Why We Started Solar Care Wales

When Gareth and I started talking seriously about Solar Care Wales, it wasn't because we thought Wales needed another company selling solar panels.

It was actually the opposite.

We kept thinking about all the solar systems that are already out there.

Drive through almost any town or village in Wales and you'll see panels on roofs that have been there for five, ten or even fifteen years. Behind every one of those systems is someone who invested their own money in solar, expecting it to look after them for years to come.

But who's looking after the solar?

That's the question that really started Solar Care Wales for us.

What happens after the installers leave?

Working around solar PV, you start seeing the same situations again and again.

Someone has a system on their roof but doesn't really know whether it's performing properly.

Their inverter is showing a fault they've never seen before.

They've changed their broadband and their monitoring app hasn't worked since.

They've bought a house with solar already installed and have been handed little or no information about it.

Their original installer has disappeared, stopped trading or simply isn't interested in coming back to look at an older system.

And sometimes you hear:

"I haven't got a clue what it's doing. It was installed years ago and nobody has looked at it since."

That stuck with both of us.

These aren't small investments. People spent thousands of pounds putting this equipment on their homes, yet years later some of them don't have anybody they trust to call when they need help.

We felt there was a genuine need for somebody to do that.

That's where the idea came from

We didn't want Solar Care Wales to be built around constantly trying to sell people something new.

We wanted it to be about looking after what people already have.

If a system is working well, great. Let's help keep it that way.

If there's a problem, let's find it.

If the panels need cleaning, let's clean them properly.

If the inverter has a fault, let's investigate it.

If somebody doesn't understand their monitoring, battery or electricity tariff, let's help them make sense of it.

And if something genuinely needs replacing or upgrading, we'll explain why and give the customer the information they need to make their own decision.

For Gareth and me, that felt like the right way to build the business.

Solar systems still need looking after

Solar is often sold as something you install and then forget about.

But these systems are working every day, year after year.

They're exposed to Welsh wind, rain, salt air in coastal areas, temperature changes and everything else our weather throws at them. Panels become contaminated, components age, inverters can develop problems and batteries and monitoring equipment introduce another layer of technology.

The energy world around these systems has changed too.

We now have battery storage, smart meters, EVs, smart tariffs, export tariffs and far better ways of monitoring and controlling how energy is generated, stored and used.

Some homeowners have equipment on their property that they simply aren't getting the most from.

Others just want reassurance that everything is working as it should.

We think both deserve proper support.

We want people to understand their own solar

This is something Gareth and I both feel strongly about.

You shouldn't need to be a solar engineer to understand whether the system on your own house is working.

If we test a system and everything looks healthy, we'll tell you.

If we find something that needs attention, we'll show you what we've found and explain the options.

If there's something you could be doing differently to make better use of your generation, battery or tariff, we'll talk you through it.

And if you don't need anything doing, we're not interested in inventing work.

We want Solar Care Wales to become somewhere people can get straightforward, practical and knowledgeable advice about the system they already own.

We're building this from Pembrokeshire

Solar Care Wales is starting here in Pembrokeshire, with the intention of supporting customers throughout West Wales and beyond as the business develops.

And we're at the beginning of that journey.

We're not pretending to be a huge national company with hundreds of engineers and a call centre.

We're two people building a business around something we genuinely believe there is a need for.

We want customers to know who's coming to their property. We want people to feel comfortable picking up the phone when something isn't right. And we'd like to still be looking after those same solar systems years after our first visit.

We're building the sort of solar company we'd want looking after our own homes.

Why "We care for the solar systems others have left behind"?

Our slogan came naturally from the reason we started the business:

"We care for the solar systems others have left behind."

Because that's really what Solar Care Wales is about.

There are thousands of solar systems already sitting on roofs across Wales.

They don't necessarily need replacing.

They haven't suddenly become worthless because they're getting older or because the company that installed them is no longer around.

Many of them just need someone who understands them, someone who will take the time to check them properly and, most importantly, someone willing to look after them.

That's what Gareth and I created Solar Care Wales to do.

Willson
Solar Care Wales