May 22, 2025 • 32 mins
Over 40% of Americans live in multi-family buildings with little to no access to the benefits of rooftop solar – until now. Today on the Clean Power Hour, host Tim Montague speaks with Aliya Bagewadi, US Director of Strategic Partnerships at Allume Energy, about their revolutionary SolShare technology.
Aliya explains how SolShare solves the historic "split incentive" problem that has prevented multi-family buildings from adopting solar. This innovative hardware physically shares electricity from a single rooftop solar system to multiple apartment meters, allowing both building owners and tenants to benefit. While residents save up to 40% on their energy bills (significantly more than typical community solar offerings), building owners can create new revenue streams through solar amenity fees, improve tenant satisfaction, increase occupancy rates, and enhance property values.
The conversation covers how SolShare works with solar plus storage solutions, enabling a single battery system to serve multiple meters and enhance building resilience during outages. Aliya also discusses how SolShare is creating new opportunities for solar installers to enter the previously challenging multi-family market, particularly in states with strong energy equity goals.
The episode reveals how this technology is unlocking significant funding for low-income multi-family solar installations in programs like Illinois Solar for All, where SolShare's software can ensure and document that 50% of solar benefits flow directly to residents.
Tune in to learn how this Australian-born technology is tackling energy equity challenges across the United States and opening new markets for solar installers in Illinois, Florida, Mississippi, Utah, and Washington DC.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Aliya Bagewadi (00:00):
For us right now it, you know, it's very helpful
to have these kind of kinds ofconversations with you, because
a big aspect for us is lettingpeople know that we exist. You
know, both building owners andinstallers that now you can go
after multi familyinstallations, because there is
this technology that makes itmore cost effective and
(00:21):
affordable, and improves thevalue proposition for building
owners. So increases theincentive for building owners to
pursue these projects, and itfrom a technical perspective, it
simplifies how installersability to actually go after
these projects. Are
intro (00:38):
you speeding the energy transition here at the Clean
Power Hour, our host, TimMontague, bring you the best in
solar, batteries and cleantechnologies every week. Want to
go deeper into decarbonization.
We do too. We're here to helpyou understand and command the
commercial, residential andutility, solar, wind and storage
industries. So let's get to ittogether. We can speed the
(01:00):
energy transition
Tim Montague (01:04):
today on the Clean Power Hour solar for multi
family properties. I'm TimMontague, check out all of our
content at Clean Power hour.comPlease give us a rating and a
review on Apple or Spotify. Tella friend about the show. Reach
out to me on LinkedIn. I lovehearing from my listeners. My
guest today is Alia bagiwadi.
She is the US Director ofStrategic Partnerships for a
(01:25):
loom, an Australian company thatis now operating in the United
States. And if you're a solarinstaller, developer working on
multi family projects, you wantto hear this. Okay? So welcome
to the show, Alia, thank you somuch for having Tim. I love this
topic. Multi family has been abit of a conundrum for the solar
industry, unless you areCalifornia and you create
(01:49):
special programs for multifamily, and we will talk about
that, but we will also geek outon what's going on in some of
the other top DG states, likeNew York and Illinois. So tell
us a little bit about yourself.
Alia, how did you come to aloom? You're based in Chicago,
(02:11):
which I love, and you're workingin Illinois, but you're also
working elsewhere. So tell us alittle bit about yourself and
where a loom is targeting yourearly markets here in the US.
Aliya Bagewadi (02:23):
Great, yeah, so, um, a little bit about me. I, as
you mentioned, I'm based inChicago. I'm actually, I'm from
Chicago. Um, growing up, I wouldgo back and forth between
Chicago and India, and was veryaware of the inequality that
existed, both in Chicago and inIndia. And so I always had this
(02:46):
question of, Why do some have somuch and many have so little?
And that the question ofinequality really propelled me,
even in college and beyond,trying to understand why is this
the case. And I studied that incollege, and then subsequently
(03:10):
worked in all sorts of fields totry and combat this. And I think
what drew me to a loom is theaspect that we are trying to
solve for income inequality, aswell, as, you know, supporting
clean energy on the planet, andwe're also trying to reach
underserved populations. So, sothat is really what attracted me
(03:33):
to Allume, and we can talk moreabout how we do that, the areas
that we are focused on in the USare, are Illinois. We've also
done projects where in thesoutheast, where energy burdens
are especially high. So we'vedone projects in Florida as well
as Mississippi. And we are, weare pretty much looking to
(03:55):
expand into the Midwest.
Tim Montague (03:59):
Great. Well, it's interesting that you're working
in the southeast that is not ahotbed of DG, but, but anyway,
your product is very unique. Itis a physical device, and I want
to clarify that for ourlisteners right up front. How
(04:20):
does the Allume work? And justnote listeners that this is an
Australian company. If youcaught my interview with Andrew
Burch recently, check out thatepisode that is episode 263,
from March, from early March.
2025, with Andrew Burch, we talkextensively about the Australian
(04:40):
market, where solar is 1/3 ofthe cost of solar in the US. So
just keep that in mind. So whatis, what is soul share as you,
as you guys call it, and howdoes it work?
Aliya Bagewadi (04:57):
Oh, yeah, I'll also start. Talking about the
context in which it wasdeveloped. And you and you
mentioned that in Australia,solar is very it's financially
very feasible, and that has alsoled to over 30% of single family
homes having solar in Australia.
So in that very sophisticated,mature solar market, you know,
(05:17):
about seven years ago, 10 yearsago, there was this clear energy
equity issue whereby peopleliving in multi family
buildings, people living inapartments, just didn't have the
same access to that solar and soit's in that environment where
soul share was developed. Andwhat soul share is, is it's the
world's only hardware that thatshares energy from a single
(05:42):
rooftop solar system and sharesthe energy to multiple meters in
a multi family building. So it'sactually physically pushing the
electrons for direct consumptionfor tenants in in those
buildings.
