Shared Solar Simplified - For Everyone | Ivy Energy
Shared Solar Simplified - For Everyone
Sustainable living is the need of the hour. Over the last half-decade, it has become an integral part of lifestyle for a continually growing section of the population in the United States. Whether it's composting food waste or avoiding single-use plastics, practices like these that aid in minimizing the carbon footprint, are being adopted actively.
Making the Most of Renewable Energy
While some of the sustainable lifestyle practices have become highly common due to the ease of doing them, some folks are taking it one step further by trying to figure out how to take advantage of the freely available renewable energy sources. This has led to them wondering if they could become more energy efficient by incorporating solar panels on their apartments or commercial properties. Some of the questions that pop up when trying to do so include:
Can solar savings and benefits be extended to renters?
How can one fairly split up the solar energy produced from onsite assets?
Challenges in Accessing Solar Benefits for Renters
The biggest challenge when it comes to renters and solar energy benefit access is that an apartment isn't a tenant's building to modify, and the roof-space isn't theirs to add solar panels. With the inability to shop around for electricity owing to lack of alternatives and other reasons, most residents are stuck with their local electricity provider.
Currently, half of California’s population(almost 20 million) do not have access to onsite clean energy due to unattainability. With local electric companies like SDG&E raising their baseline energy rates 106% in the last 10 years, electricity consumers are growing tired of increasing costs that may often be unjustified to them as consumers.
Ivy Energy Creating Ripples with Shared Solar
Thanks to the growing innovations, tools and research in the field of clean energy, there is some hope for tenants and landlords in California who are looking for affordable utility options. One such tool for relief is Ivy’s multi-family billing software. It lets property owners purchase a solar asset to generate electricity onsite, which in turn, can be sold to their tenants in that building.
The Ivy Intelligent software is run using proprietary virtual grid algorithms to distribute solar energy. This is based on real-time energy usage data and relates this solar allocation to exact avoided utility rates, creating the best method to equally distribute the benefits among all the tenants.
Why choose Ivy for your Solar Energy needs?
Ivy’s solar energy distribution helps in creating a win-win situation for various reasons:
Benefits both property owners and tenants
Does not require a roof
Low maintenance
Guaranteed savings
Our software collects smart virtual net meter energy usage data and provides multi-cost calculation bench-marking. Ivy Energy acts as a virtual utility inside an apartment complex operating as the brain for clean energy distribution. This helps property owners maximize their return on investment and protects against over discounting or over-billing by mirroring utility rates as they change over time.
It is committed to delivering a billing experience that creates brand value for the community by clarifying energy usage, costs, and savings in a transparent and user-friendly design.
Our solution dis-aggregates the benefits of a shared onsite energy system creating a financial return for owners and consumer-friendly savings and understanding for residents. Ivy seamlessly integrates with property owners' current billing ledger and offers a new solution for distributing solar energy fairly.
Ultimately, community solar is a hands-off experience. You never even have to see the solar farm in action to use its electricity. What cannot be stressed enough about community solar is that it is one of the easiest ways to adopt green electricity and save on electricity bills. As compared to residential solar panel installations, participating in community solar programs opens the doors and minimizes risk for those who cannot or do not wish to purchase personal solar energy systems.
Pioneering the Future of Multi-Tenant Solar Energy Management
2024 was a trailblazing year for Ivy Energy, where we shattered barriers, redefined possibilities, and delivered innovative solutions to address the multi-tenant solar split incentive challenge. By driving product advancements, forging impactful partnerships, and scaling operational processes, we empowered multi-tenant properties to embrace clean energy with confidence.
A Year of Growth and Market Expansion
Ivy has grown its active project pipeline 450% compared to 2023, with a line of sight to clear +600% in active projects by the end of the year. Our tech-enabled solutions empower more communities than ever. With $18M in Series A funding (Read more) and the strategic acquisition of Glow Energy (Read more), we are poised for unprecedented growth and impact. This investment enables us to enhance our technology, streamline operations, and expand our reach into new markets nationwide.
Entering new markets with increased resources allows us to address diverse energy challenges and deliver tailored solutions to property owners and tenants. Additionally, the launch of our consulting arm provides expert guidance for our clients and partners to save money and enhance ROI while navigating intricate solar investments.
