Sunlight Solar is the original grid-tied solar company in Central Oregon, according to president/founder Paul Israel. (Grid-tied means a solar energy setup that maintains a connection to the electricity grid.)
Sunlight Solar sells, designs and installs everything in-house, with its 17 employees. The company must be doing something right, as Source Weekly readers voted it the Best Solar Company in this year's Best Of Central Oregon readers' poll.
Imagine that instead of paying for your electricity, the power company pays you for the extra energy that you generate through solar panels on the roof of your home. After the initial investment, which can be reduced through federal and state incentive programs, homeowners can save tens of thousands of dollars on energy bills over the life of their systems. That solar power can also be used to charge the electric vehicle parked in the garage.
Israel says the company's clients run about 70% residential and 30% commercial, including a lot of the new construction projects going on around Bend.
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For its clients, the company's goal is "to spin their utility meter backwards," says Israel. For anyone considering investing in a solar system, he says, "It's time to get off the fence. It's an amazing, evolving technology that has become very reliable," he adds.
Israel credits the company's success to its employees and its customers, "who are everything," he says.
Sunlight Solar
150 NE Hawthorne Ave., Bend
541-322-1910
Second place: Purelight Power of Bend
