Latest / Clean Power Hour / What's REALLY Driving the DMV Solar Boom in 2025? | EP 295

Transcript

What's REALLY Driving the DMV Solar Boom in 2025? | EP 295 · Clean Power Hour

• 0:50
  Kiya Segni: We've been designing a solar project for so many companies. So we do have experience with any material that's out there in the market, because this company uses other one, this company uses different racking, this company used different inverter, this company used different modules or optimizers and all this kind of stuff. So we had so much experience in in the material aspect. So what we came up with is that price and reliability is the most important for picking because if I can get a good price on the material, I may be able to give a discount for the homeowner. So the whole idea of solar is not only about building it also the saving.
• 1:28
  intro: Are you speeding the energy transition here at the Clean Power Hour, our host, Tim Montague, bring you the best in solar, batteries and clean technologies every week. Want to go deeper into decarbonization.
• 1:38
  intro: We do too. We're here to help you understand and command the commercial, residential and utility, solar, wind and storage industries. So let's get to it together. We can speed the energy transition
• 1:54
  Tim Montague: today on the Clean Power Hour, how a solar entrepreneur has grown his company from being a solar consultant engineering firm to being a full fledged solar installer. Welcome back to the show Kiya Segni,
• 2:09
  Kiya Segni: thank you, Tim, thanks for having me again. I think we circling back after think 2022 so it's always pleasure to see you. Thanks for having me again. It's
• 2:18
  Tim Montague: great to see you and how you have grown your company, Aduu solar. A D, U. U is the name of the company just and that is the URL, Aduusolar.com and check out episode 114 where we did a full length interview with you about how you grew into the solar industry. So we won't dwell too long on that backstory, Kiya, but give us a refresher. How did you get into solar? And fast forward to 2025 how's it going?
• 2:55
  Kiya Segni: Yeah, basically we talked about about this loan, I think, on the first episode. But just a quick rundown. Basically, out of college, I had some internship in renewable energy, and I had the experience of becoming i My background is electrical engineering, so I had that experience. But once I graduated, I went off to work for Department of Defense as a nuclear submarine engineer. Then I had to, I always wanted to be renewable energy, so I went started my own solar company because of the college experiences that I had in terms of TV design, engineering designs, we started the company, and we grow into consulting so many contractors in across the United States and all 50 states.
• 3:32
  Kiya Segni: We started from residential branch out to commercial designs make our projects, and bit by bit, we got we grow into a big consulting company. We've been doing that for last three years.
• 3:45
  Kiya Segni: We have significant amount of contractors under us that we do the engineering work for them, even permitting interconnection, all the process. Then now we transition into installers ourselves. So we just started installing in Washington, DC, Virginia, Maryland. So that's how I transitioned into the installation from engineering firm. The ADO solar engineering is a separate company, and then there is ADO solar company, this installer, an installation company. So that's how we got into it.
• 4:15
  Tim Montague: I remember three years ago, when we first met that you had the aspiration of becoming an installer. I think it is quite different being an engineering firm versus being a construction company, right? If you're an installer, you're running crews that are walking on people's rooftops, and it's just a totally different business. You have to procure equipment, you have to have safety plans, you have to train your staff to install solar panels. No, this is no ding against the industry, right? We have room for all kinds of people, and there's tremendous growth in the solar industry. I like to say, no matter what, we are going to a 50% grid in the coming decades. Will it be 2050 will it be 2070 that is TBD, but we're going there. So we're going to 10x the solar industry.
• 5:15
  Tim Montague: This is a great economic opportunity for anyone who's already in solar and storage or thinking about getting in. So Kiya. Tell us about the market, DC, Maryland and Virginia. Yep,
• 5:29
  Kiya Segni: obviously the Washington DC is one of the strongest extract credits in the country. So it's there is so many programs in Diem V area, specifically Washington DC, there is a solar for all program, which means that the district supports everybody to go solar. So the extract payment is so high, investors are actually giving electric. City for free for homeowners as a PPA, so that they can get all the extract credits and incentives. And obviously, any homeowner that finance in Washington, DC will make three to $5,000 a month from s track alone a year. So it's a most lucrative truck program in the country, in Washington, in Maryland, before there used to be a rebate of $1,000 for anybody that goes solar, and then on top of that, obviously there is a federal incentives.
