Salt River Solar & Wind: 0-100 in One Year
With over 300 sunny days per year, Arizona has become a U.S. hotbed for solar installations. So it should come as no surprise that a company called Salt River Solar & Wind has grown from 7 employees in January, 2009 to 100 in March, 2010, especially since the company was founded in Surprise, Arizona. Salt River has certainly had phenomenal growth over the course of the last year, fueled by the still-booming market in Arizona. The company uses industry-leading SunPower solar panels as it struggles to keep up with the growing demand.
After the Arizona Corporation Commission passed the Arizona Renewable Energy Standard in 2006, the founders of Salt River Solar began crafting a business model that eventually launched in December of 2008. Despite the standard growing pains of small businesses, the company managed to continue expanding and serving its customer base. The main challenges faced were finding qualified solar installers and securing financing for customers, since the cost is the main deterrent to going solar in the first place.
For skeptics of how much the turn to solar actually creates jobs, Salt River Solar is a perfect example. For instance, the local auto shop experienced growth as Salt River’s fleet of trucks grew, the business complex Salt River occupies was nearly empty before being filled up as the company expanded, and currently, Salt River is looking to hire 50 more employees in sales, marketing, installation and other related areas.
With any luck, this won’t be the end of the growth for Salt River Solar and other Arizona solar companies. Today, Arizona’s government is considering ways to implement a feed-in-tariff that will only fuel an already-blazing fire. Also, Salt River Solar will be launching a new Megawatt Commercial Rooftop program that will be specifically aimed at commercial businesses looking to offset electricity costs or become standalone generators of their own. No matter what the economy looks like, renewable energy continues to be strong and is likely to stay strong well into the future. After all, there’s still a long way to go before coal is a distant memory (or at least just a back-up system).
Source: RenewableEnergyWorld.com
Posted on March 15th in Going Solar by Craig.
March 15th, 2010 at 3:12 pm
This is a great success story, and demonstrates that we can create jobs while moving to a clean energy environment. Arizona is a perfect place for that to occur, but there are many locations around the country that can benefit from the introduction of solar technology.
March 17th, 2010 at 4:08 pm
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they are a good company but charge way too high for their type of service. I had the same things done to my home from greenovated energy for half the price.
I look for warranty rather than hype. The main reason I went with greenovated energy was because of their 10+ year warranty on all products. There are only a few companies like greenovated that don’t prey on their customers but rather inform and truly believe in alternative energy and helping their customers.
Go solar!
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March 26th, 2010 at 9:02 pm
Michelle, I’m curious as to what you mean by too much? I had the exact opposite experience and found that Salt River was actually cheaper for the quality of product they were installing. I had multiple companies present me lesser-quality solar for a premium price, meanwhile Salt River gave me premium solar(SunPower) for a lesser price.
I also can’t say that anyone “preyed” on me. The Salt River representatives were courteous, polite and well-informed. Of course like anyone else, they wanted to get a sale, but they offered enough value and experience that I was left with no doubt as to the quality of their product and work.
March 26th, 2010 at 9:07 pm
I’d also prefer to work with a business that is BBB accredited which was a huge selling point. Not nearly enough companies are and for me its a little piece of mind that goes a long way. Another reason why I chose a larger company like Salt River Solar over Greenovated or any number of other companies that don’t have the same track record.
April 22nd, 2010 at 9:04 am
Salt River quoted me way above Greenovated energy. I shopped around and found many companies that did not have the expertise nor great service I was looking for. Any company can get on the BBB which is a false measure consumers use when choosing a company considering the fact that the BBB allows businesses to remove negative comments.
Salt River is not a company I would go with
I don’t have money to waste – I want the best company the first time
Just my 2 cents
June 14th, 2011 at 2:12 pm
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