Slashing CO2Go solar. Get paid.
Big Picture
While residential rooftop solar booms, only 3% of the 6 million commercial and industrial buildings in the US have made the switch to the cheaper, more reliable power of on-site solar. Obstacles abound. Sales and installation cycles for C&I solar are frustratingly cumbersome, bespoke, and expensive because each site presents a unique set of conditions, local regulations vary, and the industry is highly fragmented.
How it Works
Lumen makes solar energy adoption dead simple for C&I buildings. Their user-facing platform automates prospecting, design, pricing, financing, and tax equity for solar rooftop and energy storage installations. On the contractor side, they run reverse auctions to limit soft costs. To sweeten the deal for site owners, Lumen cuts them large checks upfront to make the switch a no-brainer.
Unfair Advantage
Their superpower is in offering building owners overwhelming incentives to say yes: upfront cash and cheaper power. In this way, Lumen can overcome the incredible customer acquisition friction that is one of the biggest soft costs of C&I solar, an industry where sales are still run out of spreadsheets, reliant on door-to-door cold calls by small operators, and repeated on-site visits are required before installation even begins.
145
unused GWs
of commercial solar potential in the US
PETER LIGHT CEO & CO-FOUNDER
Peter founded and led the Energy Initiative at Google X. He also spent over a decade with Bloom Energy, E3, and the Rocky Mountain Institute.
DAVE COEN PRODUCT & ENGINEERING, CO-FOUNDER
Dave was previously a software engineer with Snapdocs, a business lead at Stripe, and a senior consultant at Bain & Company.
How going solar raises commercial property value
Lumen Energy
US sitting on 145 GW of unused commerical solar potential
Greentech Media