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

Please share with us a recent company success story.
An extremely 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– community was sewn into my very being. When I initially moved to Baltimore, the Community Solar Pilot Program was launched and I wanted to make sure city homeowners were receiving the exact same quantity 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 concern since Black communities have actually had to reside in survival mode, but 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 successful
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By Constance ThompsonAugust 27, 2021
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The American Council on Renewable Energy (ACORE) is thrilled to share the first installation in our “Ask an Accelerate Member” blog site series. Each installation will include among ACOREs Accelerate member business. August is National Black Business Month, so this month we are concentrated on Black-owned renewable resource companies

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Kristal Hansley is the Founder & & CEO of WeSolar, Inc. and is the nations very first Black Woman CEO in the neighborhood solar industry. Under her leadership, WeSolar is growing quickly, offering consumers throughout Maryland access to economical solar energy, regardless of house type and assisting hard-working households minimize regular monthly expenses
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What inspired you to begin your company?
I was at a community meeting with 50 Black females organizers who were not invested in the neighborhood solar movement. I began showing how higher income communities and people in the residential areas were taking advantage of this and got a load of support. To be able to provide an item that will conserve our community up to 60% on their energy expenses is transformative
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Inform us about your company? (objective, partners, areas you operate in, main customers, and so on).
WeSolars objective is to bring under-resourced communities cost effective access to local neighborhood solar and to assist industrial properties with energy performance. WeSolar released in Baltimore and will broaden to other cities in the future. Through WeSolar, electrical energy consumers can buy shared solar from a regional job without having to install any devices in their houses. In turn, residents conserve hundreds on their electrical energy costs. In Maryland, legislators passed legislation that mentions 50 percent of its electricity must originate from eco-friendly energy sources by 2030
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What difficulties do you deal with? Why?
To a community that is already facing a lot of pushing challenges, encouraging them that there is another one just as crucial is extremely challenging. I keep in mind attempting to describe community solar to my good friends and the conversation rapidly pivoting to real estate. The fact of the matter is, institutional bigotry and injustice is larger than we know and it drowns our neighborhood. Where Black people are not being invested in, we are being asked to prioritize continuously for our survival
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I was at a community 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 community up to 60% on their energy costs is transformative
.
WeSolars objective is to bring under-resourced neighborhoods budget-friendly access to local neighborhood solar and to help industrial homes with energy effectiveness. When I initially moved to Baltimore, the Community Solar Pilot Program was released and I wanted to guarantee city locals were getting the same amount of investment as the county. Sustainable energy has traditionally been a middle class concern since Black neighborhoods have actually had to live in survival mode, but 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
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