For the past 10 years, Biggart has built Texas-based Freedom Solar from two to more than 500 employees in five states. We had the chance to sit down with CEO Bret Biggart to learn more about Freedom Solar’s humble beginnings to its current position as a leading solar energy company. Here’s our conversation.
TXSES: How did you come to solar? Was it an outgrowth of your business development experience?
BB: My background is in corporate finance. I was looking for something different to do when I moved back to Austin some 10 years ago, back when solar was really expensive. I called a couple of solar companies, neither of which returned my calls. The more research I did, the more I found the industry somewhat fragmented and complex, reasons which made sense to get into the business. I contacted Adrian Buck, a local PV installer and proposed that we start a solar company. We started in Sunset Valley which had a solar rebate. We reached out the old way by placing door hangers on every door in Sunset Valley. It worked. Our first customer was in Sunset Valley. We’ve not slowed down since.
TXSES: Freedom is in five states (TX, CO, FL, NC, VA) with your largest presence in Texas. That’s an impressive rate of growth in such a short time. Why did you target the other states?
BB: The driver for that has been finding nearby states in underserved markets with a profile similar to Texas. Both Virginia and North Carolina are very underserved markets. Our goal is for each of these markets is to generate $5M/month.
TXSES: Did you just say $5M/month?
Credit: Freedom Solar
BB: Ha…yes. We’re growing at a fast pace. Texas is currently the largest footprint for volume.
TXSES: Of the 500 Freedom Solar employees in five states, what skills are you most in need of now?
BB: Our needs range across everything: field technicians, installers, operations, sales.
TXSES: Sounds simultaneously demanding and exciting. Given the triple impacts of Texas’ pending explosive solar growth (according to EIA, Texas will see more solar generation come online this year than any other state), Winter Storm Uri and climate change, what are you doing to keep up with consumer demand? Have you had any supply chain issues?
BB: BB: We use SunPower panels and Tesla Powerwall batteries, and while we’ve seen some small issues around electrical components, supply for both panels and batteries has been solid. Residential solar makes up about 90% of our business, averaging about 8kW with a 60-75% load offset. On the commercial side, the average size of the installation is close to 225kW. Our company-wide installed revenue was $146M last year, and we expect to double that in 2022.
Credit: Freedom Solar
TXSES: Guess it goes without saying that customers are asking about batteries these days.
Definitely. We’ve seen a huge uptick in batteries driven by Uri. Last year, our attachment rate (customers who bought systems and batteries) was 37%, that’s up from 21% the
TXSES: What would you advise customers who are interested in going solar?
BB: There’s definitely been a shift in consumer mindset when it comes to solar and batteries. In the early days selling solar in Austin, there were two types of consumers: the environmentally-conscious and the investment-oriented. That was then. Today, our customers are very much focused on energy independence and climate change; they feel an obligation to make a difference by going solar. We’re finding consumers are very well informed. Also financing solutions have changed. Financing solar over 10, 15, 20 years has definitely made solar more prolific. That’s really opened the market. Last year we had some 100,000 inquiries about solar! These aren’t random leads. We’re very targeted. We gather leads through website traffic, Google ads, our Freedom Solar referral program. This year, we expect to generate nearly a quarter of a million leads.
TXSES: What’s been the biggest challenge?
BB: As CEO, the biggest challenge is creating an environment of shared beliefs of the people who work for us. As you grow a business and it gets bigger, culture becomes a harder thing to hold on to. We’ve had amazing success with our culture; our core values are intentional and we translate those core values and beliefs across the entire corporate family. We want our employees to love Freedom Solar as much as we do. Our employee retention is strong. Those who work here believe what we believe…to make as much of a dent in the world as we can by doing quality work. We put people first, shoot straight with a humble heart. We’re not just filling positions; we’re building careers.
Credit: Freedom Solar
TXSES: Who wouldn’t want to work at Freedom Solar? What’s surprised you the most?
BB: People who are interested in solar now come from so many backgrounds and political beliefs. When we started, it was narrowly focused on early adopters. That’s not the way it is today. Our customers are doctors, firefighters, teachers, plumbers. It’s so affirming that people have a high level of responsibility for this planet. We’re still in the first inning; it’s still early. The penetration rate is still in the single digits but there continue to be lots of opportunities. There’s still a lot of solar yet to be installed.
TXSES: We’ll let you get back to work! Thanks for the conversation, Bret. Keep up the great work. And thanks for being a TXSES Platinum Business Member.