Tim Montague (05:59):
Yeah. And so you you've got the grid coming into
an apartment building, then youhave a meter bank,
traditionally, right? Each unitis individually metered, and
that's right away where theproblem happens, because a
developer or an EPC looks atthat and goes, Oh, well, that's
(06:20):
going to be too expensive tointerconnect to 10 different or
20 different meters. I'm goingto walk away from this. The
other constraint can often bethe size of the roof but or the
available roof space. These tendto be sloped roofs. In many
jurisdictions, it's a mixed bag.
Sometimes they're flat. Butanyway, roof obstructions are a
(06:41):
problem, so the Allume, though,is going to go between the grid
and the meter bank and thenallow you to effectively do a
bunch of residential projects ina cost effective manner. So
(07:02):
you're connecting the solar tothe Allume, right, the inverter.
Or is that is, is there? Let'stalk a little more deeply about
some of the technology. Arestring inverters acceptable? Or
are you doing micro inverterspreferentially? Or what? How
does this work? Yeah, so
Aliya Bagewadi (07:23):
let me, let me delve a little bit more into
soul share. So just aclarification, Soul share is the
name of the technology, and thenis the name of the company, and
the the way in which, you know,it's helpful to think about the
historic barriers. Why has thisbeen why is something as simple
as what you conceptually, assimple as residents in
(07:46):
apartments receiving solar whyhas that been such a barrier,
and it's a critical problem,because over 40% of the
population in the United Stateslives in these apartments.
That's a significant chunk ofpeople who just haven't had
access to the energy saving,energy saving technology, or
(08:08):
technology solar panels. And youknow that's that is a clear
issue. So I think it's helpfulto think about, to think about
these barriers, to delve intothese barriers. And a really big
problem has been the splitincentive issue whereby building
(08:29):
owners were actually, you know,make the investment, and it's a
substantial investment,especially if you wanted
residents to consume that solar,because to consume that solar
you had, you had to haveseparate solar systems per unit,
and that's a lot of hardware, asyou're mentioning, and it's just
really expensive. And why woulda building owner make that
(08:50):
investment if the if thebenefits largely flow to the
residents? So there is thathistoric split incentive issue.
The way that we are solving forit with soul share is we're
sharing the energy between thebuilding owners meter and the
resident meters, so both canlower their energy expenditures.
(09:11):
And because the landlord is nowsharing that energy with their
residents, they can start theycan charge for that access to
that energy. So they can createthings like solar amenity fees,
which is similar to, you know,charging for parking or pool
access. It's an amenity fee, andthat's especially helpful in
(09:33):
states where power purchasingagreements are not allowed. In
states where power purchasingagreements are allowed, they can
start to charge for that solaron a per kilowatt basis. So for
the building owner, it creates anew revenue stream for them, and
then for the resident, it stillmaintains that savings on their
energy bills. So that's the wayin which we're solving for that
(09:54):
split incentive issue, which hasbeen a very big issue in the
multi family space. But so
Tim Montague (09:59):
the land. Board is effectively becoming the
utility.
Aliya Bagewadi (10:04):
I wouldn't say that they're becoming the
utility, because the theresident will continue to be on,
will continue to have a contractand will continue to get energy
from the grid. We're notcompletely offsetting grid
usage, but we are significantlyreducing grid usage. So we can,
(10:26):
we can lower grid usage forresidents by about 40% which is
much more, frankly, moresubstantial than a lot of
community solar programs, whichare tending to offset energy
bills by about 2010, to 20% in agood program. So and with a
behind the meter solution likeours, we can offset
(10:46):
significantly more than that. Iknow you asked about the Yeah, I
can let you go ahead, but I knowyou asked more about kind of
where it sits within thebuilding, and I'm happy to
answer that,
Tim Montague (10:59):
yeah, yeah, yeah, let's, I mean, let's, let's go a
little deeper into Illinois. Forexample, I know you're working
in multiple states, but inIllinois, I know that you're
working in the solar for allprogram and where ostensibly
we're trying to offer, or haveto offer, residents a 50%
(11:20):
discount on energy. And so let'sjust walk through from a
residence perspective, they'rein a building. The building
owner goes, Hey, I'm going toinstall rooftop solar. I'm going
to use this technology, which isgreat, because it it makes solar
(11:43):
more practical for multifamily.
You tenants are going to now beconsuming some clean, green
solar energy and but you're notgoing to have to pay for the
upfront cost of theinstallation. A lot of those
costs are paid for by incentivesfor the Illinois solar for all
(12:04):
program, frankly, right? Becausethose incentives are very
generous and and so and thentomorrow, you're going to have a
lower energy bill from Comet.
Let's just say you're inNorthern Illinois, comment
territory, you're going to get alower energy bill, and I'm going
(12:25):
to put a small service fee onyour rent, or something like
that, because I am incurringsome administrative costs and
some out of pocket to get thisproject done. Yeah.
Aliya Bagewadi (12:36):
So the question of like, how, how do we, how can
we do multifamily solar withinthis program? Is how I
understand the question. Well,so little bit about Illinois
solar for all is that there'salso this $30 million fund for
multifamily, low incomemultifamily solar that hasn't
(12:58):
really been touched becausethere hasn't been a good way to
indicate 50% of the benefits areflowing to residents. That's
been very difficult to prove.
What we are able to do with atechnology like ours is the
hardware social is actuallycontrolled by software. So the
software we can set upalgorithms that tell so share to
(13:20):
send 50% of the energy todirectly to resident meters. And
then we can show that with thatsoftware. So we can report on
the amount of solar that's beendelivered, consumed, exported,
all relative to energy demand.