• 6:17
  Kiya Segni: But now the new governor of Maryland came up with a program called solar access program, which actually gives homeowners up to $7,500 for going solar is income based depends on family numbers, but more or less, if you make less than $200,000 a year, you qualify for the $7,500 it's basically one kW will give you $750 if you have 10 kilowatt hour on your roof, you get that 7500 grand. So that's called solar access program Virginia.
• 6:48
  Kiya Segni: It's not so much. It's not getting there, but they're actually coming along. There's a truck payment. Obviously, there is federal incentives. So they're going well also. So DMV area in general are actually moving very well in terms of going to solar and producing.
• 7:05
  Kiya Segni: Maryland have a program in 2040 to go 50% energy, green energy.
• 7:11
  Kiya Segni: So basically, they're really trying to get that 50% of their electricity coming from solar and other renewable programs. So far, people are. It's kind of warming up in DMV area right now, solar is a thing.
• 7:21
  Kiya Segni: Everybody's going solar because of all this incentives, and it financially makes sense for the homeowner. So it's very was going well until this ITC came, and we don't know. Now, everybody's panicking, obviously, but as of right now, it's the market is very good, and homeowners are happy to go solar and invest their money.
• 7:39
  Kiya Segni: This is not free. They still have to finance pay partially, but it helps them in saving money.
• 7:46
  Tim Montague: Yeah, as you've pointed out here, incentives like renewable energy credits or other incentives. There's half a dozen ways that local and state government can incentivize clean energy, and so there's not one size that fits all every every region likes to do their own thing. Here in Illinois, we designed a program that's an amalgam of what's happening in New Jersey, New York, Massachusetts, and I love high priced recs. I think that's a very simple way to understand the incentive, right? One megawatt hour of electricity is one wreck. You put a special price on that. So let's say in Illinois, we might pay nine cents for grid power, we get five cent Rex or seven cent Rex, and so you can get a lot of free solar for that wreck, and it increases the payback period significantly. We have a five to seven year payback period. I'm curious now that you're knee deep in in running a solar company, is it payback period that consumers want, or what is it that consumers want? And what's driving consumers to sign on the dotted line?
• 9:04
  Kiya Segni: It's very interesting. So in Washington, DC is different for every state, right? Like you said, different states do have different incentives in their own ways.
• 9:11
  Kiya Segni: Obviously the Washington DC is immediate, the S track payment is so high, immediately you're saving completely. You can offset 100% of your payment, because extract so high is 400 plus dollars. But 1s track, so for one megawatt hour in Maryland, there is incentive that are actually motivating people to go solar, made mainly, like I said, the solar access program, having a support of about $7,500 for your home to go solar will have a significant impact on your on your bill or when you go solar. On top of that, if you get the federal tax credit, obviously almost 50% of your solar project is covered for you, and then you just only have to finance for 50% so for everybody is different. The extract in Maryland is not too bad. It's not too great, but the incentives are actually long and just compensating for the for the savings. So for Washington, like I said, You will not only saving. You probably would make money if you go solar. There is incentives, grants and there is extracts. Both are both do play a significant role in saving your bill and motivates you to go solar. It has to make sense, right? Solar has to sell itself when you finance. So when you go to a Deb, you probably will have to see the investment will put the you look at the paper payback period, you look at the the immediate incentive that you get from s rack. All of those things are combined and motivates homeowners to go solar. And a lot of homeowners nowadays are believing in solar because they see the immediate saving that everybody's benefiting. So that's basically what is looking like in DMV area.
• 10:48
  Tim Montague: So if you're listening to this and you're thinking about. So becoming a solar installer, what is your experience on that journey, and what's your advice to others?
• 10:59
  Kiya Segni: That's a very interesting one for me. I had so much experience of consulting solar contractors as an engineering firm, so in the back end, I had a lot of experience, right? I was in a position to do their system design, and I've seen a company as I consult them and do their engineering, they grow and become a very big company with, like few people from starting from few people in last three years, there are bigger companies that also went down. There's a lot of companies like that also. So from those experiences, I took so much knowledge and how solar installation has to be run.
