‘Energy freedom’ and selling solar in the Southeast

Sell a man a solar panel and he might produce energy for a day. Teach a man to build a solar panel and he might wind up a senior executive at a solar company.

Michael Perkins of Atlanta’s Radiance Solar, whose official title is long enough that you might not reflexively know which words to capitalize so you leave it out of an article entirely, has walked a unique path in the renewable energy industry. In many ways, his journey has been a lot like mine. He took the road less traveled by; an outsider turned installer, then junior salesman, who now runs Radiance’s business development department.

“I like to tell people it was just a battlefield promotion,” Michael jokes. “Like I didn’t really earn this.”

Someone scanning his company’s expanding projects page might beg to differ. Radiance, a woman-owned business specializing in solar power construction up to 30 MW, has established itself as a leader amongst distribution scale developers.

Perkins has been growing along with the company. Over his now-decade in the biz, he’s learned a few things about selling solar in (and to) the Southeast United States.

A fish tale

Back in 2014, while everyone else was trying desperately to avoid hearing Pharrell’s “Happy” for the 47th time that day, Mr. Perkins found himself in a homeowner’s dilemma. He wanted to figure out a way to power a pump running the waterfall in his backyard koi pond.

“I went out and bought solar cells and the ribbons and I soldered it all together,” he recalled. “I made myself a solar panel that probably had 4% efficiency and produced like 24 watts, which is not great, but it just got me excited about the idea.”

To borrow a fishing line- he was hooked.

Perkins had carved himself a nice niche in the television industry, so switching careers wasn’t going to be easy. He got his start as a camera operator, and over 17 years he worked as a producer, editor, and director on live sports, hunting, and fishing programs. But he couldn’t shake the idea that he was meant to be pouring his efforts into something else.

“I really thought to myself, hey, I want to do something other than television, where I have a little bit more of an impact in this world,” he reminisced.

Perkins punched “solar energy” into Google Maps and determined Radiance Solar was the closest company to his home address. He drove there and handed his resume to the young lady at the front desk. She appeared confused.

“Did someone invite you here or call you in?” she asked.

“No ma’am, this is just how I had to apply for a job last time,” Michael replied. “You walked into the office and you handed in the resume.”

Perhaps he came on a little strong, but Radiance saw something in Perkins and brought him back the next day for an interview with a project manager.

“Two days later, I was on a rooftop at a technical institute here in Georgia, building a solar array.”

“I did 16 months in the field, just kind of being in the mud,” he continued. “An opening happened on the sales team. I was lucky enough to be able to get the president of Radiance at the time to give me 15 minutes so I could put a PowerPoint up on the screen and tell him why he should buy my purpose.”

Whatever he put on those slides (probably all the cool sound effects and clip art) must have been pretty convincing. Perkins went from a junior salesman to senior vice president of business development in about eight years.

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Energy freedom and selling solar in the Southeast

His series of “battlefield promotions” were not without merit. Perkins carries a cognitive quiver loaded with an arsenal of observations and sales tactics curated for customers in his backyard.

“You can put it under the guise of energy freedom,” he suggests. “I’m taking control of my energy, ergo, I’m taking control of the money I spend on it.”

Energy freedom. What a concept.

“It just plays a little bit better down here,” he concedes. “The political climate in Georgia is different than the political climate in New York or Illinois or California.”

Selling renewable energy in the Southeast poses unique challenges, but ultimately people are motivated by the same things- especially cold, hard cash.

“If you take a typical entrepreneur and you tell them they can save $10 or you tell them they can make $10, they want to make $10, right? Because it feels like being proactive,” Perkins offers. “We spent a lot of time having to explain solar as a technology. It’s not a government program.”

“On-site generation for your facility is no different than the iPhone that you have in your pocket. It’s a technology. We don’t care who made it or who likes it- here’s what it can mean for your business.”

– Michael Perkins on selling solar in the Southeast

Perkins says he doesn’t have to do nearly as much education as he did as recently as five years ago. Back then, it was a heavier lift for a Southeastern customer to get into renewables; now trails have been blazed and there’s a path to follow.

“We had a lot of folks that were very reticent to have that conversation early on, but after a little bit of education they see how this makes sense,” he recalls. “We’ve had a combination of not-great policy from the utilities, and a relatively cheap energy rate.”

He says the cost of energy can be misleading; regional utilities will often cite comparatively low kWh rates while neglecting to mention added tax, tag, and title fees.

“So yes, your kWh rate is really low, but your overall bill is actually kind of middle of the pack,” Perkins surmises.

“It’s also a big shift to get people to understand the Southeast produces energy with a specific yield that’s comparable to Arizona. It’s not Arizona, nobody is, right? You know, never rains, and it’s always sunny. But we have a really good amount of radiance that hits down here.”

He says predictability and reliability are big selling points to his customers. Locking in a fixed percentage of energy generation at a stable rate for a long time? Yes, please.

“But at the end of the day? This is America, man. Like, if you can produce your own washers to go onto your motor,” he continues. “Why wouldn’t you think of producing your energy at your plant to help build those washers that are gonna go on that motor?”

Social proof and the built environment

Perkins believes the Southeast will attract more renewable energy investment as it becomes more mainstream. More often than ever, clients who contact him about projects have been instructed to do so by their bosses. They’re issuing marching orders after watching other companies reap the benefits of clean power.

“They start seeing, hey, my competitor has done this,” Perkins notes. “Or Walmart has done this. You start to get into the idea of a little bit of social proof. Well, you know, Walmart’s not dumb. They’re doing this, maybe I should think about it.”

He thinks the next generation will have a much different relationship with the grid, too.

“I really feel passionately about getting renewable energy at schools,” Perkins says. “Because then kids grow up with it and it’s just normal, right?”

Then when those children become working adults- business owners, engineers, executives- they’ll be more apt to take on renewable projects. Solar and storage are nothing new to them, as renewables have always been part of their built environment.

So perhaps the #KidsTheseDays won’t need to power a koi pond pump to latch onto the siren’s song of a solar panel. After ten years in the trade, Perkins guesses he could make some improvements on his first project.

“I think I could,” he laughs. “I can tell you that I would do it more efficiently.”

That’s not all he could tell you.

“20-year-old Michael would beat up 47-year-old Michael and take his wallet from him,” Perkins adds.