(13:40):
So we can really show and withconcrete data that residents are
receiving these benefits, whichhas been very challenging
previously, and it was also, Imean, another barrier in the
multi family solar space,because even if you know, even
if building owners made thisinvestment, it was hard for them
to understand, how is itimpacting my residents, but now
(14:02):
we can show with this solardistribution data how it's
lowering energy bills. So yeah,that's the way in which we are.
I would, I would say that we areunlocking this fund for
installers in Illinois,
Tim Montague (14:20):
but how I described it is fairly accurate.
Aliya Bagewadi (14:24):
That is accurate. Yeah, okay,
Tim Montague (14:27):
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(15:14):
call 855-584-7168, to find outmore. So let's talk more about
the building owner. From thebuilding owners perspective,
what is the what is the lift?
Aliya Bagewadi (15:29):
A lift for the in Illinois, or just generally.
Tim Montague (15:33):
I mean, we can talk about both Illinois and
elsewhere. I mean, Illinois isunique in that we have very good
incentives for low income. Itcomes. It is a double edge.
There's an administrative burdento that. But yeah, in Illinois
and then in elsewhere in Floridaor the southeast, happy to hear
(15:56):
about both markets. But if I'm afacility owner, if I'm if I'm a
apartment owner, and I want tobring solar, which many
apartment owners do. I think,how does that work for me,
though, financially andadministratively?
Aliya Bagewadi (16:12):
Yeah, so if we just think about it generally,
for the building owner, that ifthey want to own the asset, then
it's typically like a CapExinvestment for them. You know,
they have to find this upfrontcapital, which at a time when
interest rates are so high thatcan be challenging. However,
there are specific funds rightthere are, there is still access
(16:37):
to the solar for all funding atthe federal, you know, from the
EPA that is still accessiblenow, in which there are programs
that are providing low interestloans for for building owners
that want to go solar andprovide this energy to their
residents, especially in lowincome areas. So that's really
(16:58):
the the you know, the upfrontmove from the building owner,
but the benefits that theyreceive are significant, right?
So in addition to those lowinterest financing and tax
credits at the federal level,minimum of 30% tax credit on the
system, they also candistinguish themselves in the
(17:21):
market. So in addition tolowering utility bills for their
residents, which increasestenant satisfaction, and there's
plenty of studies to show thatit also improves tenant
occupancy, so fewer residentsmove out because people like
having lower energy bills. Thatimproves the profitability of a
(17:41):
building. It also, you know, youknow this, that solar also
increases the property value ofa building right in addition to
that, like we live in a time andage where many people,
especially kind of, I would say,especially younger demographics,
are keen on, on, on and aware oftheir carbon footprint, and want
(18:03):
to live in buildings that aresustainable. So in general,
these sorts of measures are verymuch improving the profitability
of buildings.
Tim Montague (18:12):
Yeah. I mean, I do. I really like this value
proposition, right? You makeyour building more attractive
because the energy bills aregoing to be lower, and then
you're, you're participating inthe energy transition. This is,
this is very attractive. Whatare the points of friction, I
guess. And when you look at thelandscape, you know, you're
(18:35):
obviously getting a bead on,yeah, this is working here. This
is sort of working here, andthis is really not working here.
Why Florida? For example,Florida is not famous for its DG
market. It is famous forutilities that are not friendly
to DG frankly. How does thiswork in Florida? Or how is it
(18:58):
working? You've got projects asfar back on your website is 2022
is it still a focus of yourwork?
Aliya Bagewadi (19:08):
Yeah, so in terms of where we have focused
and and I guess also thefriction within the market, or
where are the most opportunelocations in the market, I
think, certainly going tolocations where there are strong
energy equity goals and wherethere are clean energy energy
(19:33):
and like equity goals and alsoan affordability goals as well
as clean energy goals, is a verygood market for us, because we
can obviously help with both.
And you know, in Florida, wewere very fortunate. We worked
with the Orlando utilitycommission as a municipal
utility in Orlando, and theyunderstood that this could
(19:55):
benefit their their residents.
And the citizens of Orlando. Sothey were very they were very
approachable. They were veryeager to work with us and
understanding that they couldwhat this could do for for
certain demographics in inOrlando, and that's those kinds
(20:19):
of relationships are, are whatwe're trying to to build. And I
think we've been quite fortunatein in the utilities and
partnerships that we've we'vedeveloped. What
Tim Montague (20:31):
other what else should our listeners know? You
know, like my my core audienceis installers and EPCs, and then
developers, and then all theAllied, you know, finance,
engineering, legal services,etc, and and all of these
aspects of the of the energyecosystem. Need to Know about
(20:55):
soul share and Allume. But whatelse should my installer
listeners know? You know, theseare folks that are self
developing CNI, which is thisthat, you know, that's the
bullseye for you, multi family,you know, low rise, up to three
stories, I think you say on yourwebsite, low rise, one soul
(21:16):
share unit, just so youunderstand listeners, one soul
share unit can connect to 10meters. So there's no reason you
couldn't do 100 unit property.
It's just, it's, there's got tobe space for those soul share
units. But what else should ourlisteners know?
Aliya Bagewadi (21:35):
Well, you know, it kind of goes back to your
question around like, what, whatthe friction is? And I think for
us right now it, you know, it'svery helpful to have these kind
of kinds of conversations withyou, because a big aspect for us
is letting people know that weexist. You know, both building
owners and installers that nowyou can go after multi family
(21:57):
installations, because there isthis technology that makes it
more cost effective andaffordable, and improves the
value proposition for buildingowners. So increases the
incentive for building owners topursue these projects. And it
from a technical perspective, itsimplifies how installers
ability to actually go afterthese projects. So that's, you
(22:19):
know, a critical thing that Iwould like the installers to
know is that we're really keento work with you to help unlock
this market and to help you goafter these projects. You know,
another thing that I haven'tsort of, yeah, if you want to
bring up that diagram, though,just to describe it a little bit
more, the way that things workis that you can take a single
(22:42):
solar system, the energy goesdown, passes an inverter. And
you asked about invertersearlier, we're actually agnostic
as to the type of inverterthat's used. You can use a
string inverter. You can usemicro inverters, regardless the
energy. Then, you know,obviously passes to soul share,
and then soul share isdistributing and allocating that
energy depending on thebuilding's needs. So that can be
(23:04):
allocated in a variety of ways.
