Written in Partnership with Amir BakianLast year the California Air Resources Board approved the Advanced Clean Cars II rule, which outlines a roadmap to sustainability in the state by mandating that all new passenger cars, trucks, and SUVs sold in the state will be fully electric vehicles that produce zero carbon emissions. This is one of the many steps the state is taking in the push towards renewable energy sources and reducing carbon emissions.
The recent mandate is hailed as the logical next step in the state’s reduction of carbon emissions, but it presents a unique set of new challenges. As more electric vehicles are introduced to the roadways of California it will put a new strain on the energy grid, of which the obvious solution is to utilize solar energy for powering homes and electric vehicles. The state already has 20% of its power coming from solar energy and much of that comes from solar panels installed on peoples’ homes.
As California continues to be the highest adopter of solar energy throughout the country, it still has the responsibility of maintaining its power grid. Over the years California has enacted what is called net metering as a way to balance the use of solar-powered energy in homes with the energy not being used by the power grid. Recently, the public and utilities commission approved net metering 3.0, which has reduced the credits for excess energy by as much as 75%. This was done as a way to incentivize people to install storage and battery backups, but for homeowners it has doubled the cost of switching to solar energy.
This has led to many solar companies going out of business as they are unable to adapt to the changing marketplace. As more companies who install solar systems go out of business there will be an even larger need for maintenance services on existing and new solar panels on residential homes. Currently, in the state of California alone there is a large problem for people not servicing their solar system, which leads to unforeseen problems arising in the present or future.
EnergyAid, a California-based provider of high-quality service, maintenance, tune-ups, and system evaluations for residential customers, is on a mission to provide education, consumer awareness and their solar system maintenance services to people throughout the state. The company was founded in 2012 and began offering solar and battery maintenance work two years ago. Currently, EnergyAid completes 550 services every week with six offices spread out through California.
EnergyAid Logo
In just two years the company has grown to be the leading provider of solar services in the state and is currently in the works of expanding into other states. According to Bryan Jackson, VP of Sales at EnergyAid, one of the biggest issues people have with solar systems is they are unaware of the maintenance required to ensure they are functioning properly and providing power.
“We recently began providing our services to a woman who had a solar system installed on her home and the company that installed it promised her there wouldn’t be any issues and there would be nothing required of the system and that she would never have to pay an electric bill again. All of a sudden she got an electric bill for $5,000 and it was only after contacting her utility company that she found out the solar panels on her home stopped working more than a year ago. She was being charged for using electricity the whole time,” says Jackson.
These are the types of issues that EnergyAid is working to prevent. With a team of dedicated technicians the company has made it a priority to work with people who have solar panels installed on their homes and ensure they are operating efficiently. EnergyAid provides a number of solar and battery services with two of the most important being the cleaning of panels and the maintenance of inverters and monitoring systems. Many of the newer systems require internet connections and stable communication between various components especially with panels that have optimizers and micro inverters.
Jackson says that EnergyAid will continue to work towards working with solar system owners throughout California and help with the push towards sustainability.
“As solar companies continue to go out of business more people will need to have their solar systems repaired and maintained and currently there are almost no companies except EnergyAid who provide this kind of service,” says Jackson. “Our mission is to provide awareness and help as many people as possible contribute to sustainability, so the best way we can do this is to keep expanding our services and reach as many solar owners as possible.”
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