New Mexico-based plug-in solar startup Pii Energy has announced a strategic partnership with Avanyu LLC, a company specializing in adobe/sustainable construction and restoration.
Together, the companies will deploy Pii Energy’s Edge 2000 plug-in solar kits, consisting of either three 400-watt or two 600-watt solar panels, an EcoFlow STREAM battery backup/inverter unit, ten smart outlets and integrated controls. Each kit costs around $2,400.
Avanyu will be Pii Energy’s first sales and installation partner, helping to serve households in northern New Mexico. Pii Energy VP of business development Paul Zelizer said the partnership is part of the company’s strategy to provide installation support to its customers in the first year.
“Most plug-in solar is DIY kits,” Zelizer said in an interview with pv magazine USA. “You order it, and then it’s up to you. There’s a manual and YouTube videos and you have to figure it out. We wanted to provide some more support.”
Zelizer said the company has received at least 55 pre-order reservations for its kits since Pii Energy announced its offering on “Pi Day” 2026 (March 14), and plans to deliver 400 of the kits by the end of the year.
The smart outlets in the kit can be controlled with Pii Energy’s bespoke energy management software, which disconnects the smart outlets from the grid and allows devices plugged into them to be used in the case of an outage.
Zelizer said these features are the subject of the company’s provisional patents and dedicated to ensuring the safety of components in combination. “Eveything we do is focused on safety,” he explained.
The partnership between Pii Energy and Avanyu is backed by an intention to reach households that have been historically underserved by traditional rooftop solar. The latter company is a woman- and native-owned business with a long history of providing construction and restoration services across the state of New Mexico, especially in the tribal area of northern New Mexico.
“True sovereignty includes harnessing the gifts of Than Sedo (Father Sun) in an affordable and accessible way,” said Avanyu CEO Liana Joy Sanchez in a statement. “Through our relationship with Pii Energy, we will expand Plug-In Solar Access in tribal communities and throughout Northern New Mexico.”
Zelizer said the two companies are looking for further ways to collaborate, including applying for federal grants under an expanded partnership that would include tribes in the Española Valley. The funding would be used to provide kits and installation services to tribal members, especially those in areas with more common brownouts who have medical needs like CPAP machines and medicine that must be kept refrigerated.
For now, Pii Energy is focusing on bringing its solutions to market alongside sales and installation partners, and working to advocate for a plug-in solar law in New Mexico.
Legislators in the state introduced but did not advance SB 157, a bill to allow for the use of so-called “portable solar generation devices,” in the state’s short 2026 session. Zelizer said Pii Energy is actively working with a consensus group to craft legislation for the longer 2027 session.
Until then, the company and its partners are selling Pii Energy kits to residents of New Mexico, Utah, Colorado, and other places with plug-in solar laws.
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