How Sunworks is bringing power to the people, one enterprise at a time
Day in the SUN
Sunworks, Inc (Sunworks) is a publicly traded NASDAQ (SUNW) company based in Utah, which has been operating as one of USA’s premium providers of high-performance solar power systems for over 20 years. Its glow extends further than your average company; as it aims to brighten the lives of the many people it comes into contact with, whether they are customers, peers, suppliers or strangers-in-need.
“There is something very rewarding about working in an industry that is inherently environmentally-friendly,” states Gaylon Morris, CEO and board member for Sunworks, Inc. Sunworks is intent on the democratization of renewable energy by making it available to as many people as possible. It would seem the world is on the company’s side, considering the change in attitude towards global warming since the millennium, and there has been a number of supportive external factors too, as Gaylon explains: “The viability of employing a solar energy system has increased for most people, due to a number of reasons. The first being the increase in the overall energy yield available from a given area of rooftop or land. This is a result of innovation in technologies and materials, which has seen panels more than doubling in efficiency over the last ten years. Secondly, the return on investment has been increasingly highlighted by the rise in utility bills – people are growing more aware of the extent to which they can offset their energy costs by relying on solar power. Combined, people are starting to see how you can essentially profit financially from your house, building or land. Besides this, in terms of residential customer-desirability,” he adds, “the modern panels are far more discrete than their predecessors. Formed of a blend of glass and black anodized aluminum, they disguise the trace-work and provide a far more aesthetically pleasing alternative.
“The company’s fundamental product offering is our solar power systems, battery storage units and Electric Vehicle (EV) charging ports. But at heart, we’re a service business,” he continues, “What we really believe sets us apart is our integrity and professionalism. We price our projects with the fairness and honesty, with the intent of always providing the very best value for our customers.”
In last year’s acquisition of its likeminded competitor, Solcius, Sunworks succeeded in extending its reach to an important new area of the market. “They were primarily a residential company, which gave us an excellent opportunity to develop our residential footprint throughout the USA,” Gaylon details. “Both organizations are focused on paving the way towards the democratization of renewable energy.” In terms of growth, Sunworks believes in taking a more responsible, holistic approach to expansion – with the aim of maintaining the company’s overall viability by increasing shareholder value simultaneously with its size.
With sustainability and green initiatives climbing higher on everybody’s agendas, there have been legislative changes made in the US to encourage people to shift their reliance over to renewable energy sources. Earlier this year, the President signed the Inflation Reduction Act that increased the Incentive Tax Credit for Solar to 30 percent, which in Gaylon’s words: “is the farthest reaching and most dependable that our industry has ever seen, extending and enhancing a 30 percent tax credit for homeowners and some non-residential projects until 2032. This has been a tremendous tail wind for our industry and it’s in part due to public sentiment, and our customers and others driving the government to act in favor of solar,” he explains. “We provide our customers with the ability to reduce their grid supplied electricity usage. In doing so, they also lower their utility bills and begin the journey to offsetting their carbon footprint. We love the idea of being able to help people minimize their impact on climate change.”
A little closer to home, Sunworks has its own approach to managing the immediate environment in which it operates. “We have created our Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) task force as part of our program – which includes, from the bottom up, an employee from all levels of the company. The committee is in place to primarily suggest, but then also work through, changes that we can make to ultimately be a better company. These can range from the likes of housekeeping around the office, to ways in which we can improve peoples’ work/life balances and includes efforts to reduce the company’s carbon footprint.
“Another more tangible issue the ESG has remedied is the recycling of damaged or aged solar panels – whether they have arrived from suppliers in an unsatisfactory condition, been damaged during installation or removed from a customer’s system during the retrofit process. As with old computers that are no longer viable, we work with one of our vendors to try and find other possible uses for the components of these panels, to avoid sending unnecessary waste to landfill. We also recently implemented a supplier’s code of conduct, on which we are asking our suppliers to sign off, to provide assurances that they are operating with the same integrity and respect for their workers and the environment as us.”
Caring for the planet takes much more than sourcing a safer form of energy for the future, looking after the best interests of your staff or employing the absolute best practices in dealing with customers. Of course, Sunworks knows this and focuses on good planet stewardship in its day-to-day operations. The company orchestrates an annual trip, during which a team of partners and employees travels overseas in the name of a noteworthy project. Whether it’s finishing construction on a park, helping tackle food scarcity or illuminating a town with solar lanterns, Sunworks cares, and it endeavors to demonstrate that fact in everything it does.