COMMERCIAL SOLAR INSTALLATIONS · TEXAS

Texases Commercial Solar Contractor, Built From the Ground Up

For 18 years, Lighthouse Solar has designed, installed, and serviced commercial solar systems across Texas — from fire stations to affordable housing, universities to corporate campuses.

20 Years

In Business

18 Years

Commercial Experience

35

Dedicated Employees

100+

Active Projects at any given time

Google Building, Lighthouse Solar Client

COMMERCIAL SOLAR EPC · TEXAS · EST. 2008

When the City of Austin needed a solar contractor to wire its fire stations with renewable energy, it turned to the same South Austin company that has been quietly powering the city's rooftops, parking lots, and affordable housing complexes for nearly two decades. That company is Lighthouse Solar — and its track record reads less like a contractor resume than a civic institution.

Founded in 2008 and headquartered at 2000 South 7th Street, Lighthouse Solar has grown into one of Central Texas's most capable commercial solar EPC (Engineering, Procurement, and Construction) firms. With a staff of 35 — averaging seven years of tenure each — the company brings an unusual depth of institutional knowledge to every project it undertakes. In an industry notorious for high turnover and fly-by-night installers, that continuity is a genuine competitive advantage.

"We have structured our business and pursued corporate growth with an expressed intent to cultivate a diverse and broad adoption of solar in our local territory."

— Stan Pipkin, CEO, Lighthouse Solar

The company's commercial solar portfolio spans virtually every project type imaginable in the Austin market: rooftop PV systems on houses of worship, solar carport canopies for retail and hospitality, multi-site portfolio installations for affordable housing developers, distributed generation systems for municipal buildings, and shared solar arrays connected directly to Austin Energy's grid. Lighthouse Solar doesn't just install panels — it navigates the full labyrinth of city permitting, Austin Energy interconnection requirements, structural engineering review, and performance monitoring that separates a truly turnkey commercial solar contractor from a simple panel supplier.

Built on the Texas Grid, Shaped by Its Rules

One of the quieter reasons Lighthouse Solar wins complex commercial projects is its decade-plus working relationship with Austin Energy — not merely as a vendor, but as a collaborator in writing the rules themselves. When Austin Energy's Downtown Network required solar installations to comply with Zero Export and Minimum Import Relay protocols, Lighthouse Solar was on-site at the Google Building at 601 W Second Street, working directly with AE staff to simultaneously generate and comply with emerging guidelines. Few commercial solar installers in Austin can claim that kind of regulatory fluency.

The company has navigated every version of Austin Energy's Distribution Interconnection Guide since 2010, and its team has worked through interpretations with AE Solar Inspectors, Complex Metering, and the Electric Utility Commission on edge-case projects that required practical, common-sense solutions rather than rigid code application. For commercial property owners and developers weighing the complexity of solar permitting and interconnection in Austin, that experience is not an abstraction — it translates directly to faster approvals and fewer costly surprises.

A Portfolio Built Across Texases Most Meaningful Institutions

MUNICIPAL & PUBLIC SECTOR SOLAR

Lighthouse Solar has completed solar installations on seven City of Austin municipal buildings, totaling 215 kW DC, as well as three Austin EMS stations — Goodnight Ranch, Davenport, and Canyon Creek — delivering 95 kW DC of clean energy to facilities that serve the public around the clock. The company's work with Austin Community College, Austin Water, and the Palmer Events Center demonstrates a reliable depth of experience with public sector procurement, permitting timelines, and institutional stakeholder management.

AFFORDABLE HOUSING & COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT SOLAR

Perhaps no sector better illustrates Lighthouse Solar's community-first orientation than its affordable housing work. Through Austin Energy's Shared Solar program, the company has delivered installations at multiple HACA (Housing Authority of the City of Austin) properties — including Chalmers East (323 kW DC), Chalmers West (252 kW DC), and Chalmers South (151 kW DC) — as well as Cardinal Point for Foundation Communities (210 kW DC). These projects require a specialized understanding of shared solar program documentation, tenant billing structures, and utility coordination that goes well beyond standard commercial installations.

Rooftop Solar for Every Membrane — and Every Complication

Commercial rooftops are rarely straightforward, and Lighthouse Solar has earned its reputation precisely by not pretending otherwise. The company's certified installers have worked across virtually every roof type encountered in Central Texas's commercial building stock: TPO and PVC membranes, standing seam and face-fastened metal, modified bitumen, metal shingles, and integrated architectural assemblies. Each substrate demands a different attachment strategy — and a different conversation about long-term warranty alignment between the roof and the solar system above it.

Lighthouse Solar takes an explicitly transparent approach to this: before a proposal becomes a contract, the team assesses roof membrane condition and recommends non-penetrating mounting solutions wherever possible. The company has also built partnerships with commercial roofing firms to address pre-installation roof repairs, removing a common obstacle that derails commercial solar timelines. For facility managers juggling capital budgets and deferred maintenance, that kind of integrated approach saves not just money, but months.

COMMERCIAL ROOFTOP SOLAR — NOTABLE PROJECTS

St. Matthews Episcopal Sanctuary (110 kW DC), Presbyterian Theological Seminary (145 kW DC), Spring Terrace Affordable Housing (90 kW DC), and Palmer Events Center (240 kW DC, serviced over a four-year period) all reflect the company's ability to execute cleanly on occupied, operationally sensitive commercial sites.

