About Us

 

 

Thank You, Donors!

From a Student Project to a Revolutionary NonProfit Organization

 

Original 5 capstone students (CJ, Avery, Monty, Maria, Riley) from Western Colorado University, Clark School of Environment and Sustainability. (Apr. 2019)

 

Background

In January 2019, Rich Strömberg brought a dozen 18-year-old solar photovoltaic (PV) modules to Dr. Kate Clark's ENVS400 Capstone class and proposed a challenge to a team of five students. "These modules still produce 83 percent of the original datasheet power output. Why would we throw these in the landfill? How can we use these assets to create the greatest value for those in ur community with the greatest need?"

By the end of the semester, after exploring several options, the students had created a novel nonprofit concept whereby homeowners and businesses who are upgrading their solar arrays to newer, more efficient equipment could receive a tax letter for donating to ESS™  rather than simply disposing of their PV modules and other equipment in the landfill. Fortunately, an existing campus 501(c)(3) organization, Coldharbour Institute, was willing to bring the ESS™ team on board which allowed us to focus on building the Equitable Solar Solutions™ program without having to form our own 501(c)(3) nonprofit.

Today, original student co-founders CJ Gooderham and Maria Agazio and mentor/co-founder Rich Strömberg have grown the ESS™ model to more than 200-kilowatts of donated PV modules, 65-kilowatts of inverters and thousands of feet of rails and mounts. The ESS™ inspects and tests all donated equipment to screen out inferior product so that we can insure that needs-based households and communities receive only the highest quality equipment for their reuse solar arrays. 

ESS™ partners with licensed solar installers, local governments, social service agencies, the Colorado Energy Office and Habitat for Humanity to build reliable solar PV arrays that will provide decades of energy assistance to those who need it most. 

Our target clients are typically at or below 200 percent of the federal poverty level. By working with state and local social service agencies that provide low-income assistance for energy, food, healthcare and housing, we can be assured that those we help are truly those with the greatest need. 

How the ESS™ model works

When solar array owners (residential or commercial) are ready to upgrade to newer equipment, they can donate their old equipment to ESS™. After we evaluate the equipment to make sure it meets the appropriate standards for reuse, ESS™ personnel will retrieve the equipment (usually from the solar installer who is upgrading your system). The equipment donor receives an electronic copy of our IRS-compliant donation letter so that you can deduct the current market value of your equipment off your taxable income (note that we cannot assign a dollar value in the tax donation letter but we can provide guidance on how you can easily derive a justifiable dollar value). Any cash donations will receive an IRS-compliant donation letter with the exact dollar amount listed.

The ESS™ team tests the equipment to determine whether it meets Tier 1 or Tier 2 criteria and works with social service providers to identify low-income, needs-based recipients of a reuse solar array. We then partner with licensed solar installers to design and develop the new project. Recipients of these reuse solar arrays achieve significant cost savings by taking advantage of this high-quality reuse equipment and volunteer labor provided by the ESS™ team.

ESS™ asks for a donation of 15% of the current value of any equipment we contribute to a project to help offset some of our incurred costs in transportation, shipping, liability insurance and administrative costs. In some cases, we find funding partners to offset some or all of the balance of costs. In other cases, the solar array recipient will need to finance those additional costs but these typically come in at half of the price of a brand new system. Habitat for Humanity rolls the balance of costs into the home mortgage payment such that the combined monthly mortgage payment plus electric bill is less than if the homeowner had not installed a solar array to offset energy use.

We also work with social service providers to install reuse solar arrays on their buildings to reduce their energy costs so that more of their programming dollars can service their needs-based clients. ESS™ asks for a donation to cover 15% of the current value of the equipment we contribute and the social service agency pays for the balance of install costs. 

In the future, ESS™ is working to develop low-income dedicated community solar gardens that will offset monthly energy bills for renters and homes not suitable for rooftop solar arrays.

 

MAria Agazio, Cofounder

Maria assists with business development and customer relations to secure and distribute solar panel donations to REITS, low-income developers and families while educating students about solar reuse and landfill diversion. She was named Forbes 30 under 30 in 2022 for her work with Equitable Solar Solutions.

She is a sustainability professional who serves the rocky mountain region. Maria is passionate about creating diverse resilient communities that fit the needs of both the landscape and its inhabitants. She has a B.A in Environmental Sustainability and a B.A in Business Administration. She is a LEED Green Associate, Post landfill Action Network certified Zero Waste Lead, Eco Districts AP and a TRUE Advisor.   

Maria has worked with the global leader in waste diversion, Terracycle, as a Zero Waste Consultant and with the second largest manufacturing company in America, Goodman, as a Sustainability and Energy Efficiency Lead for their multifamily and student housing division. Currently, she works for a sustainability consulting and energy engineering firm called Iconergy. She helps commercial/multifamily developers and architects reduce their energy consumption through energy modeling, commissioning, on-site renewable installations, design review, and many other services centered around creating healthy, low polluting buildings. 

In her free time, she crafts pottery, coaches volleyball and enjoys cruising in her biofueled 1969 Chevelle.

CJ Gooderham, Cofounder

CJ has deep relationships in the solar industry. His focus is partnerships and origination, leveraging key stakeholders in the solar industry to proliferate re-use of solar equipment to communities with the greatest need. CJ is in the Forbes 30 under 30 class of 2022 for his work with Equitable Solar Solutions.

He is a utility-scale solar professional who has developed large scale solar and storage projects all across the United States with some of the best  companies in the country. CJ is passionate about decarbonization and creating carbon free energy solutions. CJ has a B.A in Environment and Sustainability from Western Colorado University.

CJ's passion for his work comes from his genuine love for wildlife and wanting a better future for all.

Rich Strömberg, Cofounder

Rich Strömberg draws on his decades of experience in high-volume semiconductor manufacturing at Intel and Texas Instruments plus solar and wind energy program management for the State of Alaska working on microgrid energy systems for remote villages and the statewide power grid. He holds a BS in math and computer science, a BA in journalism, a Master in Environmental Management from Western Colorado University and is currently a PhD student at the University of Alaska Fairbanks pursuing an interdisciplinary degree in reuse of solar PV systems for social and ecological benefit - a degree pursuit that was born out of his work with Equitable Solar Solutions™. His doctoral research and studies are sponsored by the Alaska Center for Energy and Power.

Rich is a key researcher on both technical and social factors related to reusing solar equipment. He is a member of the International Electrochemical Commission Task 82 on PV reuse and of the International Energy Agency Photovoltaic Power Systems Programme (IEA-PVPS) Task 13 Subtask 1.2 on solar PV reuse. He is also a collaborator with Battelle and the National Renewable Energy Laboratory on the NSF sponsored Securing critical material supply chains by enabling phOtovoltaic circuLARity (SOLAR). In fall 2022, he was elected to be the vice chair of the Photovoltaic Technical Division at the American Solar Energy Society.

Rich lives off-grid in a passive solar and passively cooled house that he designed and built. In addition to 2.3 kilowatts of solar PV modules and a small wind turbine, he has a small test array to study the long-term effects of PV module defect modes.