Standard Solar, Inc.: Our History
Standard Solar, Inc. was founded in 2004 by Neville Williams. Early in his career, Williams worked to promote solar energy as a media specialist for the U.S. Department of Energy during the Carter Administration. While serving as the national media director for Greenpeace USA during the 1980s, he saw how renewable energy could help solve the world’s energy and environmental challenges.
The Forerunner: Solar Electric Light Fund
Williams set out throughout the 1990s to bring solar electricity to rural villages in developing countries under the auspices of the Solar Electric Light Fund (SELF), which he founded. Williams secured enough funding to bring solar power to more than a half million people in 11 countries in Asia and Africa.
The ‘Ah hah’ Moment
Central to Williams’ premise for Standard Solar was his belief that if poor people in developing countries could buy solar to light their homes, middle-income Americans should be able to do so too. He conceived of and registered the name after a meeting of energy visionaries at the New York home of John D. Rockefeller, who founded the network of companies with Standard Oil in their names. Said Williams: “Ah hah, why not Standard Solar since solar is going to replace oil one day!”
From a Home in the Washington, DC Suburbs
In 2006, Mr. Williams joined with Leland Bristol, a Massachusetts Institute of Technology graduate certified by the North American Board of Certified Energy Professionals who was designing and installing home systems under LBA Renewable Energy Systems, Inc. since 2002 in the Maryland suburbs of Washington, DC. Williams and Bristol connected with two photovoltaic industry veterans, Gerry Braun and Anthony Clifford, and the business plan began to take shape. Their first customer: Rhone Resch, President of the Solar Energy Industries Association.
As the outlook for solar energy brightened in 2007, Braun was tapped to lead the California Energy Commission’s Public Interest Energy Research Renewable Energy Technologies Program. Clifford stepped up as President and CEO to sharpen the venture’s focus and hired key early stage employees capable of wearing three-or-more ‘hats’ at once.
Enter Truecast Capital
A group of investors led by Truecast Capital of Middleburg, Virginia saw the light and made a major equity investment in the company in early 2008. Truecast Capital has since raised about $12 million to fund the expansion of company’s residential and commercial / government businesses. Serving as Chairman of the Board is Truecast Capital Partner Steven Lamb, who, among other assignments, has served as Chief Executive Officer of two major corporations, Dresser Industries and Case International.
Standard Solar’s Ascent Reaches the U.S. Department of Energy Headquarters
During 2008, Standard Solar was selected to design and install what was then the largest solar electric system between New Jersey and Florida: a 205 kW array atop the U.S. Department of Energy Forrestal Building Headquarters in Washington, DC. Also during 2008, the company helped arrange one of the region’s largest Power Purchase Agreements and proceeded to install a 149 kW system for Kelly & Sons Electrical Construction in Upper Marlboro, Maryland.
Standard Solar employs more than 70 dedicated advocates of solar energy and is leading homeowners, businesses, government agencies and educational institutions throughout the Mid-Atlantic region into a cleaner energy era out of its headquarters in Rockville, Maryland, about 15 miles north of Washington, DC.