Monthly Archives: November 2015

Jessie Robinson, the co-chair of UNC-Chapel Hill’s Renewable Energy Special Projects Committee, spoke with USI volunteer Lydia Odom about the recent solar panel installation on the roof of the UNC-CH Student Union. RESPC is a student organization that promotes renewable energy on campus.

United Solar Initiative: How long have you been involved with RESPC?

Jessie Robinson: I joined my freshman year, and I’ve been involved since then. I started out just on projects. … The next year, I was assigned a project to lead, and the year after I was leading several. And now, I’m a co-chair.

USI: Who or what organizations were key in making the solar panels on the Student Union happen?

Robinson: It was a big effort of those in RESPC and our advisors. The project came to us in the spring of 2013 and it just got finished, so we’ve had three cycles of co-chairs working on that project. … A lot of different parties have been working on it, along with members of the club and our advisors helping us get the logistics together.

We had done the solar thermal project on Morrison dorm, but that was in 2005. So we hadn’t done this in a while, and we weren’t at school when the last project happened. We kind of just figured stuff out as we went.

USI: What does it feel like now that it’s complete?

Robinson: It’s super cool. It just dawns on me sometimes, like, “Oh my gosh, we put panels on the Union!” And now we’re all super hype about getting more solar projects out there, like the one for the Friday Center we’re working on, and we have another one in the very beginning stages that we’re going to try to make happen. It’s an exciting time.

USI: Do you think students know that there are panels on the roof now? How do you plan on making people aware of that?

Robinson: I definitely think more know now than did. I think the ribbon-cutting ceremony really helped, and especially with it in the environmental newsletter and sending out press releases. I think people in the environmental community of UNC know that it’s there, and the hope is that the live feed in the Union showing the energy consumption of the solar panels will bring awareness to it also. 

We do our best for any project to let students know what’s going on and who RESPC is, because most people haven’t heard of us. It’s a constant struggle to get the word out there, I mean everyone is trying to promo what they’re really passionate about, which is totally fair. But we’re like, “I don’t have time to think about that, I’m passionate about this.” But the ribbon-cutting was pretty neat because we haven’t done that for any other project, I don’t think. That helped increase awareness. And the live feed is going to be awesome. 

USI: What’s your vision for the future projects RESPC will do?

Robinson: The Friday Center is replacing its roof, which is the perfect time to do solar projects because roofs may not be able to handle the weight of solar panels if we put them on an existing roof. Or, if the roof is going to be replaced in a couple of years, the solar panels would have to be taken off. So it’s a great opportunity to do the solar project, and it’s awesome that it’s happening.

USI: What do solar and sustainability mean for UNC?

Robinson: UNC has a carbon zero plan for 2050 and RESPC is helping us move toward that, but we alone will not make that happen. The hope is that RESPC can educate people about what renewable energy is and the importance of it. I think you hear so many conflicting ideas about it in the news, with all the politics and stuff, but we want to show students that, “This is what it looks like, and this is how it’s helping UNC, and this is why it’s important.” Because we’re reducing our energy consumption, which is not only saving the University money and you money, but it is also reducing emissions and the reliance on a non-renewable fuel source.

So, I guess that’s the energy education aspect of RESPC, which is one of our mandates: renewable energy, energy efficiency, and energy education. That’s a huge thing we consider when we do projects, which is why we have the live feed out there and the ribbon-cutting ceremony. We do whatever we can to show students that this is what is happening.

Article and photo by: Lydia Odom

Ron Strom, the landlord of the Root Cellar, a small coffee shop in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, recently took the initiative to install a rooftop solar system on his business as a way to combat climate change. He discussed his reasons for the decision and hope for its impact on the local community.

United Solar Initiative: When did the idea to install solar panels first come to mind? Was there a certain instance that sparked the idea creation?

Ron Strom: One of my 24-year-old twin daughters, Samantha, an environmental studies major at Middlebury, had been nudging me for quite some time to get a solar quote for our home; it turned out to be too shaded for solar. We then opted for a 60kw rooftop installation on a small retail center in Chapel Hill, NC that our family owns. This has been a way for our family to make a true, impact investment, for our community.

 

USI: How long did the installation process take?

Strom: The installation took only a couple of weeks. The approval from Duke Power took a few months.

 

USI: What would you say to other home-owners/business leaders thinking about installing solar on their rooftops?

Strom: Listen to our children; they are far more sensitized and called to action to combat climate change. And they and their children will be experiencing the consequences of our decisions for far longer than we.

 

USI: Why do you think solar energy is important?

Strom: Our small rooftop system, consisting of 233 solar panels, is the renewable energy equivalent of removing over 100,000 pounds of carbon dioxide, 100,000 vehicle miles from the road or planting 1,200 trees to help sequester carbon. 2015 will be ‘yet another’ hottest year on record for the planet. Each of us must do what we can to support renewables. We are at a tipping point for our planet.

