WE ARE A worker-owned cooperative

“We approached our staff really early on, talking about the idea of real equality, where everyone's contribution is as important as everyone else's contribution towards that overall success.

For us, when we were starting to grow and expand, we realized that we didn't want to be focusing on communities that were further and further away we really wanted the benefits of our work to be very local, so we hired local people and we work on developing partnerships and relationships with local businesses to help strengthen our community.

In working with Project Equity, we were able to get that expert advice and be able to utilize a lot of their connections to be able to get us so much further along in the direction towards where we want it to be at a fraction of the cost. They helped us all the way through the transition process. And then after we transitioned there their Thrive program allowed us to thrive as a business by supporting both our board, and our management to work better together, in our first year of becoming a co-op.

If you're a business owner, and you have that culture, that family style business where everyone cares about one another and you care as much about your employees as you care about your business, then the idea of employee ownership is absolutely a no brainer. It gives you more flexibility for being able to stay in your business and know that the business that you put your heart and soul into is going to continue on and benefit those people who have built that business.”

- Lars Ortegren, Co-Founder

project equity

Project Equity helped us all the way through the transition process of becoming worker-owned.

Interested in selling your business to your employees? Visit Project Equity to learn more!

www.Project-Equity.org

“We (worker-owners) have money invested in this company, we actually have a chance to make more money from this company if we’re successful. So instead of just being, you know, still the best solar company around, as an ‘owned’ company, now that we’re worker-owned, we’re the best with a stake in that. We have a reason to continue to improve our bottom line, a reason to pay attention to what we’re doing instead of just clocking in and clocking out.”

— Chuck Holding

The only worker-owned solar co-op in california!

At California Solar, we're not just your local solar experts - we're also your neighbors! As worker-owners of the first-ever solar cooperative in Nevada County and California, we take pride in providing the highest quality solar solutions while supporting the economic vitality of our community.

We believe in hiring and investing locally, and our entire team of worker-owners resides in Nevada County. You might even run into us at the grocery store, little league game, or out on the mountain bike trails on the weekends. As community members ourselves, we're fully invested in your project and committed to ensuring your complete satisfaction. Trust us to provide reliable, sustainable, and cost-effective solar solutions that truly work for you.Learn more about our valuable staff below.

“We switched to solar because we wanted to ensure that our electric bills would not increase in the future. We chose Cal Solar because from the beginning, we were impressed with the knowledge and speed in which our questions were answered. We tell everyone we know to use Cal Solar!”

— Justin and Wendy Youngman, Grass Valley

“We’re paying the other guys just too much money. These guys showed up with some of the best options I could find. They gave me good pricing, they gave me a fair deal, and I couldn’t tell you how happy we are. We actually created personal friends out of this arrangement. They did an amazing job. I would have these guys back any time.”

— David Burns, Rough & Ready

“Other people around town said there is a good company here in Grass Valley, and we like to stay local if we can. The California Solar Representative did this great education versus a sales pitch. It was just getting me all the information I needed to have to make a good decision. The system works beautifully. We have this great online monitoring system that lets me look at my production all the time. Our energy bill is $10.”

— Marianne Mason, Grass Valley

“I’m impressed that California Solar is local. They’re very thorough and very knowledgeable. Of course Brandon and Rob could answer any question we had about how it works and what the options were for financing and what the best strategy is for making use of solar. I do like going out to our meter and having air conditioning running, and see that we’re still pumping electricity back to PG&E. I like that.”

— Dave Bunje, Nevada City

“Last Fall a California Solar Representative had a table outside of Briar Patch. He followed up, answered my myriad of questions, and was very helpful to me in making a decision to go with California Solar. I had several other estimates done right around the same time, but felt that California Solar would give me the very best plan. The financing was made quite easy thanks to Michael. I am very eager to watch the return on my investment in future.”

— Dee Ann Dinelli, Nevada City

“We interviewed several different companies for our solar installation but felt most comfortable with California Solar as they are local and offered an affordable solution. We now watch our daily savings from our new system.”

— Jim Peters, Grass Valley

“We were looking at our local utility bill and it was getting out of control, so we were thinking to ourselves, my wife and I, what are we going to do here? What are our options? So Brandon at California Solar came over to our house. he was very knowledgeable, the quote was affordable, and I got the ball rolling. The experience was great — they were knowledgeable, they were fair, the price was right, and we were just happy with every step of the process.”

— Torrey Bowman, Penn Valley

“We chose Cal Solar because they came highly recommended by our building team. We had an all around great experience with the whole process. Ever since our panels have been installed, we haven’t paid anything for utilities. We designed our house to be 100% electric with a solar system that would achieve net zero energy use over the course of a year. So far, we’ve hit that target and it feels great to be energy independent!”

— Shanti Cavanaugh, Nevada City