Business View Magazine | Volume 8, Issue 10

96 BUSINESS VIEW MAGAZINE VOLUME 8, ISSUE 10 Logansport’s Leading stocking distributor of electrical supplies. Providing the highest quality products, with supplies from the industries best manufacturers. 514 HIGH STREET LOGANSPORT, IN 46947-0441 | (574) 739-2812 | logansport.portalced.com commissioning. “We have two crews who handle all our projects, most of which are in northern Indiana,” says Mike Straeter. “When Illinois had incentives, we did a lot of work there, but we’ve slowed down on that as we wait for the current energy legislation to go through.” One of the significant benefits SolarCAM sees from installing solar systems in a rural market is the lack of substantial competition. “When we started, there wasn’t much competition,” shares Mike. “Now, there are currently less than ten installers in Indiana, most of whom are family- owned businesses that are more of resellers than turnkey solution providers. However, we are now seeing larger corporations coming in from Indianapolis and other big cities in the area that are doing smaller installations with long-term financing.” As competition mounts, SolarCAM plans on sticking to its roots of serving rural customers with a unique product that other outfits cannot copy. The company relies on word-of-mouth marketing as an effective means of growth, a marketing channel that Jim feels sells their product based on merit and not marketing hype. “Our customers telling prospective customers that we can be trusted – that we will do what we say we will do is by far our strongest sales path, bringing in close to 90 percent of all our business.” On the future of solar in rural areas, Jim sees vast potential not only at an individual farm level but also at an energy utility level. “Solar storage (batteries) has received a lot of publicity,” he says, “especially because it’s such a critical part of the future of renewables.” Currently, SolarCAM is working on a five-acre utility-scale solar project with the Fulton County rural utility to install two Tesla Megapack batteries and link them to the grid. “We are around 99% done with the project and just need