EnergyBiz – The peer-to-peer sharing economy is finding its way into every industry. From Uber to Airbnb, companies are doing all they can to take advantage of crowdsourcing to create a large-scale, paying consumer base. Now, solar start-up Yeloha thinks it has found a way to apply this new, social way of doing business to clean energy.
Solar energy, of course, is becoming an increasingly viable way of powering the home. Over the last decade alone, the cost of installing solar power has dropped by more than 73% according to the Solar Energy Industries Association. Residential solar costs alone have plummeted by 45% in just the last five years and there is currently enough solar electricity generated in the U.S. to run more than 4 million homes. So why are fewer than 1% of American households running on solar energy?
Yeloha Co-founder and CEO Amit Rosner says the problem is simple: access.
“We found that 92% of the households in the country cannot go solar,” Rosner said. “No matter their motivations, they just can’t do it. Either they don’t have the right roof or they don’t have the right credit. . What the solar industry has done is focus on the small, addressable market of the very lucky people. People with homes, sunny roofs that face south, [who live] in the right state and are wealthy or have excellent credit. That’s a lot of requirements. From a business perspective, there’s a huge opportunity in making it so everyone can connect to solar.”
Recognizing these constraints, Rosner set out to develop Yeloha. The company acts as a liaison between people who have solar-friendly roofs and people who want to buy the energy those roofs generate.
A homeowner can join Yeloha as a Sun Host. The company will then install solar panels on his or her roof free-of-charge. The homeowner receives part of the energy his roof generates at no cost to defray his household’s monthly electricity costs while remaining on the grid.
The rest of the electricity generated is then distributed to what Yeloha calls Sun Partners. These people might live in an apartment building or might be renting their home – either way, they would otherwise have no access to solar power. But through Yeloha, they are able to purchase the remaining energy generated by a Sun Host’s roof and see a monthly reduction in their electricity bill.
The simple idea has already generated intense media buzz and piqued investors’ interests. Earlier this year, Yeloha raised $3.5 million in its Series A fundraising round. Because fundraising remains in progress, Rosner could not divulge specifics on exactly how many homes are currently using Yeloha – although he was willing to say that he’d been overwhelmed by the “tremendous” outpouring of public interest.
For now, the service remains in Beta and is currently available exclusively in the Boston-based company’s home state of Massachusetts. Rosner says New York is likely next and several more states will be announced in the coming months.
“Ultimately we bring people together to do something beautiful that they couldn’t do alone,” Rosner explains. “It’s not a platform that requires you to be a tree-hugger because there’s an immediate benefit. We’re trying to be really practical here. We want to see a big change in the world. But if we want to reach millions of people, we need to provide what they need. Ideology is great – that’s the foundation [of it]-but we need to make the technology practical, online, affordable and sticky.”
So what does Rosner have to say about the inevitable comparisons to companies like Uber?
He’s the first to admit that Yeloha has learned a lot from Uber.. Uber, he noted, allows people to monetize their personal cars – which generally bring in no direct revenue – and has provided job opportunities to those that might be otherwise out of work.
According to Rosner, Yeloha is doing the same thing: “Here, you have your roof. Now, you put it to work for you. You had this asset that was wasted and now it can help you. It also helps the environment and saves you money.”
Another key comparison to Uber that Rosner is quick to make is the fact that the ride-sharing service was able to transform transportation without altering the roads themselves. So too, Rosner says, Yeloha is working to change the way people get their electricity without taking on the considerable task of trying to change the grid or the infrastructure itself.
“We’re using the infrastructure, so we need to find a way to work together with the utility companies,” Rosner said, explaining that his company’s plan has naturally raised hackles with some utility companies. “We see ourselves as a digital network on top of the existing infrastructure.. We understand why the utilities are concerned about how their business models could be adversely affected. But we’ve also found that utilities are embracing change.”
Besides, the convenience factor is hard to ignore.
For Sun Hosts, there’s no lease agreement, no commitment and no credit check to sign up and get solar panels installed. For Sun Partners, it’s even simpler.
“People should be able to go online and say `I want to go solar today.’ Three minutes later, they’re connected to one or two, or three, or 20 solar panels that can start generating cleaner, smarter and cheaper electricity for you. So you’re doing the right thing and you don’t need to go through a whole ordeal,” Rosner said.
CVD 