes visit his shop four times a day, before disappearing for the next fortnight.
Family handout
Virginia McCullough was “clearly taking advantage of her parents’ goodwill”, Det Supt Rob Kirby said
Debbie Pollard said McCullough would visit the flower shop she ran and bombard her with food and presents.
“We knew she was odd but I would never have dreamt she would ever be capable of doing what she actually did,” she said.
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“She’s actually lived in that house all those years with her mum and dad’s remains in there – that horrifies me. Horrifies me.”
Both Mr Hastings and Ms Pollard both said McCullough had also pretended to be pregnant, even creating a fake bump under her clothing.
Stuart Woodward/BBC
Det Supt Rob Kirby said: “The details of this case shock and horrify even the most experienced of murder detectives.”
Throughout her sentencing on Friday, McCullough stared at the floor, emotionless.
It was only when she listened back to her interview with police, describing how she murdered her mother, that she began to weep.
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“She looked so innocent; she was just sat there listening to the radio,” McCullough told the officers.
“I did go in three times to build up some gumption but I knew I had to get it done and can’t hesitate.
“She was just staring at me in disbelief.”
Essex Police
Virginia McCullough was jailed for life on Friday, to serve a minimum of 36 years behind bars
Det Supt Rob Kirby, from Essex Police, said her otherwise composed reaction in court was typical of the “considered, meticulous” murderer she was.
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“Throughout the course of our investigation, we have built a picture of the vast levels of deceit, betrayal and fraud she engaged in,” he said.
“It was on a shocking and monumental scale.
“McCullough lied about almost every aspect of her life, maintaining a charade to deceive everyone close to her and clearly taking advantage of her parents’ good will.
“She is an intelligent and adept manipulator who chose to kill her parents callously and without a thought for them or those who continue to suffer as a result of their loss.”
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