So if the building owner wantsto max out their common meter,
first, we can do that and thensend excess energy to resident
meters. Or we can have setallocation to every meter.
There's a variety of ways inwhich we can tailor allocation
for the building. Excess energycan go, will go to the grid or a
(23:25):
battery, and typically, with thethe utilities we're working with
that those net meteringagreements are in the name of
the tenant, so the tenantreceives the credits for energy
sent to the grid, furtherlowering, lowering their utility
bill.
Tim Montague (23:46):
Okay, yeah, as you mentioned, you know, I love, I
love this diagram, okay, but Iimmediately have cognitive
dissonance, because I look atthe soul share between the
inverter and the meter bank, andI go, literally, there's one
wire running out of the soulshare, and somehow it can
intelligently determine how muchsolar to put to each of those 10
(24:08):
meters. How on earth can it dothat?
Aliya Bagewadi (24:11):
So it's not just one wire. It is soul share is
centrally installed, so it doesconnect up to, it connects to
every single meter, okay, withinthe meter bank, okay? And, yeah,
so that might just be a, so
Tim Montague (24:26):
it's a simplification. All right, yeah,
okay, so that's, that's fine,and, but, but in the projects
that you've done so far, likethis, this works. There's no,
there's nothing, you know froman electrical engineering
perspective, that issignificantly prohibitive in
(24:50):
American infrastructuretypically, right? Well,
Aliya Bagewadi (24:53):
no, this is a behind the meter solution So,
and that's also whatdifferentiates it from community
solar. So we're in. Reliant onthird party ownership. We're not
relying on community solarpolicies. That's how we were
able to do a project inMississippi where community
solar doesn't exist. I'm
Tim Montague (25:12):
referring to the infrastructure, the physical,
electromechanicalinfrastructure, right? So, so
there's like, this does work.
It's been proven. I guess. Weshould. We should really just,
in our last few minutestogether, just shine a light on
what, what else shouldinstallers know and where in
(25:34):
what markets should if you'relistening to this, should you go
to the Allume website and thenreach out to your team?
Aliya Bagewadi (25:45):
Yeah, so the technology has actually been
around for a while. It's beenaround for about six years now.
And the company, as youmentioned, started in Australia,
and then we expanded into NewZealand, Germany, the UK and the
US. So it is a proventechnology, and as a behind it's
(26:07):
also UL certified, IEEE tested,so as a behind the meter
solution, the reason I bringthat up is it is something that
is owned by the customer. Andit's not some, it is a a,
basically a mechanism that isconnecting the single system to
(26:31):
multiple meters. So we providetraining to installers on on
what that installation lookslike, and we work very closely
with installers, but it's, it's,I guess, from from a technical
perspective, it's a, it's a avery viable solution for
(26:52):
multifamily because it's notdependent on policy, is my
point. And the the markets thatwe you know, if you're an
installer, and if you'relistening to this, if you are in
the Illinois market, if you arein Florida, those are two states
that we're very focused on.
We're also looking at Utah aswell as DC. So if you're in
(27:14):
those states, please do reachout to us. But just generally,
if you're interested in pursuingmulti family buildings with a
behind the meter solution, ifyou're working on, you know,
solar for all projects, pleasego ahead and reach out to us. I
can give you our email. It's youcan reach out directly to me.
(27:35):
It's just Alia, a l, i Y A atAllume energy, a, l, l, u, M, E,
E, N, E, R, G, y.com,
Tim Montague (27:45):
and I have one last question, why not
California?
Aliya Bagewadi (27:50):
Well, California has virtual net metering, and
obviously the value of thosecredits is diminishing, but we
we felt that are the beginningmarkets for us would be, we
would be very valuable inlocations where virtual net
metering does not exist, becausethere's really no other
(28:11):
solution, right? And so that'swhy we have been primarily
focused on locations that don'thave virtual net metering that
doesn't however, I think that asthese credits diminish, I think
that we still have a very strongvalue proposition, because we
help residents actually capturethe full retail value of
electricity by consuming itbehind the meter, rather than
(28:34):
just sending it to the grid. SoCalifornia is on, I guess, is on
the list, but we are prettyfocused in the markets that we
are currently in. So
Tim Montague (28:47):
if you have robust virtual net metering, this
problem that Allume solves isjust being solved by a computer.
You're saying,
Aliya Bagewadi (28:56):
Well, you I mean, when you have robust
virtual net metering, then,yeah, you have a billing
mechanism, right as you'resaying, that can share those
credits to residents. However,that's all dependent on the
value of those credits, and ifthey're diminishing, as they are
(29:16):
in much of the country, then abehind the meter solution that
enables residents to directlyconsume that energy is more
valuable because it's capturinga higher rate of of electricity.
Tim Montague (29:33):
Yeah, well, batteries are so important. Do
you play well with solar plusstorage? Yes,
Aliya Bagewadi (29:39):
so we have done solar plus storage previously in
other parts of the country,sorry, in other parts of the
world, in Europe and Australia,we haven't yet done a project in
the US with batteries, but weare you would like to do a
project with batteries.
