Colts Tackling Energy Needs With Solar

(photo courtesy Indianapolis Colts)

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When the Indianapolis Colts kick off their 2019 season this fall, the team plans to bring a new energy to the field. The Colts are the latest National Football League team to work with a national solar energy provider to go greener and save some money.

The Colts are teaming up with North Carolina-based POWERHOME Solar to install solar panels at the Indiana Farm Bureau Football Center, which serves as the team’s headquarters and practice facility. POWERHOME founder and Chief Executive Officer Jayson Waller says the installation will be “a pretty good-sized system.”

“It will offset a small percentage of their usage,” Waller tells Inside INdiana Business. “They have thousands and thousands of dollars in power bills every month and there’s not enough roof space on their parking garages and stadium to offset all of it, but we are putting small dent into that. And, it’s a way for them to start taking the steps forward of going green and not buying the old traditional ‘dirty power’ but getting clean energy.”

For the Colts, the move is part of a larger overall environmental effort. Vice President of Communications Steve Campbell says the team is joining other companies and organizations in trying to be “more responsible stewards” of the land, adding that it’s “always been in the Colts’ DNA” to give back to the community.

As the country works to become more sustainable, he says the Colts will take the opportunities it can to do the same.

“We do food rescue, we obviously recycle, the use of biodegradable products, sourcing from local farmers,” says Campbell, “a lot of different things like that are steps that we’re taking down at the stadium on gamedays and throughout the year.”

For POWERHOME, it’s about working with the Colts to grow its footprint and promote solar use in Indiana. The Colts are the fifth NFL franchise the company has worked with, behind the Detroit Lions, Carolina Panthers, Pittsburgh Steelers and Cleveland Browns. Waller says working with a prominent pro sports team sends a message to the public.

“Now we are the solar provider for the Indianapolis Colts, which is exciting,” says Waller, “and it builds credibility for our customers there to know that if the Colts can partner with us, they can feel comfortable to get their family and homes partnered with us to go ahead and go green and go solar.”

POWERHOME has about 50 employees in Indianapolis, including 15 energy consultants, office staff and 20-25 installers. Although the company is relatively new to the market, Waller says it is continuing to grow, with an average of about 70 new customers per month. POWERHOME’s goal is to add about a megawatt of solar power to its Indy footprint per month, which is the equivalent of about 175 new customers.

The Colts and POWERHOME both hope to have the installation up and running by the time the team begins the football season. As the players get ready for kickoff, the team says it will continue to look for opportunities to improve performance on the field, and become more efficient off of it.