The growing emphasis on clean energy and decentralization of the grid brings an excellent revenue opportunity for building owners and managers who can spare the space on their roofs. They can harness solar energy right from their rooftops and feed to the grid. Effectuating and democratizing the wisdom within this notion is New York-based solar design and installation company,
64Solar. The company leases rooftops for its Community Solar program and uses the collected energy to serve the commercial and industrial space, including commercial buildings, schools, and churches. This model allows anyone to benefit from solar irrespective of the building they are in. 64Solar ensures the continuous cash flow for building owners even if they don’t necessarily desire to leverage the electric benefits. The company pays through 20 years lease terms for solar without any investment on the owner’s part. “We’re more than solar installation company. We aim higher than simply bolting hardware onto rooftops. We’re energy consultants that help building owners drive additional revenue,” says Craig Harrigan, Founder, 64Solar. The company also caters to Fortune 500 entities interested in becoming green establishments and meeting their quality, safety, and sustainability goals.
64Solar’s engagement with potential building owners starts with them conducting due diligence that includes gathering all the information about a building, including its structure, engineered plan, and weight holding capacity of the roof deck. The company then conducts initial consultations and presents a proposal to the potential clients. Immediately after receiving confirmation from clients, they proceed to engineering design, applying for various incentives, and contracting out the construction. Doing all this internally translates to considerably less operational costs.
Also, the data collected during this due diligence allows 64Solar to not only successfully install solar but to also explore other roof-based installation opportunities such as 5G cell phone towers, radio transmitters, or other wireless solutions. The 64Solar team can then present building owners with the opportunity to even further add to their income. For example, if the owners can earn $20,000 a year by renting their rooftop for solar equipment, they might be interested in complementing that income by leasing space for a 5G antenna or radio transmitter. The company identifies such clients and offers the opportunity to boost their revenue and savings.
After installing the solar equipment, 64Solar provides customers with free maintenance and checkups on the systems for an agreed-upon number of years. Special monitoring systems are also connected to these solar installations. They continually track performance and alert 64Solar immediately if a system is not performing correctly. All this amounts to increased savings.
Positioning themselves as a true partner and consultant, 64Solar works with several clients, specifically real estate owners across New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, California, Illinois, Virginia, and Florida. In one instance, the company helped a multifamily housing complex in Connecticut lower its energy cost significantly by installing a solar system. The business owner of this facility was paying about $200,000 a year for the electricity. After the in-depth due diligence, the company installed a solar system on the rooftop of the building. As a result, the client could lower the organization’s energy costs from roughly $200,000 down to just $25,000 a year.
Helping clients achieve their various energy goals, while addressing almost any issue that may arise on the way, 64Solar focuses on continually improving its assets and business model. As the government and utility organizations power up to attain their renewable energy goals, the company, in many ways, is accelerating the nation’s quest to go green.
