We'd love if you'd leave us a 5 ⭐ rating & review and it's never been easier: www.ratethispodcast.com/suncast
Solstice Wants To Democratize The Clean Energy Revolution
CEO Steph Speirs Works For Energy Equity And Solar In Every Home
Globally, solar is seeing staggering growth and demand is exceeding expectations. But there's a problem.
In the United States alone, about 90 million households are locked out of the solar marketplace. Maybe they rent their homes, have less than optimal credit scores, or their roof is too shaded or otherwise unsuited to a solar array.
Entrepreneur and community builder Steph Speirs aims to unlock the possibility of solar power for these households. Steph is the co-founder and CEO of Solstice, which wants to turbocharge access to clean energy through community solar and "make the clean energy revolution work for everyone in America."
We've talked a lot lately on SunCast about the need for a more equitable and inclusive approach to solar for all households. In today's discussion, Steph and I explore this theme through innovations like the Solstice energy score, a proprietary underwriting standard for solar customers. It's more accurate in predicting who will pay their utility bill and more inclusive of low-income Americans than traditional FICO credit scores, those three-digit numbers used to assess creditworthiness.
Steph believes "the role of power and privilege is to use it to open up doors for other folks to access that same power" and shares that perspective in a most engaging exchange today.
It's hard to know where to start with Steph's accolades and awards because she boasts more than three dozen. They include a 2021 Entrepreneurship Award from the U.S. Clean Energy Education and Empowerment (C3E) Initiative, a joint initiative of the U.S. Department of Energy, MIT Energy Initiative, Stanford University's Precourt Institute for Energy, and the Texas A&M Energy Institute.
She also earned recognition as Elle's U.S. Women Entrepreneur of the Year; Inc Magazine's Female Founder 100; an Echoing Green Climate Fellow; a Kia Revisionary; a Renewable Energy World 40 Under 40 in Solar; a Grist 50 Fixer; a P.D. Soros Fellowship for New Americans; a Gerson Lehrman Group Social Impact Fellow; and an Acumen Global Fellow.
Since 2007, she's led such a remarkable career that it would humble even the most ambitious among us. From leading sales and marketing innovation in India at d.light to spearheading venture capital firm Acumen's renewable energy impact investment strategy in Pakistan, Steph’s private market innovation & entrepreneurship, have been lauded. Yet, it’s her public sector work that catches the eye of many. She developed Middle East policy as the youngest policy director at the White House National Security Council, served as a special assistant to the Office of the Secretary in the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, and managed field operations in seven states for the first Obama presidential campaign.
"The number one job that prepared me to do what I do today is being a community organizer with the Obama campaign," she said.
She defined community organizing as getting people to work together towards a common task, which often seems "unbelievably impossible because it is in the face of a Goliath-like challenge." Organizers seek out people closest to the problem and ask them about the optimal solution. It means giving up control so the organization can scale through impact through the people on the ground, she explained.
"Our job is to empower them, to include them and to respect them. People power is a renewable resource. Energy is contagious, and people can do impossible things when they work together. And that's what we need to solve climate change, too."
Steph's mother is Korean, and her father was "born on a road in Laos," adopted from China and "didn't know his own father, so somewhat questionable ethnic history."
As a first-generation American who grew up in Hawaii, she learned about living in harmony with the land. "When you live on an island, you know your resources are limited. You live it every day, and you breathe it every day.
"In fact, the Earth is an island, but we don't see it that way. And so it's often the people of island nations teaching us how to live in harmony with the environment. They know that we are affected by our environment, whether we acknowledge it or not," she explained.
She thinks her childhood planted the seeds of entrepreneurship, which she believes comes in two forms. Entrepreneurs are born either of necessity — like immigrants who start businesses to overcome limited employment options — or out of privilege.
"If you're in a stable enough place in your life, you can take a huge risk, making it easier to be an entrepreneur. I was lucky to have the latter situation. Not that I've ever had money, but I had a good education because my mom sacrificed for her three children," she said.
Steph has a B.A. in History and International Studies from Yale, a Master's in Public Affairs (MPA) with distinction from Princeton, and an MBA from MIT with a Certificate in Entrepreneurship and Innovation.
After her father's business failed, Steph's mother worked three minimum wage jobs to support her children and give them better lives.
