The landscape for solar power is changing, and the leaders of two Knoxville solar companies are altering their focus to adapt to the shift.
Ignited by federal stimulus dollars, the industry has enjoyed three years of federal and state incentives that have, for the most part, dimmed. And last year, TVA scaled back its incentives, limiting the most generous payments to systems producing less than 50 kilowatts of power. That's left many in the industry to predict few, if any, large commercial installations will be built in the near future.
David Bolt, founder of Knoxville firm Sustainable Future, says last year about 80 percent of his business was composed of installations for commercial clients. Since TVA announced the changes, he's hired a dedicated sales person to market solar power systems to homeowners.
Bolt founded the company in 2005, after he converted his own home to net-zero energy — meaning he produces more power than he consumes — and before the economic crash and resulting stimulus spending. In April, he was honored by the White House as a Champion for Change for "demonstrating that corporate environmental leadership makes sense, both for business and for American communities."
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| Adrian Sainz/Associated Press Daniel Poneman, the deputy secretary for the U.S. Department of Energy, center, is given a tour of the West Tennessee Solar Farm by two project managers in Stanton, Tenn., in April. The state's solar industry sees few new large-scale solar projects being built because of changes in TVA incentives |
Ignited by federal stimulus dollars, the industry has enjoyed three years of federal and state incentives that have, for the most part, dimmed. And last year, TVA scaled back its incentives, limiting the most generous payments to systems producing less than 50 kilowatts of power. That's left many in the industry to predict few, if any, large commercial installations will be built in the near future.
David Bolt, founder of Knoxville firm Sustainable Future, says last year about 80 percent of his business was composed of installations for commercial clients. Since TVA announced the changes, he's hired a dedicated sales person to market solar power systems to homeowners.
Bolt founded the company in 2005, after he converted his own home to net-zero energy — meaning he produces more power than he consumes — and before the economic crash and resulting stimulus spending. In April, he was honored by the White House as a Champion for Change for "demonstrating that corporate environmental leadership makes sense, both for business and for American communities."
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