• 11:32
  Kiya Segni: Obviously, having a network of those installers would also give you access to a lot of information. So for me, was that the first thing is that we had to make sure that we provide a quality service. The second thing is the price. Third thing is the financing. So those combined are the key to succeeding in solar installation. Obviously, running a team, making sure that everything is material has been ordered, is an operation. Third thing is, first thing is a system in place. A homeowner should have a way to contact you easily. Simply the project manager has to be reached easily. So those things sort of helped us. We started, like six, seven months ago now as an installation company. So we're extremely doing very well, more than my expectations in this market. And I think for us it's going to be a very great years ahead if those incentives are intact and in place in 2025 26
• 12:27
  Tim Montague: so when it comes to customer communication, do you use any third party applications for that, or you have a homegrown
• 12:34
  Kiya Segni: tool, we developed everything on Zoho ourselves. So basically on Zoho, everything is done on Zoho, basically from communications, from cells to material order, from a design for financing, everything is integrated to client communication. So all of it is in one place. That makes it a lot easier. If you don't have a system in place, if you're managing 30 installations a month, there's a lot of there's a lot of work. The operations by itself. It's, this is a labor.
• 13:01
  Kiya Segni: It's not a software company.
• 13:01
  Kiya Segni: It's, you have to go, you have to build it. You have to it's a lot of physical stuff involved.
• 13:58
  Kiya Segni: There collateral, communication involved, a lot of financing involved. So unless you have a system in place, you cannot even grow and then you cannot even bring the client satisfaction that you want to bring before.
• 14:06
  Kiya Segni: See, those are the experiences that I took from consulting solarizer contractors. Right?
• 14:12
  Kiya Segni: There are companies that have a system in place that I had to, even when I design, I had to log into their portal make sure that I put everything in there for them. There are companies that does everything on Excel. So those experiences helped me. So before I even announced my installation company, I built all those systems first, before anything, I had to put system in place so that when I go to the market, anybody that comes there is a system that, like, walks them through and get them to the other end with quality work being done. So that's basically the my experience, and that's how we've been doing.
• 14:46
  Tim Montague: I love it. I love it. I think about getting licensed as a contractor. Also, how difficult was that, and was it significantly different in the different jurisdictions?
• 14:56
  Kiya Segni: If you are in Maryland, if you you have a license and contractor license in Maryland, obviously you don't. You do not have to take a test in Washington, DC, okay, but you have to apply the company in the state in tax revenue and all those paperwork.
• 15:09
  Kiya Segni: But for Maryland, obviously there is an experience needed, at least two years of experience to take to even sit on the exam.
• 15:16
  Kiya Segni: For me, as I had a consulting company, I was in industry for more than three years, by the time I was applying, then we might took a test, obviously.
• 15:27
  Kiya Segni: Then you become, you get your license. Once you get your license, then you set up with the financing, everything in place, all the other things that you need. So it's not so much difficult if you have experience. What helped me, for me is not anybody that can walk in and say, Oh, I'm going to become a solar installer. Is going to be quite difficult, because you, first of all, you have to have the experience of three years of working in industry, at least in Maryland, right then you have to take the exam. You have to have the knowledge of how solar works and all the other stuff. So you have to take exam. Virginia. You have to take even if you have a license in Maryland, you still have to take exam. And then there is, they have three levels of contractor license, A, B, C, so it depends on what your revenue is going to be. If you have a b c, you cannot. There is a threshold how bigger project you can take based on your license level. So it's a bit different, but you still have to take exam in the state of Virginia, but the exams are similar to Maryland. It's not a big difference, but there's a lot of code and contractor laws that are slightly different, but more or less, if you pass one exam, you will pass the other one. So that's the way it works in this area, but Washington, DC and Maryland is more or less the same.
• 16:36
  Tim Montague: So dealing with equipment is, I think, quite a challenge and an opportunity.
• 16:40
  Tim Montague: Community. It's a challenge because there's so many options for racking, modules, inverters.
• 16:48
  Tim Montague: How did you think about that?
