Meet Pete Wilking, the president and founder of A1A Solar Contracting Inc. The Jacksonville-based company, with 45 employees, is one of GrowFL’s “Florida Companies to Watch.” A1A Solar is involved with installing the solar array atop the new Jacksonville Ikea. Wilking, a U.S. Navy Persian Gulf War veteran, is married with three children. His wife, Amy, is vice president of the company.
I’ve always had a fascination with machines and engines and power plants. Back in the mid-‘80s when I was in college, I saw a solar electrical panel and it was hooked up to a little fan. You put it in the sunlight and that little fan just screamed. I’m like, wow, that’s pretty cool. You can turn sunshine directly into electricity. I think there’s a future in that. So 30-some years later, here I am.
I got into solar in 2006. I worked for a local solar contractor and a distributor. I saw a huge potential for the solar market but it wasn’t being delivered very well at the contractor level. In 2010, I saw an opportunity to start my own company to cater to a market that wanted a higher-quality system installed, a higher level of equipment and customer service. We’ve been growing ever since.
The biggest misconception that we run across is people have very dated information about the technology and the economics of solar. We’re at a point now where the technology is mature, it’s reliable. It’s bankable is the term we use in the industry. More importantly, the cost of solar has come down so much in recent years relative to the price of electricity that you lose a lot of money if you do not go solar. Not everybody’s a great candidate for it, but those that are may not realize it.
Generally speaking, the utility companies are not too excited about people purchasing solar (energy systems) and putting them on their home and business. They would much rather own the solar arrays and keep the current business model as it is, which is basically centralized power production and distribution. The big debate right now is net metering. When people put solar on their home, any energy produced by the system that’s not used by the home is back-fed to the grid. Net metering ensures that they’re generally getting credited full retail value for that energy by the utility company. That’s really where the rub is with the utility companies.
That’s always the trick question that people ask – well how much does it cost to go solar? It’s almost easier to give you the price of not going solar and the additional money that you would pay. In terms of a typical home of 2,000-2,500 square feet, over the life cycle of the system, people usually keep in their pockets from $40,000 to $60,000 in terms of avoided cost. That’s after the system is paid for. If we did, say, a $25,000 system, $1 invested in solar gives you typically $3 back in return.
I’ve got school-age kids. For fun, I’m into cycling. I like to work out, swim. We’re active with our church. We like to do some traveling of the U.S. in the summertime.