Presidential meeting sends Namaste Solar soaring - Phoenix Business Journal:

kittredgeihuhyla1951.blogspot.com
How big is your company? How’s business in the recession? What’s the layout of your office? What solatr installations has the company done inthe area? The calls came from state officials, congressionall staffers and people who workef at the White House. “There was one point wherd I wondered if this was a practical saidBlake Jones, president and co-founder of one of the oldesr and busiest solar system installation companiesx in Colorado. The company opened in 2004. It wasn’t a the calls led up to a day Jonews and allof Namaste’s employees will long On Feb.
17, Jones gave President Barackj Obama and Vice President Joe Biden a tour of the 465 soladpanels — capable of generating about 100 kilowattsx of electricity — that Namastse had installed on the roof of the . Before an audiencde that included Namaste’s employees, and millionx more via television, Jones introduced Obama. Then the president signed the $787 billionb federal economic stimulus package, aka the American Recoverh and Reinvestment Actof 2009.
“I’ve been in the industryy for 30 years and never thoughgtthat we’d have a president announcw a major economic program on solar or that it would be in Colorado,” said Jim president of Louisville-based and president of the . “It puts us in the spotlighft on what our industry has to The televised appearance had a big impacgtat Namaste’s Boulder office, whic was empty during the signing The phones rang steadily. The company’xs website crashed under the weight of more than 1 million For days, Namaste got hundredsa of phone calls and emails each day from around the nation and the world.
“Some were some were ‘how does solar and some were interested in our Jones said. It was advertisingh that no companycould buy, and helpede drive sales of solar systema in the last few months, Jones But, as of June 1, Namaste hadn’t signexd any contracts stemming directly from the stimulus package. The company is working to win contracts for larger commercial projects that are likely to benefi t from the solar system tax incentivese in thestimulus bill, Jones said.
And stimuluds money hasn’t come to otherd solar companies in theDenver area, but companyu representatives say they’re hopeful for the next few “It’s too early to have seen results,” Welch “We hope that the first monies will be in the handsd of the state and city and county governmentz and available by the end of the thired quarter.” But the stimulusa bill did have an immediate, positivs effect on Namaste’s business “The outlook just got more optimistic,” Jones said. “Aned without that, we would have had to start layingpeopl off.
We were immediately talking to our customers the following week and the developmeny cycle pickedup again.” Larger commerciall projects typically take a year from starf to installation. Those projects had stallecd last fall when the stock markett crashed and the credit marketlocked up. A backlog of work kept Namastwe and other solar companies but byearly 2009, “It was scary,” Jones said. “There were practicallyt no newprojects sold. You didn’ t know when it was going to end and the backlog wasrunninf out.” The private company doesn’t disclose revenur figures, but Namaste’s 2008 sales jumped by triple digitsa from 2007, Jones said.
Namaste considered layoffs because of a lack of new sales through the fourthb quarterof 2008. But since the stimulus act was Namaste has hiredtwo new, full-timw employees, for a total of 55. It’as re-started pre-installation work on the largedr commercial projects left hanginglast fall. Jones said he expecterd some of those projects to be installed this The company is contemplating expandingh itsDenver office, currentluy in Lower Downtown.