Renewable Power Perspectives Q&A with Kristal Hansley, Founder & CEO of WeSolar, Inc.

By Constance ThompsonAugust 27, 2021
The American Council on Renewable Energy (ACORE) is happy to share the first installation in our “Accelerating Renewables” blog site series. Each installment will include industry leaders and subjects related to speeding up a fair and simply shift to a sustainable energy economy. In acknowledgment of National Black Business Month, our August blog is the very first in a series highlighting how Black-owned member companies are flourishing in the renewable resource sector.
Kristal Hansley is the Founder & & CEO of WeSolar, Inc and is the nations very first Black lady CEO in the neighborhood solar market. Under her management, WeSolar is growing quickly, offering consumers across Maryland and the District of Columbia access to inexpensive solar energy, no matter house type, and helping hard-working families reduce regular monthly expenses.
What inspired you to start your company?
I was at a community meeting with 50 Black females organizers who were not invested in the community solar movement. 36% of Black families experience a high energy concern, implying they spend over 6% of their earnings on home energy costs. To be able to offer an item that will conserve our community up to 60% on their energy costs is transformative.
Tell us about your company?
WeSolars mission is to bring under-resourced neighborhoods budget-friendly access to regional community solar and to assist commercial properties with energy performance. In Maryland, lawmakers passed legislation that mentions 50 percent of its electricity must come from eco-friendly energy sources by 2030.
What challenges do you deal with? Why?
To a community that is already dealing with many pressing obstacles, encouraging them that there is another one just as essential is really tough. I remember attempting to explain neighborhood solar to my good friends and the conversation quickly pivoting to real estate. The truth of the matter is, institutional bigotry and oppression are bigger than we understand, and it drowns our neighborhood. Where Black individuals are not being bought, we are being asked to focus on continuously for our survival.
Please share with us a recent business success story.
A really individual success story for me is cultivating a partnership with Maryland United Baptist Missionary Convention, Inc. I matured in a Baptist church in Brooklyn where my cousin was the pastor, and my mother was an organizer– neighborhood was sewn into my extremely being. When I initially moved to Baltimore, the Community Solar Pilot Program was launched, and I wished to ensure city residents were receiving the very same amount of investment as the county. It was the church that took me in, and the church that then supported my vision– bringing everything full circle. Renewable resource has historically been a middle-class issue due to the fact that Black communities have had to reside in survival mode, however Reverend Mason and Reverend Dewitt brought me into the circle and connected me with the individuals I needed to connect with in order to make this collaboration effective.
To find out more about WeSolar, see wesolar.energy
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I was at a neighborhood conference with 50 Black women organizers who were not invested in the neighborhood solar motion. To be able to use a product that will conserve our neighborhood up to 60% on their energy costs is transformative.
WeSolars mission is to bring under-resourced neighborhoods inexpensive access to local community solar and to assist business residential or commercial properties with energy performance. When I first moved to Baltimore, the Community Solar Pilot Program was introduced, and I desired to make sure city citizens were getting the exact same amount of investment as the county. Sustainable energy has actually traditionally been a middle-class concern because Black neighborhoods have actually had to live in survival mode, however Reverend Mason and Reverend Dewitt brought me into the circle and linked me with the people I required to connect with in order to make this collaboration effective.