Watch CBS News

Sacramento CEO Works To Make Solar Attractive To Agribusiness

CEO Nic Stover created his own natural capitalism by working with colleagues in Sacramento to fight for what he believed in: passing SB 594 Net Energy Metering Aggregation (NEMA), also known as Aggregated Net Metering. The law was approved by Governor Jerry Brown September 27, 2012, so that each meter would no longer be required to have its own dedicated solar power system. Instead, agribusiness operators can now build a single, centralized solar power system that offsets all their meters with one system that allows for the flexibility to build on less productive land preventing crop loss and shifting offsets to make it attractive for agribusiness to power with solar, and the growth of Cal Com Solar from $24,000 in revenues to $42,000,000.

SAC-Tech
(Photo Courtesy of Nic Stover)

Stover says that "After graduating from college, I read  Natural Capitalism by Paul Hawkin and Amory & Hunter Lovins. This was the point in time when I realized that there was a middle ground to be considered. A place where you could do what was best for the planet and also be capitalistic & grow a business." Stover's formal education was initially a BS in Construction Management at Colorado State University after which he decided to pursue a Master of Business Administration (M.B.A.) at Babson College, with an emphasis on entrepreneurship and entrepreneurial studies.

What advice would you give someone who wanted to follow in your footsteps?

"You don't have to have it all figured out from the beginning. You are going to make mistakes. Be ready to adapt, learn, reflect, and get back in there and make it work. Beyond getting things going, surround yourself with intelligent and adaptable people. Something I recently learned is to grow a circle of advisors as "live" resources. I am a huge believer in lifelong learning. But one truth that never changes for me, is that there is no substitute for a real person, or an advisor that has walked the path you are on before you, and can look at it from a different perspective."

Karen Hansen M.S. Earth Sciences, has been an educator and consultant who is currently an analyst regarding land and other public information records. She lives and works in Sacramento, CA. She has been writing about earth and the environmental sciences for Examiner.com since May of 2010. Find her work in several sections of the publication. You can find her work at SF Solar Energy Examiner, SF Environmental News Examiner and Environmental News Examiner 

View CBS News In
CBS News App Open
Chrome Safari Continue
Be the first to know
Get browser notifications for breaking news, live events, and exclusive reporting.