A bedrock in the Austin community for more than seven decades, The Children’s Haven Association (TCHA) has helped disadvantaged individuals and families in marginalized communities within Travis County and surrounding districts.
In November 2021, in partnership with Solar Austin, TCHA installed an 8.64 kW photovoltaic (PV) system at its facility in the heart of East Austin’s Blackland community.
Credit: Solar Austin
“The Children’s Haven Association (TCHA) is excited to join forces with the solar community, to introduce pathways that solar resources present for economic growth within our community,” said Marilyn Poole, TCHA Director Programming and Operations. “We are grateful to Solar Austin for corralling the network of otherwise competing companies for our installation and inaugural solar camp,” she said.
“Partnering with local solar installers and advocates to make this project at The Children’s Haven Association a reality was such an honor,” said Tatianna Cannon, Solar Austin Executive Director. “TCHA has served the Austin community for decades, and Solar Austin is privileged to work with many organizations to increase awareness of and access to the benefits of solar to underserved Austin neighborhoods, ensuring that the benefits of clean energy are equitably accessible to all,” she said.
According to Cannon, the entire initiative took about eight months from start to finish. Donations and partnerships from Lighthouse Solar, Freedom Solar, Unirac, Del Valle ISD’s Opportunity Center, NATiVE Solar, Enphase, Kinect Solar, Austin Energy, and CED Greentech made the project a reality.
“As CEO of LighthouseSolar and long-time board member of Solar Austin, I’m proud to be involved with the solar and storage community installation at the Children’s Haven in Austin, Texas,” said Stan Pipkin. “Between the climate crisis and the modernization of our critical infrastructure lie the communities we live in – communities with unequal access to the benefits that renewables and energy system upgrades provide. It’s critical as a member of this community that we mobilize our efforts to find ways to increase awareness of and access to these benefits,” he said.
Credit: Solar Austin
“Although adding one resilient solar and storage project to the grid doesn’t solve our climate challenge, it can gather and inspire a community of people that engaged collective action is possible and that collective action is the key towards addressing climate goals without leaving our communities behind,” said Pipkin.
“We look forward to inspiring youth and young adults, with jobs and entrepreneurial opportunities within sustainable energy industries,” said Poole. “Most of all, TCHA hopes to continue its legacy as a resource for information and education of marginalized individuals, households, and community institutions.”
Solar Austin will host a ribbon-cutting at TCHA early in 2022.
Since they were teenagers, Derrick and Eric Hoffman have been in the electrical services business, learning the basics from their father, Tom. As their apprenticeships evolved from part-time to journeyman to master electrician, the brothers Hoffman knew there was more they wanted to do in their trade. We caught up with Derrick to learn how he and brother Eric diversified their traditional business to include solar+storage.
TXSES: You and brother Eric came from a traditional electrician training, working with and learning from your dad. What was the aha moment – that sudden realization when you and brother Eric decided to add solar+storage skills and services to Hoffman Electric and become HE Solar?
Derrick Hoffman and Powerwalls
DH: We grew up with a traditional exposure to the electrical trade with our dad. As we became older, it became a full-time gig. We grew up in the country outside of Austin, spending summers in Colorado and Utah. I think it’s fair to say we became tree-huggers due to the landscape of our upbringing. We became journeymen and master electricians as we earned a Bachelors’s Degree in Construction Technology at Texas State, loving the classes around sustainability. We installed solar on our houses and I became NABCEP-certified in 2011. That’s when we started HE Solar, the inspiration to do something that would make a difference.
TXSES: And now your dad works for HE Solar!
DH: He does! He’s an incredibly valuable resource. And as batteries become more in demand, there’s nothing more essential than an experienced electrician. We’re lucky to have him working with us.
TXSES: Let’s talk about your workload. Been busier than usual post-Uri? More demand for solar+storage?
DH: Yes and yes. We’re working long days to keep up. Before Uri, potential customers really weren’t interested in batteries. But now, storage is definitely part of the solar conversation. We don’t push folks to go solar but we want our customers to know more about the technologies. Current turnaround time for systems is anywhere from one and one-half to three months.
TXSES: Would you say consumers are better informed about solar and storage? How’s your inventory? Can you get product?
DH: Yes, consumers are better informed. They ask good questions. We work closely with our distributors so we can forecast supply properly. We use REC Alpha and Panasonic panels. We’ve found these produce better in warmer climates like ours here in Central Texas.
