Evolving Landscape of C&I Solar & Storage | EP280 - Clean Power Hour

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McKay Johnson (00:00):
With the SoCal market. If I could change
something for a pro, I wouldsay, you know, make permitting a
little bit easier. Yes, I wouldlove that. I think that would
accelerate the market andcontinue to expand it, of
course, because we do work inother states as well, and the
ease of getting things into theground and built, if you will,

(00:20):
is a lot easier than than socalled.

intro (00:23):
Are you speeding the energy transition here at the
Clean Power Hour, our host, TimMontague, bring you the best in
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go deeper into decarbonization.
We do too. We're here to helpyou understand and command the
commercial, residential andutility, solar, wind and storage
industries. So let's get to ittogether. We can speed the

(00:45):
energy transition.

Tim Montague (00:49):
We're here at inner solar San Diego. I'm Tim
Montague. Check out all of ourcontent at cleanpowerhour.com.
Please give us a rating and areview on Apple or Spotify.
Today. I'm here with McKayJohnson of Helix and Kelly
Shamblen of CPS. Welcome to theshow. Thank you very much. It's
great to meet you You as well,and I understand. I'm gonna see

(01:09):
you in Dallas, hopefully again,you will for Innovation Day as
well. But you're an EPC basedhere in San Diego. I was telling
you that you have a horriblelife. I lived in San Diego 20
years ago, for 10 years. So Iknow a little bit about this
place. I lived in Pacific Beach,actually, okay, my, my, my old,
my youngest son was born inPacific Beach. But anyway,

(01:32):
that's my claim to fame. So whatis on your mind about the CNI
solar space right

now. You know, it's a little unpredictable as a
market right now with, you know,certain events happening in the
nation. But, you know, we'reexcited as full EPC, we're
seeing, you know, full gas pedaldown to the metal. So very
excited to see where it goesthis year.

Yeah, it is interesting that there are these
ups and downs in the industry.
We call it the solar coaster,and we are coming into a time
probably, of unusual turbulence,given what's going on in
Washington, but it's like this,right? There's ups and downs,
but there's going to be anupward trajectory, right?
Because there's just lots ofmoney flowing into the clean

(02:18):
energy transition, and so weneed more EPCs. We need more
equipment manufacturers. But if,if you could change one thing, I
guess, about the SouthernCalifornia market, what stands
out for you about that market?

You know that's that's tough with the SoCal
market. If I could changesomething for a pro, I would
say, you know, make permitting alittle bit easier. Yes, I would
love that. I think that wouldaccelerate the market and
continue to expand it, ofcourse, because we do work in
other states as well, and theease of getting things into the

(02:57):
ground and built, if you will,is a lot easier than than so
called, but fully

agree, yeah, it's the number one thing, I think,
is, is making permitting easier?
Yeah, and we're here with Kelly.
You're Kelly's customer. Tell usa little bit about your
relationship with Helix. Ourrelationship

Kelly Shamblen (03:16):
with Helix goes back years, many years, as a
matter of fact, and we reallyappreciate the support they've
given us over the over thistime. And yeah, we've developed
quite a bit of projects togetherand looking at some storage
projects with them and someother school districts and
whatnot down in San the SanDiego area,

I'm curious, how have you seen the storage market
change in the last, say, fiveyears?

Oh, it's just increasing, ever increasing, so
more than ever. Typically, 80%of our business is PV only up
until this last year, year and ahalf, but now we're seeing a lot
of hybrid systems that reallywant to see a best system
attached to it. And not onlythat, we're seeing a lot of best
independently, just best installprojects. And that's that's not

(04:00):
typical for Helix,

yeah, yeah. It's we've kind of crossed a tipping
point, I think, in the lastyear, year and a half, and going
to see even more. Of course, nemthree helped, right? That gave
storage some tailwinds. Did yousee besides the storage uptick?
Did nem three affect yourbusiness?

You know, that's that's an interesting question,
due to the fact that we workwith so many developers in the
space, and really, we're, we'rea domino effect off of what is
going on with the developersbusiness. We haven't seen
anything slow down overall, andwe haven't seen anything modify
that way. But we are seeing theprojects in themselves. The
characteristics of thoseprojects change a

little bit. Yeah.
And when you're looking forpower electronics, you have many
choices. So what is it thatkeeps you coming back to CPS,

I would say first and foremost. Well, it's
probably a tie between thequality. A product, and the
innovation that Chintconsistently brings to solar.
Beyond that, it's the people andit's the responsiveness.
Whenever we need something, it'sbar none.

Thank you. I would fully agree I am biased, but
Kelly, tell us a little bitabout the Southern California
market. From your perspective,it's a very important market for
CPS. It's a very importantmarket for the solar industry.
But we'd love to get yourthoughts on the market, in
general, solar,

Southern California, excuse me, is a hot
bed for all kinds of CNIprojects. We do a lot of the
school districts down here,municipalities and whatnot. They
are in the perfect space forwhat we're doing in terms of
rooftop carports and those typesof projects. So it's definitely
a growing business right now,and a growing area within
California. A lot of retrofitsprojects are going on down here
as well. We're

here in San Diego at inner solar, and this is a
very large trade show. If youhaven't been, I encourage you to
come. It's in January orFebruary, usually here in San
Diego, and there's about what20,000 people here, if not more.
So they tell us, yeah, what isit that you're looking for by
being here in San Diego? I mean,not the trade show, sorry,

the trade show.
Honestly, seeing what kind ofinnovation is coming out into
the market, what we cananticipate over the next one to
two years, because you can learna lot from what you see here on
this floor, and how thedevelopers are constantly going
to be better improving theirprojects, and what kind of
equipment our team being theinstaller, the EPC doing the
construction, what we canactually anticipate installing

(06:37):
in The field?

Anything else we should talk about, about Helix
and CPS,

honestly, just an exciting partnership, and we
we've been together for years.
We've been very tight for years.
We every project we work on, ifit's not CPS, we do our best to
see if we can work with CPS,because we're so attuned to
their product and working withtheir individual like personnel.
So yeah, that's about it.

I would say from CPS, we value our partnerships
and those that are loyal with usand grow with us, and I think
Helix is definitely the epitomeof that. Thank

you. Check out all of our content at
cleanpowerhour.com Give us arating and review on Apple or
Spotify, and with that, I'm TimMontague, let's grow solar and
storage. Thank you so much,Matt, sorry we can't. Yeah,

you got it close enough. All good. You.

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