California-based solar energy provider, Clean Energy Solutions, recently secured the #70 slot in Inc. Magazine’s 2018 list of the 500 fastest growing private companies in the US. As with most of the potential candidates in this year’s rankings, Clean Energy Solutions is quite young, having first launched in 2013. In the past 3 years, however, the company has maintained a growth rate of 4,331%.
At first glance, this type of growth makes perfect sense. The US solar industry has boomed over the past decade, with an estimated 2.5GW of new capacity brought online in just Q1 2018 alone. However, this rapid growth has also attracted an unprecedented amount of competition. This is especially true in California, which currently accounts for more than 33% of the country’s total installed solar capacity. As such, the state is one of the most saturated markets for solar installers – with an estimated 2,653 firms employing over 46,500 installers throughout the California.
When asked to explain his company’s success in recent years, CEO and founder, David Gomez, stated that:
“Our primary focus was always on quality – never speed. But we streamlined our operations using systems that let us onboard new customers faster and for a fraction of the cost.”
Many of those systems were in place as early as 2015 – one year before solar component manufacturer, Sunnova, recognized Clean Energy Solutions as its fastest growing partner. At that time, the young company reported nearly 750% growth with Sunnova in a single year.
As part of Inc. Magazine’s 2018 rankings, Clean Energy Solutions also took away 3 additional honors, including the #3, #6, and #15 slots for fastest growing companies in Energy, Los Angeles, and California respectively.
“I don’t know how long we’ll be able to maintain this level of growth in the coming years,” commented Gomez. “But if solar prices keep dropping and utility rates keep rising, we hope to make next year’s list of fastest growing companies too.”
“Our primary focus was always on quality – never speed. But we streamlined our operations using systems that let us onboard new customers faster and for a fraction of the cost.”
Clean Energy Solutions CEO and founder, David Gomez