It’s simple, entrepreneur Mark Davis defined, to pinpoint a selected second when he knew that he and his firm, WDC Photo voltaic, have been on the suitable path for the suitable objective.
“I acquired the decision from the Obama administration, and so they invited me to his closing State of the Union deal with,” Davis mentioned. “I sat within the sales space with [Michelle Obama]. … I met with a few administrators of companies, after which to high it off with dinner on the White Home, after which that particular journey all the way down to the Capitol — I’ll all the time do not forget that second.”
The invitation had a particular resonance for Davis as a result of it was Obama’s first presidential run that originally impressed him to pursue a enterprise alternative within the photo voltaic trade. The marketing campaign’s emphasis on renewable power struck a chord with him, and he began speaking to folks and learning the photo voltaic trade.
“This complete concept of utilizing photo voltaic to fight local weather change, and to create jobs and scale back power prices for low-income folks dwelling within the District of Columbia — that’s why I acquired into it,” Davis mentioned.
When he first based WDC Photo voltaic in 2009, the Ward 8-based firm turned one of many first photo voltaic installers within the District. He pushed metropolis leaders and companies to ascertain the incentives and applications wanted to get the trade off the bottom domestically. The monetary infrastructure that makes photo voltaic thrive in D.C. as we speak — corresponding to set up choices for low-income owners and a robust marketplace for promoting power credit — simply didn’t exist but.
“The largest hurdle most likely can be simply staying in enterprise, and thru the downs, simply remaining centered,” Davis mentioned. “Staying centered on photo voltaic, and being dedicated to it.”
Davis honed that sense of decided dedication in his earlier profession: earlier than changing into an entrepreneur, he was an NBA participant with the Washington Bullets. Requested what classes he took from taking part in basketball into the world of photo voltaic engineering, he replied immediately: “dedication and exhausting work.”
“You bought to remain in there, and you bought to maintain working towards each single day,” he mentioned. “There’s no free lunch.”
In the present day, WDC Photo voltaic has put in photo voltaic panels on 1000’s of houses. Working with the D.C. Sustainable Vitality Utility and the Division of Vitality and Setting by way of the town’s Photo voltaic For All program, the corporate installs panels totally free to low-income owners.
WDC Photo voltaic has grown tremendously during the last 14 years; along with residential set up, the corporate now designs, engineers and builds photo voltaic panel programs for industrial buildings and gives upkeep companies to maintain them operating easily.
Doing that type of work, Davis identified, requires an expert workforce in a subject that is still comparatively new. That’s a part of why WDC Photo voltaic additionally gives a coaching program, which it gives totally free to low-income residents.
“There’s nonetheless a scarcity of skilled photo voltaic professionals,” Davis mentioned. “Coaching is a manner that we are able to attempt to overcome that.”
However constructing a stronger workforce isn’t the one motive WDC Photo voltaic has supplied photo voltaic coaching alternatives for greater than a decade, even when Davis needed to fund the applications together with his personal cash for the brand new startup. It’s additionally a part of the Anacostia-based firm’s community-centric philosophy.
“Coaching is simply so costly if you go to those lessons that they’ve across the nation for photo voltaic, and lots of people who need to get within the trade can’t afford that coaching,” Davis mentioned.
“We needed to be sure that we did our half, and giving again to the neighborhood is one thing that we’ve all the time performed. It’s simply who we’re.”