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
