As a renter, Meghan Wood was frustrated by the solar options available to her. She knew that solar panels provide cheaper, cleaner energy. But as she researched the systems on the market, she only found products with hefty price tags and complex installation needs — proving barriers to access for all but high-income households.
Instead, Wood asked, what if anyone could purchase a low-cost solar system? What if the heavy-duty rooftop equipment, permits, and specialized labor of typical residential solar systems were unnecessary, and you could install a straightforward system in a couple of hours?
Fueled by her passion for clean energy solutions, Wood and co-founder Nicole Gonzalez, MS ’22, created startup Raya Power, which she has been further maturing under the Stanford Impact Founder (SIF-Eco) Fellowship at Stanford GSB.
Raya Power is building a permit-free solar solution that’s friendly for renters, requires low or no upfront costs, and pays for itself in just a few years. “Our goal is to make residential solar accessible and affordable for everyone by turning what was once a construction job into a project as simple as assembling an Ikea bookshelf,” Wood says.
The Renewables Gap
Raya Power seeks to close a gap preventing many Americans from installing renewables. Small-scale solar innovations have taken off in parts of Africa, but they’re relatively stagnant in North America, Wood notes. In 2023, only 5% of American homes had solar power.
In response, Raya Power is building a permit-free solar solution that’s friendly for renters and cost-conscious buyers, requires low or no upfront costs, and pays for itself in just a few years. The unit features a modular solar panel system that can be easily mounted wherever customers have sun access — on the ground, a fence, or a wall — and paired with battery storage. Once installed, the system provides energy to essential appliances like air conditioners and refrigerators, helping offset high electricity bills and providing critical backup during grid outages.
“No one is integrating solar the way we are,” Wood says. “Today, you either have a full rooftop system costing over $25,000, or a portable foldable panel. We’re building for the in-between — for low- and moderate-income households who can benefit most from a medium-sized system that’s easy to set up and powerful enough to offset half of their electricity usage while providing critical energy security.”
Wood chose two different markets as initial testing grounds: California’s Central Valley and Puerto Rico. In Puerto Rico, expensive electricity and frequent outages cause food spoilage, force families to go without air conditioning in extreme heat, and leave small businesses struggling to recover. Raya Power’s system would help offset these issues, enabling power and cooling systems to stay on when the grid goes down. In the Central Valley, high summer temperatures and matching electrical costs pose a challenge to many of the region’s residents. Raya Power estimates that California customers would save more than 60% on their energy bills — about $2,000 annually — using their solar system. That’s a significant amount for the 30% of Americans who skip a basic expense to help pay for their electricity.
“We need to focus on creating solutions for people who are truly feeling the pain of high bills and frequent outages,” Wood says.
The Next Steps
Raya Power recently secured $1 million in pre-seed round funding. To scale initially, they plan to establish partnerships with community groups who can support outreach and installation. Philanthropic funds could subsidize the systems for people on limited incomes and enable others to access affordable financing, Wood says.
The total U.S. market for single-family homes with enough room and sunshine for Raya’s solar modules is $187 billion. The company believes there is an initial $20 billion market within reach of their solar systems within the low-to-moderate income households with air conditioning units, a market segment that holds promise of future international expansion.
Currently, Raya Power is rolling out its initial pilots, advancing patent filings for its technology, and developing a platform to help consumers size their system and estimate savings. By the end of the year, the team aims to secure key intellectual property and gear up to launch in the market with partners.
How It Started
As an undergraduate at Queen’s University in Ontario, Wood received Canada’s Outstanding CEO of the Year Futures Fund Scholarship. After completing a Bachelor’s degree in Commerce, Wood landed a role as a consultant at Bain and Company in Toronto.
After three years engaging with CEOs and other executives, however, she felt increasingly frustrated by the lack of conversations about climate. Visiting a gold mine in northern Canada sparked an “aha” moment. “We’re mining gold, doing tremendous extraction just to put these bricks back underground in a safe,” she says. “This is silly. We should be doing something more impactful with our resources.”
Wanting to contribute more directly to climate solutions, Wood cold-emailed the Canadian arm of The Nature Conservancy, Nature United, which led to pro bono work as a strategy consultant. She was thrilled to later secure Bain’s sponsorship of a project that provided strategic analysis for Nature United’s research on regenerative agriculture possibilities in Canada.