Batteries, you know. Canactually improve the resiliency
(30:00):
of the building, obviously. Butwhat's amazing is that, like how
so share is able to pull energyfrom a single system, social can
also pull energy from a singlebattery to share that energy to
multiple meters. So no longer doyou need separate battery banks.
You can have a single batteryand share that energy to
multiple meters as well. Cool.
Tim Montague (30:24):
All right. Well, I want to thank Alia bagiwadi, the
head of us partnerships for aloom, for coming on the show.
Check out all of our content atClean Power hour.com. Please
give us a rating and a review onApple or Spotify. Tell a friend
about the show today. Don'twait, do it and reach out to me
on LinkedIn. I want to thank youagain, Alia for coming on the
(30:46):
show. Thanks.
Aliya Bagewadi (30:47):
Thanks for having me. Rock on bye.
For us right now it, you know, it's very helpful
to have these kind of kinds ofconversations with you, because
a big aspect for us is lettingpeople know that we exist. You
know, both building owners andinstallers that now you can go
after multi familyinstallations, because there is
this technology that makes itmore cost effective and
(00:21):
affordable, and improves thevalue proposition for building
owners. So increases theincentive for building owners to
pursue these projects, and itfrom a technical perspective, it
simplifies how installersability to actually go after
these projects. Are
intro (00:38):
you speeding the energy transition here at the Clean
Power Hour, our host, TimMontague, bring you the best in
solar, batteries and cleantechnologies every week. Want to
go deeper into decarbonization.
We do too. We're here to helpyou understand and command the
commercial, residential andutility, solar, wind and storage
industries. So let's get to ittogether. We can speed the
(01:00):
energy transition
Tim Montague (01:04):
today on the Clean Power Hour solar for multi
family properties. I'm TimMontague, check out all of our
content at Clean Power hour.comPlease give us a rating and a
review on Apple or Spotify. Tella friend about the show. Reach
out to me on LinkedIn. I lovehearing from my listeners. My
guest today is Alia bagiwadi.
She is the US Director ofStrategic Partnerships for a
(01:25):
loom, an Australian company thatis now operating in the United
States. And if you're a solarinstaller, developer working on
multi family projects, you wantto hear this. Okay? So welcome
to the show, Alia, thank you somuch for having Tim. I love this
topic. Multi family has been abit of a conundrum for the solar
industry, unless you areCalifornia and you create
(01:49):
special programs for multifamily, and we will talk about
that, but we will also geek outon what's going on in some of
the other top DG states, likeNew York and Illinois. So tell
us a little bit about yourself.
Alia, how did you come to aloom? You're based in Chicago,
(02:11):
which I love, and you're workingin Illinois, but you're also
working elsewhere. So tell us alittle bit about yourself and
where a loom is targeting yourearly markets here in the US.
Aliya Bagewadi (02:23):
Great, yeah, so, um, a little bit about me. I, as
you mentioned, I'm based inChicago. I'm actually, I'm from
Chicago. Um, growing up, I wouldgo back and forth between
Chicago and India, and was veryaware of the inequality that
existed, both in Chicago and inIndia. And so I always had this
(02:46):
question of, Why do some have somuch and many have so little?
And that the question ofinequality really propelled me,
even in college and beyond,trying to understand why is this
the case. And I studied that incollege, and then subsequently
(03:10):
worked in all sorts of fields totry and combat this. And I think
what drew me to a loom is theaspect that we are trying to
solve for income inequality, aswell, as, you know, supporting
clean energy on the planet, andwe're also trying to reach
underserved populations. So, sothat is really what attracted me
(03:33):
to Allume, and we can talk moreabout how we do that, the areas
that we are focused on in the USare, are Illinois. We've also
done projects where in thesoutheast, where energy burdens
are especially high. So we'vedone projects in Florida as well
as Mississippi. And we are, weare pretty much looking to
(03:55):
expand into the Midwest.
Tim Montague (03:59):
Great. Well, it's interesting that you're working
in the southeast that is not ahotbed of DG, but, but anyway,
your product is very unique. Itis a physical device, and I want
to clarify that for ourlisteners right up front. How
(04:20):
does the Allume work? And justnote listeners that this is an
Australian company. If youcaught my interview with Andrew
Burch recently, check out thatepisode that is episode 263,
from March, from early March.
2025, with Andrew Burch, we talkextensively about the Australian
(04:40):
market, where solar is 1/3 ofthe cost of solar in the US. So
just keep that in mind. So whatis, what is soul share as you,
as you guys call it, and howdoes it work?
Aliya Bagewadi (04:57):
Oh, yeah, I'll also start. Talking about the
context in which it wasdeveloped. And you and you
mentioned that in Australia,solar is very it's financially
very feasible, and that has alsoled to over 30% of single family
homes having solar in Australia.
So in that very sophisticated,mature solar market, you know,
(05:17):
about seven years ago, 10 yearsago, there was this clear energy
equity issue whereby peopleliving in multi family
buildings, people living inapartments, just didn't have the
same access to that solar and soit's in that environment where
soul share was developed. Andwhat soul share is, is it's the
world's only hardware that thatshares energy from a single
(05:42):
rooftop solar system and sharesthe energy to multiple meters in
a multi family building. So it'sactually physically pushing the
electrons for direct consumptionfor tenants in in those
buildings.
Tim Montague (05:59):
Yeah. And so you you've got the grid coming into
an apartment building, then youhave a meter bank,
traditionally, right? Each unitis individually metered, and
that's right away where theproblem happens, because a
developer or an EPC looks atthat and goes, Oh, well, that's
(06:20):
going to be too expensive tointerconnect to 10 different or
20 different meters. I'm goingto walk away from this. The
other constraint can often bethe size of the roof but or the
available roof space. These tendto be sloped roofs. In many
jurisdictions, it's a mixed bag.
