NRG Clean Power (No. 151 on the 2017 Top Solar Contractors list) had an ideal marketing campaign in the saturated Southern California solar market. The Canoga Park-based installer pitched an American-made solar system to customers, and it was enough to set it apart from the competition.
Of course, “American-made solar system” was largely dependent on the brand of panels, and NRG Clean Power was a dedicated SolarWorld dealer. That is, until the solar panel manufacturer brought doubt to the market after its German parent company filed for insolvency in May 2017.
“We would love to stick with SolarWorld, and we haven’t abandoned them yet,” said Oren Tamir, regional director at NRG Clean Power, in a June 2017 interview with Solar Power World. “We love SolarWorld. They are a great panel manufacturer. We haven’t had warranty issues with their panels. We were always offering their latest and greatest output. Unfortunately, they’re going through some tough times.”
SolarWorld executives talked with Tamir and reassured him business would go on as usual, although there are some questions as to how everything will play out. This lack of stability, along with fellow American-made panel company Suniva’s bankruptcy filing earlier this year, has led NRG Clean Power to explore other panel choices.
“We truly believe in American manufacturing and American jobs, and we tried to promote that and pass that message along to our customers,” Tamir said. “At the end of the day, we’re running a business, and American or not, you have to have panels. We’re looking at the companies themselves, more than the panels at this point, to see who’s the biggest player, who’s going to stick around.”
In an industry where installers are often cookie-cutter versions of each other—offering the same Chinese panels and string inverters—NRG Clean Power found a niche with SolarWorld panels, IronRidge mounting products and SolarEdge inverters and power optimizers. Now without the American panels, Tamir said the company may have to play up the power optimizer angle.
“We might put more emphasis on the fact that we’re using premium inverters with optimizer technology and the whole monitoring platform. That’s really all you can do,” he said. “We happen to offer a lifetime labor warranty which definitely differentiates us.”
Customers are getting more educated on solar, but they still need guidance, Tamir said. Maybe the downfall of the American solar panel market will offer an education opportunity for the industry.
“A lot of the companies aren’t even mentioning what panels they’re using because they don’t think it’s necessary. They’re selling them watts,” he said. “Talking about the [products] and educating the customer so they can make an informed decision is very important to this industry. If we start selling watts, then we’re just going to get into a commodity war and that’s not going to do us any good.”
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