Successful solar companies sell more than solar

The move toward electrifying everything is a business opportunity, and many residential solar companies have been creative in adding solar to places other than home rooftops.

Solar installations have soared in the U.S. in recent years, with 49 GW added to the country’s electricity capacity in 2024, 10 GW of which was rooftop solar. Yet in the past few years, solar companies large and small closed or went bankrupt at a alarming rate.

Big-name companies such as Sunpower, Titan Solar Power, Sunworks, and Lumio made splashes in the industry, but over 100 smaller companies closed shop as well. There has always been a solar coaster, but the ride is even bumpier now.

Last fall, EnergySage asked which strategies among solar installers work, and which ones fail? One of the article’s insights was that diversification helps insulate solar companies from market fluctuations and provides additional value to customers.

Recently, pv magazine USA looked at ways that solar companies around the country have diversified in order to keep their employees working and their customers knowing who covers their warranties.

Working from the ground up

A firm foundation has helped many solar businesses keep their doors open. They started out as something else and added solar to their offerings relatively recently. Working out of Tyler in East Texas, Wright-Way has sold, built, remodeled, and managed real estate properties since 1982. Wright-Way began adding rooftop, off-grid and grid-tied solar to its offerings in the early 2000s, a natural progression of its business plan.

In Escondido, California, Baker Home Energy began in the 1930s as a heating and air conditioning company and still offers those products and maintenance services. With a well-established business plan and a network of existing customers, Baker had its feet on the ground before it went on the roof.

Additional products and services

Unsurprisingly, the most common additional products included batteries and EV chargers, while the most common services were roofing, electrical work and general contracting. But many companies have found other ways to expand their business opportunities.

My Generation Energy, based in Hyannis, Massachusetts, will add critter guards, snow guards and clips, and cellular modem and Ethernet bridges. CMI Solar & Electric in Newark, Delaware, will replace aluminum wiring, a potential fire hazard.

Energy efficiency is another area where solar installers have expanded. ShineSolar in Rogers, Arkansas, installs Aeroseal duct sealing products to reduce air leaks and therefore energy costs, allowing homeowners to install smaller solar systems. Beyond duct sealing, Phoenix-based Elevation offers whole-home solutions including insulation and smart energy monitoring.

With such a volatile solar market in California, Guyou Construction in Riverside, California, has branched out into servicing “orphaned” customers whose installer has gone out of business. The company also advertises roofing services, but according to company CEO and founder Marcus Gayou, roofing represents only 5% of its business.

Beyond the roof

The attempt to “electrify everything” is a business opportunity, and many residential solar companies have been creative in adding solar to places other than home rooftops. Based in Taos, New Mexico, Paradise Power Company will put solar panels on a wide variety of surfaces such as RVs, campers, cabins and tiny houses, as well as offer portable off-grid solutions and direct PV well pumping.

A number of installers based in rural areas promote agricultural solar. Unique among them, American Array Solar & Roofing in Chatsworth, California, advertises “Solar for Growers,” noting that electricity used for commercial cannabis production is estimated to be 1% of all electricity used in the United States.

Ir solar hecho fácil

With the country’s increasing ethnic diversity, many companies conduct business in multiple languages, expanding their addressable market. Serving California, Nevada, Arizona and Florida, Los Angeles-based Solar Optimum conducts business in Armenian and Spanish. Forme Solar Electric, based in Irvine, California, conducts business in Korean, English, and Spanish. Its website is in Spanish as well as English.

Other companies find the diversity of their employees and customers a strength. Honolulu-based Mālama Solar supports native Hawai’ian culture by holding cultural awareness days with its team members, while Affordable Solar, based in Albuquerque, New Mexico, works with tribal-owned utility- and community-scale solar projects. They also conduct business in Spanish.

pv magazine USA spoke with one local installer that does all of the above. Family-owned Bob Heinmiller Solar Solutions in Orlando, Florida, began as an air conditioning and electrical company in 1945. It expanded into solar early in the 1990s. According to company manager Mike Lane, the company’s business comes just as often from air conditioning customers asking about rooftop solar as the other way around.

When the air conditioning business slows down in the winter, the company focuses on solar installations, while the opposite is the case in the summer. The company also offers a host of other solar-powered systems such as solar water heaters, solar pool heaters and pumps, and solar attic fans. These are smaller, lower-cost systems that can be quickly installed. Rather than struggling to stay alive, the company services orphaned solar systems installed by other, now-closed businesses. It also serves the state’s growing Latino population with Spanish-speaking employees in both sales and administration.

The solar industry has been rocked in recent years with supply chain disruptions, labor shortages, changes in federal and state incentives, and hikes in prices, tariffs, and interest rates. Offering more products and services to a wider variety of markets can help installers stay grounded in an ever-changing business.