Sometimes they're flat. Butanyway, roof obstructions are a
(06:41):
problem, so the Allume, though,is going to go between the grid
and the meter bank and thenallow you to effectively do a
bunch of residential projects ina cost effective manner. So
(07:02):
you're connecting the solar tothe Allume, right, the inverter.
Or is that is, is there? Let'stalk a little more deeply about
some of the technology. Arestring inverters acceptable? Or
are you doing micro inverterspreferentially? Or what? How
does this work? Yeah, so
Aliya Bagewadi (07:23):
let me, let me delve a little bit more into
soul share. So just aclarification, Soul share is the
name of the technology, and thenis the name of the company, and
the the way in which, you know,it's helpful to think about the
historic barriers. Why has thisbeen why is something as simple
as what you conceptually, assimple as residents in
(07:46):
apartments receiving solar whyhas that been such a barrier,
and it's a critical problem,because over 40% of the
population in the United Stateslives in these apartments.
That's a significant chunk ofpeople who just haven't had
access to the energy saving,energy saving technology, or
(08:08):
technology solar panels. And youknow that's that is a clear
issue. So I think it's helpfulto think about, to think about
these barriers, to delve intothese barriers. And a really big
problem has been the splitincentive issue whereby building
(08:29):
owners were actually, you know,make the investment, and it's a
substantial investment,especially if you wanted
residents to consume that solar,because to consume that solar
you had, you had to haveseparate solar systems per unit,
and that's a lot of hardware, asyou're mentioning, and it's just
really expensive. And why woulda building owner make that
(08:50):
investment if the if thebenefits largely flow to the
residents? So there is thathistoric split incentive issue.
The way that we are solving forit with soul share is we're
sharing the energy between thebuilding owners meter and the
resident meters, so both canlower their energy expenditures.
(09:11):
And because the landlord is nowsharing that energy with their
residents, they can start theycan charge for that access to
that energy. So they can createthings like solar amenity fees,
which is similar to, you know,charging for parking or pool
access. It's an amenity fee, andthat's especially helpful in
(09:33):
states where power purchasingagreements are not allowed. In
states where power purchasingagreements are allowed, they can
start to charge for that solaron a per kilowatt basis. So for
the building owner, it creates anew revenue stream for them, and
then for the resident, it stillmaintains that savings on their
energy bills. So that's the wayin which we're solving for that
(09:54):
split incentive issue, which hasbeen a very big issue in the
multi family space. But so
Tim Montague (09:59):
the land. Board is effectively becoming the
utility.
Aliya Bagewadi (10:04):
I wouldn't say that they're becoming the
utility, because the theresident will continue to be on,
will continue to have a contractand will continue to get energy
from the grid. We're notcompletely offsetting grid
usage, but we are significantlyreducing grid usage. So we can,
(10:26):
we can lower grid usage forresidents by about 40% which is
much more, frankly, moresubstantial than a lot of
community solar programs, whichare tending to offset energy
bills by about 2010, to 20% in agood program. So and with a
behind the meter solution likeours, we can offset
(10:46):
significantly more than that. Iknow you asked about the Yeah, I
can let you go ahead, but I knowyou asked more about kind of
where it sits within thebuilding, and I'm happy to
answer that,
Tim Montague (10:59):
yeah, yeah, yeah, let's, I mean, let's, let's go a
little deeper into Illinois. Forexample, I know you're working
in multiple states, but inIllinois, I know that you're
working in the solar for allprogram and where ostensibly
we're trying to offer, or haveto offer, residents a 50%
(11:20):
discount on energy. And so let'sjust walk through from a
residence perspective, they'rein a building. The building
owner goes, Hey, I'm going toinstall rooftop solar. I'm going
to use this technology, which isgreat, because it it makes solar
(11:43):
more practical for multifamily.
You tenants are going to now beconsuming some clean, green
solar energy and but you're notgoing to have to pay for the
upfront cost of theinstallation. A lot of those
costs are paid for by incentivesfor the Illinois solar for all
(12:04):
program, frankly, right? Becausethose incentives are very
generous and and so and thentomorrow, you're going to have a
lower energy bill from Comet.
Let's just say you're inNorthern Illinois, comment
territory, you're going to get alower energy bill, and I'm going
(12:25):
to put a small service fee onyour rent, or something like
that, because I am incurringsome administrative costs and
some out of pocket to get thisproject done. Yeah.
Aliya Bagewadi (12:36):
So the question of like, how, how do we, how can
we do multifamily solar withinthis program? Is how I
understand the question. Well,so little bit about Illinois
solar for all is that there'salso this $30 million fund for
multifamily, low incomemultifamily solar that hasn't
(12:58):
really been touched becausethere hasn't been a good way to
indicate 50% of the benefits areflowing to residents. That's
been very difficult to prove.
What we are able to do with atechnology like ours is the
hardware social is actuallycontrolled by software. So the
software we can set upalgorithms that tell so share to
(13:20):
send 50% of the energy todirectly to resident meters. And
then we can show that with thatsoftware. So we can report on
the amount of solar that's beendelivered, consumed, exported,
all relative to energy demand.
(13:40):
So we can really show and withconcrete data that residents are
receiving these benefits, whichhas been very challenging
previously, and it was also, Imean, another barrier in the
multi family solar space,because even if you know, even
if building owners made thisinvestment, it was hard for them
to understand, how is itimpacting my residents, but now
(14:02):
we can show with this solardistribution data how it's
lowering energy bills. So yeah,that's the way in which we are.
I would, I would say that we areunlocking this fund for
installers in Illinois,
Tim Montague (14:20):
but how I described it is fairly accurate.
Aliya Bagewadi (14:24):
That is accurate. Yeah, okay,
Tim Montague (14:27):
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call 855-584-7168, to find outmore. So let's talk more about
the building owner. From thebuilding owners perspective,
what is the what is the lift?
