INNOVATORS Gold Award - New Orleans City Business

ON THE BRINK
PHOTO BY TRACIE MORRIS SCHAEFER
SouthCoast Solar employees, from left, Tim Coats, Micah Galy and Issac Wright, install a solar panel on a customer’s roof.
SouthCoast Solar
Key innovation: selling and installing solar panels on
residential homes and businesses
Biggest clients: homeowners
Where they’re based: New Orleans
Top executive: Troy Von Otnott, founder and president
Year introduced: 2008
OFTEN TOUTED AS an energy alternative but usually
cost-prohibitive, solar power is on the way to becoming a
viable option for Louisiana homeowners.
The Louisiana Solar Energy Tax Credit program is
making it more affordable for Louisiana residents with a
program that offers a 50 percent rebate, up to $25,000 per
system. The state allows residents to buy as many systems
as they need to cover 100 percent of their electricity. Add
in an additional 30 percent tax credit from the federal government,
and homeowners and businesses have to pick up
only about a quarter of their solar installation costs.
That is what founder and president Troy Von
Otnott was counting on when he started SouthCoast
Solar, a New Orleans-based company specializing in
the design and construction of high-performance solar
power systems.
“On a standard $25,000 installation, the state will give
you a $12,500 tax incentive. If you wanted to put
$100,000 of solar power on your residence, the state is
going to rebate you $50,000. Unlike other solar plans that
have a cap, Louisiana’s does not,” Von Otnott said.
Chris Kornman is vice president of Southern Homes, a
homebuilder with communities in Louisiana and Alabama.
He called on SouthCoast to install solar-powered water and
electricity in Southern’s model home in the Del Sol subdivision
in Covington and is receiving interest from prospective
homebuyers. Kornman said that with tax incentives and
more public education, solar powered homes will become
more common in the coming years.
“We hope (Del Sol) will be a neighborhood with a lot of
solar power and water in it. Our intention is to sell it as an
option to buyers, and I think solar water and power will
eventually become a secondary part of typical building,”
Kornman said.
Von Otnott had worked in real estate development for
the past decade before teaming up with partners Tucker
Crawford, CEO, and Scott Oman, chief technical officer
and solar designer, to form SouthCoast Solar. Von Otnott
expects solar power to be as efficient and affordable as fossil
fuel-generated power by 2012.
“Solar power becomes more affordable every year and
is the most widely distributable energy source on the planet.
I think solar power will take a quantum leap in the next
five years.”•
— Craig Guillot
New Orleans CityBusiness 61A