Sun Solar undergoes management changes

SBJ file

Caleb Arthur says plans to open a manufacturing plant are on hold amid high global solar panel supply.

Less than a year after Sun Solar LLC’s owner and founder hired a new CEO to replace him, Caleb Arthur is back in the leadership role.

Arthur, who in September 2023 hired Marc Lee to helm the Springfield-based solar energy business with the intent of turning more attention to the manufacturing side of the company, said he parted ways with the executive in early June. Around the same time, Arthur said he also fired Shaan Rahi, senior director of sales and development, and Jerry Carpenter, chief revenue officer. Rahi and Carpenter, who Arthur said both previously worked at Louisiana-based renewable energy company Sunpro Solar – which was acquired by ADT in 2021 – also were hired last year to work at his company with a goal to expand into new markets.

While Sun Solar began serving residential and commercial accounts this year in portions of Iowa, Nebraska and Texas, Arthur said the expansion sales results weren’t meeting company expectations. Sun Solar’s investment, including hiring staff and leasing warehouses in the three states, was roughly $600,000, according to past Springfield Business Journal reporting.

“That business model just did not work for us. We did not see substantial growth. We actually didn’t see any growth from last year before those guys came on board,” Arthur said. “We gave it six months, it didn’t happen, and we were behind the trend on where we should be for spending that kind of money, making that kind of investment. So, I just had to look in the mirror and say, ‘Hey, I’m not willing to lay off entry-level employees. The people that were responsible for running the day to day are the ones that are going to have to go.’ And so that’s a gut-wrenching decision as an owner to have to do something like that.”

The company previously expanded to Illinois in June 2023 with its first office out of state, according to past SBJ reporting. 

“We went out and spent a bunch of money, we entered all these new markets, and we just were not ready to support those new markets like we have our legacy markets in Missouri and Illinois,” he said.

Lee had come to work at Sun Solar after exiting his position in early 2023 as CEO of PlateSmart Technologies, a Florida-based company that works in artificial intelligence security, according to past reporting. Lee’s LinkedIn page doesn’t have an update on his current place of employment, and attempts to reach him for comment on this story were unsuccessful by press time.

Sun Solar last month ranked second on Springfield Business Journal’s list of the local area’s largest solar contractors, having completed 1,043 system installations in 2023. Its revenue last year was $55 million, a 34% increase over 2022. The company employs nearly 220 people, with roughly 150 of them local. Arthur reported the company employee count at around 250 in 2023.

“I would rather just stay at the size I’m at and be profitable than try to grow at all costs,” Arthur said. “I’m not trying to double my revenue every year, and I’m more OK with just focusing on my employees, my new customers that we are onboarding and my existing customers.”

Arthur said he currently doesn’t intend to exit the new states the company entered earlier this year.

“A lot of it has to do with the talent of the sales managers and energy consultants we have there. We kept our overhead pretty low,” he said. “Now, we spent a lot of money in advertising and leads, so we have those leads, but will they be fruitful? And we don’t know that until over time. So that’s why I wasn’t willing to just completely shut down those markets and walk away.”

After announcing plans last year to launch a manufacturing plant, Arthur said he still intends to do so. However, the timing of when and where is still to be determined, he said. Arthur previously estimated a decision on the manufacturing plant, which will be in either Missouri or Illinois, would be made by late 2023. The company investment is estimated at roughly $100 million, according to past reporting.

Arthur cited reports of high supply of solar panels coming out of China this year as a reason he is temporarily delaying a manufacturing plant opening. China holds roughly 80% of the global solar panel manufacturing capacity, according to global research and consultancy firm Wood Mackenzie. Solar panel supply globally is forecast to reach 1,100 gigawatts by the end of this year – three times more than demand, according to the International Energy Agency.

“I have to really feel comfortable about the pipeline of my product and make sure that I’m going to be able to sell it because the last thing I’m going to do is invest that kind of money, start a manufacturing company and then not be able to sell the product like I need to,” he said, adding there still is potential to take possession of a facility before year’s end. “Now, if there were not an oversupply of solar panels on the market, I would be awake night and day trying to get this thing launched.”