TXSES: With increased consumer demand, how’s your staffing? What kinds of skills are you looking for?
DE: This may sound flip but if they show up for a job interview, that’s a plus. Seriously, we’re actively looking for help, for those with a strong commitment to safety and doing the job right. It’s tempting to take shortcuts, but when you’re on a roof with a tight slope, shortcuts are the last thing you want. Whenever I interview potential employees, I emphasize the excellent career path opportunities, from apprenticeship to sitting for licensing exams. Demand for electricians has never been greater. And to have solar+storage experience is only going to stay on the rise.
TXSES: Sounds like job security to me. Let’s talk a little bit about what’s happening with solar and the Pedernales Electric Cooperative (PEC). You live and work in PEC’s service territory. The PEC board has recently proposed a series of anti-solar policies and fees that, if adopted, could seriously sideline solar, affecting your business and PEC owners who are already solar customers or who want to go solar.
DH: We live and work in PEC’s service territory. These proposed solar rate increases and other punitive solar policies would definitely affect us, our business and our customers. Coops discourage customers from excess generation when they should be encouraging customer-sited generation to help with grid resiliency. We also service customers in Bastrop, Buda, Kyle, Dripping Springs, Wimberley, Johnson City, Canyon Lake, San Marcos and New Braunfels. Our average system size is 8-9kW which offsets between 70-90% of a customer’s load.
CAPTION
TXSES: With Uri still in our collective memories, you’d think coops, which are owned by their members, would be aggressive about implementing policies that promote grid resiliency and clean energy. Apart from fighting PEC’s regressive solar policies, what’s your biggest challenge?
DH: The technologies constantly morph which is a good thing for efficiency. But it also means that when you service systems, you’ve got to have lots of different supplies on hand. And the National Electric Code (NEC) changes every three years. We’d love a 100% success rate, but we need to fine-tune each system every five years. Also finding and keeping employees who have a strong commitment to quality workmanship and respect for safety is always a challenge.
TXSES: What’s surprised you the most with this work?
DH: Couple of things have surprised us: 1) how much we’ve learned about local areas. It was really a smooth transition for us as we moved into the residential solar space. Central Texas has become a lot smaller for us; and 2) as demand has grown, we’ve made friends and built strong relationships with our customers.
TXSES: No surprise. Keep up the exemplary work, Derrick. Stay safe.
Since 2010, The PowerStore in Alvarado, Texas and recently in Mooresville, North Carolina, has supplied solar power and storage solutions to customers in the U.S., Central America and the Caribbean Islands. A Tier 1 authorized distributor for many of the world’s leading solar panel manufacturers, The PowerStore is also a TXSES Platinum Business Member. We caught up with Jim White, founder and CEO, to learn more about The PowerStore. These up-close and personal industry conversations are one of the benefits of a TXSES Platinum Business membership.
TXSES: What or who inspired you to be in the solar industry? What’s so unique about being a Tier 1 solar module manufacturer distributor?
Jim: I have been involved in the Solar Industry for over 30 years as an engineer. I was looking for a way to use my product and design knowledge to assist installers, while being able to supply them with the best options currently available on the market. As a solar distributor, we’re committed to offering exemplary customer service and high-quality products. Tier 1 solar module manufacturers have distinct criteria defined as those that:
Have been producing solar panels for five years or more
Are either publicly listed on a stock exchange or have a strong and stable balance sheet;
Have fully-automated production and a high degree of vertical integration
Invest significantly in marketing their brand; and
Enjoy a highly-regarded reputation within the industry for quality and service.
TXSES: As a family-owned business, has your workforce increased over the years? What kinds of skills do you look for?
Jim: We’ve been in business since January 1, 2011. And yes, our workforce has grown steadily over the years. Today, we have 23 team members at our two locations in Texas and North Carolina with skills ranging from sales, marketing, delivery drivers, inventory control and management. While our personnel needs are always dependent on the market, our greatest need right now is for team members in our operations and logistics departments.
Credit: The PowerStore
TXSES: Given the twin impacts of Winter Storm Uri and climate change, have you seen an uptick in consumer demand? Are you able to maintain panel and battery inventories?
Jim: Yes, we’re seeing increased demand for both solar panels and storage. Maintaining panel and battery inventories has been challenging. Our storage (battery) side of the business has increased markedly over the past few years. We saw a definite spike after Uri. Although we have orders in place with vendors through the end of 2021, we’re in a constant struggle to get product deliveries on time.