Meaningful Operational Updates
At Ivy, innovation isn’t just about technology—it’s about creating digital tools that empower our clients and their tenants:
PropTech Integrations: Partnered with RealPage, Entrata, and Yardi to automate rent roll syncing, move-in/move-out updates, and direct charge posting to resident ledgers. These integrations reduce monthly processing time by up to 2 hours per property while enhancing data accuracy and operational efficiency.
NEM Credit Delay Optimization: The Utility Coordination team adopted the CPUC informal complaint process to reduce delays in NEM activation after PV solar system commissioning. This improvement cut the average resolution time for delayed NEM credits from 123 days in 2023 to 49 days in 2024, allowing property owners to see Net Operating Income over two months sooner on average.
Platform Advancements that Lead the Industry
Our engineering team broke new ground, ensuring our platform stays ahead of the curve:
Migrated to a new infrastructure processing system for faster processing and further automation improvements across operational features.
Introduced IvyDual in response to regulatory requirements in California, which allows us to enter new markets where consolidated billing is not viable.
AchievedSOC 2 Compliance, reaffirming our commitment to data security. (Read more)
Built initial public API for Conservice integration and new utility data access pathways, strengthening our platform’s versatility and reliability.
Empowering Positive Experiences with CX
At Ivy Energy, our customers rely on us as true partners in their clean energy journey, helping them achieve long-term NOI growth while providing exceptional support for property owners and tenants. We consistently deliver this experience by simplifying complex utility processes and offering our white-glove service that ensures our clients feel supported, informed, and empowered to succeed. This year, Ivy’s Customer Experience Team launched two significant platforms:
Ivy Implementation Portal: A step-by-step, transparent portal that simplifies solar implementation for our clients and partners across multiple organizations. (Watch a walkthrough of the new portal here.)
Resident Help Center: Educate tenants about the solar program with helpful resources and offer direct support online or by phone. (Explore the Help Center)
Shaping the Future Through Thought Leadership
In 2024, Ivy Energy reinforced its position as an industry leader; our Virtual Grid 3.0 impressed the judges and earned first place in Solar Power World’s “Best in Show” award for large-scale solar innovation. (Read more)
Leadership team members Alex Dogan, Tanya Kuhn, and Sean Nam were celebrated in San Diego Business Journal’s Leaders of Influence in Technology 2024 for their contributions to advancing sustainable energy. (Read more) Ivy was also featured in Alt Energy Magazine (Read more), San Diego Business Journal (Read more), and on Solar Academy. (Read more)
Logan Carter showcased Ivy’s groundbreaking innovations in a main stage speech at Cretech NY (Watch here), an engaging appearance on the IMN Podcast (Listen here), and a deep-dive interview with Chris Moreno, also known as “Mr. PropTech.” (Watch here) Ivy’s policy team further expanded its influence by authoring a Model VNEM Whitepaper, a critical guide to enabling multi-tenant solar models nationwide. (Read the Whitepaper).
Measurable Environmental Impact
This year, Ivy Energy amplified its environmental contributions, with contracted units in implementation set to offset an astounding 109 million pounds of CO2. Meanwhile, active units have already offset 9 million pounds of CO2, demonstrating our ongoing dedication to reducing carbon emissions.
Looking Ahead to 2025
As we celebrate 2024’s successes, we are always looking to the future. In 2025, we’ll continue to push boundaries, deliver innovations that empower our clients, improve tenant experiences, and lead the multi-tenant housing sector toward a sustainable future.
A Message from Dover Janis, CEO of Ivy Energy
“2024 was a year of progress and adaptation. While utility-caused delays challenged our growing pipeline, our focus on agile problem-solving reduced their impact and kept the market moving forward. This is a testament not only to the dedication and focus of our team but also to the strong macro-level foundation that the onsite energy business model provides for real estate owners, even in the face of monopoly-driven resistance. With a large and expanding customer base and hundreds of projects, we have continued to validate the transformative potential of clean energy solutions for shared communities. I’m incredibly proud of our team—now among the most mature, knowledgeable, and experienced in the industry—as we trail blaze the path forward. The market is primed to grow and drive transformative change in local communities. I’m deeply grateful to our partners and customers, whom we have the privilege of serving every day as we continue to lead the way.”
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