Nevada Small Business Development Center College of Business A partner in The Business Services Group

http://www.cleanenergycenter.com

Rich Hamilton

Rich Hamilton started Clean Energy Center on Earth Day (April 22nd), 2008. As an avid climber and kayaker he’d always appreciated the environment. He took a step past appreciation when he sold his rental property, cashed in his 401k, and started a business that would grow to become a go-to resource for individuals and organizations who want to get into renewable energy.

“The company is a design/build, all things renewable [company] – both contractor and developer,” explained Rich. “Last week we put up a 1 kW system on a roof, and concurrently we’re working on what will probably be the state’s first utility scale wind park, and we do everything in between.”

And by “everything” Rich means simply they use the best tools for the job.

“We’re technology agnostic. If you’re married to one technology it’s nice, you can specialize, but you’re also limited. The market is really driven by different rebates and incentives, so by being able to transfer technology to technology, we can flow between those,” said Rich. “Right now we’re gearing up for a bunch of solar thermal because there’s a rebate coming.”

The company has two main aspects: residential/commercial renewable energy systems (like solar energy, solar thermal, and small wind turbines) and utility scale projects, which are large-scale projects in which tracts of land are evaluated and then developed into wind-turbine farms.

The two facets compliment each other well: the small-scale residential/commercial projects tend take up much of the workday and keep Hamilton’s crew busy, while the utility scale projects are 3-10 year commitments in which a large number of steps have to be completed before an investor will break ground.

First, one has to tie up the land. For Nevada, where most of the land is owned by the federal government, it’s easy to get large tracts to work with but the regulations and requirements are more stringent than with privately owned land.

Then come the wind resource assessment studies in which Clean Energy Center estimates the amount of wind energy that can be consistently generated in a specific area. They use SODAR (sonic detection and ranging) machines to measure wind velocity up at the levels where the wind turbines will be operating (many are over 260 ft tall).

They do environmental studies counting “birds and bats, bugs and bunnies” as Rich likes to say, to make certain that wind parks won’t adversely affect the indigenous wildlife.

After navigating the regulatory environment and filing for the required permits, Rich and his crew perform an interconnection study, in which they assesses the feasibility and cost of getting the wind-produced energy to the substation. If all looks good, they move forward with the project.

Such large-scale projects require lots of capital, and so it’s common for smaller companies like Clean Energy Center to be backed by larger investors who do the financial heavy lifting. Rich is partnered with Oak Creek Energy Systems Inc., an established company that built its first wind farm in 1982 and currently operates “180 wind turbines in Kern County [California] … including the 24MW Alite project which achieved commercial operation in January, 2007” (oces.com).

But Rich, like most, didn’t start off with big name support. He originally came to Rod Jorgensen at the Small Business Development Center for help in obtaining an SBA loan to start Clean Energy Center. They developed a pro-forma and business plan for his business concept.

“I had no business sense,” laughed Rich. “I used Rod as a sounding board [for my business concept.]”

Rich said that despite his careful planning, the economy has made things unpredictable.

“We came in just before the economic meltdown – so our projections didn’t pan out. The market [for utility scale projects in Nevada] really wasn’t established and there was no good template to know what was going to be out there. There aren’t many people doing this,” said Rich.

So Rich effectively created the market, and sees his company’s success as a simple product of tenacity.

“Tenacity is the only reason we’re in business. By maintaining a growth-oriented outlook we’ve been able to pick up some really good staff who are very talented and build our business, build our brand.”

And Rich sees plenty of opportunity for the future.

“As the economy comes back resources are going to be a huge issue in the next years. Commodities are going to become more expensive,” he said. “What we can do in the US is produce and use energy wisely.”

Rich sees commercial and residential systems as a way to shift the power generation process to within the load and reduce the need for large energy power plants.

“I think we’re in an industry that’s really on the cusp. This is a growth industry. Our next ten years are rosy,” he said, smiling. “I’m just glad we survived the last two.”

Ultimately Rich seems satisfied to be making “a product that’s not only good for the bottom line, it’s good for the environment and good for the country.”

For future business owners Rich has a few words of advice.

“Hire good staff, and don’t manage them – they need to feel like they own the company. [They should] want to do a good job, because it’s their job, their responsibility.”

Clean Energy Center is located at 4865 Joule Street, Suite C-4, Reno, NV 89502. They can be found at cleanenergycenter.com and reached at (775) 284-8692.