Aliya Bagewadi (15:29):
A lift for the in Illinois, or just generally.
Tim Montague (15:33):
I mean, we can talk about both Illinois and
elsewhere. I mean, Illinois isunique in that we have very good
incentives for low income. Itcomes. It is a double edge.
There's an administrative burdento that. But yeah, in Illinois
and then in elsewhere in Floridaor the southeast, happy to hear
(15:56):
about both markets. But if I'm afacility owner, if I'm if I'm a
apartment owner, and I want tobring solar, which many
apartment owners do. I think,how does that work for me,
though, financially andadministratively?
Aliya Bagewadi (16:12):
Yeah, so if we just think about it generally,
for the building owner, that ifthey want to own the asset, then
it's typically like a CapExinvestment for them. You know,
they have to find this upfrontcapital, which at a time when
interest rates are so high thatcan be challenging. However,
there are specific funds rightthere are, there is still access
(16:37):
to the solar for all funding atthe federal, you know, from the
EPA that is still accessiblenow, in which there are programs
that are providing low interestloans for for building owners
that want to go solar andprovide this energy to their
residents, especially in lowincome areas. So that's really
(16:58):
the the you know, the upfrontmove from the building owner,
but the benefits that theyreceive are significant, right?
So in addition to those lowinterest financing and tax
credits at the federal level,minimum of 30% tax credit on the
system, they also candistinguish themselves in the
(17:21):
market. So in addition tolowering utility bills for their
residents, which increasestenant satisfaction, and there's
plenty of studies to show thatit also improves tenant
occupancy, so fewer residentsmove out because people like
having lower energy bills. Thatimproves the profitability of a
(17:41):
building. It also, you know, youknow this, that solar also
increases the property value ofa building right in addition to
that, like we live in a time andage where many people,
especially kind of, I would say,especially younger demographics,
are keen on, on, on and aware oftheir carbon footprint, and want
(18:03):
to live in buildings that aresustainable. So in general,
these sorts of measures are verymuch improving the profitability
of buildings.
Tim Montague (18:12):
Yeah. I mean, I do. I really like this value
proposition, right? You makeyour building more attractive
because the energy bills aregoing to be lower, and then
you're, you're participating inthe energy transition. This is,
this is very attractive. Whatare the points of friction, I
guess. And when you look at thelandscape, you know, you're
(18:35):
obviously getting a bead on,yeah, this is working here. This
is sort of working here, andthis is really not working here.
Why Florida? For example,Florida is not famous for its DG
market. It is famous forutilities that are not friendly
to DG frankly. How does thiswork in Florida? Or how is it
(18:58):
working? You've got projects asfar back on your website is 2022
is it still a focus of yourwork?
Aliya Bagewadi (19:08):
Yeah, so in terms of where we have focused
and and I guess also thefriction within the market, or
where are the most opportunelocations in the market, I
think, certainly going tolocations where there are strong
energy equity goals and wherethere are clean energy energy
(19:33):
and like equity goals and alsoan affordability goals as well
as clean energy goals, is a verygood market for us, because we
can obviously help with both.
And you know, in Florida, wewere very fortunate. We worked
with the Orlando utilitycommission as a municipal
utility in Orlando, and theyunderstood that this could
(19:55):
benefit their their residents.
And the citizens of Orlando. Sothey were very they were very
approachable. They were veryeager to work with us and
understanding that they couldwhat this could do for for
certain demographics in inOrlando, and that's those kinds
(20:19):
of relationships are, are whatwe're trying to to build. And I
think we've been quite fortunatein in the utilities and
partnerships that we've we'vedeveloped. What
Tim Montague (20:31):
other what else should our listeners know? You
know, like my my core audienceis installers and EPCs, and then
developers, and then all theAllied, you know, finance,
engineering, legal services,etc, and and all of these
aspects of the of the energyecosystem. Need to Know about
(20:55):
soul share and Allume. But whatelse should my installer
listeners know? You know, theseare folks that are self
developing CNI, which is thisthat, you know, that's the
bullseye for you, multi family,you know, low rise, up to three
stories, I think you say on yourwebsite, low rise, one soul
(21:16):
share unit, just so youunderstand listeners, one soul
share unit can connect to 10meters. So there's no reason you
couldn't do 100 unit property.
It's just, it's, there's got tobe space for those soul share
units. But what else should ourlisteners know?
Aliya Bagewadi (21:35):
Well, you know, it kind of goes back to your
question around like, what, whatthe friction is? And I think for
us right now it, you know, it'svery helpful to have these kind
of kinds of conversations withyou, because a big aspect for us
is letting people know that weexist. You know, both building
owners and installers that nowyou can go after multi family
(21:57):
installations, because there isthis technology that makes it
more cost effective andaffordable, and improves the
value proposition for buildingowners. So increases the
incentive for building owners topursue these projects. And it
from a technical perspective, itsimplifies how installers
ability to actually go afterthese projects. So that's, you
(22:19):
know, a critical thing that Iwould like the installers to
know is that we're really keento work with you to help unlock
this market and to help you goafter these projects. You know,
another thing that I haven'tsort of, yeah, if you want to
bring up that diagram, though,just to describe it a little bit
more, the way that things workis that you can take a single
(22:42):
solar system, the energy goesdown, passes an inverter. And
you asked about invertersearlier, we're actually agnostic
as to the type of inverterthat's used. You can use a
string inverter. You can usemicro inverters, regardless the
energy. Then, you know,obviously passes to soul share,
and then soul share isdistributing and allocating that
energy depending on thebuilding's needs. So that can be
(23:04):
allocated in a variety of ways.
So if the building owner wantsto max out their common meter,
first, we can do that and thensend excess energy to resident
meters. Or we can have setallocation to every meter.
