488: Customer acquisition for Community Solar with Kate Henningsen, Arcadia Power

So far, we’ve taken a look at how Policy works at both the State & Federal Level. And we’ve also heard from a solar developer about the nuance and important differences for community solar from the other verticals.

In Episode 4 of this series, we’ll hear from Kate Henningsen, Co-founder and COO at Arcadia Power. Prior to joining Arcadia Power as its sixth employee, Kate spent several years as a litigator at an international law firm, providing counsel to businesses on a wide variety of high-stakes issues. She has helped grow Arcadia to perhaps the most well-known among a category of service providers known as “aggregators” in Community Solar. We often hear community solar buyers referred to as subscribers. 

But, who actually finds, enrolls and services these subscribers? How does customer acquisition for community solar actually work? And how do you get beyond the general notion that it is just Too Good to be True? To answer these questions and more, I reached out to Kate Henningsen. Kate and the Arcadia team have onboarded more than 200K solar customers, and have eliminated the need for a FICO score as a pre-requisite for subscription. Aggregators serve a critical function in the marketplace to lower customer acquisition costs & address the scalability of the sector. 

How? Stay tuned.

You can learn more about today’s guest and our expert lineup along with what else is to come in the series at www.mysuncast.com/communitysolar 

Did you miss the series?

CONSIDER THIS YOUR “COMMUNITY SOLAR 101”

In this 5-part series, we answer:

• How does Community Solar work, and what are the Policy frameworks that support it’s expansion?
• Is the development of Community Solar that much different from other solar verticals (C&I, Utility)?
• How does this segment of the industry enable a more just & equitable solar offering?
• Who are the customers and how are they acquired for Community Solar as compared with other verticals?
• And, How does the money flow into, through and out of these projects for the various stakeholders?

 The Community Solar series presented in partnership with EDP Renewables N. America, Distributed Generation.

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