Now, there’s plenty of “yelping” going on about solar energy across the greater blogosphere. But what do real Yelpers have to say about it? In an effort to find out, we canvassed Yelp reviews of solar contractors in cities across the country. For solar, when reviews are given, they are generally positive, with only a few negative exceptions. Furthermore, the highest density of reviews come out of the San Francisco Bay Area, which is not surprising for two reasons. One, the Bay Area is a national leader in home solar power installations and, two, Yelp.com was born there in 2004.

Photo Credit: Clean Energy Florida

Still, solar power is a global movement, and solar contractors are everywhere. Here are highlights from our nationwide Yelp search for the best gurus of solar. All of the following contractors received a four-star rating or better.

Solar Electric

Sungevity (Berkeley, 5 Stars) – Sungevity specializes in residential solar sales and installation in the Bay Area, including thorough short- and long-term cost estimates. Aaron M. of Berkeley enjoyed a “flawless experience” with Sungevity. “This is a company that cares and gets it right.”

Bobby J. of San Francisco saw Sungevity on NBC, so he gave them a call. “It took me 5 minutes to get a quote and they emailed me back within a day. It had a pic of my building [using Google Earth], and a breakdown of the financial savings.”

Buzz B. of San Francisco called Sungevity “an absolute pleasure to work with from beginning to end… Basically, if you live in SF, own your place, and can get the rebate, you’re making a huge mistake if you don’t get solar. Sungevity is the way to go.”

Katie X. of San Francisco writes, “So Sungevity provides homeowners with ‘Solar Estimates’ where they use a web 2.0-based technology to give homeowners estimates of what it would cost them to go solar. They take you through a really simple step-by-step process that is extremely helpful for someone like me who doesn’t even own a landline…”

Regrid Power (San Jose, 4 Stars) – Regrid Power handles all aspects of solar power panel installation, from sloped roofs to flat roofs to ground mounts and custom solutions. Regrid even handles solar pool heating. The company services homes and businesses throughout central and northern California.

Scoey W. of San Jose, who was hired at Regrid in 2007, yelps that, “After one year of eating and breathing solar, I have found the best company, Regrid Power. Having worked for two other well-established companies in the Bay Area…I know my words are valuable.”

Michael K. of Mountain View notes that “When looking for a photovoltaic solar installer, I interviewed 4 contractors…Regrid Power was the only contractor that gave me confidence during the sales visits that they actually know both how to run a company and install solar power systems…The high expectations I got from the sales process were fulfilled with the actual system installation.”

Jake O. of San Martin is the lone dissenter due to a poorly handled sales appointment, wherein no one from Regrid showed up. “Unfortunately, I will never know how this company does, but based on my experience, I have my doubts.”

Celestial Power (Austin, 5 Stars) – Celestial Power is proud to be a local solar energy contractor in Austin, Texas. “We live and work here,” they proclaim on the company website. Celestial Power is made up of electrical contractors who have embraced solar power. Apparently, they’ve embraced customer service as well:

Garreth W. of Austin calls Celestial Power “the solar bomb! They took care of everything from dealing with the HOA modification committee to setting up my web-based configuration so I can monitor my output remotely.”

Doryan R. adds that “these guys are great,” and Amanda K. admires the little steps Celestial Power took when installing her solar power panels: “They prepared a report for us to submit to our neighborhood association for approval…they kept a clean work site throughout the process and even tackled the detail-oriented work, such as painting the pipes to match the exterior of the house. The inspector said it was a perfect job!”

GRID Alternatives (California, 4.5 Stars) – GRID Alternatives is actually a nonprofit organization that installs solar power panels on low-income homes for free. At the same time, volunteers get a crash course in solar installation during each project…a very pleasant experience according to the following reviews.

Angie O. writes that “the best thing you’ll walk away learning is how easy it is to throw up some solar panels, connect the wires to an inverter, slap on a new electrical box and collect cash while the meter literally spins backwards on sunny days. Well, it’s not really that easy, but 2 days to do all that? Not bad.”

Jessica W. rejoices that “GRID Alternatives is what San Francisco is all about!…energy efficiency, sustainable development, community involvement…Anybody can volunteer with them and get up on a rooftop and get their hands dirty. Highly recommended!”

Joy S: “Wow! What a great volunteer op! Grid Alternatives is…one of the best-kept secrets of SF’s environmental movement for climate change. Only now that I let the cat out of the bag I’m going to have trouble booking my volunteer time slot again.” In speaking of the orientation prior to the volunteer solar installation, she writes that “…it was so packed I had to sit on the floor. Then you wait for the sign up email for the month…I had to wait a full month to get to volunteer.”

Solar Thermal

Alternate Energy Systems (Honolulu, 5 Stars) – Solar energy is big in Hawaii. It is the first state to require all new homes to install solar hot water systems, so it’s a good state for solar thermal installers, of which Alternate Energy Systems is one. Here’s what Edwin S. of Honolulu had to say:

“I’ve used Alternate Energy at 2 of my homes. Three years ago, they installed 80 and 120 gallon solar [hot] water systems…The installation was overall good…Service is fast if you call the right person. Both of my solar pumps have gone out already and both replaced for free.”

Radiant Plumbing Service (Austin, 4.5 Stars) – Radiant Plumbing Service will address anything from a dripping faucet to installing a solar water heater, and it helps that the City of Austin now offers up to $2,000 to install a solar thermal system. Radiant Plumbing gets good Yelp grades all around. While most of the Yelp reviews deal with general plumbing, which is expected given that they are a service-oriented plumbing company, Radiant is truly embracing solar power. So expect more thermal-Yelping in the future. In the meantime…

Chip A. of Austin writes that, “After Yelping for a quality Austin plumber, I contacted several to get quotes…Radiant Plumbing ended up being one of the friendliest and most reasonable on the phone, and was able to get a plumber out quite quickly.”

Liz J. of Redwood City, CA: “Radiant did go out of their way to understand the situation and offer much-needed help. Thank you Radiant Plumbing!”

310 Solar (Albuquerque, 5 Stars) – 310 Solar handles it all, from home construction to solar electric and thermal installations. Based in sunny New Mexico, 310 is happily riding the solar wave through the high desert. Heather B. of Albuquerque has this to say on Yelp:

“This place really is New Mexico’s leading provider of solar energy. If you are looking for a solar [electric] or thermal installation in your home, call them! They are very informed, educated and direct…They are the best, I am very happy with my system!!”

And the Yelps Grow Louder…

Yelp is a networking site that provides localized online search capabilities for consumers. Simply enter a keyword or phrase (i.e. “solar”) and a location (city, state, zip code, even neighborhood), and up pops a list of matching local businesses with a star rating (1-5) and written reviews by customers.

Yelp.com is a fast-growing network. More than 25 million people access Yelp reviews each month, which is especially notable considering that Yelp expanded beyond its San Francisco home only last year. And the more people that use Yelp, the better it gets. Such is the power of the Web 2.0 revolution; it puts power in the hands of the people, who are gladly using it. In that respect, Yelp is reminiscent of a certain renewable resource with a rather “bright” future. You may have heard someone yelping about it.

Popularity: 2% [?]

Posted on November 4th in Solar Contractors by Dan.