Oakwood University Solar + Storage

Bithenergy won Oakwood University's clean energy RFP in 2025 and is developing a three-phase program on the Huntsville campus, in support of the university's goal of 80% renewable energy by 2030. Oakwood is an HBCU affiliated with the Seventh-day Adventist Church, with about 9 GWh of annual electricity use across more than 150 metered accounts.

Phase 1 is a 100 kW AC behind-the-meter solar installation: two ground-mount arrays behind Holland Hall, each sized to the maximum Huntsville Utilities allows per meter, owned outright by the university and earning the federal investment tax credit through elective pay. Bithenergy serves as owner's representative and project manager, with a fixed-price EPC contractor and commercial operation targeted for 2027.

Phase 2 is a utility-scale battery that Huntsville Utilities would own and operate on Oakwood land beside an existing substation, giving the utility peak-shaving capacity against TVA charges and giving the campus a resilience partner. Phase 3 is the original utility-scale vision: 22 MW of solar with 88 MWh of storage on the university's excess acreage, selling storage capacity to the local utility and energy to neighboring power companies through TVA's system.

The program launches a Solar Technician training cohort of about 25 Oakwood students and community members, trained on the live Phase 1 build, whose graduates become the labor pool for the later phases.