With excitement for a greener future Sustainable Energy Developments Inc. (SED), an Ontario, New York renewable energy company and a 2016 Top Solar Contractor, announces a rebranding through a partnership with Vermont based SunCommon. Flying the SunCommon banner helps SED to bring more renewable energy to the greater Rochester area and advance a goal to dramatically increase solar adoption in Rochester, Central, and Western New York, under a much friendlier solar brand.
The new SunCommon is a marriage of SED’s 15 years of renewable energy development and commercial project expertise and SunCommon’s innovative community model that makes going solar easy and affordable. To date, SED has installed nearly 40 MW of wind and solar projects while SunCommon has helped more than 3,000 Vermont homes go solar in just five years.
“I really like what I do – we have created a business that combats climate change and delivers real economic value to our customers but I love the idea of what the future holds because of this partnership,” said SunCommon NY CEO Kevin Schulte. “Together, with other mission-driven businesses like the one that Duane (Peterson – SunCommon Co-President) and James (Moore – SunCommon Co-President) and the amazing SunCommon team in Vermont have built, we can do more to create positive change through market based solutions. Our vision for joining forces with SunCommon is greater than just deploying more solar energy.”
In addition to installing more solar energy in the Greater Rochester region, this alliance is a unique demonstration of using business as a force for good. SunCommon was organized from the beginning as a Vermont Benefit Corporation and is a Certified B Corp. SED achieved B Corp status in 2015. B Corps are for-profit companies certified by the nonprofit B Lab to meet rigorous standards of social and environmental performance, accountability, and transparency. To date, only 2,000 companies worldwide have performed well enough to achieve this certification.
“We became a B Corp because we strive to be part of something bigger and we wanted a structure to measure the impacts we have as a business on our world,” said Chief Operations Officer of SunCommon NY George McConochie. “Taking on the SunCommon name and joining forces with this great, purpose-driven, company is an example of how businesses can grow sustainably and cooperatively. This partnership deepens our commitment to doing right with our business and provides more resources to build–more renewable energy, more quality jobs, and more transformative opportunities for our communities.”
The new SunCommon was formed because of a genuine appreciation for one another and being comfortable working with friends. SunCommon Co-Presidents Duane Peterson and James Moore along with Schulte and McConochie have known of each other’s work for years in the renewable energy industry. But it wasn’t until they got to know one another on a personal level that the vision of doing more together started to look like a reality. Both SED and SunCommon started in very personal ways, friends coming together, because they had a love for the environment and felt a righteous ability to make positive change.
While the partnership was not official until 2017, SED and SunCommon have been working together to launch a Community Solar program in New York since 2015. Last year the two companies completed three solar projects in Ontario and Webster that provided 130 New York households with the opportunity to easily go solar with no upfront cost.
Community Solar allows everyone with an electric bill to go solar by purchasing shares in a local Community Solar Array. Whether you own or rent, have big trees shading your roof, or simply don’t want panels at your house, SunCommon believes it is your right to Go Solar. Building on the success of offering the first Community Solar in the region and the customer demand for more solar, SunCommon is in the development stages on 20MW of Community Solar for 2017 and beyond.