At Best Startup California we track over 300,000 Californian startups and over 1,500,000 people who hold key positions in these companies. We use this directory of startups to highlight top employees, founders and organisations we think deserve more appreciation than they are currently getting.
We’ve ranked the top 67 Solar companies in San Francisco, California. The companies, startups and institutions listed in this article are all exceptional companies, well worth a follow. We have included links to their websites, socials and CrunchBase (if you’re interested in their financials).
We selected the organisations listed in this article based on:
- Track record
- Executive leadership
- Market share
- Innovation
- ESG rating
Our Data – We source our data from OSINT (open source intelligence) and public directories such as Crunchbase, SemRush and many more. The data from these sources should be treated with a degree of caution and verified yourself.
Top Solar Companies & Startups (San Francisco, California)
BRIGHT
BRIGHT enables the developing world with cleaner and more affordable energy.
Founder(s): Jonah Greenberger, Pablo Castellanos
Location: San Francisco, California, United States
Industries: Energy, Renewable Energy, Solar
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Angaza
Angaza provides a technology that enables businesses to provide affordable life-changing products to people in emerging markets.
Founder(s): Bryan Duggan, Bryan Silverthorn, Lesley Marincola, Victoria Arch
Location: San Francisco, California, United States
Industries: Energy, Social Entrepreneurship, Solar
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Jupe
Jupe (YC S21) is building a universal autonomous housing platform for 1.5 billion humans.
Founder(s): Antonio Gonzalez, Jeff Wilson
Location: San Francisco, California, United States
Industries: GreenTech, Hospitality, Internet of Things, Outdoors, Real Estate, Software, Solar, Travel
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Sunfolding
Sunfolding develops new approaches to solar tracking for commercial and utility systems.
Founder(s): Leila Madrone, Saul Griffith
Location: San Francisco, California, United States
Industries: Energy, Energy Management, Manufacturing, Productivity Tools, Renewable Energy, Solar
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Fenix International
Fenix International produces ultra-affordable mobile enabled solar solutions to empower more than 1.3 billion people living off-grid.
Founder(s): Brian Warshawsky, Mike Lin
Location: San Francisco, California, United States
Industries: Energy Efficiency, Renewable Energy, Solar
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Spruce Finance
Spruce provides consumer financing for residential solar systems, water conservation upgrades and energy-efficient home improvements.
Founder(s): Nat Kreamer
Location: San Francisco, California, United States
Industries: Energy Efficiency, Renewable Energy, Solar
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Aurora Solar
Aurora Solar is a SaaS company that uses aerial imagery to assess solar installation projects.
Founder(s): Christopher Hopper, Samuel Adeyemo
Location: San Francisco, California, United States
Industries: Clean Energy, Renewable Energy, SaaS, Software, Solar
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Sighten
Sighten develops a software toolset to manage the complexity of distributed solar.
Founder(s): Conlan O’Leary, David Villagra, Graham Hommel
Location: San Francisco, California, United States
Industries: Clean Energy, Energy, Energy Efficiency, Renewable Energy, SaaS, Software, Solar
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CivicSolar
CivicSolar is an innovative solar distributor that offers a full selection of modules and balance-of-systems from manufacturers.
Founder(s): Kerim Baran, Michael Goldberg
Location: San Francisco, California, United States
Industries: Clean Energy, Energy, GreenTech, Manufacturing, Renewable Energy, Solar
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Sunverge Energy
Sunverge Energy provides integrated solar solutions for distributed generation and storage.
Founder(s): Dean Sanders, Kenneth Munson
Location: San Francisco, California, United States
Industries: Clean Energy, Energy, GreenTech, Renewable Energy, Software, Solar
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Distributed Solar Development
DSD Renewables is a solar energy management company.
Founder(s): Erik Schiemann
Location: San Francisco, California, United States
Industries: Energy, Solar
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kWh Analytics
kWh Analytics provides solar asset data and portfolio analytics for the solar industry.
Founder(s): Richard Matsui
Location: San Francisco, California, United States
Industries: Analytics, Energy, InsurTech, Renewable Energy, Solar
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NextGrid
NextGrid is a renewable energy company specializing in solar development, policy, and finance.
Founder(s): Aaron Culig, Doug Williams
Location: San Francisco, California, United States
Industries: Energy, Finance, Renewable Energy, Solar
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EcoFlow Tech
EcoFlow provides designs, develops and manufactures eco-friendly and affordable portable power stations for personal and professional use.
Founder(s): Eli Harris, Fan Zheng, Hannah Sieber, Lei Wang
Location: San Francisco, California, United States
Industries: Clean Energy, Consumer Electronics, Electronics, Energy, Energy Efficiency, Solar
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Leap
Leap is a marketplace for Distributed Energy Resources to participate in the energy market.
Founder(s): Remco van den Elzen, Thomas Folker
Location: San Francisco, California, United States
Industries: Energy, Marketplace, Renewable Energy, Solar
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Simusolar
Simusolar increases rural prosperity by selling and financing productive equipment to farmers and small businesses.
