Is solar the right career move?

MNSolar

I don't see any similar titled posts to this so forgive the intrusion into your otherwise productive forum. Perhaps there's another part of the forum that would be better suited for this but I don't see it.

I have recently been dislocated, like many, from my career in high-tech (IBM) due to some 'down-sizing.' In my career pursuits I could not help but become intrigued by the Renewable Energy growth trends going on around the country.

Where I live in Minnesota, Solar and Wind are both pretty young here by comparison to other Renewable Hotbed Cities.

This is due mostly to the fact that MN has comparatively cheap power - about 8cents kw.

Our rebates are decent enough to where a buyer can get a 7-10 year payback in some cases depending on how everything comes together.

I have gotten pretty excited about heading down this road with my career, but my conversations with the 'local' contractors are pretty un-inspiring.

They fight and kick each other to win commercial solar jobs for $5/kw and residential for $7-8, which they say is practically 'giving it away' and they complain that the market is never going to be very robust here -mainly because of the economy and the fact that it is still an expensive proposition, even with Rebates and Tax credits.

I guess I'm a little discouraged at this point after having gotten fairly excited about the industry - and needing a job

Anybody have any thoughts or perspectives on how to look at this?

BTW- I've always been in Sales and would be entering the industry in that capacity, which I mention only to point to the obviousness that commissions are based on margins and if there are very thin margins, then perhaps there isn't much value in this particular industry to the role of a salesperson??

Thanks

BB.

Re: Is solar the right career move?

My condolences... You are correct that on-grid solar installs are a very competitive field at this point in time. The government subsidies are probably keeping margins higher than they would if the subsidies "go away" (scary thought--isn't it).

One differentiators may be looking at selling/configuring/installing off-grid systems with genset backup.

We get a fair number of people here looking for both cabin and emergency backup systems (you pick the emergency).

We have a few people here that have been installing off-grid systems for years and decades, as well as people who end up installing their own.

I guess it is either looking around you and finding an un-met need--Or going to another location where jobs are more available (difficult if you have family to take care of too).

You are certainly welcome to ask questions here and brush up on solar/electrical skills (don't know your areas of interest).

For an interesting overview of "solar"--Here is a thread with a mashup of questions and answers, and answers that nobody had questions for:

Working Thread for Solar Beginner Post/FAQ

Perhaps some of the information there will help point you in a direction you would enjoy learning about (technology wise).

-Bill

MNSolar

Re: Is solar the right career move?

Thanks!!

One other thought on the price point issue - is the $5kw installed in commercial fairly consistent on a national basis? Somewhere along the lines, a hiring manager told me it was $8-$9kw and that was the reason it was so lucrative - he was making it sound as though an average commission might be .75cents a watt or about $28k on a 40kw system, which was their 'target market.' I'm getting the feeling they may have been simply seducing me to be a gopher for them and then not really care if I stayed on or not when I finally realized those margins were impossible.

BB.

Re: Is solar the right career move?

I am not in the solar business... But from a few reports here, it sounds like it is trending towards $6 a watt installed in several regions of the country for a vanilla roof install of a grid tied system. A few years ago, it looked more like $8-$10 a watt.

You might find it a bit difficult to get commission and markup information on an open forum--People probably want to keep that private to the company.

-Bill

dwh

Re: Is solar the right career move?

MNSolar wrote: »

...is the $5kw installed...it was $8-$9kw and

Just to pick nits - that would be 5 or 8 or 9 dollars per w (watt), not per kw (kilowatt).

Any sort of bidded contracting will be highly competitive. There is no surety that the rebates and incentives will continue.

For sales you might be better off in insurance. If you want to sell high tech, I would suggest maybe medical equipment might be a better way to go than solar.

MNSolar

Re: Is solar the right career move?

Thanks on the kw correction and the the insurance comparison - the thought has crossed my mind that sales in this field may be highly commoditized. I believe I read a quote about the influx of Solar companies into 'hot' areas being stated as "2 guys and a spreadsheet make a solar company"

I guess thats an old joke to solar people but it made me nervous.

dwh

Re: Is solar the right career move?

Yea, and I'd bet half of them don't even know how to use a spreadsheet.

Phase 1: Solar
Phase 2: ?
Phase 3: Profit



Old internet meme, comes from:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gnomes_%28South_Park%29

"The Underpants Gnomes are businessmen of sorts, and they claim to know a lot about corporations, so the boys eagerly ply them for answers. The Gnomes explain that their business plan is as follows:

Phase 1: Collect Underpants
Phase 2: ?
Phase 3: Profit"