• 16:48
  Tim Montague: And how have you streamlined your equipment procurement and what you're offering to consumers for the residential solar market?
• 16:57
  Kiya Segni: That's where my expertise come in, right? That's basically what we've been designing a solar project for so many companies. So we do have experience with any material that's out there in the market, because this company uses other one, this company uses different racking, this company uses different inverters, this company use different modules or optimizers and all this kind of stuff. So we had so much experience in in the material aspect. So what we came up with is that a price and reliability is the most important for picking because if I can get a good price on the material, I may be able to give a discount for the homeowner. So the whole idea of solar is not only about building, it also the saving. So if I'm going to go extremely high on a material, obviously is not going to make sense for the homeowner. But at the same time, you don't want to get a cheap material that is not going to work 30 that's not going to stay there for next 3030, years minimum, right? That's a warranty. So you just have to find a balance of good material with a good price that is reliable and efficient for the homeowner. The way we streamlined it is that we there's a lot of distributors in DMV area. CED is one. There's another one. There's a bigger companies that are our distributors. So basically, you set up an account or credit account with them, and then obviously you order. And then the way I do it is that in the day of the installs, my installers picks it up from the distributors, because it's very nearby. It's about 30 minute drive, so it's much easier.
• 18:22
  Kiya Segni: Instead of coordinating with homeowner that a the material is coming today to be dropped and the homeowner might not be home, all of that. So we don't want to ignore all of that. So the day of installs, early in the morning, 5am we pick up our material, be at the homeowner and just get it done. That's basically the way we're doing it. So we've seen other companies do a delivery. So this is the best way to do it, and it's working perfectly for us, because of we're local, we're nearby, and it's the homeowner.
• 18:50
  Kiya Segni: Don't have to worry and waste another extra day. But ahead of time, four or five days, we make sure that all the materials are in place. We got all everything is being paid for. Then the day of the install, the installer is going to be at the at the gate.
• 19:03
  Kiya Segni: So that's the way. But this is also part of our Zoho. It's already done on our system. This is we don't do any other communications. Everything is done on the system. So it's much easier. It's just clicks away and send a bill of material and get everything done.
• 19:16
  Tim Montague: So do you have any favorite type of equipment, either brands or type like, for example, in racking, you have rail less racking, or railed racking. You have micro inverters, or string inverters.
• 19:26
  Tim Montague: Was this subtle but somewhat apples and oranges. What have you settled on? We do
• 19:32
  Kiya Segni: use, we do not use a string inverter. We just use a micro inverters, because micro one micro inverters will allow you to look at each panel production. Or if you use a string inverter, basically you're putting everything into one one inverter, so you don't know which panel is producing how much, and all that stuff. So it's costly for us when we use a micro inverter, M phase is what we use. There are other string inverters, like solar edge.
• 19:56
  Kiya Segni: There's a lot of new technologies that they're coming up with. But for us, we like micro inverters. That's it's costly, obviously, right, but it's good for homeowners. Can actually at least see what they what their solar is producing.
• 20:08
  Kiya Segni: And then there's a lot of rails and iron ridge and other rockings that we use. Based on our experience for so many different companies, we do have recommendations, and we do have a tier, tier one, tier two, tier three based on we give homeowners an option for panels.
• 20:26
  Kiya Segni: We give them like five different panels, like Jenko, Hyundai, Ari, C, different different panels. Obviously their price is slightly different. So it would give, first, it will give a homeowner an option, and then it's okay. What's the difference between this and that? Because you cannot have just one, because people might have a different recommendations based on their experience or from friend or something. So we do have our standard is Genco micro inverters phase. So that's basically our standard, but if homeowner want to change it to string inverter, we're more than happy to do it as an engineers.
• 21:01
  Kiya Segni: What do we recommend? Is that Sure, obviously, where we are the experts, and we would love to give the best service to our plan. So basically, we do have a recommendation that we put in place, and we give homeowners to choose from our list that will be their favorite. Yeah, so
• 21:16
  Tim Montague: let's, let's pivot a little bit Kiya and talk about two other things. What's going on in the solar industry with the big, beautiful bill that might devastate the tax incentive the ITC for residential solar and I want to talk about the immigrant experience, because you're clearly an immigrant. We talked a fair amount about that backstory on our first interview back in 2022 check out episode.
