Faq
How does Clean Power Consulting Group help commercial solar companies scale?
Clean Power Consulting Group works with solar EPCs and developers who are ready to move beyond residential and small commercial work into large C&I, industrial, and small utility (<10 MW) projects. Tim Montague brings 10+ years of hands-on solar industry experience to help you build the systems, technology stack, choice of equipment (modules, racking, inverters), team, and market strategy you need to grow with confidence. Engagements typically cover market positioning, sales process, project financing structures, and hiring — so you are not just winning bigger projects, you are building a business that can deliver them.
What does a commercial solar business consultant actually do?
A good consultant does three things: diagnoses where your business is losing time or money, brings outside perspective and industry pattern recognition you cannot get from inside your own company, and holds you accountable to executing the plan. At CPCG, that means working through your pipeline, your pricing, your team structure, your tech stack, your major equipment, and your target market — then building a roadmap you can act on immediately. This is not theory. It is practical guidance grounded in real C&I solar project development experience (over 150 MW of projects originated).
How can AI tools help a solar company grow faster?
The Clean Power Consulting Group helps your solar company go further faster. You’ll achieve your growth into large C&I twice as fast working with us and you would on your own. We help you onboard the tools and technologies including AI tools like Claude Cowork. Here are the project stages we help you accelerate:
C&I Project Development Stages
- Lead generation — brokers, direct outreach, referrals
- Opportunity qualification — roof condition, seriousness of the facility owner, credit worthiness, site control, utility, incentives, ROI and decision-makers
- Load and rate analysis — interval data, tariffs, demand charges, export rules
- Site assessment — roof/ground conditions, shading, interconnection point
- Preliminary system design — sizing, energy modeling, battery storage strategy
- Financial modeling — payback period, ROI, NPV, IRR, incentives (ITC and adders, BESS, MACRS), financing
- Proposal generation — system design, savings summary, contract structure
- Contracting, permitting, and interconnection — PPA/EPC agreement, AHJ permits, utility app
- Construction and commissioning — installation, inspection, utility sign-off, monitoring platforms
Most solar companies are leaving significant time and money on the table because their teams are doing manually what AI can handle in minutes — proposal follow-up, lead research, meeting summaries, content creation, customer communication, and internal documentation. Tim Montague is a WSI-Certified AI Consultant with deep solar industry knowledge, which means he can help you identify the highest-leverage AI applications for your specific workflows and get your team actually using them — not just experimenting.
What does an AI adoption engagement look like for a solar or clean energy business?
Every engagement starts with an AI Execution Snapshot — a structured review of your current workflows, tools, and team capacity to identify where AI can deliver the fastest return. From there, Tim works with you on implementation: selecting the right tools, building prompts and processes your team will actually use, and training your people so adoption sticks. Engagements are available as one-time intensives or ongoing advisory relationships depending on your needs.
What can a solar entrepreneur or business owner expect from business coaching with Tim Montague?
Coaching with Tim is direct, structured, and grounded in the solar industry specifically. Sessions focus on areas we mutually agree are priorities like onboarding new technology, helping to build your pipeline of opportunities, and expanding your network of energy contacts and companies that will catalyze your growth and development. We also work on the decisions and bottlenecks that are actually limiting your growth: hiring the right people/roles, pricing your services correctly, diversifying revenue, and developing the leadership skills your company needs as it scales. Most clients come in with a tactical problem and leave with a clearer picture of the whole business and where they can strategically take the business in the coming months and years.
When is the right time for a solar company founder to hire a business coach?
The most common moment is when things are going well but you can feel the ceiling. Revenue is growing, the team is getting bigger, and suddenly the thing that made you successful — doing everything yourself — is the thing holding you back. That is the inflection point where coaching pays off fastest. Tim works with companies in the $1M to $50M revenue range and ready to build a business that does not depend entirely on them to function.
How can sponsoring or appearing on the Clean Power Hour accelerate your business?
The Clean Power Hour reaches thousands of solar and clean energy professionals — developers, EPCs, financiers, and policymakers — who are actively making purchasing and partnership decisions. Appearing as a guest positions your company and your leadership as credible voices in the industry, which shortens sales cycles and opens doors that cold outreach cannot. Sponsorship puts your brand in front of a highly targeted, trust-primed audience on a consistent basis. With 400+ episodes and a loyal following built over years, the Clean Power Hour delivers reach and credibility that most marketing channels cannot match.
Why does every commercial solar contractor need to understand battery storage now?
The commercial solar market is shifting fast. Utilities are tightening interconnection requirements, demand charges are making simple PV-only projects less competitive, and more customers are asking about resilience and backup power than ever before. Contractors who cannot speak confidently about storage — sizing, chemistry, financing, use cases — are already losing projects to competitors who can. Understanding battery storage is no longer a specialty. It is table stakes for any C&I solar contractor who wants to stay competitive through the rest of this decade.
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