InBusiness Start Ups Article

Steve Tweed Steve Tweed is a tinkerer – you can tell by his description of the electric car he’s built, or the fact that he built the Power Control Companion, a self–contained box that works with the MG&E power control program to automatically warn customers of peak–time power transfer.

He is also, after a career as an electrician since 1984, president of Wisconsin Power Control, a company he started in January, 2005, with partner Greg Fitch. The company provides power alternatives like solar, wind, fuel cell, hydroelectric, and batteries, and is the main supplier of the Trojan Marine Deep Cycle Battery, a dealership he acquired as a fluke (he uses the same battery to power his electric car). The company also is the only distributor and servicing contractor of Sharp Solar, and one of two servicing distributors in the Midwest for Plug Power fuel cells.

The company, funded with personal loans, occupies 1,200 square feet on Madison’s east side. Tweed launched the business because he saw a need for more alternative power contractors in the area, particularly in light of the Governor’s energy task force recommendations (including 10% renewable statewide energy use by 2015; and at least 10% of electricity from renewable resources by 2006, and 20% by 2010). Although the company targets both residential clients (for solar power) and telecommunications firms (for fuel cell use and DC backup), Tweed said the challenge for both is educating clients on alternative energy, and proving its cost effectiveness and environmental benefits.

Tweed has one part–time and two full–time employees, and expects to gross $250,000 in 2005 annual revenues. The company operates solely in the Madison area at present, but Tweed plans to expand service to the Milwaukee area and hopes this will double his gross annual revenues next year, enabling him to hire five to ten employees.