In the coal country of West Virginia, one solar company is writing a new chapter in Appalachia’s energy story.
Founded in 2013 by CEO Dan Conant, Solar Holler is dedicated to revitalizing the communities of Appalachia by providing accessible, affordable solar solutions to homes, businesses, and local organizations. Its holistic approach combines energy equity, economic development, and community advocacy, proving that solar power can thrive while also supporting and perpetuating the region’s rich energy legacy.
Building an industry from the ground up
Born and raised in West Virginia, Dan moved out of state for school, eventually earning a Master of Science in Environmental Science and Policy from Johns Hopkins University. After graduation, he gained firsthand clean energy experience by helping to start a solar company in Vermont. However, it wasn't long before he started to feel the pull to return home.
When Dan returned to West Virginia to launch Solar Holler, he found a blank canvas.
“We had a wide-open space at that point,” he said in a recent conversation with Enphase. “Barely anyone had ever installed solar systems or knew how to do it. And most counties had never seen any solar systems installed.”
Rather than see this as a challenge, Dan saw it as an opportunity to build something extraordinary. “The industry simply didn’t exist,” he added. “So we had the chance to do it right from the start.”
Solar Holler began by focusing exclusively on non-profits—such as churches, libraries, and homeless shelters—and developing innovative financing solutions to make solar accessible to these community organizations.
“The idea was that every dollar we could shave from their electricity bills meant more books for the libraries or more teachers for the schools,” Dan explained. “At the same time, we wanted to show off that solar is not in competition with who we are as a state and what we’ve done historically.”
As a shining example, Solar Holler created one of the first virtual power plants using water heaters in 2014. “I convinced 100 of my neighbors to let me install a little remote control on their water heater,” he recalled. “We registered them collectively as a virtual power plant on PJM’s frequency regulation market.”
This scrappy, innovative approach helped fund Solar Holler’s first church project, reducing the installation cost from $55,000 to just one dollar.
A holistic approach to community enrichment
For Dan and the Solar Holler team, installing solar systems is just one piece of a larger mission to revitalize Appalachian communities. For example, they partnered with Coalfield Development, a job training non-profit, to create a solar workforce development program. “We partnered up with them and started cross-training their workers into solar,” shared Dan. “These were largely kids of coal miners—truly the next generation of energy workers.”
“We used all our labor dollars from putting solar on churches,” he added, “to pour into paying for kids’ college tuitions, and their electrical apprenticeships and certifications.”
Powering progress with Enphase
Today, with almost 100 employees, Solar Holler manages everything in-house, from initial consultations to final installation. This vertically integrated approach ensures quality control and allows the company to stand firmly behind its work. Dan feels the responsibility to not only do right by his customers but also ensure that the state’s solar industry continues to grow.
“We’re building West Virginia’s solar industry from the ground up,” he said. “So, if we screw up, it’s the entire industry taking it on the chin.”
In 2020, Solar Holler formed an exclusive partnership with Enphase for its residential microinverters.
“Price and affordability come in multiple different forms,” explained Dan. "Downtime is huge. If your inverters fail 20% of the time and they take down the entire system, that’s not affordable solar. If we’re asking our neighbors and our friends to put solar on their roofs, we’ve got to get it right.”
He’s especially excited about the new Enphase production facility in South Carolina. “We have an opportunity to do a ton of amazing things, and we’re really excited to do it with American workers and American manufacturing.”
Transforming communities, one project at a time
One of Solar Holler’s proudest achievements came after years of advocacy led to the legalization of Power Purchase Agreements (PPAs) in West Virginia. “Now that we legalized PPAs, we’re covering entire county school districts in the heart of coal country—library systems, community centers, school districts, and more,” Dan said proudly. “We’ve been able to fulfill a ten-year dream of expanding our work with so many more community organizations.”
After securing the PPA agreement, Solar Holler began transforming the first of seven of Cabell County’s libraries into a solar-powered community anchor. The team chose to equip the project with Enphase IQ8P-3P Microinverters for their panel-level optimization and reliable performance, maximizing energy production and delivering long-term savings. Critically, the Enphase microinverters made at U.S. manufacturing facilities also qualified the project for domestic content tax credits, significantly improving project economics.
The project also brought together local community members who believed in Solar Holler’s mission to serve as tax equity partners. “It turns out we have a lot of customers over the years who know us and love our work—and have the means to support our work,” Dan smiled. “And they bring their kids to the local library, so it’s kind of a perfect fit to help fund our local projects.”
Solar Holler’s projects are already generating significant savings—21 schools in Wayne County will save approximately $150,000 in first-year electricity bill reductions, with potential savings exceeding $400,000 if proposed utility rate hikes take effect.
Looking to the future
Today, Solar Holler has more than 2,300 customers, with its reach stretching beyond West Virginia into southwest Virginia and parts of Ohio and Kentucky. As the company continues to grow, its mission remains clear: Continuing to be a community-focused clean energy advocate with a local workforce and a domestic supply chain. While residential installations remain core to its business, commercial projects are also expanding rapidly. “We have a whole lot of rooftops to go,” Conant said. “There are so many more that we want to support in the future.”
Through innovative financing, workforce development, and unwavering commitment to its people and history, Solar Holler is proving that solar power isn't just about energy generation—it's about community transformation.