TXSES: Where is demand the greatest? North America? Central America? The Caribbean Islands?
Jim: We’re seeing the greatest demand here in North America. Although our Caribbean and Central American customers have plenty of interest in storage, unfortunately, the higher costs for a solar/storage solution are often prohibitive.
TXSES: 2020 was a challenging year for us all, but you were able to open a new location in Mooresville, NC this year. Was that a decision to service the fast-growing solar markets in the southeast?
Credit: The PowerStore
Jim: Yes. We opened our Mooresville, NC office and warehouse on Jan 1st 2021 – exactly 10 years after opening our Texas facility because we have many installation customers in North Carolina and the surrounding states. Opening the Mooresville branch allows us to better serve these customers and assist new installers in this very active solar region. We have also more than doubled the size of our Texas facility in 2021, allowing us to increase our stocking capabilities, increase our team members and implement a more efficient process.
TXSES: What have you found to be the biggest challenge in this work?
Jim: Our biggest asset is our team members. Finding and hiring great team members is always our top priority and biggest challenge.
TXSES: What’s surprised you the most about this work?
Jim: Probably the most surprising part is the growing diversity of the solar industry customer base. We support all sorts of customers from environmentalists to individuals with small off-grid cabins, to large national companies installing MW of solar.
TXSES: Solar is no longer limited to environmentalists concerned about climate change or enthusiastic off-gridders. Today, solar’s appeal is broader and wider, offering an extraordinary opportunity to enhance grid resilience with distributed energy resources. What would you advise customers who are interested in going solar?
Jim: Solar is a fantastic investment both financially and socially. Coupled with storage, solar generates additional savings, emergency power availability and if desired complete grid independence. Give us a call. We’ll gladly answer any questions and walk you through the steps to go solar.
San Antonio-based CAM Solar is a solar sales and installation company serving customers in San Antonio, Austin, the Rio Grande Valley and parts of Colorado. They’re also a TXSES Platinum business member. Industry conversations are one of the benefits of a TXSES Platinum membership.
We recently sat down with Carl Ramsbey, regional sales manager with CAM Solar, to talk about CAM Solar, COVID, winter storm Uri and live music. Here’s our conversation.
TXSES: How did you find yourself/make your way to CAM Solar? According to your LinkedIn profile, you started your career in audio engineering. Makes perfect sense, especially living in Austin. How did you get from audio engineering to solar?
CR: Good timing and good luck. As an audio engineer, I focused on room acoustics, designing custom home theatres and sound systems for bars and restaurants. By accident or providence, I met a former Solar City employee who was moving to Austin and wanted a sound system for her house. She ended up becoming my mentor, and through a series of connections, I found my way to CAM Solar in 2017 without any solar experience but a strong desire to become part of the solar community. I started in sales to learn and understand the business, making my way from sales and business development to regional sales manager. Gotta say it’s a breath of fresh air to work with a like-minded group of people like those at CAM Solar who are deeply committed to helping people understand the benefits of going solar.
TXSES: All that in just four years. It’s obviously a good fit.
CR: Definitely! But it was Daniel Moyer and Brian Cullen who saw market opportunities for solar about twelve years ago and started the company in San Antonio. Brian was a trader in Chicago and was feeling the stress and chaos of that fast-paced lifestyle. He and his wife moved to Telluride and built an off-grid cabin in the mountains. His continued interest in solar took him to Farmington, New Mexico at San Juan College that had, at the time, the only renewable energy program in the country. That’s where Brian met Daniel, and the rest, as they say, is history.
TXSES: Besides being San Antonio-based, CAM Solar is in the Rio Grande Valley (RGV), Laredo, Austin and has a large presence in Colorado. Why did you target RGV and Laredo?
CR: They were easy choices for us. It’s a very productive market with lots of sun and wide-open spaces; few trees to obstruct rooftop access and it’s a deregulated environment. Our presence in Laredo is interesting compared to other Texas cities we’re in. For example, residential rooftop installations are large, averaging from 12-15kW. In San Antonio, systems tend to average 7kW, and they’re even smaller-sized systems in Colorado, primarily because it’s a less-heavy air conditioning climate in the summer.
TXSES: How much are you engineering systems to offset load?
