Spending last year as president of the Missouri Solar Energy Industries Association (MOSEIA) was both a learning experience and step forward for Houston resident Caleb Arthur.
Arthur, 30, is the owner and chief executive officer of Missouri Sun Solar, a company he founded in May 2012 that last year was tabbed by Inc. Magazine as the fastest-growing energy company in Missouri and ranked second among companies of all types. The magazine also ranked Sun Solar ninth in the U.S. for fastest energy company growth and 156th on the list of the nation’s top 5,000 fastest-growing companies in all fields.
The MOSEIA (mo-see-uh) website states its mission is “to strengthen and expand the solar industry and establish a sustainable energy future for all Missourians.” Arthur has been a board member for the organization since it formed in 2009, and as its president, he put in plenty of time and effort helping determine and guide its policies, lobbying for solar in Jefferson City, working with legislators and utility company executives, and generally being a liaison for solar energy interests in Missouri.
“About 2,500 employees at about 30 solar companies look at MOSEIA as the one voice,” Arthur said, “and the president kind of has the responsibility of speaking that one voice. Last year, I spent many, many hours talking in front of Senate and House committees and testifying about who I am, what I represent with my company and with MOSEIA, and describing what we would like to see done.”
Arthur said he was surprisingly welcome in Jeff City.
“It was shocking how well accepted I was,” he said. “Before I had a successful company and was MOSEIA president, a lot of those people thought I was just another solar guy. But once they started hearing my story and talking to me, some of the most, what you would consider anti-solar Republicans actually cared what I had to say and would ask great questions.
“They would even call me later to talk some more. That blew my mind.”
Arthur said people in general would be surprised to find out they’ll get the same acceptance from their local legislators.
“We think of them as these big, scary monsters who dictate our lives,” he said. “But really, we vote them into power and they actually have to answer to the people who vote them in. The disconnect is that we believe we can’t approach the, but I think when most people do – Republican or Democrat – they’re blown away at the response and heart-felt interaction.
“I think the moral to that story is that if people really want change, they need to get engaged and meet their legislators face-to-face.”
Arthur said he has an interest in being a politician, but isn’t sure he fits the mold.
“They have to sacrifice so much,” he said. “So much family time and so much of their lives. They’ll be up at one in the morning debating bills, and they haven’t even eaten in 10 hours. I end up wondering, ‘how do you guys – for the amount you get paid – do that?'”
Typically, MOSEIA presidents serve two-year terms. But Arthur decided to step down half way though his stint primarily due to time constraints.
“I felt like I was spread too thin,” he said. “I felt like the pressure of being Sun Solar CEO and then doing everything else was just too much at times.”
Sun Solar Kansas City district manager Mark Walter took Arthur’s place for 2017, with approval of the MOSEIA board. Walter formerly headed Renew Missouri, the state’s largest renewable energy non-profit group that deals not only with solar issues, but all aspects of the renewable energy realm.
“I struggled with walking away,” Arthur said, “because I think we accomplished so much in a year. But I’m really glad Mark took my place; he has everything it takes to be in the position.”
Those accomplishments included having five pro-solar bills introduced in a state Arthur said is “83-percent coal-dependent” with regard to energy.
Even as a board member, Arthur represents a change of pace for MOSEIA.
“For what was normally a liberal, left-wing solar association, I was the first conservative Republican to ever be on the board,” he said. “While I was president last year, the thing MOSEIA had a big win on was getting the conservative voice coming from me into a message legislators understood was non-partisan but was coming from the ‘other side’ for once. It really helped with Republicans get a better understanding of the job creation aspect and other positive aspects of solar.”
Arthur said his experience in dealing with state legislators opened his eyes to their feelings about attempts for them to be “bought.”
“I learned that they are really burned out on lobbyists from all these big corporations being paid full time to wine and dine them, give them a gift and play the whole ‘you scratch my back and I’ll scratch yours’ game,” he said. “Deep inside, our legislators are sick of that way of doing business. So when a guy like me walks in who actually has a family, owns his own business and has employees, they’re very receptive. It’s refreshing for them to see a guy from Houston who doesn’t have huge political ties or money, huge corporate money or who’s there to say, ‘here’s what I want you to do to hurt my competitor.'”
Arthur said he now knows that legislative change doesn’t come easily – or swiftly.
“I learned that getting laws changed is a very long, messy and frustrating process,” he said, “both for we who want it changed and they who want it for us. All the committee meetings and hearings, getting it on the floor, and then voting three times before it can pass; I mean, I’m surprised they can get any bills passed the way it’s set up.
“Some people would say that’s a good thing because it prevents too many things changing too fast. But our state’s energy laws are over 100 years old. So a lot of my frustration with utility companies not doing the right thing fast enough for the solar industry is mostly rooted in them having their hands tied behind their backs from our state’s ancient laws.
“Can you imagine trying to run a business on a 100-year old law without having the updates you needed? It’s maddening.”
Next up for MOSEIA, Arthur said, is to continue its momentum in promoting solar energy as a viable alternative for Missouri.
“I think MOSEIA is in a great position to get more pro-solar bills introduced and prevent anti-solar bills from being introduced,” he said. “Last year, 38 states changed their solar laws, but Missouri didn’t. There’s an old saying that sometimes certain things are better left untouched than to touch them and open Pandora’s Box.
“What we at MOSEIA have to do is figure out how to open that box and get something good out of it without rolling something back.”
Arthur said his motivation goes beyond success in business.
“The reason I’m doing all this is because I know how much clean, renewable energy benefits everyone,” he said. “It’s better for our environment, it’s better for the planet and it’s better for the budget. But more than that, everyone should have the right to choose what’s best for them.
“I would love to see a time in which every person can realize the benefits of clean energy, not to mention the environmental benefits that would result if we stop plundering our natural resources.”
FIVE YEARS OF SUN SOLAR
Arthur will celebrate Sun Solar’s fifth anniversary in May.
“I think it’s pretty humbling to see the support that’s been pouring in from our community,” he said, “and even the statewide community that knows something about Sun Solar. Seeing so many people I know and grew up with who have gone solar means so much to me, because I had relationships with them. It makes me feel very good that I’ve had so much support from the local newspaper, the school board, city council members and even people at the local utilities congratulating me on things.
“When those things happen, it gives me that drive to go to the next step.”
Arthur said Sun Solar’s production that led to the high ranking in 2015 was tripled in 2016.
“We went from something like $8 or 9 million in revenues in 2015 to a little under $28 million in 2016,” he said. “And our goal for 2017 is $40 million. That means more job growth – and we have 135 employees now.”
Sun Solar’s operation in Columbia, S.C., is going well, Arthur said, as is the firm’s recent expansion to Kansas City. Plans are in place for the company to soon enter the Illinois market.
“I really want people to know that if you have a dream, you need to focus and believe in yourself and follow that dream,” Arthur said, “and don’t listen to anybody who tells you that you can’t do it. Five years ago, there were a lot of close friends – and even family – who told me solar was just an unsustainable, unknown technology that costs too much and people weren’t going to do it and I was wasting my time.
“I decided at that point that I was going to focus on my dream. I took a leap of faith with my brother, working as my own sales rep, installer and financial department. I think now I can look back and say I’ve proven all those people wrong. And even more than that, that I’ve proven myself right, and that there was a market for it.”
Arthur believes the public can make a difference in promoting the future of solar energy.
“I think we’ve seen time and again that whoever bands together and creates a loud voice gets stuff done,” he said. “So I want to encourage people that no matter what side of the aisle you’re on, if you just team up with like-minded people, have honest discussions and work for things, you can help solar move forward.”