We’re well into February, and we’re already off to a sunny start in 2022! But we didn’t want to let the new year pass by without sharing some of our favorite moments from last year.

We’ve been humbled by the support we’ve received over the past year, and we’re grateful for the growth we’ve experienced. We built this company in West Virginia with West Virginia grit because we believe in the promise of our workforce and the economic potential in Appalachia. We look forward to growing our impact and growing our team in the months and years to come.

Here are a few of the highlights we had in 2021:

• We nearly doubled our team, adding even more family-sustaining jobs right here in Appalachia – bringing our team to a total of 64 employees. Higher Ed West Virginia honored us with their “Putting People to Work” award, recognizing the opportunities we’re creating in the workforce.

 

• Just over 400 Appalachians went solar with us in 2021, bringing our total solar family to 800.

 

• Those 2021 customers are set up to save approximately $8.1 million in electricity costs over the lifetime of their solar systems.

 

• We donated over 50,000 meals to the Facing Hunger Foodbank in Huntington in support of their work to build resiliency in our community and end food insecurity.

 

• We installed 11,343 US-made panels on Appalachian homes, businesses and nonprofits. At the start of the year, there were about 37,000 solar panels installed across West Virginia. We bumped that up by 25%. Together, we are building the next energy future for our region!

 

• After piloting different back-up battery technology in previous years, our energy storage program took off in a bigger way. In 2021, we installed over 50 battery systems, all charged by solar. 

 

• Last fall, we completed the largest nonprofit solar installation in the state of West Virginia when we flipped the switch on the solar array atop the West Edge factory building in Huntington. Jacob Hannah, Coalfield Development’s point person on the project said it best: “The end results speak for themselves – the array will produce enough power to offset the usage of all the operations within West Edge and save Coalfield Development over $135,000.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We’re proud to be a growing job creator in West Virginia and an IBEW union shop. And we’re committed to buying local for our operational needs. Between the local vendors we use, our regionally manufactured solar panels and our pledge to hire folks in Appalachia, we’re able to reinvest more than 80% of our annual revenue back into our region. We’re focused on helping to support and strengthen other local job creators that are running Appalachian businesses.

To name just a few – 

• The solar panels we use are made in the USA and produced by fellow Appalachians at the QCell facility in Dalton, Georgia.

 

• Our signage for our events and vehicles are created in Lavalette, West Virginia by Alley Cat Signs. 

 

• Our t-shirts and hats are made with solar power by Mountain Mindful in Huntington, West Virginia.

 

• Our graphics and logos are artfully designed by Studio 105 in Shepherdstown, West Virginia. Web design by PixelMaven Design, LLC in Martinsburg, West Virginia.

 

Thanks for being a part of our Solar Holler community. Here’s to 2022!