Celebrating Top Solar Companies: A Conversation with Ecogy Energy

According to the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA), more than 255,000 Americans work in solar at more than 10,000 different companies. That’s a ton of options for companies in the solar industry to work for and work with. We wanted to take a moment and celebrate a top notch solar company – Ecogy Energy.

Recently, I was able to chat with Andrew Araneo to learn more about Ecogy, their company culture, and how that sets them apart from other solar energy companies. 

Ecogy is a full stack developer, financer and owner operator of distributed generation projects, with in-house financing, engineering, and permitting teams. The team at Ecogy primarily works to create rooftop solar projects, carport canopy projects, and demand response energy monitoring projects, with a focus on developing renewable energy resources for traditionally underserved and overlooked entities. Some common partners are affordable housing institutions, low to moderate income community members, religious institutions, educational institutions, municipalities, and small businesses. Ecogy typically operates under the community solar, PPA, and site lease models.

Like many top solar companies, Ecogy has grown exponentially in recent years. Since Andrew joined the team almost two and a half years ago, they’ve doubled in size with nearly 50 full-time employees plus contractors. 

When it comes to culture at Ecogy, their philosophy is to hire passion over skill sets for many roles. Working with a team that has a genuine passion for renewable energy builds a strong company culture with palpable enthusiasm for the work that may not be matched judging by resume qualifications alone. How Ecogy sees it – if folks are eager to support the mission, they’ll work to constantly learn and improve on the work that they do. Of course, certain jobs like engineering positions require particular education and/or experience. 

Andrew is an excellent case study in this philosophy. As their marketing lead, I was surprised to learn that Andrew didn’t study marketing in school, but instead environmental science. As the company was growing, he noticed a gap in that nobody was serving the company in a full-time marketing role. He went to his boss and asked if he could take some marketing courses with HeatSpring and move into the role himself. Considering that Andrew had already proven himself as a dedicated employee, his boss invested in his education and Andrew began leading marketing efforts for the rapidly expanding company. Just take a look at their highly informative website to get a sense of some of the amazing projects Andrew has been building as Ecogy’s marketing lead.

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Ecogy’s willingness to invest in education doesn’t stop there. As the workload for many of the business development staff slowed towards the end of 2022, their boss offered an exciting opportunity for the team to take advantage of the seasonal slow-down to take a HeatSpring course of their choosing. Staff chose to enroll in everything from NABCEP certification prep to high-level development courses like the Solar MBA to complex content areas like Microgrid Design and Implementation. 

It’s no secret that top workplaces have strong training programs – whether in-house or through partnerships. Investing in your team’s learning and development has proven to boost morale, increase employee engagement, keep employee retention rates high, increase the ability to promote from within the company, and attract top talent – to name just a few. 

We anticipate seeing much more growth in Ecogy’s future as they do great work and invest in their people. 

Are you inspired by Ecogy’s culture and looking to find your place within the solar industry? Take a look at the many open positions available at Ecogy Energy.