Transsolar, a climate engineering firm, and WattCarbon, a decarbonisation platform, have teamed up to invest in rooftop solar projects in West Virginia, aiming to reduce over 200 tons of carbon emissions in 2024. Transsolar purchased Energy Attribute Certificates (EACs) from Solar Holler, a local West Virginia solar developer, through WattCarbon’s OpenEAC Exchange. This funding will help Solar Holler lower the cost of solar panels for customers and accelerate the rollout of new projects.
The clean energy transition across the US is highly uneven. While some states are leading the way, others, like West Virginia—often referred to as “coal country”—are lagging. With 89% of its grid powered by coal, West Virginia is the most coal-reliant state. Remarkably, one solar panel in West Virginia offsets as much carbon as about 150 panels in Vermont due to the state’s coal dependency. This fact aligned Transsolar and WattCarbon, both driven by the goal of reducing emissions where the impact is greatest.
“Part of Transsolar’s mission is to decarbonise the built environment. We realise that supporting the construction of new renewable energy sources is essential to this process. This is why we decided to fund Solar Holler in a grid that needs to be decarbonised as soon as possible. In WattCarbon we found a partner who sees climate action in the same way as us, that is: you are either decarbonising, or you are not,” said Transsolar’s Associate Partner, Tommaso Bitossi.
Solar Holler is transforming Appalachia, converting former coal areas into hubs for renewable energy. In addition to the carbon savings, rooftop solar provides significant financial benefits, saving West Virginia residents an average of $1,407 annually on energy bills (according to the US Energy Information Administration). However, upfront costs remain prohibitive for many.
Dan Conant, Solar Holler CEO said, “clean energy shouldn’t be reserved for the wealthy. West Virginians have powered this country for centuries and deserve affordable options. This isn’t just about clean energy, or solar panels, or watt-hours: it symbolises so much more. We are building a new renewable energy economy to demand environmental justice for communities that have been ignored for decades.”
WattCarbon will provide measurement and verification services to track hourly solar generation from Solar Holler’s projects. The data will be certified and tracked using WattCarbon’s EAC registry, WEATS, which complies with OpenEAC Alliance standards. WEATS links directly to project-specific energy and carbon data, ensuring transparent reporting for all carbon reduction claims.
“In a rather ambiguous carbon offsets market, it was refreshing to find in WattCarbon a novel approach based on transparency and collaboration to provide economic support, which can effectively finance the decarbonisation of our future,” said Bitossi.
“We’re delighted to be partnering with Transsolar to power decarbonisation across the last mile of energy usage––distributed energy resources. By unlocking green equity financing for our partners, we’re able to supercharge the most impactful carbon-cutting projects for communities and the climate,” said WattCarbon’s co-founder and CEO, McGee Young.
