Become a Solar Pioneer for Free

by Martin Miron

Arthur Souritzidis, CEO of Momentum Solar, one of the fastest-growing solar companies in New Jersey, knows a good deal when he sees one. Right now he is in the business of offering homeowners savings on their electricity. He states, “We are committed to lowering your monthly electric bill by installing a solar solution for your home for no money out-of-pocket.”

Souritzidis always had an eye for entrepreneurial initiatives. At 28 today, he may seem young to be running a big company, but there’s good reason. “The business quadrupled overnight because we are nimble. At one point, I was 23 years old and leveraged for $1 million,” he says. “I paid it back the next year.”

Momentum Solar is preparing to move into a new 27,000-square-foot facility in Metuchen to use as both a storage facility for the solar panels, conduit, piping, meter pans, circuit breakers, copper wire, aluminum wire, racking and nuts and bolts, as well as office space for their fast-growing employee base. Another 5,000-square-foot facility in Cherry Hill is also in the works. These new spaces will allow them to go directly to manufacturers for big cost savings due to the economy of scale. Momentum Solar is already the second-largest privately owned solar company in the state, doing 100 residential installations per month—a big benchmark in the industry—and not far behind the bigger national corporations. Currently located in Edison, they have already created around 60 new, local jobs this year and are looking at doubling that number in the coming year.

The success of Momentum Solar’s business model is based in large part on the concept of net metering, a billing mechanism that credits solar energy system owners for the excess electricity they add back to the grid. These energy credits roll over, so like a bank account, they can be used to offset consumption no matter the season—winter or summer—and reset annually.

Momentum Solar supplies the homeowner with everything needed, from inverters, which convert the energy from DC to AC and go right into the service panel of the home, to the solar panels and racking system they are mounted on. “We finance the installation process, engineering and construction of the system. The consumer is only responsible for a monthly payment that starts after the system is installed and generating power—and that monthly payment is less than their utility payment ever was,” says Souritzidis. “So they have an opportunity to basically subscribe to cheaper, cleaner power which critically offers them price protection from rising energy costs.”

“One of the beautiful aspects of the technology now is that in the early days of the business, we had
to go out and do site assessments for every prospect; now, satellite imagery is very specific and we have very precise tools that measure the roofline to assess how many degrees of southern exposure they have and what percentage of shade there is,” says Souritzidis. “We know if you have eligible roof space before even going out there. We know how many panels and on which arrays, based on the tilt of the home. We even know what your rate’s going to be and how much energy that it’s going to generate within a margin of 3 or 4 percent.”

Momentum Solar makes no assumptions when it comes to the structure, and everything goes through a rigorous load calculation certified by an architect when the installation is submitted for permitting approval. Souritzidis notes, “As a rule, it’s less weight than a second layer of shingles. The whole process is complimentary and if needed, we reinforce the attic at no cost, too.”

For more information, call 1-888-666-36886 or visit MomentumSolar.com.