Americans continue to rely soley upon large utilities to produce their electricity. Depending upon whom you ask, only about 4% came from solar power 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 commitment to the Trump administation, the need for additional rooftop and large utility-grade solar is needed more than ever. With a 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.

ERCOT's price per MW in 2021 was $20MW and it has increased 250% over the past 48 months, currently sitting at $50MW for 2025 -2028. The time needed for utilities to role-out new Nat Gas plants, or Amazon's nuclear solution, just can't keep up with the lower cost, or ease and speed that solar and energy storage assets can be brought online.

Despite the freeze in IRA funds being distrubuted by the EPA, USDA and Department of Energy, financing is still available from the Small Business Administration (SBA). Westco can help unpack the strict requirements of Davis Bacon; and the Prevailing Wage Scale Apprenticeship for the following entities:

• 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 and experience to design and install penetration-less roof mounted solar and ground mounted solar systems to maximize energy generation, while increasing your business's capitalization (CAP) rate.

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 use materials from Made in America businesses that will honor their warranty claims. This includes:

• 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 residents of Puerto Rico found this out the hard way when over 90% of the population that had solar, didn't have electricty after Hurricane Maria struck.

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.

Net-Metering, 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 and Industrial Scale BESS

For utilities and extremly large commercial customers, Westco offers turnkey design and installation of large scale BESS from .5MWH to 4MWH 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 weather related power outages, or demand exceeding output during winter and summer peak loads, utility scale BESSs can keep the lights on and the HVAC running. Currently, we have several of Tesla's MegaPack batteries available for immediate installation that are sized from 2.529MWHs to 2.890MWHs.

Our pricing includes turnkey design, engineering, permitting, installation, interconnection, and commissioning. The batteries are pre-assembled and include the battery modules; bi-directional inverters; thermal management (HVAC); fire suppression for indoor or outdoor installations; AC main breakers; and system monitoring and control. Call our sales department for installation lead times and pricing.

Commercial Community Solar 

Community Solar for commercial customers can provide dedicated power with physical ownership in an off-site solar array. Community solar is still utility grade 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 ownership, maintenance and repairs 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. Currently, Westco is developing a community solar farm with 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 the revenue will be donated back to the foundation to be disminated by the foundation to the needy to reduce their electric bills.

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 developer, Westco can provide the engineering, procurement and construction of these energy independent systems. Micro grids include three main components: a PV Solar Array; a BESS; and 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, like hospitals, surgery centers and acute treatment centers. Schools, education centers and large manufacturing plants are also ideal candidates for micro grids.

Third Generation Power Sources

We have new hybrid hydrogen fueled standby generators available is various sizes, with Group 1 units up to 100kW. For clean energy seekers with existing natural gas generators, we have several conversion kits available to modify them to introduce a 15-20% hydrogen mix.