There's a variety of ways inwhich we can tailor allocation
for the building. Excess energycan go, will go to the grid or a
(23:25):
battery, and typically, with thethe utilities we're working with
that those net meteringagreements are in the name of
the tenant, so the tenantreceives the credits for energy
sent to the grid, furtherlowering, lowering their utility
bill.
Tim Montague (23:46):
Okay, yeah, as you mentioned, you know, I love, I
love this diagram, okay, but Iimmediately have cognitive
dissonance, because I look atthe soul share between the
inverter and the meter bank, andI go, literally, there's one
wire running out of the soulshare, and somehow it can
intelligently determine how muchsolar to put to each of those 10
(24:08):
meters. How on earth can it dothat?
Aliya Bagewadi (24:11):
So it's not just one wire. It is soul share is
centrally installed, so it doesconnect up to, it connects to
every single meter, okay, withinthe meter bank, okay? And, yeah,
so that might just be a, so
Tim Montague (24:26):
it's a simplification. All right, yeah,
okay, so that's, that's fine,and, but, but in the projects
that you've done so far, likethis, this works. There's no,
there's nothing, you know froman electrical engineering
perspective, that issignificantly prohibitive in
(24:50):
American infrastructuretypically, right? Well,
Aliya Bagewadi (24:53):
no, this is a behind the meter solution So,
and that's also whatdifferentiates it from community
solar. So we're in. Reliant onthird party ownership. We're not
relying on community solarpolicies. That's how we were
able to do a project inMississippi where community
solar doesn't exist. I'm
Tim Montague (25:12):
referring to the infrastructure, the physical,
electromechanicalinfrastructure, right? So, so
there's like, this does work.
It's been proven. I guess. Weshould. We should really just,
in our last few minutestogether, just shine a light on
what, what else shouldinstallers know and where in
(25:34):
what markets should if you'relistening to this, should you go
to the Allume website and thenreach out to your team?
Aliya Bagewadi (25:45):
Yeah, so the technology has actually been
around for a while. It's beenaround for about six years now.
And the company, as youmentioned, started in Australia,
and then we expanded into NewZealand, Germany, the UK and the
US. So it is a proventechnology, and as a behind it's
(26:07):
also UL certified, IEEE tested,so as a behind the meter
solution, the reason I bringthat up is it is something that
is owned by the customer. Andit's not some, it is a a,
basically a mechanism that isconnecting the single system to
(26:31):
multiple meters. So we providetraining to installers on on
what that installation lookslike, and we work very closely
with installers, but it's, it's,I guess, from from a technical
perspective, it's a, it's a avery viable solution for
(26:52):
multifamily because it's notdependent on policy, is my
point. And the the markets thatwe you know, if you're an
installer, and if you'relistening to this, if you are in
the Illinois market, if you arein Florida, those are two states
that we're very focused on.
We're also looking at Utah aswell as DC. So if you're in
(27:14):
those states, please do reachout to us. But just generally,
if you're interested in pursuingmulti family buildings with a
behind the meter solution, ifyou're working on, you know,
solar for all projects, pleasego ahead and reach out to us. I
can give you our email. It's youcan reach out directly to me.
(27:35):
It's just Alia, a l, i Y A atAllume energy, a, l, l, u, M, E,
E, N, E, R, G, y.com,
Tim Montague (27:45):
and I have one last question, why not
California?
Aliya Bagewadi (27:50):
Well, California has virtual net metering, and
obviously the value of thosecredits is diminishing, but we
we felt that are the beginningmarkets for us would be, we
would be very valuable inlocations where virtual net
metering does not exist, becausethere's really no other
(28:11):
solution, right? And so that'swhy we have been primarily
focused on locations that don'thave virtual net metering that
doesn't however, I think that asthese credits diminish, I think
that we still have a very strongvalue proposition, because we
help residents actually capturethe full retail value of
electricity by consuming itbehind the meter, rather than
(28:34):
just sending it to the grid. SoCalifornia is on, I guess, is on
the list, but we are prettyfocused in the markets that we
are currently in. So
Tim Montague (28:47):
if you have robust virtual net metering, this
problem that Allume solves isjust being solved by a computer.
You're saying,
Aliya Bagewadi (28:56):
Well, you I mean, when you have robust
virtual net metering, then,yeah, you have a billing
mechanism, right as you'resaying, that can share those
credits to residents. However,that's all dependent on the
value of those credits, and ifthey're diminishing, as they are
(29:16):
in much of the country, then abehind the meter solution that
enables residents to directlyconsume that energy is more
valuable because it's capturinga higher rate of of electricity.
Tim Montague (29:33):
Yeah, well, batteries are so important. Do
you play well with solar plusstorage? Yes,
Aliya Bagewadi (29:39):
so we have done solar plus storage previously in
other parts of the country,sorry, in other parts of the
world, in Europe and Australia,we haven't yet done a project in
the US with batteries, but weare you would like to do a
project with batteries.
Batteries, you know. Canactually improve the resiliency
(30:00):
of the building, obviously. Butwhat's amazing is that, like how
so share is able to pull energyfrom a single system, social can
also pull energy from a singlebattery to share that energy to
multiple meters. So no longer doyou need separate battery banks.
You can have a single batteryand share that energy to
multiple meters as well. Cool.
Tim Montague (30:24):
All right. Well, I want to thank Alia bagiwadi, the
head of us partnerships for aloom, for coming on the show.
Check out all of our content atClean Power hour.com. Please
give us a rating and a review onApple or Spotify. Tell a friend
about the show today. Don'twait, do it and reach out to me
on LinkedIn. I want to thank youagain, Alia for coming on the
(30:46):
show. Thanks.
Aliya Bagewadi (30:47):
Thanks for having me. Rock on bye.
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