For quite some time, Texas Green Energy was limited to solar equipment options offered through its local distributors. This limitation caused two challenges for the company. First, the company was unaware of the vast array of high wattage solar brands on the market as well as price variability. Second, local distributors did not always have specific parts needed.
“Each distributor has a core set of products that we go to for specific jobs,” explains Joe Palmer, General Manager at Texas Green Energy, “However, we didn’t know what other options were out there unless we did the research or vetting ourselves to see if the product would work for us.”
Inquiring with multiple suppliers about product availability and pricing was an inefficient use of time for Texas Green Energy. Joe and his team prefer to spend more of their time educating the public about the environmental and economic benefits of going solar, a mission they take very seriously.
Whether a business is economically or environmentally driven in its decision to go solar, Texas Green Energy wants to make solar affordable and adaptable for all customers. In a nutshell, EnergyBin provides Texas Green Energy with a quick and easy way to view multiple product options and price points.
The company uses EnergyBin during project planning to source options for each customer’s unique specifications. The goal is to help each customer make a smart financial decision, particularly if the customer has expressed a fixed budget.
“EnergyBin has a lot of tools that are very helpful for project planning purposes. Knowing price and geographic location of products helps us keep tabs on the industry.”
When Texas Green Energy needs a specific part that cannot be substituted, Joe sends out a customized Want-to-Buy Broadcast email to the EnergyBin community. Such a tool saves him time to focus on other business-related tasks rather than searching for hard-to-find parts.
Texas Green Energy experienced fast results with two specific customer needs early on as an EnergyBin member. For the first customer need, Joe sent a Want-to-Buy Broadcast email for three 11.4kW Fronius inverters. Within two weeks, he completed the purchase and saved $600 in the process.
Regarding the second customer need, Texas Green Energy got to work early on in the planning process. The customer liked the idea of going solar but was burdened by the capital cost estimate from the local distributor’s stock. So, Joe conducted a search on EnergyBin and crafted a proposal with multiple panel options. The customer ended up selecting an option priced $35.00/panel below the first estimate.
“The true value of EnergyBin is the variety of products that are available as well as knowing the market for these products,” comments Joe, “With so many products at different price points, EnergyBin makes solar energy more affordable and accessible for all kinds of customers, which is the ultimate goal Texas Green Energy strives to achieve.”