CR: We like to engineer for 100% offset. While we don’t want to oversize systems, we do want to make sure we’re offsetting as much energy as possible. We help homeowners understand net metering. And we’re having more and more conversations about battery storage.
TXSES: Thanks, Uri. What’s the breakdown of residential v. commercial work that CAM Solar installs?
CR: We’re about 85% residential. We do commercial installations. In fact, our largest commercial project is 2 MW. We’ve always focused on the residential market, but we are installing more commercial projects these days.
TXSES: One of the most frequent issues we hear about is the lack of a highly trained, well-qualified solar workforce. The workforce was just keeping up with demand before events like Uri and a greater urgency to address climate change. With the demand for solar and (now) storage systems, are you finding it difficult to find qualified workers? What’s your greatest need for workers?
CR: That’s always a challenging factor but especially more so now with greater consumer demand for information. We have four master electricians, and every crew lead is a journeyman electrician. All lead installers are NABCEP-certified. We’ve found that Colorado’s e-permitting process is especially painstaking; lots of bureaucratic procedures and while designed to protect the consumer, we find that bureaucracies and utilities don’t work as fast as we do. Our installations only take a couple of days. Our project managers (PM) are a combination of traffic cop and clinician, someone who can keep the bureaucracy moving while keeping the homeowner apprised of the process and progress. Our sales reps are the point of contact with the homeowner. We also have a robust customer support team.
Our biggest needs right now: 1) Colorado installers; 2) site technicians; and 3) project managers. Finding the right PM is extremely difficult. It takes a special kind of person to do this job, someone who can balance the homeowner and utilities, who has excellent communications skills, is uber-organized and has the honed people skills to problem solve and keep customers happy.
Most of our folks in PM roles may come from other management backgrounds. That’s really a plus for them and for us since they already have those inherent management skills. Then it’s industry onboarding. Some folks may come to project management with technical backgrounds which means they may lack the organizational, communication and people skills that are absolutely essential to keep things moving. It’s always a mix. We’ve been working with other groups, like Solar Austin and its clean energy internship program. Coco Wilson, who’s currently a student at Huston-Tillotson, has been working with us in inside sales for the past year. We’ve discovered that hiring someone out of college is a good fit for us. They’re eager, more malleable.
TXSES: Winter Storm Uri. Need we say more?
CR: It definitely impacted us. In fact, it’s still affecting us. People are a LOT more curious about solar than before Uri. Battery backup/storage conversations and consultations are serious sales drivers. Our battery inventory barely touches down in our shop before it’s gone. Solar’s return on investment (ROI) has always been easy to explain to consumers. They see the numbers. Batteries…not so much at this point in time, but I like to refer to battery/backup storage as ROE (return on experience). All you need is one experience like Uri to re-think security and realize that the best thing any of us can do, especially in the business world, is to be as nimble as possible, knowing when and how to adapt when changes arise. Riding the solar coaster is keeping all of us on our toes, knowing when and how to adapt as change appears, in some cases, out of nowhere!
TXSES: Uri is NOT a one-off. If anything, it’s the beginning of what we can expect from climate activity and how these technologies will scale as we rapidly and enthusiastically demand them. And back to the workforce issue…will we have a trained workforce to accommodate us as these technologies advance. As if Uri wasn’t disruptive enough, how was COVID for CAM Solar?
CR: Fortunately, we were building lead funnels and moving toward more remote selling ahead of COVID, but COVID inspired us to ramp up this approach. We had the infrastructure in place. Yes, things did slow down but I’m proud to say that we kept all our staff. And while we didn’t make the gains we’d planned for, neither did we fall behind. People were home 24/7 using lots of electricity. Folks had time to delve deeper into solar. Post-COVID, we’re appearing at more in-person events like farmer’s markets and flea markets. I’m a big music fan, so we’ve been taking our 2kW solar PV/19kWh storage Solar Roller to music venues across the state as they begin to re-open giving us the chance to interact with consumers and even to power some of the stages! The Roller was at the San Antonio flea market recently. That was our office for the day.
TXSES: Solar-powered live music. Let us know when and where we can catch the Roller. Final thoughts: what’s been the biggest surprise in your work with CAM Solar?
CR: I’d have never guessed that working in the solar industry would give you a front-row seat to work with this amazing resource and ever-advancing technologies. Even more rewarding is working with folks who share the solar’s values and battles. I love our common goals and deeply appreciate working with like-minded folks.
