Frank Rieger started solar panel installation company Sol-Up USA in 2009, after moving from Germany to Las Vegas in what he called a midlife crisis.
He loves his job, and said Las Vegas is the near-perfect place to work in solar where sun shines 95 percent of the time on average, according to financial information website NerdWallet.
Since the 2015 PUC decision, Nevada has picked up the pace with renewable energy projects, said Jeremy Aguero, principal analyst with Las Vegas-based Applied Analysis.
“We’ve probably seen more proposals relative to renewable energy in the last three years than the last 15,” he said.
Rieger’s company started recovering from the decision a little over a year ago. He said Sol-Up has added more than a dozen employees in the last few months and is making about three times as much revenue compared to last year.
And the industry is expected to continue to grow, according to Sean Gallagher, the vice president of state affairs for the national trade group Solar Energy Industries Association. He pointed to the abundance of solar projects being built across Nevada from companies like Switch and MGM Resorts International.
“Nevada’s got one of the best solar resources in the country,” he said, referencing the consistent sunshine. “Over the long run, this trend is going to continue upward as more businesses and residents go forward (installing solar). Customers like to have control over their bills.”