Article: Meredith Ratledge

Photo: Jack Molloy

Megan Neligan, a senior at UNC-Chapel Hill and working as a finance analyst for Cypress Creek Renewables, provides insight on her perspective as a student pursuing a career in the renewable sector. She encourages students to see the solar industry as a great career opportunity.

United Solar Initiative: What is your official position with Cypress Creek and could you describe that for me?

Neligan: I am a Project Finance Analyst. I originally transitioned from Project Development Analyst a few months ago and went through training to work on different financial models, different decks, and help out with anything that touches the finance side of solar.

 

USI: Why solar?

Neligan: So, my freshman year I originally was interested in environmental issues but wasn’t sure which way to take it. And I think by going to UNC, I ended up having a direction that kind of herded me towards solar, to begin with.

You know North Carolina as a solar state is incredible. It’s grown so much. It put so much solar in the ground in 2014 and that’s only increasing in 2015. So just being exposed to all of that within my first six months of being in school was really pivotal for me. And from then on out, when I was speaking to people at home in Texas it just drove me to get into solar even more and get into the finance side because I’m from a conservative community in Dallas that really cares about its oil and gas. And to be able to say to someone now in 2015 that ‘Look, in some areas, utility scale solar is at parity with gas prices,’ that’s incredible. So, that kind of pushed me in originally and kept me here and kept me running.

And it changes the world. And it helps make everything green and wonderful for the grid.

 

USI: It is my understanding that you took a gap year your junior year?

Neligan: I took my spring semester off junior year and spent that fall applying to many internships and reaching out to different companies. And I reached out to Matt McGovern who is the CEO of Cypress. I’d met him at InterSolar, a conference in San Francisco, the year before, and asked actually for career advice about the finance side of things and how to navigate the waters and how to get into that because I wasn’t a business major. And it turned out to be one of the best emails I ever sent.

 

USI: Was there a particular instance that sparked the idea of taking a gap year?

Neligan: I had gone abroad for [the] Burch [program], and that was an incredible experience. And doing my research there on energy cooperatives and sustainable rural development really sparked the rest of my research and sparked everything else I was interested in school. And I’m realizing, if I want to be doing solar, how do I make this happen? And that’s what pushed the finance side of things because I thought that was a great enabler.

But for the gap year, I was looking again at programs abroad. And there’s nothing wrong with going abroad just to have your experience. That’s a wonderful thing, to just soak everything up. I had been really lucky and spent I think every summer except one or two since I was eleven abroad for some part of the summer. So I decided I would want to use this time to push forward my career and see which way it took me. I was looking for anything that had to do with solar finance. It was kind of in that moment when I wanted to get out of Chapel Hill for a bit and didn’t know which way to take it, that going and working seemed like a really good and exciting option for me.

 

USI: What would you say to students hesitant of joining the environmental movement or those afraid to pursue it as a ‘sound’ career?’ Because that is a skepticism that I’ve heard.

Neligan: Yeah, I get that. And I see a lot of my friends who are environmental studies majors who are unsure should I jump into something environmental related or should I go with a more secure job in maybe tech or something else. And I think, you know, as long as you’re getting a skill-set here at Carolina and really focus on maybe Excel modeling, data management, or journalism. Whatever your chosen path may be in addition to environmental work, jump into it . It almost baffles me why students aren’t just jumping into solar. Because I think it’s something like 21 states now have 100 MW of solar installed. Which is awesome. But in terms of overall solar installed in the US, which is growing every day, it’s the top five states that cover three-quarters of the entire industry. Which, you know, look at that incredible opportunity for growth. You have these established companies in North Carolina or across the U.S. that are looking for young talent, and there’s so much room for these companies to grow. I mean I think you see certain established companies but that doesn’t mean the market is anywhere near tipping and being at its largest.

There’s so much room for growth and I think everyone that is environmental studies, business, or computer science and vaguely interested in environmental work should just be leaping at this as a career opportunity. I think solar is the way to go, but I’m biased. You can do well by doing good, as many have told me.

 

USI: What would you see as the major roadblocks to the solar industry?

Neligan: At this point, I guess, yes, there are roadblocks. The ITC is going to expire and drop 10%. Maybe it won’t, but that is likely. North Carolina’s state tax credit is expiring at the end of 2015. However, in some regions we’ve now reached parity with natural gas. I think, you know, sometimes people talk about  how over-subsidized fossil fuels are, and that’s very frustrating. And I think that solar and renewables overall should continue to be subsidized as different regions are still gearing up. Some areas could have their market stand on their own two feet and be fine without subsidies. But other areas are not there yet, only because maybe they haven’t dabbled in solar at all. There are 21 states with over 100 MW installed. And I think in some ways that’s a roadblock for some regions of the industry that are trying to get into solar. But I think at this point, you know, we’ve figured out a lot of the finance and new innovations for panels. The industry is doing really exciting things. And yes there are roadblocks, but I don’t think they are insurmountable in any way. I don’t even know if they are even huge roadblocks, just speed bumps we have to get over. We’re pretty much there, if not there already. We are there already.

Article: Meredith Ratledge

Photo: Jack Molloy