Businesses and builders typically face a steep studying curve when putting in clean energy applied sciences, resembling photo voltaic installations and EV chargers. To get a good deal, they want to navigate a fancy bidding course of that includes requesting proposals, evaluating bids, and in the end contracting with a supplier.
Now the startup Station A, based by a pair of MIT alumni and their colleagues, is streamlining the method of deploying clean energy. The firm has developed a market for clean energy that helps actual property house owners and companies analyze properties to calculate returns on clean energy projects, create detailed mission listings, acquire and evaluate bids, and choose a supplier.
The platform helps actual property house owners and companies undertake clean energy applied sciences like photo voltaic panels, batteries, and EV chargers on the lowest doable costs, in locations with the best potential to cut back energy prices and emissions.
“We do a lot to make adopting clean energy simple,” explains Manos Saratsis SMArchS ’15, who co-founded Station A with Kevin Berkemeyer MBA ’14. “Imagine if you were trying to buy a plane ticket and your travel agent only used one carrier. It would be more expensive, and you couldn’t even get to some places. Our customers want to have multiple options and easily learn about the track record of whoever they’re working with.”
Station A has already partnered with a few of the largest actual property corporations within the nation, some with 1000’s of properties, to cut back the carbon footprint of their buildings. The firm can also be working with grocery chains, warehouses, and different companies to speed up the clean energy transition.
“Our platform uses a lot of AI and machine learning to turn addresses into building footprints and to understand their electricity costs, available incentives, and where they can expect the highest ROI,” says Saratsis, who serves as Station A’s head of product. “This would normally require tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars’ worth of consulting time, and we can do it for next to no money very quickly.”
Building the inspiration
As a graduate scholar in MIT’s Department of Architecture, Saratsis studied environmental design modeling, utilizing information from sources like satellite tv for pc imagery to perceive how communities eat energy and to suggest probably the most impactful potential clean energy options. He says lessons with professors Christoph Reinhart and Kent Larson had been notably eye-opening.
“My ability to build a thermal energy model and simulate electricity usage in a building started at MIT,” Saratsis says.
Berkemeyer served as president of the MIT Energy Club whereas on the MIT Sloan School of Management. He was additionally a analysis assistant on the MIT Energy Initiative as a part of the Future of Solar report and a instructor’s assistant for course 15.366 (Climate and Energy Ventures). He says lessons in entrepreneurship with professor of the follow Bill Aulet and in sustainability with Senior Lecturer Jason Jay had been formative. Prior to his research at MIT, Berkemeyer had in depth expertise growing photo voltaic and storage projects and promoting clean energy merchandise to industrial clients. The eventual co-founders didn’t cross paths at MIT, however they ended up working collectively on the utility NRG Energy after commencement.
“As co-founders, we saw an opportunity to transform how businesses approach clean energy,” stated Berkemeyer, who’s now Station A’s CEO. “Station A was born out of a shared belief that data and transparency could unlock the full potential of clean energy technologies for everyone.”
At NRG, the founders constructed software program to assist determine decarbonization alternatives for purchasers with out having to ship analysts to the websites for in-person audits.
“If they worked with a big grocery chain or a big retailer, we would use proprietary analytics to evaluate that portfolio and come up with recommendations for things like solar projects, energy efficiency, and demand response that would yield positive returns within a year,” Saratsis explains.
The instruments had been an enormous success inside the firm. In 2018, the pair, together with co-founders Jeremy Lucas and Sam Steyer, determined to spin out the know-how into Station A.
The founders began by working with energy corporations however quickly shifted their focus to actual property house owners with enormous portfolios and enormous companies with long-term leasing contracts. Many clients have lots of and even 1000’s of addresses to consider. Using simply the addresses, Station A can present detailed monetary return estimates for clean energy investments.
In 2020, the corporate widened its focus from promoting entry to its analytics to making a market for clean energy transactions, serving to companies run the aggressive bidding course of for clean energy projects. After a mission is put in, Station A may also consider whether or not it’s attaining its anticipated efficiency and observe monetary returns.
“When I talk to people outside the industry, they’re like, ‘Wait, this doesn’t exist already?’” Saratsis says. “It’s kind of crazy, but the industry is still very nascent, and no one’s been able to figure out a way to run the bidding process transparently and at scale.”
From the campus to the world
Today, about 2,500 clean energy builders are lively on Station A’s platform. A variety of giant actual property funding trusts additionally use its providers, as well as to companies like HP, Nestle, and Goldman Sachs. If Station A had been a developer, Saratsis says it could now rank within the high 10 by way of annual photo voltaic deployments.
The founders credit score their time at MIT with serving to them scale.
“A lot of these relationships originated within the MIT network, whether through folks we met at Sloan or through engagement with MIT,” Saratsis says. “So much of this business is about reputation, and we’ve established a really good reputation.”
Since its founding, Station A has additionally been sponsoring lessons on the Sustainability Lab at MIT, the place Saratsis performed analysis as a scholar. As they work to develop Station A’s choices, the founders say they use the talents they gained as college students daily.
“Everything we do around building analysis is inspired in some ways by the stuff that I did when I was at MIT,” Saratsis says.
“Station A is just getting started,” Berkemeyer says. “Clean energy adoption isn’t just about technology — it’s about making the process seamless and accessible. That’s what drives us every day, and we’re excited to lead this transformation.”