B Corp Values at a Leading Solar and Storage Developer — Blake Sturcke, President of Encore Renewable Energy
Led by President Blake Sturcke, Encore Renewable Energy is a community-scale solar and energy storage development company, as well as a B Corps showing leadership on diversity in the energy sector.
Listen to the Podcast
What is Encore Renewable Energy, and what makes the company unique?
We are a community-scale renewable energy services company. We work with our stakeholders — such as utilities, universities, municipalities, and landowners — as their trusted advisors to evaluate their clean energy objectives, devise and execute a strategy for implementation. More broadly, we are a B Corporation and are very focused on contributing to the mitigation of climate change, the creation of career opportunities rather than jobs for our team members, the realization of positive impact in the communities that we work in, and serving as a leader on social and civic matters of import.
In terms of differentiation, one important area of focus is on the development and repurposing of brownfields and landfills as an opportunity to create valuable clean energy-generating assets out of what are otherwise environmental liabilities.
In terms of our culture, I would say that the degree to which we try to live and embody our values as a company is a significant differentiator. We deeply believe in civic engagement and diversity. I think the shared commitment to these values has been crucial in maintaining and continuing to build a cohesive company culture - especially during the pandemic. We doubled the size of our team last year and despite remote hiring, onboarding, and work process, the team feels as connected, if not more so, than ever before.
What is the scale of the projects that Encore typically works on?
Given our focus on community-scale distributed generation projects, our average project involves an investment of $5-10 million dollars and 20-30 acres of land. Some of our bigger projects have provided power to more than 20 institutions such as elementary schools, municipalities, and housing authorities. This year we are aiming to do about $40 million worth of projects.
What was your backstory prior to starting Encore?
As a kid, I had a very strong interest in animals and the protection of the environment. However, after realizing that I wasn’t particularly strong in science, I focused on studying economics and finance. After business school and a decade in the finance world, I transitioned into clean energy as an opportunity to make a positive impact in an industry with a robust economic future - in fact, I think the transition to the climate economy presents one of the greatest economic opportunities in history. I would argue that the combination of these two things makes the clean energy industry a uniquely attractive one. I feel very fortunate to be contributing to this industry’s growth along with the team at Encore. Nonetheless, I regularly reflect on the degree to which white, male privilege, helped me to be in this position.
What advice would you give the version of yourself from ten years ago if you had the opportunity?
I was diagnosed with bipolar 13 years ago. The period following this diagnosis was the most difficult in my life, but I would not change it as it led to a period of really important personal growth. If I had the opportunity, I would advise my former self to view this diagnosis not as an enduring albatross to be ashamed of but to see it as both a challenge and an opportunity. Wrestling with bipolar opened my mind to many areas that I hadn’t focused on and provided me with a much greater sense of empathy for others that struggle with mental health issues.
I was very fortunate to have a supportive family and health insurance to lean on during this time. Far too many don’t have this safety network in place and this is something I feel really strongly needs to be addressed. I would also advise myself to openly talk to others about the challenges that I was facing - being diagnosed with a mental illness can be a very lonely place and it need not be. I hope to provide others an outlet to help with this challenge. In this vein, I welcome anyone that may be listening to this episode to reach out to me at blake@encore.eco if they need someone to talk to about bipolar or other mental health challenges.
Do you have habits or practices that keep you focused and motivated?
I have maintained a practice of transcendental meditation for years with my wife. As part of this method, I meditate twice a day for 20 minutes. This practice gives me a great sense of focus throughout the day. We are also vegans which I have found to align with my personal values, commitment to mitigate climate change, and focus on health.
Do you have suggestions for those that would like to support your mission?
I would suggest that people check out our website where you can follow our growth as a company, follow our newsletter, and learn more about the services that we offer.
Learn more.
Apply to join our Climate CEO Mastermind peer group — Through peer-to-peer sharing of best practices in monthly video calls and annual meetings, we focus on faster business growth, better decision making, bigger thinking, investor savvy, and stronger networks. Our current members represent $5B+ of market value for tackling climate change. (Amazing human beings, too.) Founded by Dr. Chris Wedding — with $1B of investment experience, 60,000 professional students taught, 25 years of meditation practice, certification as a Mastermind Professional, and too many mistakes to keep to himself — our cohorts function like your own personal advisory board.
Sign up for our weekly newsletter — Climate startups, finance, personal optimization, and attempts at humor.
Note:
THE TORCH is an interview series from Entrepreneurs for Impact. We profile CEOs and investors mitigating climate change. Our goal is to highlight their work and inspire others. As we deal with multiple crisis, from Covid and racial injustice to climate change and economic recession, we need some of this positive light in what seem like dark times. Onward and upward.