Green Sun’s Solar Programs Keep N.J. Ratepayer $$$ in State–YOU Reap the Profit
Most people agree that green energy is the future; but for everyday homeowners and small business owners “going solar” seems expensive, almost outside their grasp unless they go with a company that leases solar panels. In that case, the property owner reaps only a fraction of the rewards while the leasing company rakes in the profit. A startup out of Middletown, N.J., however, has begun to revolutionize solar energy in New Jersey one home at a time.
The numbers speak for themselves. Many solar installation companies will install panels on a home for “free”; but between tax credits, energy credits (SRECs), and monthly lease payments, a solar system on a home or small business could generate upwards of $75,000 for the leasing company over the course of its 20 year contracts. Meanwhile, the homeowner’s benefit is a saving of about $30 a month or $7,200 over 20 years.
When Glen A. Koedding and C. Ray Torre were researching solar energy for their own homes, they asked themselves the obvious question: why allow a leasing company to reap all the rewards?
That question was the spark that led the Koedding and Torre families to create Green Sun Energy Services, a company that provides a unique alternative to the more than 270 companies now installing solar in the state – and more importantly, to help ensure New Jersey residents receive a larger share of the benefit of having solar panels installed at their home or small business.
Unlike the competition, Green Sun Energy is not a typical installer or an out-of-state leasing company. Koedding says, “The primary objective is to enable the homeowner to own their equipment; and we, as a service organization, manage and optimize their energy production and financial returns. Solar installations are managed as a long-term program not a one-time transaction.”
When it comes to doing the legwork – reams of government paperwork, dealing with the utilities, working with banks, managing SRECs, and more – Green Sun Energy does the heavy lifting. They custom design each system; install industry-leading equipment; make sure the equipment is monitored, cleaned, maintained and optimized to ensure the client is getting the maximum amount of solar energy possible. The homeowner actually owns the solar panels on their home, not a leasing company.
So how does Green Sun Energy make money? By ensuring their clients make money. A major source of the company’s revenue is a small brokerage fee for trading SRECs or pennies for every kilowatt hour a home or business generates via solar. That gives them the incentive to make sure the client’s entire system is producing a lot of power, and in turn producing a lot of energy credits, and thus are maximizing the returns both parties.
Part of the goal is to keep New Jersey ratepayer dollars and tax dollars in the State of New Jersey. Right now, various state and federal incentives are helping out-of-state installation and leasing companies enjoy big profits – profits driven in part by the taxes paid by the people they service. The founders of Green Sun Energy Services believe the people of New Jersey should share in those rewards.
Green Sun also sets itself apart in its origins. “The solar industry is very immature,” Koedding explains, “although solar has been around for decades the industry just started getting going a couple of years ago. Most folks in the industry either come from an electrical, HVAC, or a roofing contractor background.”
The partners at Green Sun Energy, on the other hand, come from backgrounds dealing in business management, mortgage banking, information technology, and engineering. In other words, they’re equipped to manage the business from design through installation to ongoing energy optimization, not merely install-and-profit.
Green Sun Energy is already managing and optimizing installations in Middletown, Red Bank, Farmingdale, and Lincroft, Garwood, South Plainfield and Somerset.
For more information, visit www.greensunnj.com or call Glen Koedding at 732-410-7818 Ext. 401.
*Ratepayer—a retail consumer of an electricity or water utility; a customer of a public utility