After graduating with a physics degree from Bowdoin College in Brunswick, Maine, Phelps Clarke, co-owner and president of Sugar Hollow Solar, spent five years working at Sundance Power Systems in Weaverville, N.C. There he learned multiple types of systems, including solar hot water, radiant floor heating, micro-hydro and solar electric, while also earning his H-1 heating license.
In 2010, Clarke and Keith Holdsworth, project manager at Sugar Hollow Solar, decided to start their own company, Holdsworth and Clarke in Fairview, N.C., after Clarke saw some of Holdsworth’s radiant work a year earlier and convinced him to help try to improve the quality of renewable energy systems in the area.