LifeCity Visits Signature Solar, LLC
In November 2025, LifeCity visited Sulphur Springs, TX, to validate the impact of AMCREF Community Capital’s New Markets Tax Credit (NMTC) investment into Signature Solar, LLC (S2), a local company working to make solar power accessible and affordable for homes and businesses. Signature Solar is a subsidiary of Energy Access Innovations, LLC (EAI), a parent company whose mission is to deliver energy independence through high-quality products made available to everyone. The company is working to create more resilient communities in an era when workforce challenges and grid inconsistency have created barriers for local economies and public safety.
AMCREF’s NMTC investment provided working capital for S2 and enabled the company to install solar panels on and around its facilities. The project is designed to make the company’s facilities grid independent, allowing them to continue to be operational in the event of a power grid failure. While the facilities will remain connected to the power grid, the solar project will allow the company to offset over 90% of its energy costs, according to Kenny Rogers, S2’s Senior Director of HR, Culture, and Administration. Rogers described the importance of AMCREF’s investment: “Thanks to the New Markets Tax Credit…we can put that money and that savings back into our team members and back into continuing to grow the organization.”
Rebuilding the Local Economy
Historically, Sulphur Springs was known as the dairy capital of Texas, with around 700 family-owned dairies operating in the mid-20th century. Following a federal dairy buyout in the 1980s, numerous dairies closed, creating a local economic vacuum, according to Hopkins County Chamber of Commerce President and CEO Butch Burney: “Our whole infrastructure, economically, was built around the dairy industry, whether it was dairying, or milk trucks, or feed stores, or veterinarian services – whatever it was, it was really built around the dairy industry….We saw a lot of our dairies go out of business and take that buyout. So at that point, we had a void here. We just didn’t have anything to take up that slack.”
EIA, including S2, is one of the largest employers in Hopkins County and has helped fill the gap created by the decline of the dairy industry. AMCREF’s investment will support 238 permanent, full-time equivalent (FTE) jobs – 43 of those newly created and 195 retained. Compensation at S2 averages 73% higher than the local living wage, and nearly all jobs are quality (90%) and accessible to low-income community residents or low-income persons (96%) or individuals with lower levels of education (90%). Jobs at S2 are career-defining opportunities, according to S2
The project is aligned with local economic development goals which emphasize business retention and expansion along with growing the local workforce as major goals. S2’s revitalization of a vacant strip mall facility is an efficient use of community resources, and the project is expected to have catalytic local impact, with Executive Director of the Sulphur Springs-Hopkins County Economic Development Corporation Chris Brown suggesting the project, along with other local business activity, have led to the planning of around 1,500 new homes in the community. Said Brown, “They came into a community where we’ve had to adjust to dairy industry decreases….They’ve come in and really boosted that, really lifted that up.”
Bolstering Community Resilience
Winter Storm Uri, which hit Texas in 2021, put the entire state of Texas under a winter storm warning, knocked out power for 10 million residents, and killed over 200 people. It provided a wake up call, showcasing how aging infrastructure threatens community resilience in adverse conditions. According to Adam Showalter, Owner of SignaTech Solar, “[Winter Storm Uri] wasn’t just a tipping point in just the awareness that it created, but also how people looked at energy and the ownership of that energy.” The crisis made it clear that a backup utility plan is critical for individuals, families, and businesses looking to decrease their vulnerability.
S2’s products are one way that people can create a utility backup plan in the event of a grid failure. The company projects to sell 15,500 15-kW solar kits annually, along with 4,500 20-kW solar kits annually. The products can be installed by a home or business owner or a third party installer. Clay Hansford, Retail Store Manager for S2, described the products as “very customizable,” offering anywhere from a day’s worth of power storage to a fully grid-independent system. Said Hansford: “They’re extremely scalable. You can start small if the budget is dependent, and you can increase incrementally as you go along if you want to add to your system.”
Providing Solar Education
S2 prides itself on community engagement and outreach. The company has provided complimentary solar panels to local organizations including Heart of Hope, a local pregnancy resource center, and Hopkins County Community Action Network (CANHelp). Brian Crump, Executive Director of CANHelp, said that Signature Solar helped reduce the organization’s electric bills by $800 monthly, a huge boon for an organization that has been providing critical resources to vulnerable people in Hopkins County for 25 years. Crump’s experience is that individuals struggling to make ends meet have to prioritize food, which can cause them to fall behind on utility bills, but Crump thinks that Signature Solar can help bridge that gap: “Getting people connected to solar or to something that can help bring the cost down is helpful.”
S2 is creating the type of change that can help lead rural northeast Texas into the future. By leveraging solar technology to build a resilient community, S2 is supporting quality jobs, expanding the workforce, and building a sustainable community.