Kevin Bassalleck and Nick Babic of Affordable Solar walk along a project the company completed in Layton, Utah, the second largest array in the state. The company has launched a new business focused on installation of utility-scale projects. (Courtesy of Affordable Solar)
Affordable Solar is doubling down on large-scale solar development in Western states through a newly launched division called “GridWorks.”
The homegrown Albuquerque firm – which already offers residential, commercial and utility-scale installations – is splitting its operations into twin companies. But it will remain united as one global business under the Affordable Solar brand, said CEO Ryan Centerwall.
The new entity will focus exclusively on utility-scale markets, expanding its industry-level products and services into a comprehensive, turnkey option for customers that offers everything from engineering, procurement and construction to ongoing operations and maintenance, Centerwall said.
“Our goal is to be a national leader in building utility-scale solar and battery storage solutions,” Centerwall told the Journal. “We’re already operating in eight states, from Texas westward.”
Affordable Solar is New Mexico’s largest installation company, reporting $141.3 million in revenue in 2019.
It’s currently investing $7.5 million in a 30,000-square-foot facility along the north Interstate 25 industrial corridor, backed by $650,000 in Local Economic Development Act funding. The new headquarters will consolidate its 148-member workforce, now housed in three different facilities around Albuquerque, into a single space. And it will hire another 70 people after the new facility opens later this year.
The company remains primarily focused on the New Mexico market, where it’s installed some 3,500 residential solar systems since 2010. It’s also developed 30 different utility-scale projects since expanding into the industrial market in 2014.
In recent years, it’s added battery backup storage to utility development, helping to grow its industrial business a lot more in New Mexico and elsewhere.
“New Mexico is still our single largest market,” Centerwall said. “But our out-of-state revenue is eclipsing our New Mexico revenue, because those are utility-scale projects.”
Utility-scale solar development remains robust nationwide, offering Affordable Solar’s new GridWorks division significant growth potential.
Overall, the US solar industry installed a record 23.6 gigawatts of total solar capacity in 2021, up 19% from 2020, according to the national Solar Energy Industry Association’s annual report, released in early March. That includes a record 17 GW of utility-scale solar installations.
Residential also grew by 30% last year, with a record 500,000 installations, according to SEIA.
But the industry is facing significant challenges, including pandemic-induced supply-chain problems and inflation that pushed utility-scale solar prices up 18% last year. That forced postponement of many industry projects, slowing growth.
Those issues will continue well into 2023.
“We’ll see supply chain problems for at least another 18 months,” Centerwall said.
All companies have been impacted. At Albuquerque-based OE Solar, for example, supply issues have slowed growth by up to 15%, although OE business still expanded by about 30% during the pandemic, said CEO Adam Harper.
“We’re fighting all the same challenges,” Harper told the Journal. “It’s taken a toll on us.”
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