Continuing this series of blogs excerpting my recently published book, Building a Brilliant Tomorrow, my last post focused on the first of Inovateus’ five PEACE core values: passion. In this post, I continue the discussion around passion and talk about the importance of knowing “why” you’re in business, a groundbreaking success concept developed by author and motivational speaker Simon Sinek. I also share the story of applying this core value to a project where our passion for solar (and patience) paid off.
One thing I’ve found to be a strong guiding force over the years is a message coined by Simon Sinek, who believes companies that are very successful and gain loyal customers and followers are the companies that start with the why: Why are we in business? Why are we doing what we do? It’s a message that really rings true for Inovateus Solar.
As have others who have been successful throughout history, we’ve succeeded because we started with why we’re doing what we’re doing. Sinek uses Martin Luther King as an example of someone who succeeded because he started with the why. King felt strongly about racial equality in the United States, and his message on the subject wasn’t about what needed to change; it was about his beliefs: they were the same beliefs that others shared, and that’s what made his speeches so contagious.
At Inovateus Solar, we started with the why, and that why was our passion for solar energy. I, along with my father, Inovateus co-founder George Howard, and others wanted to see more of it in the United States. And that definitely helped us to get our business started. But today that passion is just as strong, if not stronger, than when we started.
One great example of Inovateus’ passion is the work we’ve been able to accomplish with Duke Realty Company, a real estate investment trust (REIT) headquartered in Indianapolis. As representatives of Inovateus Development, a company of about five people, we first pitched the trust in the fall of 2007. We traveled down to Indianapolis and gave Duke’s sustainability team a presentation on solar energy and how the Uni-Solar product could be a good fit for the company.
We knew Duke had roof space all across the United States and could be a really good partner for us in finding a home for solar. We presented Duke with the idea of using Uni-Solar’s thin film product. It was ideal, we said, for the properties Duke owned, which included large warehouses, distribution centers, offices, and hospitals.
But we quickly stumbled into some challenges. Since Duke Realty was a REIT, it could not receive the 30 percent tax credit that was available to solar-energy investments at the time. Especially in 2007, that tax-credit ineligibility took away a good chunk of the economic benefits of installing solar.
We left the meeting a bit disappointed because it didn’t look as if things would work out. But my father said, “Let’s keep at it” because Duke Realty was interested in solar and had asked us to put some proposals together for some of its facilities.
We had a follow-up meeting the next spring. By then, we’d found a few additional solutions, including a way to bring in investment partners who could own the system built on the roofs of Duke buildings while Duke leased its roof space. But the company still wasn’t quite ready to move forward; there was some pushback from its executive team. We continued to work closely with Mike Gahimer, who was then the energy manager at Duke. He felt that solar energy could be a good fit for the company.
Finally, when it seemed discussions weren’t getting anywhere, we decided to gift Duke Realty a small system so that it could become familiar with the technology. Ultimately, a very small dollar amount was exchanged because the company wouldn’t allow us to gift it a system. We put in a five-kilowatt pilot research-and-development project because we really wanted the company to see the benefits of solar. Our desire to get Duke onboard was driven, in part, because we wanted it to offer solar as an option when it was in the construction phase of projects—for example, distribution centers for customers such as Amazon.
Nearly four years later, we still didn’t have a contract with Duke, but we maintained a somewhat consistent dialogue to share the happenings of the solar industry. In 2011, we even spent some time trying to find a solar solution for a building the company owned in Goodyear, Arizona, that was being leased by Amazon. Aside from that, we continued without any real business being transacted with Duke.
Then, one day in 2012, we heard about a solar-energy program through Indianapolis Power & Light. The utility company was looking for proposals for solar installations within the Indianapolis area, and it offered what’s called a feed-in tariff of $0.20 per kilowatt hour for 15 years. We got on the phone with Duke and quickly put some proposals together that were accepted and approved by Indianapolis Power & Light. By mid-2014, we had completed 10 megawatts of solar installations on Duke Realty buildings in Indianapolis, one four-megawatt installation, and two three-megawatt installations, which together comprised the largest solar-rooftop portfolio in the Midwest at the time. We brought in an investment group to own the systems and sell the electricity to Indianapolis Power & Light, and Duke Realty made money by leasing its roof space. We created value out of space for which the company was getting $0 per square foot.
Our passion for solar and our desire to see solar work for a company such as Duke Realty kept us moving through that effort for over six years.
In the next blog excerpt from Building a Brilliant Tomorrow, I will talk about the second of Inovateus’ PEACE core values: engagement.
By TJ Kanczuzewski, president/CEO, Inovateus Solar
