Established in 1980, Borrego Solar Systems Inc. says it experienced its best year ever in 2016 — hitting a 76 percent increase in total MW installed from 2015. The company achieved a 100 percent increase in profits, representing its eighth consecutive year of profitable growth.
Borrego Solar was once again among the top commercial developers nationally and held the largest market share in two of its key geographic markets, Massachusetts and New York, according to GTM Research’s Leaderboard.
In Massachusetts, the company installed more than 90 MW in 2016, a 144 percent increase from 2015, bringing its total installed capacity to 213 MW. In New York, the company installed 28 MW, a slight uptick from 2015, bringing its total capacity to 55 MW—an amount achieved just two years after fully entering the market. In California, Borrego Solar installed 45 percent more MW than in 2015, bringing its total capacity in the state to more than 86 MW.
In 2017, the company will continue to focus on reducing the cost of solar for its customers. While solar is already delivering meaningful savings compared to conventional power in all of Borrego Solar’s major markets, the goal is to enable more market segments and geographies to benefit from low-cost renewable energy.
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Energy Storage and O&M
In 2016 Borrego Solar expanded beyond solar with the launch of its energy storage division. Led by General Manager Dan Berwick and Director of Technology and Operations John duPont, the energy storage division is offering energy storage solutions to both solar and non-solar customers. The company aims to leverage storage in order to enable higher penetration of renewable energy on the grid.
“Our mission is to accelerate the adoption of renewable energy, and in 2016 we decided to focus our attention on addressing some of the limitations of solar that energy storage can help solve,” said Dan Berwick. “Energy storage is a natural fit for us because of our existing project development, engineering, and operational capabilities, and because our existing customers and the industries we serve are well-positioned to benefit from energy storage. With recent cost reductions and improvements in performance, we decided that 2016 was the right time to invest in energy storage, and we’re already ahead of our plan.”
Borrego Solar’s O&M division saw substantial growth in 2016, with a nearly 80 percent annual increase in MW under management. The company now manages nearly 500 MW of projects across 15 states: MA, NH, VT, RI, CT, NY, PA, NJ, MD, NC, TN, IN, OR, CA, AZ.
“We knew we had a market-leading offering when we first launched this division in 2015 because our warranty customers were reaching out to us for long-term solar O&M support on projects built by competitors,” said Phillip Stephenson, vice president of O&M. “As we work to grow and diversify our portfolio we are continually upgrading our capabilities to make sure our customers continue to receive the best value in the market.”
— Solar Builder magazine
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