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 series. Each installment will include industry leaders and topics connected to accelerating a fair and simply shift to a renewable resource economy. In acknowledgment of National Black Business Month, our August blog site is the very first in a series highlighting how Black-owned member business are growing in the renewable resource sector.
Kristal Hansley is the Founder & & CEO of WeSolar, Inc and is the nations very first Black female CEO in the community solar industry. Under her leadership, WeSolar is growing rapidly, supplying customers across Maryland and the District of Columbia access to affordable solar power, no matter home type, and helping hard-working families minimize monthly expenses.
What inspired you to start your business?
I was at a community conference with 50 Black ladies organizers who were not invested in the neighborhood solar motion. 36% of Black homes experience a high energy concern, implying they invest over 6% of their income on home energy expenses. To be able to use an item that will save our neighborhood up to 60% on their energy costs is transformative.
Inform us about your business?
WeSolars mission is to bring under-resourced communities budget-friendly access to regional neighborhood solar and to assist business homes with energy efficiency. WeSolar introduced in Baltimore and will expand to other cities in the future. Through WeSolar, electrical energy consumers can buy shared solar from a regional project without having to set up any equipment in their houses. In turn, citizens save hundreds on their electrical power expenses. In Maryland, lawmakers passed legislation that mentions 50 percent of its electrical energy should originate from sustainable energy sources by 2030.
What difficulties do you deal with? Why?
To a community that is currently dealing with many pushing obstacles, encouraging them that there is another one just as important is really tough. I keep in mind attempting to describe community solar to my friends and the conversation rapidly pivoting to real estate. The reality of the matter is, institutional racism and injustice are bigger than we understand, and it drowns our neighborhood. Where Black individuals are not being invested in, we are being asked to focus on continuously for our survival.
Please share with us a current business success story.
A very 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 mommy was an organizer– community was stitched into my very being. When I first moved to Baltimore, the Community Solar Pilot Program was introduced, and I wished to make sure city citizens were getting the exact same amount of financial 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 energy has historically been a middle-class issue due to the fact that Black communities have actually needed to reside in survival mode, but Reverend Mason and Reverend Dewitt brought me into the circle and linked me with individuals I needed to link with in order to make this collaboration successful.
To read more about WeSolar, visit wesolar.energy
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I was at a neighborhood conference with 50 Black females organizers who were not invested in the community solar movement. To be able to offer a product that will save our community up to 60% on their energy costs is transformative.
WeSolars objective is to bring under-resourced communities cost effective access to local community solar and to assist commercial homes with energy effectiveness. When I first moved to Baltimore, the Community Solar Pilot Program was introduced, and I desired to make sure city locals were getting the very same amount of financial investment as the county. Sustainable energy has traditionally been a middle-class problem because Black neighborhoods have had to live in survival mode, but Reverend Mason and Reverend Dewitt brought me into the circle and linked me with the people I needed to link with in order to make this collaboration effective.