Portrait of Dakota Malone with the Sustainability Strategies podcast branding

Ep 30: Community Solar Rollout Walkthrough

by Dakota Malone | Dec 2, 2024

Dakota Malone explains how their turnkey community solar rollouts have generated over $20 million in future electricity savings and are guided by values like sustainability, efficiency, and longevity. He details the step-by-step process, from signing a non-binding LOI and approval review to sourcing projects, delivering subscription agreements, and securing average client savings of $25,000–$50,000 in the first year. Malone emphasizes that the program is streamlined, requires minimal client effort, and offers a simple, fee-free way for large organizations to lower costs and enhance sustainability.

(0:00 – 0:13) Introduction

Dakota Malone, co-founder of Community Solar Authority, introduces himself and the purpose of the podcast. He highlights that the company has unlocked over $20 million in future electricity savings and that this podcast is designed to simplify how their business works for listeners.

(0:14 – 0:47) Community Solar Rollouts Overview

Malone explains that the episode will provide a walkthrough of how Community Solar Authority works with clients through their community solar rollouts. This standardized process has been refined over six years and has already generated significant savings for clients. He emphasizes that their current version is the most streamlined yet and prepares to break down the structure of working with them.

(0:48 – 1:41) Core Values as the Foundation

Before diving into the process, Malone reiterates the company’s core values: sustainability, efficiency, longevity, wisdom, and freedom. These values guide every aspect of their client relationships and services. He explains that clients can expect a streamlined approach that minimizes effort, a focus on long-term success, and turnkey execution so they can stay focused on their own work. These commitments also reflect the brand’s mission to inspire through sustainability, collaboration, and synergy.

(1:41 – 1:59) The Waitlist-Only Approach

Because demand for community solar is high and availability is limited, Community Solar Authority operates on a waitlist-only basis. This ensures that resources are dedicated to clients who are serious about execution while staying true to their values and maintaining efficiency.

(2:00 – 2:34) Commitment Through LOI and Approval Process

Malone outlines the first step for prospective clients: signing a non-binding Letter of Intent (LOI). This shows genuine commitment to collaboration and separates serious participants from those simply researching. Once on the waitlist, clients move to the approval phase, where the company reviews utility information, energy bills, and financial documents to confirm creditworthiness. He notes that a previous podcast goes into detail on why this approval step is so important.

(2:35 – 2:59) Project Sourcing and Timeline

After approval, Community Solar Authority sources available projects and builds a tailored community solar subscription for the client. This process typically takes between one and three months, depending on market availability. Importantly, clients do not need to contribute any effort during this stage, allowing them to focus entirely on their work until the results are ready to review.

(2:59 – 3:20) Delivering Savings Through Subscription Agreements

Once a project is sourced, the company provides a subscription agreement and a proposal with estimated savings. Malone shares that the average client saves between $25,000 and $50,000 in the first year alone, with additional compounding savings each year thereafter. All of this requires less than an hour of client time up to this point, demonstrating the efficiency of their turnkey approach.

(3:21 – 3:33) Completion and Long-Term Benefits

After the agreement is signed, the client simply waits for the solar project to reach COD (commercial operation date), energize, and start generating savings. Malone emphasizes that community solar is essentially a “set it and forget it” deal — once implemented, it delivers ongoing results without additional effort.

(3:34 – 3:59) Conclusion: Efficiency, Values, and Client Benefits

In summary, Community Solar Authority’s process is designed to help large electricity users lower operating costs and boost sustainability with minimal effort required. Their approach combines core values with expert consulting to deliver customized community solar rollouts at no cost to the client. The model proves that sustainability can be simple, efficient, and impactful.

(4:00 – 4:21) Call to Action

Malone closes by inviting organizations interested in replicating these results to get started at communitysolarauthority.com. He describes the rollouts as a perfect solution for large users aiming to improve operating profit and sustainability simultaneously. Finally, he encourages listeners to connect with him on LinkedIn for further discussion and support.

To listen to the full episode… go to Spotify to listen . Want to CONNECT on LinkedIN? Go here

If you’re new to my channel, my name is Dakota Malone. I’m a co-founder of Community Solar Authority. We’re a commercial solar developer & consultant on a mission to streamline clean energy deployment.