Founder(s): David Katz, Marianne Walpert, Michael Kuntz
Location: San Francisco, California, United States
Industries: Agriculture, Consumer, Energy, Financial Services, Solar
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Nevados
Nevados Engineering designs and manufactures solar ground installations.
Founder(s): Norman Xiao, Yezin Taha
Location: San Francisco, California, United States
Industries: Environmental Consulting, Manufacturing, Renewable Energy, Solar
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Carbon Lighthouse
Delivering easy building decarbonization for commercial real estate owners
Founder(s): Brenden Millstein, Raphael Rosen
Location: San Francisco, California, United States
Industries: Commercial Real Estate, Energy Efficiency, Hospitality, Software, Solar, Sustainability
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Wivity Inc.
Distributed database that holds security-critial information on cyrptographic private keys. Standardized by the SunSpec Alliance.
Founder(s): Alfred Tom, Jörg Brakensiek
Location: San Francisco, California, United States
Industries: Blockchain, Cyber Security, Internet of Things, Power Grid, Security, Solar
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Lemon
Lemon is a corporation that designs, develops, and sells solar powered and audio consumer electronics.
Founder(s): Vincent Dupontreué
Location: San Francisco, California, United States
Industries: Consumer Electronics, Electronics, Hardware, Software, Solar
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Recurrent Energy
Recurrent Energy provides distributed solar power that makes renewable energy a practical choice for large scale energy users.
Founder(s): Arno Harris, Don Hutchison, Matt Garlinghouse
Location: San Francisco, California, United States
Industries: Energy, Renewable Energy, Solar
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Radian Generation
Radian Generation is an independent solar asset management and advisory firm.
Founder(s): Chad Sachs, Joe Kastner, Peter Conklin
Location: San Francisco, California, United States
Industries: Clean Energy, Renewable Energy, Solar
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EcoVolt Electric Company
EcoVolt rents roofs from building landlords (like cell tower leasing), installs solar & provides electricity service to the building tenants
Founder(s): Bill Hilliard
Location: San Francisco, California, United States
Industries: Building Material, Commercial, Electrical Distribution, Real Estate, Solar
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PV Evolution Labs
PV Evolution Labs provides solar panel test and characterization services.
Founder(s): Yevgeny Meydbray
Location: San Francisco, California, United States
Industries: Energy, Energy Efficiency, Renewable Energy, Solar, Test and Measurement
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Regen
Regen manufactured solar-powered audio and lighting products.
Founder(s):
Location: San Francisco, California, United States
Industries: Lighting, Manufacturing, Solar
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ForeFront Power
ForeFront Power has more than a decade of renewable industry experience, serving business and wholesale power customers around the world.
Founder(s):
Location: San Francisco, California, United States
Industries: Renewable Energy, Solar
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Manta Solar
Manta Solar develops and provides solar energy generation systems.
Founder(s): Carlos Kronen, Jonah Crawford
Location: San Francisco, California, United States
Industries: Renewable Energy, Solar, Sustainability
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SRECTrade
Solar energy production tracking and trading software platform
Founder(s): Brad Bowery, Kevin Quilliam, Steven Eisenberg
Location: San Francisco, California, United States
Industries: Energy, Software, Solar
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Chevron Energy Solutions
Chevron Energy Solutions L.P. engages in developing, engineering, and building energy solutions for government, education, and business
Founder(s):
Location: San Francisco, California, United States
Industries: Energy, Oil and Gas, Solar
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The GivePower Foundation
Using clean energy to provide water and energy solutions to those who need it most.
Founder(s): Hayes Barnard
Location: San Francisco, California, United States
Industries: Energy, Renewable Energy, Solar
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renewables.org
renewables.org helps investors earn a return by investing in renewable energy.
Founder(s):
Location: San Francisco, California, United States
Industries: Renewable Energy, Solar
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ECOtality
ECOtality is an electric transportation and storage technologies company offering clean electric transportation and technology solutions.
Founder(s):
Location: San Francisco, California, United States
Industries: CleanTech, Electric Vehicle, Solar, Transportation
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10Power
10Power provides renewable energy internationally to communities that lack access to electricity through project development and finance.
Founder(s):
Location: San Francisco, California, United States
Industries: Energy, Renewable Energy, Solar
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TEC Blockchain
Deploy blockchain based cryptocurrency application to facilitate the trading of energy in the North American markets
Founder(s):
Location: San Francisco, California, United States
Industries: Financial Services, Renewable Energy, Solar
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The Energy Foundation
The Energy Foundation is a company that promotes clean technology.
Founder(s):
Location: San Francisco, California, United States
Industries: Energy, Non Profit, Renewable Energy, Solar
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One Block Off the Grid (1BOG)
One Block Off the Grid, a residential solar consultant, provides homeowners the option of comparing quotes from leading solar providers.
