How Raya Power was born
Meghan and Nicole are united by their mission to democratize solar energy — to ensure that everyone, regardless of where they live or whether they rent or own, can reduce their electricity bills and stay resilient through any outage.
They’ve spent hundreds of hours researching the problem, collaborating with communities to understand barriers to adoption, and designing solutions that truly meet people’s needs.
RAYA CO-FOUNDERS, NICOLE (LEFT) AND MEGHAN (RIGHT)
Meghan, frustrated by rising energy bills and the helplessness of having no way to lower them as a renter, began exploring solar while completing her MBA and Master’s in Renewable Energy at Stanford. People talked about how affordable it had become, but it still seemed out of reach — no one she knew had it. The more she learned, the clearer the problem became: the technology worked, but the system around it didn’t. Solar was being sold as an expensive construction project to homeowners who could afford the price tag, knew they’d stay in their homes for years, and were willing to deal with the red tape. It was built for a few, not for most. That realization became her motivation. Meghan set out to change how solar works — to make it simple, transparent, and built for everyone.
Meanwhile, all her life, Nicole had seen the contrast between the steady lights of the mainland and the blackouts that defined daily life in Puerto Rico — and Hurricane María became the moment when that reality turned into a calling. While working on the Mars Rover at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Lab, Nicole lost contact with her family for two weeks as the island went dark — and she knew many families endured far worse, some without power for more than a year. The experience revealed a painful irony: we could send solar panels to Mars, yet couldn’t keep the lights on for people here on Earth. That clarity reshaped her path. Nicole left NASA to focus on energy access closer to home, earning a master’s in Design Impact Engineering at Stanford, where she learned to design with communities to build solutions that are radically affordable, resilient, and human-centered.
Fate intervened when Meghan and Nicole met at a friend’s wedding — two women passionate about reimagining access to solar energy. They quickly realized they shared the same vision: the technology for reliable, affordable energy already exists, but solar systems simply weren’t designed for the people who would benefit the most.
Together, they decided to change that. And that’s how Raya Power was born.
Raya is Different.
