Tuesday, March 8, 2011

The Pitch

SolSolution brings solar power to schools

By Lynette F. Cornell

SolSolution
Headquarters: Cambridge
Phone: 805-813-4418
Email: soren@sol-solution.org
URL: www.sol-solution.org
Founded: 2009
Employees: 11


In the company’s own words:
“SolSolution aims to be the ‘go-to’ solar power provider for K-12 schools across the U.S. Our vision is to install 1 gigawatt of solar generating capacity by 2020 and shift $100 million to educational budgets in low-income schools. As a nonprofit, SolSolution has unique access to a wider spectrum of low-cost capital sources, which gives us a significant competitive advantage in the marketplace. Our partner schools are able to easily and cost-effectively adopt solar power, which de-risks and simplifies their operations budgeting for decades. With zero upfront or operations and maintenance costs, our partner schools reduce their electricity bills, hedge against rising electricity prices and protect themselves from the volatile electricity market.”

About the company:
SolSolution is a nonprofit company that affixes solar panels to the roof of a low-income school, sells the solar-generated electricity back to schools and then reinvests what would normally be considered profits from its business activity into the school’s infrastructure, which take the form of general improvements, books and class resources, according to the company.

People behind the company:
Soren Harrison, CEO and founder, is the former founder of Fusion Research Technologies LLC, a research and development company in the field of nuclear fusion. He is also a 2009 Fellow and 2010 Program Manager in the Startup Leadership Program and a member of the MIT Energy Club. Jason Kaminsky, operational director, is also the strategic assistant to the CEO at SPG Solar, a solar development firm.

Bunmi Adekore, non-operational director, is also the founder of Boston-based LED lighting startup LumenZ Inc. Adam Rein oversees SolSolution’s social impact and fundraising and formerly consulted for the Boston Consulting Group and has worked on solar projects in Africa. MJ Shiao is the company’s solar industry analyst and oversees business partnerships. He also works at GTM Research as a solar analyst and previously worked as a solar design engineer at Solar Design Associates. Holly Hughes manages administration and operations and previously worked as the development and operations manager at Friends of the Children in Boston. Cassandra Bowe manages business affairs and is currently interning for SunPower Corp. Max Storto is a fundraising associate and Samantha Go is the company’s marketing manager.

The pitch:
SolSolution is seeking $700,000 in funding in the form of venture philanthropy, grants and corporate and individual donations. The funds will be used for four full-time staff hirings, operational expenses and equity in its solar projects. The company is aiming to secure five school customers by the end of 2011 and 10 school customers by the end of 2012.

Partnerships:
SolSolution has partnered with Boston-based renewable energy non-profit New Generation Energy to provide financing for smaller early photovoltaic projects. The company has also partnered with Mansfield-based non-profit GreenSchools to team up with schools in Massachusetts to deliver educational programming.

The market:
SolSolution is targeting the electricity market for U.S. schools, which spend about $5 billion on electricity annually, according to Harrison.

The competition:
The company’s direct competition includes for-profit solar power purchase agreement (PPA) companies as well as some turn-key system integrators, said Harrison.