They Put Solar on the White House. Here's What Solar Design Associates Learned #354

Solar & storage pioneers Solar Design Associates share 50 years of firsts on the Clean Power Hour. They put solar on the White House in 1979 and built the first community solar garden in America. Haskell Werlin and Steven Strong trace solar's fall from $16 to $1 per watt, explain why the battery cost curve is following the same path, and break down what the ITC-free era means for developers.Solar and storage pioneers Solar Design Associates have been designing solar energy systems since 1974, accumulating firsts from the Carter-era White House installation to the first true community solar garden in the United States. Haskell Werlin, Vice President of Business Development, and Steven Strong, Founder and President, join Tim Montague on the Clean Power Hour to trace 50 years of solar industry evolution. Solar pricing fell from $16 per watt for satellites to $1 per watt for ground mounts today, and Haskell confirms the battery cost curve is now following the same downward path, with Texas leading the country in solar and battery installations. This episode covers landmark projects, including the Bullit Center in Seattle and the Harvard community solar garden, alongside a direct assessment of what the residential ITC removal means for project economics through 2028 and beyond.Here is what you will learn from this conversation about 50 years of solar storage pioneers and the battery transition ahead:You will learn why Haskell argues Texas, not Hawaii, is now leading the country in solar and battery installations after transforming the ERCOT grid from fossil fuel dependency to firm base load power.Find out how the first true community solar garden in the US, a 542-kilowatt ground mount in Harvard, Massachusetts required a statewide home rule petition to resolve a property tax classification dispute with the local assessor.Understand how the Bullit Center in Seattle, described by the New York Times Architectural Review as the “Most sustainable commercial building in America,” achieved 100% energy offset in one of the least sunny major cities in the US.Find out how Solar Design Associates put solar on the White House under President Carter in 1979, with Steven Strong on the roof for the dedication ceremony, and were called back under President George W. Bush in 2006 to install solar on the pool and cabana, spanning two administrations and three decades. Find out how Solar Design Associates has never exceeded 20 employees in 50 years, why hiring graduates with no prior solar experience is a deliberate strategy, and what Haskell says about the companies growing fast and falling hard.Fifty years ago solar panels powered satellites because nothing else could reach them, and the technology now costs $1 per watt for ground mounts, a cost collapse driven by German feed-in tariffs, and Chinese manufacturing scale. The battery industry is now following the same path solar took from satellite technology to mass market infrastructure, with the same forces of policy, manufacturing scale, and early adopter projects already in motion. Professionals watching this episode are standing at the same inflection point the solar pioneers of 1974 stood at, with the advantage of knowing exactly how this story ends.Connect Steven Strong, Haskell Werlin Haskell Werlin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/haskell-werlin-1a21383/Steven Strong: https://www.linkedin.com/in/steven-strong-3309894/Solar Design Associates: https://solardesign.com/ Support the showConnect with Tim  Clean Power Hour  Clean Power Hour on YouTubeTim on TwitterTim on LinkedIn Email [email protected] Review Clean Power Hour on Apple PodcastsThe Clean Power Hour is produced by the Clean Power Consulting Group and created by Tim Montague. Contact us by email:  [email protected] sponsors who share our mission to speed the energy transition are invited to check out https://www.cleanpowerhour.com/support/The Clean Power Hour is brought to you by CPS America, maker of North America’s number one 3-phase string inverter, with over 6GW shipped in the US. With a focus on commercial and utility-scale solar and energy storage, the company partners with customers to provide unparalleled performance and service. The CPS America product lineup includes 3-phase string inverters from 25kW to 275kW, exceptional data communication and controls, and energy storage solutions designed for seamless integration with CPS America systems.  Learn more at www.chintpowersystems.com