Unlocking Solar for Multifamily: Owen Barrett on Turning Roofs into Revenue

In this episode of Green Giants: Titans of Renewable Energy, host Wes Ashworth sits down with Owen Barrett, clean tech entrepreneur, investor, and Founder & President of Shine to talk about the overlooked frontier in renewable energy: multifamily housing.

With over a decade of hands-on experience deploying solar PV, energy storage, LED lighting, and HVAC optimization, Owen has scaled multiple ventures from idea to eight-figure revenue. He’s seen the clean energy industry from the inside, as a Fortune 500 Global Energy Manager implementing $60M in projects, as the founder of Lumio, as the driving force behind ZNE Capital’s $75M in decarbonized apartments, and now as the leader of Shine, a company purpose-built to make solar profitable for apartment owners nationwide.

Owen shares why the biggest bottleneck in clean tech isn’t inventing new technology, it’s deploying what already works. He breaks down the unique barriers holding back solar in the multifamily sector, from the “split incentive problem” to the lack of billing and monitoring tools for individually metered properties. You’ll hear how Shine’s software platform and turnkey installation approach solve these problems, shifting the financial upside from tenants to property owners and making solar a true value-add in real estate deals.

Other highlights include:

• Why Owen believes sustainability teams must break out of their silos to accelerate adoption
• The dangers of chasing “low bid” in solar contracting and how quality contractors win on reputation
• The skilled trades shortage, and how the industry can attract the next generation
• Why Owen says sustainability degrees should be minors paired with high-value majors
• His take on AI’s impact on clean energy demand and the coming labor crunch
• The data points that give him long-term optimism, even in turbulent policy environments

Whether you’re a renewable energy professional, a multifamily real estate investor, or just curious about how clean tech scales in the real world, this episode delivers candid insights, financial clarity, and an optimistic roadmap for the future.

Links: 

Owen on LinkedIn

Shine's website

Wes Ashworth: https://www.linkedin.com/in/weslgs/

• Email: wes@leegroupsearch.com
• https://leegroupsearch.com/green-giants-podcast/
• https://leegroupsearch.com/