• 21:44
  Tim Montague: 114 but let's talk about that first Kiya, actually the immigrant experience, because there's a lot going on in the US right now with the ICE raids and the protests. And I'm just curious how you see this, how you see the landscaping the United States, obviously, we have been the land of opportunity for you and your family. You have built a great life here, and you're on a fantastic journey, but it's not without its challenges. So I'm just curious what you have to say to Americans at large and other immigrants.
• 22:20
  Kiya Segni: Yeah, just to give a little bit of background about myself I was. I grew up in ruler Ethiopian side called walanga in the city of necam. So it's more or less about 100,000 100,000 people live in that city. In general. My father came in 2015 he's been prosecuted politically in Ethiopia for different reasons. He I'm a son of a teacher, a elementary school teacher, and they gave me. I came from a good people and hardworking people, but they had nothing. So my father came and obviously did the process of getting us here, because he got here first, and after separation of eight, seven years, he had to get his paper in America go through the immigration everything. I came when I was 18 years old, and when I came I barely spoke English. I had to go through education system, follow the rules in the states and be a good citizen and contributing citizen. Obviously, I went to college, I got my degree, and I'm where I am today, and others other people's story is not no different. It doesn't matter where you come from. Nobody wants to leave their country if they had a good life and peaceful and everything is there for them, right?
• 23:26
  Kiya Segni: There's so many things that are people, forces people to leave their homeland, because that's a country that you have, your uncles, your cousins, and everybody is there. Why would you want to leave that environment, unless you're being prosecuted? Is so many challenges with what's happening in us right now, there's two sides to it, right? Obviously, you don't want just people just walk into the country. If the whole world, America is the greatest country in the world, that's fast, right? So everybody wants to come here. That's understandable and but that doesn't mean that anybody just can walk in come here. But once they come in, you look at their case, if they have legitimate case, even whether they walk in or they came with a plane, there has to be judicial system that's gonna filter it out and make sure that people who need the protection should stay the way it is happening right now, just going to, like elementary school and taking families out of kids.
• 24:19
  Kiya Segni: It's sad. It's this is not rule of law the way I look at it at the same time, I'm not saying that criminals should stay in this country. That's not what I'm saying. I'm just saying that there has to be a fair judicial system in place for immigration.
• 24:33
  Kiya Segni: And the way everything is happening right now is there's no, it seems like there's no rule of law, and also there are obviously bad actors in damaging things. And I don't support that also, right? It has to be a fair process for everybody. It's very sad, and the way the Trump administration is handling this is very bad. In my opinion.
• 24:48
  Kiya Segni: There has to be a legal way this has been done. And obviously there are people who are coming to this country for various reasons, and they should be looked properly and then given the rights to stay, if they're legit, if not, they can be sent away, but the whole process, I have a problem with the process, because as an American, I'm an American today. I worked for Department of Defense. I am an immigrant. This country gave me the opportunity to serve this country as I had a top secret clearance working for Department of Defense, and I'm grateful for this country right as an immigrant, I was contributing to my best of ability for this country. And everybody that comes to this country will have significant role in playing in America's economy. And a lot of 40% of American businesses are incorporated by immigrants, according to data. So it's good for the country. You cannot just keep people away, but there has to be a process in place, and it has to be fair for everybody.
• 25:46
  Kiya Segni: There are there people do have a concern about immigrants coming to this country. So
• 25:52
  Tim Montague: on that point of for example, asylum seekers.
• 25:57
  Tim Montague: There are many places asylum seekers could go, but there are not necessarily many good places where they'll have good economic opportunity. And I'm curious, how do you think a country like the United States should decide how many asylum seekers we're going to let in? This is not an area of my expertise, but it does seem like a very challenging decision and policy, and then, yes, we should set a policy and follow it and be rigorous about that. And the chaos that ice has created right now doesn't seem very conducive to a systematic approach, but yeah, and. We have cases now where citizens have been deported, and that's highly problematic. But see, this is
• 26:50
  Kiya Segni: this has to be a bipartisan issue, right when it comes to the determining the numbers of immigrants that can stay, or how many immigrants can we asylum seekers? Can we give the permanent residence permit?