That experience proved eye-opening for Wood. “I thought, these people love their jobs,” she says. “They’re doing impactful work every day. I wanted to do something related to climate, but I didn’t understand all the science behind the problems we are facing.”
Wood decided to investigate the technical side of climate solutions. After finding Stanford’s Emmett Interdisciplinary Program in Environment and Resources, she moved to California to pursue a dual Stanford MBA and MS in Sustainable Energy.
The Stanford Founder Journey
As a graduate student, Wood initially explored a range of renewable energy options, including green hydrogen and anaerobic digesters for methane capture. She then took a step back. “I created a matrix of what mattered to me and realized I wanted to drive the adoption of technology we already have, with better product designs and business models to truly scale.”
Her potential to advance social impact has attracted recognition: She has received a Stanford Ecopreneurial Summer Innovation Sprint (Eco-Sprint) Fellowship and the Miller Social Change Leadership Award, along with the Stanford Impact Founder (SIF-Eco) Fellowship.
“I owe a massive part of my founder journey to Stanford,” Wood says. “I wouldn’t be where I am without it.”
As a student and then a teaching assistant in the Stanford Climate Ventures class, Wood witnessed founders commercializing new ideas grounded in science.
Walks with Jane Woodward, an adjunct professor in energy and environment, helped Wood brainstorm and nurture the ideas behind Raya Power. “She’s been the most incredible mentor to me from day one,” Wood says of Woodward, who’s also the founder and managing partner of the WovenEarth Ventures early-stage climate fund. “Her belief in me fueled my confidence that I could do this. She’s incredibly generous with her network and always eager to help others succeed.”
While researching the solar business, the Stanford network has proved invaluable, Wood notes. She rarely had trouble reaching decision-makers at a major utility or solar power business.
The Co-Founder Connection
Whether connecting through group chats or meeting for coffee, “It feels like you have a trusted source you can go to with your challenges,” Wood says of her Stanford peers, who have also been instrumental in her decision-making.
Wood first met her co-founder, Nicole Gonzalez, at a classmate’s wedding in Mexico. Gonzalez holds a degree in Product Design and Engineering for Social Impact and has developed hardware for NASA’s Mars Rover. After witnessing her family in Puerto Rico endure a failing power grid and prolonged blackouts, especially following Hurricane Maria in 2017, Gonzalez developed a personal mission to democratize energy access. At the wedding, the two bonded over their shared passion for solar.
“It’s a really unique path — Nicole brings a rare combination of deep technical expertise and a powerful commitment to social impact,” Wood says of her co-founder. “Having such strong personal missions driving what we’re building makes it so much easier to push through the hard moments.”
Building a purpose-driven, venture-scalable company requires showing the same level of returns as a non-impact company, along with required impact metrics. “It’s a real double-edged sword,” Wood says.
She and Gonzalez want to prove that profit and purpose are not mutually exclusive, but rather self-reinforcing, as Raya Power amplifies its impact with each sale. Incorporating as a Public Benefit Corporation enabled them to keep a mission statement front and center as a for-profit company, and they found investors who share their vision. The investors also understand the nuances of building hardware and the associated development timelines required to get off the ground.
“I feel a responsibility to do something good for the world,” Wood says. “If I’m not willing to do it, how can I expect someone who didn’t have access to these incredible resources to do so?”
The Field Validation
In March 2025, Raya Power joined five finalists in the Peerless Pitch competition for early-stage founders from venture capital firm AlleyCorp. They also won the Fast Pass prize from the Puerto Rico Science, Technology, and Research Trust accelerator, getting direct access into the International program and unlocking an additional grant.
That validation is heartening, but what really impresses Wood are the reactions from people interacting with her company’s solution in the field. “It’s amazing to see how energized people get. Our solution puts solar directly into their hands, giving them a tangible way to engage with their energy — and hopefully inspiring even more steps toward full electrification.”
As natural disasters increase and artificial intelligence further pressures the grid, Wood anticipates that other decentralized energy solutions like Raya Power’s will emerge in the next half century, moving energy from something people passively receive to something they interact with regularly.
“At the end of the day, we’re fighting to make sure low- and moderate-income families aren’t left behind in the energy transition,” Wood says.
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