Sunetric’s mainland expansion was profiled in the Friday, February 24, 2012 edition of the Washington Business Journal. The article can be read by subscribers on the Washington Business Journal website, and we’ve included the full text of the piece is below:
Bill Flook, Staff Reporter
Sunetric Inc., Hawaii’s biggest homegrown clean energy company, is establishing a District presence as part of a broader expansion onto the continental U.S..
The Kailua-based company, which already does substantial business with the U.S. military in Hawaii, is setting up shop in D.C. to capture a greater share of federal contracts.
“We think that’s a good sweet spot for us, from a growth standpoint,” said Sunetric CEO Alex Tiller, who cited clean energy mandates for Defense Department facilities as a potential source of contracts.
Sunetric has 140 employees in its Hawaiian headquarters and only a handful in its D.C. branch.
The solar company has also set up offices in Denver and Pittsburgh, which is serving as its launching ground for East Coast commercial operations, Tiller said.
The company designs and builds roof-mounted photovoltaic installations for homes, businesses and government buildings.
“We know that energy is on the minds of our government,” Tiller said. “We know that there is going to be a large federal market in the solar space over the next five years.”
President Barack Obama’s fiscal 2013 budget, for example, carves out $27.2 billion for the Energy Department, including $6.7 billion on clean energy programs and cash grants for wind and solar companies.
Sunetric is, however, stepping into a tougher political climate for federal clean energy spending after the collapse of solar panel maker Solyndra LLC, which put taxpayers on the hook for $535 million in loan guarantees.
Though, Tiller said, Solyndra “is proof positive that the federal government isn’t trying to pick particular technologies.”