• 27:00
  Kiya Segni: This has to be a partisan. But right now, what is happening is fighting a fighting ground on both sides, right? And it's that's why I'm just saying that this is not fair, because if United States can take number of asylum seekers that should be done in the Congress and Senate, and okay, this year this we open for this amount. But obviously Republicans don't want any of that, and Democrats are going too extreme. And it's in between, this is becoming a fighting ground for political gains. And in between, the immigrants, obviously, the asylum seekers, are not getting justice, and there's a distractions happening, like in California, there's so many things going on. So this has to be a bipartisan i It is not my expert as an immigrant. I'm talking because I know the experience of being immigrant, just I'm not an expert in any way in this matter, but I can speak for myself. And so many immigrants are like me, right?
• 27:54
  Kiya Segni: We do have somewhat very similar experience. There has to be a fear, because there are, let me tell you one experience. This may be a very good example.
• 28:02
  Kiya Segni: There is some political member in Ethiopia called bathe or Gesa. So he was trying to, he got sick, and he was being jailed. So many times he wanted to flee the country. So he went to, obviously, from here, we sent him an invitation to come for his medical also, that he can get here and seek asylum. So he went to the embassy.
• 28:26
  Kiya Segni: Obviously, they, they refused to give him a visa, and two months later, he's been killed by the government. The BBC has reported on this. This, you know, the European government, by Ethiopian government. Oh, correct. So I'm, this is an, like, a real person that I know, I'm telling you about where did that happen? This is last year, May of 2024 I think you can search him on BBC reported on it, but they were guessed as his name. So I'm just giving an example. Where was he? Where was he killed? He was killed in Ethiopia, a city called, I think
• 29:00
  Tim Montague: okay, so he came, he came to the US, and then he went back. Nope,
• 29:05
  Kiya Segni: they refused to give him a visa to come to us. Okay, that's basically what I'm saying. So if he came and had for asylum, he would have survived and be living today.
• 29:15
  Kiya Segni: Those are experiences that are, there are people like that.
• 29:17
  Kiya Segni: There are, there's a lot of political asylums from Ethiopia that are here, and they're staying here. I know if they go back, they may be killed. So those are the experiences that people do have, sure, and that's why I'm just saying that there has to be a fair judicial system in place so that those people can actually put their case in front of the judge, and the judge should decide. And obviously this is a policy matter, but obviously this is a very wide topic, but that's just an experience, my experience of being an immigrant.
• 29:45
  Tim Montague: Thank you for sharing that. I wish we had more time, but let's talk briefly in the last few minutes together about what's happening to the IRA. Potentially, we have a 30% tax credit with several adders for Energy Communities Low Income and made in America equipment, but the 30% ITC could be phased out at the end of 2025 for residential solar. A, what would the impact be on residential solar in your market, in in DC, Virginia and Maryland, and B, what? Yeah, I guess. What are your thoughts in general about what is happening in Congress right now, around the IRA, there's
• 30:28
  Kiya Segni: so many things going on. I mean, Washington, DC and DMV area, so there's a lot of renewable tech leaders are in Washington, just lobbying and doing different things just few days. This is going to have a significant impact in so many ways, on the nations, on the consumers. Obviously, the homeowners. And China is undisputedly a leader in renewable energy, right? 80% of the supply chain is controlled by China. So this is just in a way that's giving up to China's race in renewable energy leadership. This is if you look at in in the last two, three years, China had over three, 3000 terawatt hour renewable energy being there in 2023 right? And then also they had about 350, gigawatt in renewable capacity in 2023 that's more than any other country in the world. So ITC is significant for American future plan, I think, in my opinion, in relations to energy independence, sustainable growth, there's so many things in the argument within the Trump administration is that a we're going to cut the deficit, and in the long run, how much does America put in environmental protection, significant solar and renewable energy. Is going to reduce that. In other hand, at the same time, energy independent for homeowners.
