For Brad Stutzman, Co-Founder & CEO of O3 Energy, the primary rule to becoming a successful Entrepreneur is to never give up. As per Brad, anytime someone is trying to accomplish a task which has never been done before, there are going to be failures, but the important factor is to not let those failures overshadow the goal. “Each and every failure should be looked at through a lens of learning.”The key qualities of Brad which has been important in making him the industry leader today are perseverance, inquisitive, strategic thought and flexibility.
Brad says that efficiency is something that all businesses and entrepreneurs struggle with today. “By definition, profit is derived from how efficient your business provides its solution. Anything in this world is possible but efficiency distinguishes whether it is commercially viable or not. The perfect example of this is the space industry,” he says. “A primary difficulty that myself and many entrepreneurs face when it comes to efficiency is scaling. As you scale a business, either upward or downward, all of the other mechanisms within the business need to changes, as well. I rely on my team to provide me with the proper information to adjust these parts, they provide me with the feedback that is need to tweak the engine.”
Developing & Financing of Solar Projects
At the time that O3 Energy was founded, there were not a lot of solar companies focused on the development and financing of solar projects for C&I customers. The bulk of the industry was focused on either utility or residential customers. Some of the unique difficulties that lie with C&I customer and middle market credit were not being addressed. O3 Energy was formed with these clients in mind.
O3 Energy is providing clean energy generation for the commercial and utility clients who want to capitalize on this modern technology. O3 Energy is providing clean energy generation primarily through the use of onsite photovoltaic solar systems. “Technology is constantly evolving and so must standard practices. O3 Energy focuses on creating and implementing the best standard practices in order to maximize our client’s technology,” says Brad. “That might be through new financing structures or a new design software. We strive to consistently evolve in order to be a leader in the industry.”
O3 clients are in control of their energy needs through the technology that they implement and solar as a whole. By implementing an onsite solar facility, the clients are no longer at the mercy of the utility. If their utility decides to increase the price of electricity, their clients are not impacted. This allows for better budgeting and forecasting by our client’s operations. Allowing them to have more control of their energy. At the same time, O3 clients are acting in a socially responsible way by controlling the impact that their operations have on the surrounding community and planet.
Impacting the Clients
In an instance, the New Hope Church in Hilo, Hawaii spent three years trying to get their solar project off the ground with minimal success. They had an approval from the HELCO (Hawaiian Electric Light Company), the utility on island, for the project. This approval was what was needed in order to connect the system, but it was about to expire. Since the church had been working on the project unsuccessfully, they were running into a time crunch with their approval. Since the time that the New Hope Church was initially approved, HELCO had changed their guidelines and were not allowing any new solar. If the approval expired, the solar project would not be able to be installed so the time and money the church spent to date would have been lost. O3 Energy stepped into the project, completed the remaining development milestones and provided financing for the project in 30 days. O3 was able to complete the project within the time that was allowed by HELCO and save the church’s investment.
The future of O3 Energy is bright as they will continue to expand the company into new products and territories. At the moment, they are adding two new office in order to handle their growth. “We are currently expanding our residential solar division into Colorado and Florida. To date, that division has only operated in DFW, and we recently made the INC 5000 list of fastest growing private companies in the US,” says Brad.