But according to Stellar Solar CEO Kent Harle, his firm is ready to make the most of these seismic changes and has solutions in place to make it a seamless transition.
“We’ve been riding this ‘solar coaster’ market for nearly 25 years now,” Harle says, “And our customers have taught us what we needed to know to stay nimble and resilient as renewable energy markets continue to mature and evolve. We don’t plan to survive – we plan to thrive. And deploying solar plus batteries for self-consumption is now our primary message.”
Serving Southern California from its Oceanside headquarters, Stellar Solar has seen its share of energy policy revisions and market volatility over its history. But somehow, it has managed to grow from a small “virtual” office to a staff of over 150 professionals and a track record of more than 14,000 residential solar installations in San Diego and Orange Counties, plus a recent expansion to Michigan with other states to follow and an impressive portfolio of commercial clients, including Cedars Sinai Hospital, the Salk Institute, US Foods and the US military and federal government, among others.
To hear Harle and his fellow founding partners Brian Grems and Michael Powers tell it, their customer-centric focus and attention to detail has long dictated the strategic direction of the company.
For example, in the early 2000’s as the firm was just getting started, the biggest hurdle for homeowners exploring solar was its credibility.
We’ve been riding this ‘solar coaster’ market for nearly 25 years now And our customers have taught us what we needed to know to stay nimble and resilient as renewable energy markets continue to mature and evolve. We don’t plan to survive – we plan to thrive. And deploying solar plus batteries for self-consumption is now our primary message
So, the principles partnered up with San Diego Home Depot stores to offer home solar installation backed by the home improvement giant under the banner of "Home Depot Solar."
"Once customers saw home solar being offered by The Home Depot," says Powers, "it was clear that home solar was ready for primetime" and its credibility was no longer a barrier.
“Clearly what customers have always been looking for is more control over their energy future – what it costs and where it comes from,” says the company’s Director of Operations, Brian Grems. “And customers also want to be less dependent on the electric utility, especially with power outages increasing due to fires and factors like climate change,” Grems explains.
That’s one of the reasons the company started using electric vehicles nine years ago and embraced battery storage technology five years ago, long before its customers started asking for them. This strategy resulted in the company scoring the highest battery attachment rate with solar installations in the region, along with a reputation as battery storage experts.
“Years ago, we saw energy consumers being replaced by the ‘prosumer’ -- a home or business that is sometimes a provider and sometimes a consumer of electricity,” Powers says. “And that has helped guide our product offerings.”
“We don’t have any crystal ball,” says Harle. “But our goal has been to continue to build on our company's strengths to make sure our customers have what they need, so they can harvest the maximum value of the solar electricity they produce, store and use.”
Most recently, this has Stellar Solar working with customers to help them "electrify their lives," which includes planning to electrify transportation, cooking, heating and cooling and so on.
Adding Bill Walton to the Team
And to help get that message out, they enlisted the stellar star power of a long-time solar advocate with an equally innovative track record: ESPN/Pac-12 broadcaster, Basketball Hall of Famer, NBA All-Time Team member, and San Diego-native, Bill Walton.
Walton says that from the start, he was impressed by Stellar Solar’s reputation for quality. “When I learned that over 60% of their business comes from word-of-mouth customer referrals, I knew immediately this was the perfect team for me,” Walton says.
Now in its third year, Walton’s partnership with Stellar Solar has been a win-win for both parties. “I’m honored, privileged, and fortunate to be teamed up with as knowledgeable and forward-thinking a solar company as there is in Southern California,” Walton states emphatically.
In partnering with Stellar Solar, Walton is not just talking – he’s walking the walk. By recently adding battery storage to his sizeable home solar energy system, he can now share his own personal experience on how the combination of solar and battery storage can practically eliminate the negative impact of NEM 3.0 and actually maximizes homeowner ROI.
“With NEM 2.0, homeowners installing solar alone could recoup their investment in about four-five years,” Stellar President Brian Hobbs says. “But by adding battery storage for self-consumption to our product line, we can help customers get very close to the same ROI, even with new NEM 3.0 rules—in about six to seven years—or even faster if utility rates continue to skyrocket.
One major challenge to offering more sophisticated energy solutions, according to Brian Grems, is recruiting and training an equally sophisticated team of electricians and energy professionals. “We started aggressively growing our installation and service teams some time ago,” he says, “because we knew these needs would continue to grow.” Similar sophistication is also needed for the sales and customer service teams, so they can confidently discuss all of these options with homeowners.
Fortunately, Stellar Solar is also blessed with a high percentage of long-term, loyal employees who have been able to move upwards as their experience and expertise expanded. “Most of our managers have been with the company 10-15 years and were promoted from within,” Harle says. “We feel fortunate to have such a high degree of company loyalty and engagement – and of course, that says good things about future growth opportunities – for us and also for our employees.”
The management team at Stellar Solar says they understand California’s move to NEM 3.0 is really intended to introduce market pricing into the home solar energy market and this has also helped to shape their approach to market. “We want customers to see solar energy and storage as any other type of investment they would make: you want to buy when prices are low and sell when prices are high,” Harle says. “We’re giving customers the tools they need to maximize their investments and help control their energy future.
Moving Into Michigan
Stellar Solar recently decided to extend this approach to the Great Lakes market by expanding into Michigan, where the state is rapidly re-tooling to supply the world’s new appetite for electric vehicles. By doing extensive research and modeling on utility rates that vary by time-of-day, Stellar Solar became convinced that similar ROI dynamics were possible in this territory too, by helping customers to “arbitrage” electricity prices through deployment of home solar and battery storage.
“I heard somewhere that customers don’t actually buy products or services,” Harle says. “What they buy is solutions to problems. And we think home solar plus battery storage represents a powerful package for homeowners looking for ways to manage their home energy problems, now and for many years to come.”
