Energy Trust’s Solar program conducted a survey of trade ally companies in October 2021 to learn what they value most and discover ways to better support trade ally businesses as Oregon’s solar industry pushes to new heights. Energy Trust received 70 responses from employees and owners representing 37 different trade ally companies. We appreciated the time and efforts of trade allies who were able to respond.

While responses varied, Energy Trust received mostly positive feedback regarding increased support for equity-based offers, like Solar Within Reach, new offers for smart inverters or battery storage to support grid flexibility and resilience, and a shift to a flat incentive for standard residential projects.

We acknowledge trade ally concerns over the impact these changes may have on your business. We know that income-qualified offers still make up a small portion of projects, and new technologies bring new challenges for procurement and installation. We also understand that our application process places demands on trade allies’ time. We are committed to finding ways to streamline incentive application and verification processes and improving the non-incentive benefits of being an Energy Trust Solar trade ally.

We appreciate your input on how we can provide your business more value. Some examples of program enhancements currently underway include:

• Working with utilities to share information, so trade allies won’t have to provide the same documents to two organizations.
• Working on ways to automate leads distribution, knowing the value our trade allies place on Solar leads.
• Continuing to offer and improve the business development fund you can use for continuing education, site assessment and online shade analysis tools, marketing, and more.

Again, thank you for your feedback. More importantly, thank you for your hard work making 2021 our biggest year ever. We look forward to our continued partnership with you as we move the solar market forward together.

If you have questions about new initiatives in 2022, please contact Energy Trust’s Solar team.