"I became an entrepreneur because I saw my mom and what she was able to create out of nothing," she said.
Steph said she learned about privilege as a "scholarship kid" who attended a private high school filled with folks with lots of money. "Living with one foot in the world of the haves and one foot at home in the world of have-nots, I saw very little separating the two worlds outside the birth lottery and luck," she explained.
It propelled her to plan a career based on creating communities and building organizations that "make things more equal for people, make things fairer, so everyone can thrive, regardless of where they were born or the parents to whom they were born."
She recognizes the past 10 years of her life have been extraordinarily privileged — but wanted to call attention to the people still living with less in the hope of creating more global equity. It was the passion that fueled Solstice.
"My co-founders and I said, 'Let's start a company to make solar more accessible to the people who need the energy savings, people with the lowest incomes and communities of color,'" she said.
"Those folks are most affected by climate change and least likely to participate in the green economy. So let's ensure clean energy is for everyone — every community — and it's a human right."
Typically, to gain access to solar, you have to pay for it upfront, pay more for a Utility Green Tariff, or obtain a direct renewable energy supply through a retail supplier. You can also get solar financing, but you typically need a FICO score of 680 and above. "That's even true of gaining access to most of the community solar projects in the country. Most developers and financiers require a 680 and above credit score, even if it's a product guaranteeing people savings," she said.
She thinks we need more solutions that make renewable energy cheaper for 60% to 70% of customers who otherwise can't afford it. "They need savings to participate in green power. They cannot buy green power if it's at a premium, particularly in this inflationary environment where energy costs and all costs are going up. People have less to spend. So we need to innovate more," she said.
I hope you tune into today's podcast to hear Steph explain how Solstice set out to find a better, more inclusive qualification standard than FICO scores. She explains Solstice's new community solar qualification metric, the EnergyScore.
Leveraging data from nearly 875,000 customer records, the EnergyScore aims to predict future payment behavior more accurately than FICO credit scores while simultaneously including a more significant proportion of qualified low-to-moderate income customers.
Steph approaches her business with unusual warmth and compassion for her potential customers. And it's just part of her personality. When asked what she doesn't show on her impressive LinkedIn profile, she noted, "so many failures!"
"People sometimes forget that to succeed, you have to fail. I've often thought about creating a resume of failures, so people realize that it's not just awards and all of that, which are very, very kind for people to bestow on us. But real learning doesn't happen when things are hunky dory and going well. The real learning and humbling moments occur when you're dragged across hot coals, and you have to figure out how to find a solution forward," she said.
When the pandemic hit in early 2020, Steph said her company's revenues disappeared overnight and didn't come back for another couple of quarters.
"That meant that we had to scramble to pivot our business model on how we reached people because we couldn't reach them in person in a room anymore. The thing that saved us was not me, and the thing that saved us was our team coming together and realizing that nobody had been through this before. There was no playbook, and so we had to learn faster."
Steph said Solstice benefits from community and trust — "a big value in our company."
"We talk about it constantly and can only move at the speed of trust. Trust is not entitled; it's earned. And you earn trust by treating people well, by advocating for the least among us to get access, and by partnering with only the highest quality providers," she said.
Trust me when I tell you it's worth your time to listen to everything Steph says in today's very enlightening and uplifting show.
Thanks again to this week's sponsor, helping keep the podcast FREE to you!
SUNGROW focuses on integrated energy storage system solutions, including PCS, lithium-ion batteries and energy management system. Pleae visit https://www.mysuncast.com/sungrow
ABOUT THE HOST OF SUNCAST:
Nico Johnson is the creator and host of SunCast, consistently rated a top solar podcast in the clean energy sector. The content of the show is geared towards listeners looking for insights on where the markets are headed, how to position themselves or their companies, and what today's market leaders do to stay ahead of the pack.
Nico is an Investor, Executive Coach, and 16-year veteran of the solar industry, having led development in the US and Latin America for global companies like Trina Solar and Conergy.
You can connect with Nico Johnson on Twitter, LinkedIn or email.
If you’ve been second-guessing your work decisions or maybe trying to reconsider how you "fit" in the renewable energy industry -> grab 20 minutes on Nico's calendar and discuss whether having him as Your personal coach might be the right next step.