Can Solar Save Hotels

Optimal has launched its Solar CARES program. Solar CARES is designed to finance the installation of Optimal Power Solutions on over 1,000 limited service hotels. Our reason is simple. Limited services hotel are owned in large part by minority families who are seeking the American Dream. And we want to help them because we are just like them. We are a culturally diverse team also seeking the American Dream. We get it.

In a recent Axios article, it was shared that there is an estimated forecast “of a 30% drop in hotel occupancy”. This could result in “a loss of up to 4 million hotel jobs”, impacting nearly 33,000 of limited service hotels.

Our program is designed to lower the electricity bill by up to 70% for the average hotel. We expect this to save at least 75 direct jobs per year and up to 300 indirect jobs for each 100 hotel installations. A recent study performed by SEIA suggests that hoteliers can assume a positive economic increase due to solar. Our analysis shows that by saving $100,000 in annual energy cost, hoteliers will increase in enterprise value by $1.2 million dollars. Our 2020 goal is to install Optimal Power Solutions on over 400 hotels improving the value of these limited service hotels by over $20 million.

As we write this article, we are preparing our first group of hotels for installation. This includes designing systems, walking roofs, submitting permits, and submitting for interconnections. These are jobs that Optimal is helping to save even before we install our Optimal Power Solution. COVID19 has hurt these small business owners. Our team with our partners will work hard to help save as many of them as possible.

Next week, we will provide a blog on what Optimal Power Solutions (OPS™) is and what makes it different. Stay tuned.