Transcription

Good evening. Great to see that there are so many participants here tonight and that there’s such a robust chat going on in the q and a. I’m sure we’ll get to that soon. We had a really wonderful turnout this morning at the kickoff event for Solar Week, a press conference at the North Apron of City Hall.

I’d like to echo some of the notes that I had shared there about the momentous occasion that we are all in right now. As you may know, Congress last week passed the most substantial legislation for solar and electrifying our economy in the history of the country. Over 400 billion allocated to these energy upgrades.

And that’s gonna really help our industry grow. It’s gonna help homeowners go solar and it’s gonna provide lots of incentives that are available. It is currently available for folks in a variety of ways, which if you’re interested in, you can always reach out and talk to us about.

So very briefly as to being said, my name is Jared. I work for Solar States. Solar states is the hometown solar heroes. We are the only solar installer based in Philadelphia. Founded in 2008. Our founder Micah set out with a vision to. Install solar, but also create the on-ramp to the green collar economy.

And his first major project was a curriculum that he designed for high school students in order to train them in vocational training and career technical training to become solar installers. And that program resulted in graduates that he later realized didn’t have jobs. And so in order to hire those folks, he started selling solar.

And now, almost 15 years later we have a robust company of Philadelphians from across a variety of our work training programs like Bright Solar Futures from O I C and E C A across many zip codes representing low income. Some communities that have historically been marginalized and we’re paying living wages.

We have great benefits 4 0 1  plans and health benefits. Oftentimes, many of our employees have never had these types of benefits prior in a job placement, and we really hope to set them up as careers. Careers that are stable and secured for the future with lots of opportunity to grow. And so we hire out of those programs and we’ve been doing that for over a decade, and we will continue to be doing that.

We’ve got a wonderful team, about 45 folks over here just off of Third and Gerard that come to work hard every morning. And install solar for over the past decade. And, some years after Micah started the company. And the Philadelphia Energy Authority was founded solar St.

States helped pioneer the first Solar Eyes Philly program now, almost six years ago. And we’ve been a participant ever since, crafting the best way to support homeowners going. Solar and it’s great to have other partner organizations like Superior Solar and Doug, who’s been in the solar game here in Philadelphia for a really long time.

I know Mike has done some projects with you along the way and like Julian and Pasen who are new to, so to Philadelphia this year. But I’m new to solar in general, but are paving a path helping folks go solar and. Over the past decade not only do we feel that equitability in solar is hiring people from every zip code, but it’s also installing solar in every zip code.

We pioneered the first solar savings grant program for low income households which has turned into a much more robust program called Built To Last. We started. Hunting Park Community Solar Initiative, along with a number of community organizers to help. Low income folks in hunting park understand how they could go solar.

We’ve partnered with a variety of financing companies in order to offer zero money down long-term leases or loans rather, excuse me, long-term loans that are very easy to qualify for, that lower your energy costs and that allow you to own a solar. And so we’re really excited to be able to continue hiring folks.

And as a note on that we’re currently hiring. So if you know anybody looking for a job, send them to solar states.com, have ’em apply for a job, and hopefully we’ll be able to work with them soon. There’s no greater time than right now. We are busting at the seams and it’s so great to see so many people interested in solar.

One of those people that was interested in solar through the Solarized Philly program was Leslie Gaines, who’s on the panel today. She went solar with us, I think three, four years. Three years ago. Four years ago four years ago. And you’ll hear from her a little bit later, but. I think her experience speaks to the experience of most of our customers.

I guess we’ll go to the second slide. I don’t think right here, this is perfect. Solar states Really believes in the idea of owning solar. And there are benefits to owning solar and of course to leasing solar. And I think Julian will speak to that when he is up. But we believe that solar ownership is like home ownership.

You get to own the benefit. You get to own the asset. You’re making an investment in your property that not only increases the value of the property, but also allows you to receive the maximum financial benefit. And so traditionally owning a solar array can be cost prohibitive. There’s a large upfront cost.

And that burden has allowed us to partner with various financial institutions that offer great loans that are designed for solar. You can get pre-approved in minutes. We handle all of the backend financing, so they pay us directly. You don’t pay any. Towards your loan until the solar array is installed and as one of the things that I’ll get to a little bit later these various incentives that are only growing now with the hopeful passage and final signing or the signing from President Biden of the inflation Relief Act.

It’s a significant burden to make a loan payment on. A solar loan that you ultimately will get 30% back on. And so these loans are designed to take that into account and to give you basically money for free for the first, 12 to 18 months of the loan. Giving you time to file your taxes, get the tax credits back, and keep your monthly payments as low as possible.

And of course I used to say this a lot to my customers. They also allow you to keep that money. So if you wanna keep your 30% tax credit and go on vacation or remodel your bathroom that’ll just change your loan payment. But Typically solar loans have really good interest rates, and so sometimes people looking to get a loan rather than going to the bank can use the 30% from their solar loan to do something that they’ve been looking to do.

Just really briefly here I think one of the biggest aspects of understanding solar savings and understanding options for purchasing solar is the cost of waiting. So you could see by this graph, which is mostly illustrative, but definitely describes this story. Today you haven’t had ma any major financial investment.

