Palmetto announced the launch of the Build+ Program, a 12-month incubator-style initiative aimed at helping aspiring clean energy entrepreneurs launch their own solar installation businesses with Palmetto. The program is open to solar and electrical professionals with a minimum of five years of solar installation experience. Applications are now being accepted in Pennsylvania, Massachusetts and Texas, and must be submitted by 11 p.m. ET on September 10 to be considered for the inaugural 2021 program.
“For the U.S. to meet its stated clean electricity goals by 2035, it will take close to one million trained solar workers in this country,” said Chris Kemper, Palmetto chairman, founder and CEO. “The Build+ Program is Palmetto’s contribution to helping achieve this critical national objective and to securing a more robust U.S. clean energy sector. We are aiming to enable entrepreneurs by mitigating startup cost pressures, improving operational integration and reducing fulfillment risk. Palmetto can help aspiring solar entrepreneurs, while expanding our own supply base and enhancing industry quality.”
Build+ is designed to help address the major challenges for solar entrepreneurship, which include: capital investment requirements, managing unique cash flow issues, achieving licensing, securing insurance, forming an entity/business, overseeing payroll and accounting, recruiting, marketing, adhering to compliance/legal concerns and procuring tools and equipment. Program graduates will be eligible for partner financing, cash flow incentives, install ready jobs and customer referrals to help ensure business success.
Kemper continued, “In order to fast track the adoption of clean energy, it’s necessary to fast track the creation of human infrastructure — the hundreds of thousands of qualified professionals who will quite literally build our clean energy future.”
