Business View Magazine | July 2022

32 BUSINESS VIEW MAGAZINE VOLUME 9, ISSUE 7 sustainability, states continue to create incentives for the consumer. Pullen acknowledges, “Consumers are starting to buy into the fact that they now have a choice and can generate some energy, as opposed to having to always buy all of it.” And while economic savings start to accrue early, there is a significant investment up front. This is where GreenPenny, another strategic partner, assists Eagle Point Solar in meeting the needs of their customers. GreenPenny is a subsidiary of Decorah Bank, a family-owned bank in the heart of Iowa farm country. They have been committed to sustainability and green energy since long before it was a popular thing. As a values-based bank, the money deposited in their bank is only used to finance clean and renewable energy. “We have a fantastic relationship with GreenPenny,” Pullen says. “They not only finance our residential customers, they also finance a lot of our power purchase agreements. They’re a financing organization, but 100 percent of their efforts are on working with people who want to be green. Hence the name.” The power purchase agreements provided through GreenPenny are game changing for Eagle Point Solar customers. Power purchasing agreements are financing mechanisms that allow non-taxable entities to benefit from green initiatives like the federal investment tax credit which is now 26 percent. This levels the solar playing field for cities, counties, and schools. Eagle Point Solar and GreenPenny work together to set these agreements up. Pullen explains, “We have investors that buy the solar project from us. They pay for it. They pay to support it. They pay to insure it. Then, for example, the City of Dubuque buys the energy that gets generated from that solar array, but they don’t have to invest any capital or worry about operations and maintenance. And because the private investor is able to monetize the tax credits, they are able to BACK ROW (L to R) Tod Hollenback - Eagle Point Solar VP of Design and Engineering Jim Pullen - Eagle Point Solar President/CEO Randy Ambrosy - Eagle Point Solar Chief Operations Officer