If you were to purchase a system for cash, you’d have a large financial investment, but your energy bills would go to zero and you’d be saving hundreds of dollars every month. And so you can see there that eventually the cost of the solar. Outweighs the savings that you’re getting outweigh what you otherwise would be spending on your utility bills.

Then you’re getting electricity not only for free, but also that is actually making you money. And solar arrays are warranty through manufacturers for over 25 years. This is really a great investment in a asset like a home where you already have a 25 year mortgage. And looking at the loan option is great because you don’t spend any money out of pocket, just like you’re not spending any money on your utility bills.

Big lump sum investment. We get the solar array installed for free to you. The loan company pays us and then they start billing you monthly. Your monthly bill payments are similar to your utility bills. But eventually those loan payments are completed. We offer everything from a five year loan to a 25 year loan, depending on what you want your loan payments to be and how long of a term you want.

And so eventually that loan is paid off. And again, the electricity is free and you’re now creating new revenue. You’re starting to make. But by and large, the largest thing that people always forget about is the cost of waiting. I have so many customers who come to me and they explore going solar, and it’s an educational experience, which I’m thrilled to provide, and they see a big dollar ticket, they see a LE loan, and they decide, you know what, we’re gonna wait a year, but they pay $150 a.

That’s $1,500 a year, that’s $5,000 over four years. And so that big ticket number that they saw for the solar starts looking smaller and smaller. And unfortunately, when they come back to me two years later, which always happens they’ve paid all that money to the utility company that they’re not gonna be getting back and.

That’s the real cost of waiting and the real reason why going solar now is so important. And it’s not a sales gimmick. Thankfully, as I said we are happy to talk to folks because. We have a dual mission to educate and to install. So if I get a chance to tell somebody about how solar works and they become a solar advocate and they help fight climate change I’m doing my job.

But far too often I find folks decide to wait and the burden of waiting. Actually is what ends up preventing them from going solar. Maybe they’ve been in their house for two years, great time to go solar. They’ve settled into the home, they understand their energy bills and they’ve started getting into a rhythm, paying their mortgage.

But if they wait four or five years and then they reassess solar, now they’ve been in their home 10 years or eight. Maybe they’re thinking when are we gonna be empty nesters? Are we gonna sell it? Is the payback gonna be soon enough? And they start getting nervous. And now there’s another reason why they have cold feet.

All the while they’re spending thousands and thousands of dollars the way they did when they were younger renting. And so just the way that you invest in a home, investing in a solar array that you own that’s on your roof is a great way to not only save money but also to have energy. I. And also to feel great about your living quality and to help the planet.

And last, but of course not least, support local jobs support folks in Philadelphia getting hired. As we come out of the pandemic, I think it is very apparent to me that the tr the trend of global supply chains is shifting back to local economies and there’s nothing I’d like more.

We want to hire local and we want to install local, and we hope that you all buy local. And we are Philly’s local hometown heroes. There was so moving along towards this slide here, this shows just some of the economics related to going solar. And to put to paper some of the aspects that I just spoke about installing solar over a lifetime of energy rate increases undoubtedly save you tens of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands of dollars.

If you’re sitting in front of your computer, Think about how much you pay every month for your utility bill, and then times that by 12 months of the year, and then times that by how many years you’ve lived in your home. And then times that by 25 and see how much that looks like over the lifespan of a solar array.

It’s quite significant. You could see here this is an example project on a little bit on the larger side, but. Almost $74,000 of energy bill savings based on pico utility rates. I’m sure you’ve all seen utility rates go up nearly 10% over the past four months, and there’s a lot of history to show that will continue.

It’s been happening for the past decade and it’s been pretty significant recently. Of course, having a home in Philadelphia means that there are a lot of probable millennials that care about the environment that are gonna. Purchasing your home and you decide to sell it. And having a green home is certainly a great buying characteristic.

And lots of ways that you can evaluate the value of your home. But one of the largest studies in the country, the Berkeley lab study, which included eight states, including Pennsylvania, New Jersey, studying home values over 15 years, comparing Pennsylvania solar homes to Pennsylvania non-solar homes.

Estimates that, systems like this can increase your home’s value anywhere from 25 to $50,000 for larger homes, even more. Of course in the middle, just quantifying the social impact that you’d be having supporting over 200 hours of living wages for our team. It’s really significant. And, oftentimes people feel that they do lots of things for the environment.

And that maybe not using a plastic straw is the equivalent of installing a solar array. And unfortunately, that’s not the truth. Over 80. The average person’s carbon footprint comes from their home and their car, meaning that almost 50% comes from your home. And so being able to solarize your house really does allow you to make the statement about supporting the climate fighting climate change.

A system like this, for example, Is the equivalent of planting 400, 4,000 trees, excuse me. And for the next time you’re out in the whistle hicken see how many trees are there and I think you could feel pretty good about going solar. I think that’s my time, so I’ll turn it over.

It’s been really great being able to share about this. And I look forward to talking to all of you folks soon as you decide to solarize your homes.