I was pleasantly surprised this morning to see the electric vehicle below charging at one of the CI Works charging stations. We installed the charging stations to increase the capacity of available and accessible charging stations in Amesbury. This vehicle is a pretty sweet Tesla fully electric model. It is a positive step to see that the best selling electric vehicle brand - Tesla - is now compatible with the leading charging station supplier - ChargePoint and expands the EV infrastructure availability . CI Works installed the stations as our commitment to expanding EV infrastructure capacity and expand EV sales in America.
Upon further inspection, the logo on the car looked familiar - Summit Energy. Summit is a solar photovoltaic project developer and a tenant at CI Works for the last few years. Summit is making an extensive push in this area of New England to increase solar generation capacity here. They were having a sales meeting - socially distanced - at CI Works this morning. The vehicle has a dual purpose as a company asset. It both attracts attention to the need for and use of solar generated electricity while on the road and is also a benefit available to Summit sales employees. The leading sales performer in a given calendar quarter then has access and use of the vehicle for the following quarter. I think this reflects some creativity in the form of a sales incentive and all the while bringing visibility to the company. Creativity and innovation are keys to success in the evolving 'normal'.
In addition, Summit is the solar developer being utilized by CI Works to install solar PV on the roof of 11 Chestnut St. The roof is large enough to produce almost 200 kW output annually. This production will almost meet the annual power usage of the entire building and eventually be the power source for the EV stations. CI Works is working with Summit to navigate the complexity of the new state of Massachusetts: Commercial - Property Assessed Clean Energy (C-PACE) initiative. This initiative includes participation of the City of Amesbury and numerous state agencies / quasi's. For now, all I can say is that it has been an incredible challenge to navigate. More later on that as we uncover our path through the amazing maze of state and municipal governments. At times it seems like it has taken years - that's right, it has taken 4 years so far....but maybe the end is in sight.