We deliver turnkey access to community solar for large users of electricity, & our company has unlocked access to $20M+ in future electricity savings for our clients.

Today, we’re focused on educating municipalities, corporations, stakeholders- & other entities consuming lots of electricity to help them benefit from the trillion-dollar clean energy economy.

To our future procurement, facilities, & finance teams we speak to.. we’re here to serve you well with this content ahead of time so that we have a productive conversation when we meet.

Want to access enhanced sustainability & improved operating profit in 90 days?

Book a call and get started.
Here In Service,
Dakota

Read the transcript

(0:00 – 0:13)
Hey guys, this is Dakota Malone. I co-founded Community Solar Authority. We’ve unlocked access to $20 million plus in future electricity savings, and we made this podcast as a way to talk about our business in an easy to digest way.

(0:14 – 0:37)
And today I’m talking about our community solar rollouts and giving you a walkthrough of what working together looks like. When we help your org get turnkey access to community solar, we follow a standardized process that’s been refined over six years in business. Our community solar rollouts have generated over $20 million plus in future electricity savings for clients.

(0:37 – 0:47)
And we’re confident that our current version is more streamlined than ever. This article reviews the structure of working together with us on a community solar rollout as a client. So let’s dive in.

(0:48 – 1:09)
I want to start with our values, which I’ve talked about on a different podcast, because I think reiterating our values here is important because our working relationship reflects our commitments and core values as a company. Those would be sustainability, efficiency, longevity, wisdom, and freedom. Each of these is a declaration of what our clients can expect of us.

(1:10 – 1:20)
We’re going to practice sustainability principles together. We’re going to work in a streamlined way that minimizes your effort. We care about the long-term game and we’ll set you up for future success.

(1:20 – 1:41)
We’re going to utilize our internal resources to guide you well, and we’re going to execute everything turnkey and let you focus on your work. These statements shape our experience before we even get into our service. It’s important because we want our brand to inspire others with the power of sustainability, collaboration, and synergy.

(1:41 – 1:59)
Now let me show you our process. There is a massive demand for community solar and a low supply of availability. This is why we work on a waitlist-only basis, stay true to our values, and create an efficient system to help streamline renewable energy access.

(2:00 – 2:18)
We talk to many prospects, but only accept those who execute our non-binding LOI and make it onto our waitlist. The LOI shows an intention to collaborate and a willingness to work together. This helps us separate those that are just trying to do the research versus those that are actually trying to execute community solar.

(2:18 – 2:34)
Next, we get our clients approved for the program by reviewing utility information, energy bills, and credit worthiness docs, which are typically financials. We have an entire podcast on the importance of this step and what it means to get approved. You can check it out in previous episodes.

(2:35 – 2:59)
With these key pieces of information submitted, we move forward to get you approved, source available projects, and come back with a built community solar subscription ready for review. This process typically takes 1-3 months based on market availability and requires zero effort on your end. While we are working to execute this project, you can remain focused on your work until it’s time to review our findings.

(2:59 – 3:20)
We come back with a subscription agreement for review and proposal with estimated savings. Our average client saves $25,000-$50,000 year one with compounding savings each year. In exchange for less than an hour of your time up to this point, we’ve been able to lower costs and enhance sustainability for your organization once you execute the agreement.

(3:21 – 3:33)
From there, our work is complete. You sit back and wait for your solar project to reach COD, energize, and generate those savings. Community solar is a set it and forget it deal because once it’s done, it’s set up and works for you.

(3:34 – 3:59)
In conclusion, our process helps large users of electricity access the community solar program to lower operating costs and enhance business sustainability. We use our core values to help get these clients’ results turnkey in a streamlined way without much effort required. Your organization can get a hand-tailored community solar rollout alongside our expert consulting without a fee and we’ll show you how simple sustainability can be.

(4:00 – 4:21)
If you’re seeking to use our process to create similar results we’ve achieved for others, you can get started at communitysolarauthority.com. Thank you guys so much for tuning into this episode. Our community solar rollouts are the perfect solution to large users seeking to improve operating profit. If you have any questions, connect with me on LinkedIn at linkedin.com slash in slash Dakota Malone and I will catch you guys on the next episode.