Solar power is growing in popularity and groSolar is at the heart of it. Gaelan Brown speaks to Energy Digital about 300 percent growth rates and other sunny topics
Written by Ruari McCallion & Produced by Kyle Burt
Vermont in winter is a wonderland, but with the picturesque snow and ice come short days and overcast skies. It’s therefore a bit surprising to learn that the US’ largest domestically-owned distributor of solar power systems is headquartered in White River Junction, less than 100 miles from the Canadian border.
“There is a strong ‘green economy’ factor, which attracts certain individuals and businesses to Vermont,” says Gaelan Brown, Vice President of Marketing for groSolar. “We have warehouses and field offices across the country but there is something of value about Vermont as a brand.”
groSolar was founded by Jeff and Dori Wolfe in 1998 as Global Resource Options (GRO), at their home in Strafford, VT. After graduating from Cornell University in 1982, they spent their early careers consulting on the engineering of mechanical systems for large-scale buildings. GRO is not just a business – it has a mission to deliver renewable energy solutions to homeowners, businesses and institutions. That commitment has led to an unusual approach to entrepreneurial business. GRO launched the groSolar brand in 2006 and, after 12 years in existence and several acquisitions of companies in other parts of the country, it now installs residential solar electric (photovoltaic –PV) and hot water (thermal) systems in California, New England, Maryland, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Delaware and the District of Columbia; distributes solar power systems to hundreds of dealer-installers nationwide, and installs commercial PV systems all across the East and West Coasts.
SOLAR PV SPECIALISTS
groSolar has revenues in the region of $60 million a year and directly employs approximately 170 people; 50 in Vermont and the rest in other offices. Around 90 percent of its business is focused on solar PV – vs thermal – driven by a variety of market factors.
“To an extent, that is a function of where government incentives push people – and the fact that electrical net-metering provides a great storage system for PV that is missing with solar hot water,” says Brown. “State incentives are also more focused on PV, and it’s easier to do PV on a massive scale. Thermal requires more hydronic engineering, and the hot water is difficult to store; although solar hot water has historically had a lower entry point. As PV prices have dropped, the turnkey nature of installing PV has put solar hot water as a secondary priority for most property owners and installers. ”
“We are interested in the opportunity to get more thermal installed in the future. It depends on where people get their power for hot water from and their hot water usage patterns – it tends to be natural gas in urban areas, for example,” he says. Natural gas is convenient and it’s piped direct to the home. Solar requires space that isn’t always available. If you’re on the fifth story of a 12-story apartment block, for example, then you clearly don’t have a roof on which to mount solar panels.
A NATIONAL PROFILE
There is another challenge to the adoption of solar power, which is, quite simply, the common questions of, “Does it work outside of the sunny American Southwest? What about when it’s raining?” groSolar’s installations range from elderly residential homes and high schools to commercial and industrial sites across the country, from sunny California to the cooler NE states, and busting the myths that solar power only works in southern regions is a focus in terms of marketing and education
In 2008, the company completed a commercial solar hot water (thermal) installation at hallowed Fenway Park, home of the Boston Red Sox. Twenty-eight Heliodyne solar hot water collectors and four 400-gallon storage tanks are tied into Fenway’s existing water system. The system supplies the park and restaurants on the lower levels of Fenway and is expected to reduce annual carbon dioxide emissions by around 18 tons.
“A domestic PV installation is typically 5kW per residence and will deliver 6-8,000kW/h a year, depending on the region,” says Brown. Even a severe winter with heavy snowfalls, such as the US just experienced, doesn’t slow the pace of installation to any significant extent.
“We typically have around a megawatt in the residential pipeline, which enables us to smooth out the peaks and troughs,” he explains. “On the commercial side, we typically have around two to three MW in the approved pipeline, sometimes waiting for final stage finance or permit approvals.”
CONTINUED GROWTH
With federal tax credits, cash incentives and grants in some states, shelter from escalating energy costs and reduction in carbon footprints, it’s hardly surprising that groSolar has been advancing. “We have seen tremendous growth over the past five years,” Brown continues. “Over the five year period ended 2008, we grew by over 3,000 percent; 2009 saw a 20 percent increase in installations over 2008 – our residential category increased almost 300 percent in that year.”
As an integrator and distributor, groSolar has a network of several hundred distributors and installers across the country but it doesn’t make its own solar arrays, aside from some of the “balance of system” electrical components. It is continually scouring the market for better, lower cost and more efficient supplies. The company recently began distributing and installing PV modules from Canadian Solar, a company owned by Chinese entrepreneurs, who have lived in Canada for a while and understand the North American culture. China has a lot of high quality and good price production, as well as the opposite – the challenge is to get the right mix of quality and price. Innovation and improved engineering are high on the agenda, naturally. groSolar is looking to launch a “revolutionary” new rail-free PV mounting system in early March, in cooperation with Zep Solar.
“Zep Solar essentially integrates the mounting rails, and grounding hardward into the frame of the PV module, which allows it to simply click together – dramatically reducing labor time and cost for residential installations,” says Brown. “The Zep frame has a groove, the panel clicks into it and easily connects to the next panel. Our tests have found that it cuts installation time by at least 50 percent.”
Although groSolar has an exclusive distribution deal with Zep Solar for the Zep hardware, the new frame will be made available to all solar PV manufacturers. “We did a demonstration and exhibition in Los Angeles last fall at Solar Power International. There were thousands of visitors and from what I saw, Zep Solar attracted the most interest of all. Zep Solar modules will also enable someone relatively new to the installation business to get up to speed and become an efficient installer more quickly. In this regard, groSolar has taken the role of integrator and distributor, and worked to move more of the integration off of the roof and into the PV factory to support our mission of making solar power more affordable to everyone.”
That will likely mean that groSolar’s growth rate will continue to be sunny side up.
FACTS AT A GLANCE
COMPANY NAME: groSolar
CEO: Jeff Wolfe
OPERATIONS: Solar electric (photovoltaic – PV) and hot water (thermal) system installation
ESTABLISHED: 1998
EMPLOYEES: 160
REVENUE: US $60 million (2009)
www.groSolar.com