091224…R SOLAR 2…Hubbard…09-12-24…Boardman’s Kevin Eveland packages bracket system for solar panels…Written by R. Michael Semple
Staff photo / R. Michael Semple
SunWize Power & Battery assembly engineer Kevin Strawhecker of Mecca assembles control panels for solar and grid power systems at the Oregon-based company’s facility on Mount Everett Road in Hubbard Township. Masu.
HUBBARD TOWNSHIP — SolaBlock is a Massachusetts-based solar power and construction technology company led by a son of the Mahoning Valley who was looking for a company to manufacture its products.
SunWize Power & Battery is a manufacturer of solar modules and power systems. The Oregon-based company also has ties to the Valley, particularly its manufacturing hub in Hubbard Township, where the majority of its operations are located. One of its executives also grew up in the Valley.
Now, the two companies are partnering to develop SolaBlock’s solar masonry units, solar photovoltaic (PV) embedded within standard cement blocks that enable commercial building walls to become vertical solar power systems. module) to bring solar masonry units to market.
origin story
The eventual relationship can be traced back to a pointed question asked by Rick Lewandowski, a SolaBlock advisor with decades of experience in solar and renewable energy.
“When he started looking at our business model, he said, ‘Why in God’s name would you make your own solar modules?’ Do it faster, better, cheaper.” There are a lot of companies that can do that,” said Eric Plany, CEO of SolaBlock and a Youngstown native.
As a startup, SolaBlock needed to focus its energies on getting operational, and the cost of manufacturing its items was too high to sustain.
Three potential manufacturers were then presented to SolaBlock, including SunWize.
It was during a phone call that the relationship between the two companies became clear.
Mr. Plany, who thought the company’s operations center was still in New York, was corrected during the conversation to say that Sunwise had moved the center to the small town of Hubbard Township, Ohio.
“Let’s go, off of (State Route) 62 and (State Route) 7?” They looked at me, their jaws dropped, and they said, “What are you talking about?” ” said Plany, who grew up on Youngstown’s South Side and once called Liberty home.
After hanging up, Praney said she told her staff to make the “most objective decision.” Because he will immediately sign for the benefit of his homeland.
“We needed to make the most objective decision for our business. At the end of the day, in terms of product quality, engineering expertise, etc., SunWize was head and shoulders above the other two companies we were talking to. ” said Mr. Plainy.
Still, “I believe in karma, and I think there was some karma in hanging out with SunWize,” Planey said.
The two companies announced a memorandum of understanding earlier this year requiring SunWize to manufacture the solar modules essential to SolaBlock units.
So far, SunWize has delivered about 35 test modules manufactured in Asia, although part of the contract calls for SunWize to produce the modules domestically.
“We’re working hard to see how we can bring it into the country,” said SunWize chief executive David Eveland.
mount everett road
SunWize leases two buildings, totaling approximately 20,000 square feet, located in the former Babcock sawmill on Mount Everett Road. The company does most of its business there.
“We probably do about 70 percent of our business in Hubbard and the other 30 percent in Oregon,” Eveland said.
The company’s Oregon headquarters are in Albany, a gritty industrial city much like Youngstown.
The company employs 35 full-time employees between its two locations and three satellite offices, with an additional 10 to 15 contract employees.
The company was founded in 2014 and spun off from SunWize Technologies, Inc. Although it started small and was scaled back to about $5 million due to harmful tariffs, it has grown steadily since then, Eveland said.
The New York town of Saugerties was the location of SunWize’s manufacturing and distribution facility, but certain forces led Eveland to look elsewhere.
He loved the Pittsburgh area. In fact, he had been scouting western Pennsylvania for years as a potential location, since the company already had customers because of the region and manufacturing tradition.
Also, Niles native Larry Waldron, the company’s vice president of sales, has returned to his home state of Hubbard.
The move prompted Eveland to take a closer look at moving to Pennsylvania, but in the end, he said, the township turned out to be a better fit.
Moved around August 2022.
Among its products, SunWize Solar & Battery manufactures modules that can be integrated into other products.
“This is where SolaBlock suitability comes into play: Custom modules are something we know how to manufacture,” Eveland said. We were familiar with that and that was the beginning of the conversation. ”
“As we talked more, they realized that we have a commitment to doing it here, and we really do. It’s not just lip service,” Eveland said. said.
workforce and jobs
Access to available labor was a factor in SunWize Solar & Battery’s decision to relocate to the Valley.
Waldron said people here believe manufacturing can offer good careers.
“A big part of that was we knew that people were still growing up here with the idea that a manufacturing job was a viable option for them,” Waldron said. . “In a lot of other places, it’s just off people’s minds. They just don’t think of it as a career option. Here, it’s still here. It’s very ingrained. ”
Reputable technical and engineering schools in the region also played a role. Eveland acknowledged that the company is still in the process of fully connecting to that pipeline, but that’s an advantage for the company.
“We know the resources exist because we have worked with so many young people who have graduated from these technical and engineering schools,” he said. “And we know that people are graduating from those schools and finding jobs that match the jobs we offer. And they’re happy with those jobs, and they’re using that as a career. I am satisfied with the pass.”
“It means a lot to me” for Solabrock to work with businesses that contribute to the local economy, Planey said.
“We still know that the Mahoning Valley has manufacturing in its DNA,” he says.
“People of the Mahoning Valley, I think we mourn how much manufacturing we’ve lost, but we forget how much manufacturing we still have.”
