Americans continue to rely soley upon large utilities to produce their electricity. And depending upon whom you ask, only about 3.4% to 5.9% came from solar power in the U.S. during 2024. Now, with the allure of AI and the vast amount of energy needed by giant data centers, there's never been a better time for home and business owners to go solar.

Since the election, and with the help of SoftBank's 100 billion dollar comitment to the Trump administation, the need for additional rooftop and utility-grade solar is far too big to fail.  With the 30% Federal Tax Credit still the law of the land through 2033; and electricity costs undeniably increasing annually, solar is still the most viable solution to manage energy costs. The time needed to role out new Nat Gas plants to replace the remaining coal fired facilities, or Amazon's nuclear solution, can't keep up with the cost, or ease and speed that solar and energy storage assets can be brought online.

After the IRA was passed in August 2022, Westco began working closely with BakerTilly to gain a greater understanding of the EPA, USDA and Department of Energy's financing assistance to help transition rural for-profit businesses and agricultural producers from utility only, by deploying renewable energy sources that also reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

This transition is incentivized by tapping the enhanced Intangible Tax Credits (ITC), Grants and Federally secured loans, which are still available from the Small Business Administration (SBA). Westco can help unpack the strict requirements of Davis Bacon; and the Prevailing Wage Scale Apprenticeship funding for the following:

• City Governments, Schools, Maintenance Facilities and Water Treatment Plants
• Hospitals and Emergency Care centers
• Nonprofit Schools, Churches and Worship Centers

Commercial Solar

Whether it’s integrating solar power into new construction projects or retrofitting existing commercial structures, Westco has the expertise to design and install penetration-less roof mounted solar systems to maximize energy generation, while increasing your business's capitalization (CAP) rate. Bonus Depreciation is still available to business owners through 2026.

To ensure reliability and longevity, we partner with the leading US manufacturers of solar products to be used on your buildings. This guarantees that every solar system that Westco designs or installs will have a substantial amount of Made in America businesses to honor warranty claim issues for:

• Multifamily Apartments, Condominiums, and Townhouse Developments
• Office Buildings, Retail Shopping Centers and Hotels
• Car Dealerships, Distribution Centers and Manufacturing Facilities

Battery Energy Storage Systems

Coincident Peak Demand Charges, Multipliers and Delivery charges can make up to 50% of a commercial customer's utility bill. Solar by its self can reduce demand charges, but with battery storage systems, demand charges can be reduced to near zero.

Battery energy storage systems (BESS) are extremely important, especially during a grid outage. Most solar customers don't realize that PV solar arrays require a secondary power supply during grid outages to power-up the array. Without a battery, most solar arrays will not operate.

The second vital function of a battery is to store the surplus power that every solar array generates. As solar power is produced during daylight hours, the energy consumption or load value, rises and falls as motors, lights and appliances are cycled on and off. There's always a significant amount of residual power an array can produce that the home or business can't use in real-time.

While most "Utility Cooperatives" in Texas offer Net-Metering, this isn't something most customers truly understand, or may need. When a utility purchases the energy from the customer, it usually pays them less than half of the retail price they charge for electricity. This buy-back rate is always based on the "wholesale cost" that utilites buy energy from various power generation plants.

There's a fine balance needed to properly size a solar array, with the correct amount of energy storage. Westco can design a solar system to meet the economic goals of the individual customer, while working within a fixed budget. Even with solar+storage, the ROI of a properly designed system should not exceed 10-years, excluding incentives.

Utility Scale BESS

For utilities and extremly large commercial customers, Westco offers turnkey design and installation of large scale BESS from .5MW to 4MW batteries. The ability to power a business after sunset, or provide energy arbitrage for time-of-use strategies, large commercial customers can realize enormous savings on their energy costs.

For utilities that sustain weather related power outages between the power generation plant or a substation and their customers; or during winter and summer peak loads, utility scale BESS can keep the lights on and the HVAC running on demand.

Commercial Community Solar 

Community Solar for commercial customers can provide dedicated power with physical ownership in an off-site solar array. Comminity solar is utility grade solar energy, and by extension, the owners can share in the Tax Credits and Bonus depreciation of the facility. This can aslo be achived through a power production agreement (PPA), which can dramatically reduce the CapEx of the costs of ownership, and the maintenance of a large solar system.

Utility Community Solar

Utilities can also use community solar to provide discounted power to their LM-I customers, which need economic assistance in paying their utility bills. Westco is one of a few private solar companies that design and build community solar parks in Texas. Currently, Westco is developing a community solar farm for an electric cooperative in N. Central Texas.

Through an agreement with their charitable foundation, the utility will buy the energy at the posted buy-back rate, and through a DOE program known as, Community Power Accelerator, the revenue will be donated back to the foundation and be disminated by the foundation to the needy.

The funding to build this and other arrays in the future, is provided by philanthropic donors and foundations, and not public funds. Westco invites any utility cooperatives interested in developing community solar for their disadvantaged and distressed customers.

Micro Grids

As a full service EPC, Westco can provide the engineering, procurement and construction of these energy independent systems. Micro grids include three main components. The first is the PV Solar Array; the second is the Battery Storage; and the third is an Emergency Standby Generator. These three elements coupled together form the Micro Grid. So, even if the power is out for weeks, a micro grid can run your facility completely independent of the utility.

Micro grids are ideal for facilities that can't loose power for any reason. Life and death may rest at the heart of their mission critical operations. Hospitals, acute treatment centers, education centers and large manufacturing plants are ideal candidates for micro grids.

EV Charging Stations

The Alternative Fuel Vehicle (AFV) Refueling Property Credit is available for qualified AFV fueling equipment installed in qualified locations through December 31, 2032. A single item of 30C property is each individual charging port, as well as each battery energy storage system. Components and parts that are essential to the operation of the charging port, including labor costs for constructing and installing the equipment, are also eligible for the 30C credit. Businesses are eligible for a tax credit of:

• 6% up to a maximum of $100,000 for traditional businesses
• 30% of the depreciable costs, up to $100,000 per EV charging port, if the installation meets U.S. Department of Labor's Prevailing Wage Scale and Apprenticeship requirements.

This represents numerous opportunities for non-profits; certain multi-family developers, and retailers and workplace office developers located in certain areas. The sheer number of Tesla's, Ford Lightening's and other EV's on the roads today underscores the need for charging stations as a means to attract and retain new customers.

Third Generation Power Sources

We have Hydrogen fueled standby generators available is various sizes, with Group 1 units up to 100kW; and larger units will be available very soon. For clean energy seekers with existing NAT gas generators, we have conversion kits availabe, under certain conditions, to introduce a 15-20% hydrogen mix, or up to 100% hydrogen fueled.

We also have access to several small-nuclear reactors availble for civil use that can produce 1-5MW's of power through heated liquid turbines. These units are extremly site sensitive and require DOE, EPA and NRC conditional approval, and ideal for remote electrical generation.