• 31:46
  Kiya Segni: Homeowners will be able to save money instead of renting their energy. They may be able to own their own energy, and they can produce on their own investments. So in our market, obviously, is going to have a significant impact. Is going to increase about 30% the solar projects, not only that, we are not considering the tariffs that have been added. We cannot even get a material from outside of us so that we can compensate the on the price also, right?
• 32:15
  Kiya Segni: Because there's a tariff on the materials now, there is no incentives that ITC is going to be removed, it's going to it's solar has to make sense for homeowners. I'm talking specifically about residential solar, and obviously, how would have a significant impact on the commercial also, because this, ITC is a driving force in allowing homeowners to go solar, and if this ITC is being removed, it will have a significant impact, and it's gonna put out at least 300,000 people out of work because we lose renewable energy leaderships, because this is a lot of people are gonna leave this industry.
• 32:54
  Tim Montague: So what's your plan B key? I'm just curious, as residential installer, what do you think about in as a Plan B, in the event that the ITC goes away at the end of 2025 between now and then, would be a gold rush, right? A lot that would incentivize a lot of people to buy solar, but before, but here we are in June. You only have a couple of months, really, to do that sale and make the install by the end of the year. But what is the plan B for you?
• 33:21
  Kiya Segni: I'm not leaving renewable energy, that's for sure, because this is not only about financial gain, right?
• 33:26
  Kiya Segni: We're contributing to this planet. So we're this is about sustainability. This is about environment protections. So this is about so many things. So I will definitely say in the industry, I'm not going to leave the industry because of the ITC, like you said earlier in this episode, that we're going to get that to 50% solar grid, exactly.
• 33:42
  Kiya Segni: This is not a for us. It's going to be a challenge. It's going to be a very bumpy but we just have to fight it back, because this is not only about the business, also it would have a significant impact on the future of this planet. Definitely, My Plan B is staying in solar. There's no Plan B is Plan A, and that's it.
• 34:00
  Kiya Segni: That's that should be the answer.
• 34:03
  Tim Montague: Some installers are leaning into commercial. The runway is longer there. It's a less crowded space. It's a longer sales cycle. It is a very different segment of the industry. The ticket, the price tag, the capex of a commercial project, is much bigger, and so it's a much slower decision. And so you have to have a big pipeline, and you have to have cash flow to ride through the ups and downs, but you can build a nice snowball of business in CNI. I'm curious if you think about getting into CNI.
• 34:36
  Kiya Segni: Yeah, that was basically my one step at a time.
• 34:39
  Kiya Segni: That was just basically my plan transitioning into the commercial was also in my strategic growth plan as a company. We have that plan already in place, but it may be earlier than we thought, because of this. ITC, but definitely my journey was towards the commercial solar projects anyway, but this is residential.
• 34:59
  Kiya Segni: Would have been stepping stone.
• 35:03
  Kiya Segni: But this is the residential also plays a big role in in everybody's life, at least for consumer homeowners also. So it's good stepping stone for us, but definitely, if this ITC is in place, we automatically have to move to the commercial space.
• 35:18
  Kiya Segni: And I know you're big in the commercial industry too. So Mike, come for some advice to you
• 35:24
  Tim Montague: all right. Kiya segments, thank you so much for telling your story. I really appreciate it. Check out all of our content at cleanpowerhour.com. Tell a friend about the show, reach out to me on LinkedIn. I love hearing from my listeners. Check out our merch. Stop Shop. Just go on the the shop link. We now have a big catalog of merchandise, including Nike golf shirts, like the shirt I'm wearing today. It's lovely gear.
• 35:47
  Tim Montague: Check it out. And Kiya. How can our listeners find you?
• 35:52
  Kiya Segni: They can find us at www at Aduu solar for installations, for installers, the contractors that want to be consulted on the engineering aspect. They can reach out to us at aduusolarengineering.com and, yeah, the rest of the contact I think you're going to put in the description anyway, so they can find us on the website. And every contact information is on there. And I thank you, Tim for having me on. I hope to see you in RE Plus, I don't know if you're going this year, but last I'll be in Vegas. Yep, I'll be in Vegas also. So it's been quite some time since we met in person. So all
• 36:26
  Tim Montague: right, I'm Tim Montague, let's grow solar. Take care. You.