OnSite Energy is Powered by Our Customers

Because of You: What Being “Powered by Our Customers” Really Means

As we head toward February, a month often associated with gratitude and connection, we want to pause and acknowledge something we don’t say often enough.

OnSite Energy exists because of our customers.

Not just because you chose solar—but because of how and why you chose it.

This Work Has Always Been Personal

OnSite Energy, a certified BCorp, was founded by two Montanans who believed energy should be built with care for the land and accountability to the people who depend on it.

For Orion Thornton, renewable energy wasn’t an abstract idea. It was home. He grew up off-grid in Northwest Montana, where daily life depended on weather, landscape, and the ingenuity to make your own power. His parents ran a reforestation business, spending their lives planting trees across the state. Childhood meant long days outdoors, learning how much Montana gives and how easily it can be lost.

As Orion puts it:
"My parents planted hundreds of thousands of trees across Montana. Growing up off-grid taught me to respect and care for the land. Solar became my way to honor those roots—still planting something, just in a different way that protects Montana’s wild places."

For Conor Darby, the path began in college on the conservation track, where he met Orion and found himself drawn as much to sustainability as to the technology behind photovoltaic systems. Early in their careers, both pursued installation work simply because they wanted to build systems that mattered—projects that propelled both ecological and economic progress.

By the early 2000s, Conor moved to Bozeman to work at one of Montana’s pioneering solar companies and, within two years, was General Manager—the same year they brought Orion on as Project Manager. Together, they helped shape the early wave of solar in the state—designing systems, training teams, and serving the community with a deep sense of responsibility. But as the industry shifted toward out-of-state expansion and high-volume sales, both felt a widening gap between the work they believed in and the work they were being asked to do.

By 2012, they made the choice that would define OnSite Energy. They left to build a company rooted in Montana values: honesty, craftsmanship, technical mastery, and a commitment to elevating the standard rather than racing to the bottom. A company that would stay local, stay accountable, and stay true to the renewable energy mission that first brought them into the field.

"We wanted a solar company that felt like the early days—grassroots, technically driven, and grounded in community. No gimmicks. No pressure. Just doing good work for the right reasons."

From the beginning, OnSite Energy wasn’t built to chase volume. It was built to serve people who cared deeply about where their power comes from and what it supports.

That’s where you come in.

What Our Customers Make Possible

Every solar system we install does more than generate clean electricity.

Through our Solar for Conservation program, every OnSite Energy installation helps support conservation efforts across Montana. That means real, direct contributions to nonprofits working to protect the landscapes, wildlife habitats, and working lands that define this place we all love.

Because our customers choose to work with us, dozens of conservation organizations across the state receive support—from land trusts and watershed groups to organizations focused on wildlife, access, and long-term stewardship. It’s a way to ensure that the benefits of renewable energy don’t stop at reduced emissions, but extend into the places that make Montana home.

Our customers also make it possible for us to stay deeply local. For the past 14 years, our crews have been trained, employed, and retained right here—building long-term expertise rather than relying on short-term, outsourced labor. That continuity shows up not only in the quality of our work, but in the relationships we continue to uphold long after a system is turned on.

It’s why the systems we design are built for decades of performance, not quick turnover. And it’s why home, business, and nonprofit owners across Montana gain more control over their energy future—through systems that are thoughtfully engineered, responsibly installed, and maintained by the same team for the long haul.

These outcomes don’t happen by accident. They happen because our customers care deeply about how their energy is built and who it supports. You ask thoughtful questions. You value quality and accountability. And you believe renewable energy should reflect the same care for land and community that brought you to solar in the first place.

In other words, you hold us to a higher standard—and we’re better for it. Those shared values are what power our Solar for Conservation program, and they continue to shape how we show up for the people and places we serve.

Better Together

Whether your system was installed last year, more than a decade ago, or originally installed by another company and later serviced by our team, you are part of a larger story—one rooted in responsibility, long-term thinking, and care for Montana’s landscapes and communities.

As February and our 14th anniversary approaches, we want to pause and say this clearly: your choice matters. Your trust matters. And the impact of your system extends far beyond the day it was turned on.

The power is yours.

In the weeks ahead, we’ll be sharing more about the collective impact our customers have helped create—and how that impact continues to grow.

For now, this is a thank you for your trust and your shared belief that power can be clean, used as a force for good, built with care for the land, and made available to the people who depend on it.

‍