Sustainable Series: Right Man for the Job

Last week it was mentioned that Advanced Solar Power Inc. belongs to the Long Island Solar Energy Industries Association (LISEIA). For those unfamiliar with LISEIA, it is a not-for-profit industry group that represents roughly 85 percent of the solar organizations, and 95 percent of solar instillations, on Long Island. 

Acting as a task force, or branch, of the New York Solar Energy Industry Association (NYSEIA), LISEIA is responsible for working with LIPA and local, state, and federal governments to implement policy. An example of that locally is the Town of Brookhaven's Go Solar program, which LISEIA helped design.

Born out of the brainstorming of solar contractors, LISEIA was established in 2008. Among those contractors, Mike Bailis, a Holbrook resident who was named LISEIA's vice chairman in March.

"I'm fortunate that the president of LISEIA, also the secretary of NYSEIA, Sail Van Nostrand, is a very active and well spoken individual," Mr. Bailis said in regard to being vice chairman. "He's a tremendous advocate for the industry. I'm really there to support him and be his right-hand man when he needs me."

Though Mr. Bailis down played his involvement in the group, it's hard to ignore the importance of his expertise.

For the past 33 years Mr. Bailis has been an advocate of solar power. He was first inspired to get involved in the industry after hearing President Jimmy Carter's public address where he declared America's energy crisis as the moral equivalent of war. After the president's speech in April of 1977, Mr. Bailis soon graduated from SUNY Cortland with a BA in economics. Instead of seeking a job, Mr. Bailis hit the road and continue his education. This time an education in solar.

"I had a pamphlet listing the solar heating and cooling companies around the country and I literally traveled around for four months visiting with people who were solar advocates in their own way," Mr. Bailis recalled. "I didn't know anything about the industry – I'm talking 22-years-old – and I got a backpack, had a few bucks in my pocket, and I hitchhiked around the country. I was dedicated at the time to become an advocate of solar energy."

From his start with a solar hot water heating company in Arizona during the late 1970's, to selling Grumman manufactured solar hot water systems during the 1980's, Mr. Bailis' solar journey has never ceased. In 2002, him and his cousin, Scott Maskin, a master electrician, founded their own solar contracting company, then called Sun Power Systems, and now known as SuNation Solar Systems, a Sayville-based company and one of the largest of its kind on Long Island.

"Installing solar energy systems is the most rewarding thing I could ever think of doing," said Mr. Bailis, a native of East Islip who moved to Holbrook five years ago. "I'm keeping people working, I'm reducing our greenhouse gas emissions one system at a time, and I'm providing people with something they need: energy."

Though he enjoys what he does, Mr. Bailis did say the stresses of running a business can keep him up at night from time to time. As vice chairman of LISEIA, there are stresses as well considering the organization represents roughly 400 local employees of the solar industry. And as an organization that is less than three years old, dealing with LIPA and local legislators can be an uphill battle.

For instance, there are two  solar projects coming to Long Island in the 32-megawatt (MW) solar farm planned for the Brookhaven National Laboratory and the 17-MW Eastern Long Island Solar Project which  includes the construction of seven solar carports around the county (one is planned for the Ronkonkoma train station which will be detailed in coming weeks).

Together the projects equal roughly 50 MWs of power. According to Mr. Bailis, the total amount of solar installed on Long Island right now is roughly 12 MWs. Yet, despite the size of the projects, only one contractor will over see each, BP Solar at the Brookhaven Lab, and EnXco which will handle the Eastern Long Island Solar Project. Neither is a local company.

"It's absolutely horrible," Mr. Bailis said. "These projects just blows the doors off everything that has been installed to date. All we want, as a solar industry that was created by LIPA, is for them to require that the companies spread the wealth a little bit and it's not going to happen that way."

That's just one hurdle faced by LISEIA and the solar industry. Another, as this series explored last week, is cost. Weighing the benefits of solar in relationship to the upfront cost is often viewed as a losing equation. According to Mr. Bailis, it shouldn't be.

"A solar electric system installed on a home will provide a 10-to-15 percent, tax-free investment on a home for it's life and save hundreds of thousands of dollar in electric bills," he said. "All people have to do is take out a loan and pay it over time like they do with a house and for some that's the hardest thing in the world to understand."

In Mr. Bailis' opinion, for solar to reach a larger portion of the population there needs to be a shift, a shift in the way people view the production of energy and how it is paid for. Mr. Bailis noted that right now a utility customer pays for energy and not the equipment. With the instillation of solar, though, a customer pays for the equipment and not the energy.

"That's the shift," Mr. Bailis said. "The concept is a shift is how you buy [energy]. I think we are getting there. Slowly but surely we are getting there."

For LISEIA, and the local solar industry, the process is moving quicker with Bailis on board.

Sachem Patch Sustainable Series

No. 1: Introduction to the Series

No. 2: Towns of Islip and Brookhaven Already in the Green Game

No. 3: Becoming Efficient and Saving Money with National Energy Audits

No. 4: Supplying the Sun in Sachem

Sustainable Series Useful Terms List