Companies and programmers often encounter a steep learning curve when installing pure energy technology, such as solar installations and EV chargers. To get an honest offer, they must move around the complex bidding process, which includes a proposal request, assessment of offers and ultimately contracts with the supplier.
Now the startup station A, founded by a pair of myth graduates and their colleagues, improves the process of implementing pure energy. The company has developed a pure energy market that helps property owners and companies in real estate analysis to calculate returns from clean energy projects, create detailed project lists, collecting and comparing offers, and choose a supplier.
The platform helps real estate owners and companies take clean energy technologies, such as solar panels, battery and EV chargers at the lowest possible prices, in places with the highest potential for reducing energy and emission costs.
“We do a lot to accept pure straight energy,” explains Manos Saratsis Smarchs '15, who was a co -founder of the station A with Kevin Berkemeyer MBA '14. “Imagine that you tried to buy a flight ticket and your travel agency used only one carrier. It would be more expensive, and you can't even get to some places. Our clients want to have many options and it's easy to find out about who he is working with.”
Station A has already collaborated with one of the largest real estate companies in the country, some with thousands of real estate to reduce the carbon trail of their buildings. The company also cooperates with food networks, warehouses and other companies to accelerate pure energy.
“Our platform uses a lot of artificial intelligence and machine learning to transform addresses into the construction of traces and understand their electricity costs, available incentives and where they can expect the highest roi,” says Saratsis, who is the head of the product product A. “It would usually require tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars of consultation and we can do it for a lack of money very quickly.”
Building a foundation
As a graduate of the MIT Architecture Department, Saratsis studied environmental design modeling, using data from sources such as satellite images to understand how the communities consume energy and propose the most influential potential solutions with pure energy. He says classes with professors Christoph Reinhart AND Kent Larson They were especially opening eyes.
“My ability to build a thermal energy model and simulation of electricity consumption in a building started in myth,” says Saratsis.
Berkemeyer was the president of Mit Energy Club during the mit of the Sloan School of Management. He was also a research assistant in MIT Energy Initiative under Sunny future Teacher's report and assistant to the course of the course 15.366 (climate and energy projects). He says that entrepreneurship classes with Professor Bill Aulet and sustainable development with a senior lecturer Jason Jay were shaping. Before studying in Mit, Berkemeyer had extensive experience in developing solar and warehouse projects and selling pure energy products to commercial clients. The final co -founders did not exceed the paths in the myth, but after graduating, they worked together in the utility of NRG Energy.
“As co -founders, we saw the opportunity to change the way companies are approaching pure energy,” said Berkemeyer, who is currently the general director of Station A. “Station A was born from the common belief that data and transparency can unlock the full potential of pure energy technology for everyone.”
At NRG, the founders have built software that will help identify the possibilities of decarbonization for customers without the need to send analysts to pages to conduct personal audits.
“If they worked with a large food chain or a large seller, we would use reserved analytics to assess this portfolio and develop recommendations for such things as solar projects, energy efficiency and demand reaction that would bring a positive return during the year,” explains Saratsis.
The tools were a huge success in the company. In 2018, the couple and co -founders Jeremy Lucas and Steyer himself decided to transform technology at station A.
The founders began with cooperation with energy companies, but soon focused on property owners with a huge portfolio and large companies with long -term leasing contracts. Many customers have hundreds or even thousands of addresses to evaluate. By using only addresses, a station A can provide detailed financial return estimates for investments in pure energy.
In 2020, the company expanded to focus on selling access to its analysis to creating a pure energy transaction market, helping companies conduct a competitive bidding process of pure energy projects. After installing the Station A project, it can also assess whether it achieves the expected results and track financial returns.
“When I talk to people from outside the industry, they say,” Wait, it doesn't exist anymore? ” – says Saratsis. “It's a bit crazy, but the industry is still very emerging and no one was able to find a way for a clear and large -scale auction process.”
From campus to the world
Today, about 2,500 pure energy developers are active on the A station platform. Many large real estate investment funds also use its services, in addition to companies such as HP, Nestle and Goldman Sachs. If Station A were a developer, Saratsis claims that now she would be in the top ten in terms of annual sunlight.
The founders assign their time in the myth, helping them scale.
“Many of these relationships were created in the MIT network, whether through the people we met in Sloan or through commitment to the myth,” says Saratsis. “So much of this business concerns reputation and we have established a really good reputation.”
Since its establishment, Station A has also been sponsoring classes at the Sustainable Development Laboratory in MIT, where Saratsis conducted research as a student. When they are working on the development of the A station's offers, the founders claim that they use the skills they have acquired as students every day.
“Everything that we do around buildings analysis is inspired in some respects that I did when I was in myth,” says Saratsis.
“Station A is just starting,” says Berkemeyer. “The adoption of pure energy is not just about technology – the point is that the process is trouble -free and available. This is what drives us every day and we are glad that we can conduct this transformation.”