Solar Carport & Canopy Installations: Parking Lots as Power Plants

One of the fastest-growing segments in commercial solar is the carport canopy — and for good reason. Organizations with large surface parking lots are sitting on untapped generation capacity, shade infrastructure, and, increasingly, EV charging integration opportunities. Lighthouse Solar has designed and installed carport systems ranging from bespoke architectural canopies featuring bifacial frameless panels to newly developed prefabricated assemblies engineered for minimal site disruption and lower installed cost.



The company's carport experience extends through full geotechnical evaluation, structural and value engineering, lighting integration, traffic and parking coordination, and phased construction planning designed to keep businesses open and operational throughout the installation process. For clients like Speedy Stop in Pflugerville — a working gas station requiring a fully custom canopy solution — that operational sensitivity isn't just a nice-to-have, it's the entire job.

Multi-Site Solar Portfolio Management: Scale Without Sacrifice

Managing a single commercial solar project well is a learned skill. Managing 100 simultaneously — across multiple clients, interconnection authorities, and financing structures — is something Lighthouse Solar has been doing for over a decade. The company maintains a dedicated project management infrastructure that assigns a project manager, site foreman, administrative team, and program manager to each client relationship, carrying projects from feasibility study through procurement, installation, quality control, and long-term performance monitoring.



For organizations considering multi-site commercial solar programs — campuses, apartment portfolios, nonprofit networks, or municipal building groups — this operational depth means a single, accountable point of contact rather than a fragmented chain of subcontractors. Storybuilt Communities, for example, trusted Lighthouse Solar across multiple development cycles between 2012 and 2023, with individual system sizes ranging from 60 kW to 150 kW DC across dozens of properties.

Large Professional Network & Developer Partners

Full-Stack Commercial Solar EPC Services

Every phase, every discipline, under one roof in South Austin.

Turnkey EPC Contracting

Engineering, Procurement, and Construction managed end-to-end. No hand-offs. One contract, one team, one point of accountability.

Commercial Rooftop Solar

Design and installation across all major commercial roof types — TPO, PVC, standing seam metal, modified bitumen, and architectural systems.

Solar Carport & Canopy

Architectural solar canopies for parking structures, including bifacial systems, prefab assemblies, and EV-charge-ready designs.

Permitting & AE Interconnection

Deep familiarity with Austin Energy's Design Criteria and Interconnection Guide, including Downtown Network and Shared Solar requirements.

Multi-Site Portfolio Programs

Dedicated program management for organizations deploying solar across multiple facilities simultaneously — from feasibility to long-term O&M.

Solar Operations & Maintenance

A dedicated service division operating for 10 years, providing proactive and reactive O&M for both Lighthouse Solar and third-party installations.

Structured Financing & Tax Credits

Partnerships with GreanGrid and Upower for ITC-optimized financing, PPA structures, and grant-funded project development.

Battery Storage (BESS)

Battery energy storage system integration for commercial and healthcare clients seeking resilience, demand charge reduction, and backup power.

Licensed, Certified & Insured

The People Behind the Panels

Lighthouse Solar's team isn't assembled project by project — it's been built over two decades, with most key staff members averaging more than a decade of direct solar and construction experience.

Stan Pipkin

CEO &

CO-FOUNDER

18 years leading Lighthouse Solar. 24 years in architecture and construction. Oversees business development, design, and construction management.

Martha Pipkin

PV DESIGN &

PROJECT MANAGEMENT

NABCEP PVDS certified. 16 years at Lighthouse Solar. 18 years in architecture, construction, city planning, and GIS.

Mark Pride

MASTER ELECTRICIAN

TDLR #183404. 18 years with Lighthouse Solar. Ensures every installation meets the highest electrical safety and code compliance standards.

Jeff Bendall

HEAD OF SERVICE

18 years leading Lighthouse Solar's dedicated O&M division. Licensed Residential Wireman and Telescopic Handler Operator.

Jay Bramble

HEAD OF SALES

10 Years of Selling Solutions for Commercial Customers. Innovative Problem Solver looking for solutions that drive success for all parties.

August Lemke

PROCUREMENT MANAGER

14 years of PV experience. Manages equipment sourcing, logistics, and manufacturer relationships that keep projects on schedule and on budget.

Beyond the Contract: Community and Innovation

Lighthouse Solar's footprint in Austin extends beyond megawatts installed. The company has maintained board-level involvement in community organizations for more than a decade, and has donated solar installations — and the expertise to deploy them — to nonprofits including Children's Haven, KO-OP Radio, and Community First Village. For a company headquartered in one of Austin's most community-conscious zip codes, these aren't side projects; they're core to how the company defines success.

On the innovation front, Lighthouse Solar is working directly with Enphase to develop, test, and refine commercial inverter technologies, informed by the company's decade of hands-on service contract management. The logic is straightforward: the people who service systems year after year know exactly where performance, monitoring, and serviceability break down — and Lighthouse Solar is feeding that field intelligence back to manufacturers to build better products. A recently completed installation at the Enphase Labs facility in Austin stands as a testament to that partnership.

The company also actively partners with workforce development organizations, having placed workers from American Youthworks across multiple commercial construction sites and exploring pathways to full-time employment — fulfilling Section 3 labor goals while creating genuine career opportunities in the clean energy sector.

Ready to Power Your Commercial Property?

Whether you're managing a single facility or a multi-site portfolio, Lighthouse Solar brings the design expertise, permitting experience, and construction capability to get it done right — the first time.