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 delighted to share the very first installation in our “Accelerating Renewables” blog series. Each installation will include industry leaders and topics related to speeding up a fair and just transition to a sustainable energy economy. In recognition of National Black Business Month, our August blog site is the first in a series highlighting how Black-owned member companies are growing in the sustainable energy sector.
Kristal Hansley is the Founder & & CEO of WeSolar, Inc and is the countrys very first Black woman CEO in the neighborhood solar industry. Under her leadership, WeSolar is growing rapidly, offering customers throughout Maryland and the District of Columbia access to budget friendly solar power, regardless of home type, and assisting hard-working families lower month-to-month expenses.
What inspired you to begin your company?
I was at a community meeting with 50 Black ladies organizers who were not invested in the community solar motion. 36% of Black families experience a high energy burden, suggesting they invest over 6% of their income on home energy expenses. To be able to provide a product that will conserve our community up to 60% on their energy expenses is transformative.
Inform us about your company?
WeSolars mission is to bring under-resourced communities inexpensive access to local community solar and to assist commercial residential or commercial properties with energy efficiency. WeSolar released in Baltimore and will broaden to other cities in the future. Through WeSolar, electrical energy consumers can acquire shared solar from a local job without needing to set up any equipment in their homes. In turn, citizens conserve hundreds on their electrical power bills. In Maryland, lawmakers passed legislation that mentions 50 percent of its electrical power need to come from sustainable energy sources by 2030.
What difficulties do you deal with? Why?
To a neighborhood that is already facing numerous pushing difficulties, encouraging them that there is another one simply as essential is very difficult. I remember attempting to describe community solar to my good friends and the discussion quickly pivoting to housing. The truth of the matter is, institutional racism and injustice are bigger than we understand, and it drowns our community. Where Black individuals are not being invested in, we are being asked to prioritize constantly for our survival.
Please share with us a current company success story.
A very personal success story for me is cultivating a collaboration with Maryland United Baptist Missionary Convention, Inc. I matured in a Baptist church in Brooklyn where my cousin was the pastor, and my mama was an organizer– neighborhood was stitched into my extremely being. When I first relocated to Baltimore, the Community Solar Pilot Program was introduced, and I desired to ensure city citizens were receiving the exact 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 cycle. Renewable resource has actually historically been a middle-class concern since Black communities have actually had to reside in survival mode, however Reverend Mason and Reverend Dewitt brought me into the circle and linked me with individuals I required to get in touch with in order to make this collaboration successful.
To find out more about WeSolar, visit wesolar.energy
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I was at a community meeting with 50 Black women organizers who were not invested in the community solar motion. To be able to provide an item that will conserve our community up to 60% on their energy bills is transformative.
WeSolars objective is to bring under-resourced communities budget-friendly access to regional neighborhood solar and to assist business homes with energy effectiveness. When I initially moved to Baltimore, the Community Solar Pilot Program was released, and I desired to ensure city residents were receiving the same amount of investment as the county. Sustainable energy has traditionally been a middle-class problem because Black communities have had to live in survival mode, however Reverend Mason and Reverend Dewitt brought me into the circle and linked me with the individuals I needed to link with in order to make this partnership successful.