The sunny side of solar

THE HEAT IS ON: From left, Dennis Watson, CEO and co-founder of Wattsun Solar in West Warwick, with Charles and Charlotte Gilbert, the company's first customers at the new office, and Antonio Giorgi, chief financial officer and co-founder. / PBN PHOTO/MICHAEL SALERNO
THE HEAT IS ON: From left, Dennis Watson, CEO and co-founder of Wattsun Solar in West Warwick, with Charles and Charlotte Gilbert, the company's first customers at the new office, and Antonio Giorgi, chief financial officer and co-founder. / PBN PHOTO/MICHAEL SALERNO

Dennis Watson financed his first solar system for a homeowner in California in 2009. For the next five years, he helped roughly 2,000 more homeowners with financing to own solar systems.

The introduction to the solar industry would eventually lead him to start Wattsun Solar LLC, a solar design and installation company based out of West Warwick.

“It slowly started to dawn on me that I could help people,” he said.

Up until that point, Watson was working for Domestic Bank, the predecessor of Admirals Bank in Cranston, and hadn’t really thought about the solar industry.

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By the end of 2014, however, Watson decided to sit down with his future business partner, Antonio Giorgi, who also worked at the financial institution, and launch Wattsun Solar with a title that’s a play on Watson’s name.

“We want every homeowner to know there’s a local company that has better products that can beat any quote. … I’m that confident,” Watson said.

He and Giorgi, who’s the company’s chief financial officer, founded the business with Ryan Wells, chief sales officer, in 2015. Watson says the business is on track to reach $1 million in sales for 2016.

The fast-growing company is licensed to operate in Rhode Island, Massachusetts, Connecticut and New Jersey. Its customers are mostly residential, but the company is starting to break into the commercial market and recently installed an array on the building of Valley Fuel and Warwick Oil.

Given the team’s background in finance, Watson says the company is hyper-focused on providing clients with all the tools needed to tap into local incentive programs available through state agencies, and to work with lenders.

Between the incentives – which he said are among the best in the country right now in Rhode Island – and the loan, there’s “no money out of pocket.

We’re using what’s best in the industry, while also stimulating the local economy,” Watson said.

In addition to the three owners, the company employs two full-time crews of four workers and five part-time employees.

Wattsun Solar is adding to the growth spurt realized in the local solar industry. According to The Solar Foundation, Rhode Island had the highest percentage growth in solar jobs in the country last year, growing 214 percent from the prior year. Solar-related jobs more than tripled in Rhode Island, increasing from 300 in 2014 to 941 in 2015, according to the report.

And Wattsun Solar is looking to continue growing. Last month, the company partnered with Valley Fuel to launch “Kent County Saves,” designed to help residents take advantage of solar incentives to hedge against rising utility costs. The initiative provides customers who sign up for solar up to $2,500 in home-heating credits from Valley Fuel.

“Everyone looks at oil as a nonenvironmental industry, but here we are trying to show how an oil company is embracing solar,” Watson said. •

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