Founder(s): Dan Barahona, Dave Llorens, David Llorens
Location: San Francisco, California, United States
Industries: Consulting, Renewable Energy, Solar
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NextLight Renewable Power
NextLight Renewable Power engages in utility-scale solar development in the western United States.
Founder(s):
Location: San Francisco, California, United States
Industries: Energy, Renewable Energy, Solar
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SolarNexus
Our mission at SolarNexus is to develop software solutions.
Founder(s): Michael Palmquist
Location: San Francisco, California, United States
Industries: Clean Energy, CRM, Digital Media, Energy Efficiency, Enterprise Software, Software, Solar
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Energy Recommerce
Energy Recommerce is the leader in solar power performance management, with the industry’s preferred string-level monitoring system for
Founder(s): Peter Rexelius
Location: San Francisco, California, United States
Industries: Electronics, Energy, Renewable Energy, Solar
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Naturener
Naturener is a Independent Power Producer that focuses on renewable energy.
Founder(s):
Location: San Francisco, California, United States
Industries: Energy, Mining, Renewable Energy, Solar
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Rugged Communications
Solar, Wireles Telecommunicatios
Founder(s):
Location: San Francisco, California, United States
Industries: Enterprise Software, Mobile, Solar, Telecommunications, Wireless
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SOLARIT®
SOLARIT® provides smart solar energy installations to residentials and commercials clients.SOLARIT® is also a solar industry tech provider.
Founder(s): Abraham Valentino
Location: San Francisco, California, United States
Industries: Energy, Energy Management, Renewable Energy, SaaS, Software, Solar
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Ronotic
Solar Powered Streetlights, CleanTech Infrastructure
Founder(s): Cem Koc
Location: San Francisco, California, United States
Industries: CleanTech, Infrastructure, Internet of Things, Lighting, Solar
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Sunworks Solar
Sunworks is a manufacturer of silicon-based thin-film solar PV modules. These ultra-low-cost modules are sold to utilities and developers
Founder(s):
Location: San Francisco, California, United States
Industries: Electronics, Manufacturing, Renewable Energy, Solar
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Proxifeed
Proxifeed creates and broadcasts automated postings into users’ Twitter feeds.
Founder(s):
Location: San Francisco, California, United States
Industries: Apps, Blogging Platforms, Social Media, Social Media Advertising, Social Media Marketing, Solar
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Gaia Human Capital Consultants
Retained Executive Search Consultants – Cleantech and Sustainability Industry
Founder(s): Dawn Dzurilla
Location: San Francisco, California, United States
Industries: Management Consulting, Non Profit, Solar, Sustainability, Waste Management
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Sollega
Sollega manufactures and offers solar PV, ballasted commercial flat-roof, and ground mount racking solutions.
Founder(s):
Location: San Francisco, California, United States
Industries: Energy, Manufacturing, Solar
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Bell Resources (US)
Bell Resources is a new age energy technology company focused on supplying energy & resources to the Electric Vehicle (EV) markets globally.
Founder(s):
Location: San Francisco, California, United States
Industries: Battery, Electric Vehicle, Mining, Renewable Energy, Solar, Wind Energy
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Solmentum
Solmentum is a cleantech company that installs solar panels on roofs.
Founder(s): Jasper Platz
Location: San Francisco, California, United States
Industries: CleanTech, Energy, Oil and Gas, Solar
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Solar Power Investor
Bringing news, investment insights and opportunities to the solar and renewable energy industries.
Founder(s): Tim Donnelly
Location: San Francisco, California, United States
Industries: Clean Energy, Media and Entertainment, News, Renewable Energy, Solar, Venture Capital
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Luminalt
Luminalt is a locally owned solar and energy storage installation company that mainly installs and leases solar panels.
Founder(s):
Location: San Francisco, California, United States
Industries: Construction, Energy, Renewable Energy, Solar
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Juse
Juse provides perpetual power for your iPhone.
Founder(s): Tom Lam
Location: San Francisco, California, United States
Industries: Electronics, Energy, iOS, Mobile Apps, Nanotechnology, Software, Solar
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Clean Energy Counsel
Clean Energy Counsel provides marketing and advertising solutions for clean energy companies.
Founder(s): Steve Holman
Location: San Francisco, California, United States
Industries: Advertising, Energy, Renewable Energy, Solar
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That’s Solar
ThatsSolar.com is a support website providing step by step guides, product comparisons, and useful information about solar products.
Founder(s):
Location: San Francisco, California, United States
Industries: Clean Energy, Energy, GreenTech, Solar
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The Cleanweb Initiative
Addressing issues related to resource constraints through the application of information technology.
Founder(s): Blake Burris, Sunil Paul
Location: San Francisco, California, United States
Industries: Clean Energy, CleanTech, Internet of Things, Solar
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Power Applications and Research Systems
Power Applications and Research Systems is an energy consulting company that offers services in renewable energy.
Founder(s):
Location: San Francisco, California, United States
Industries: Consulting, Energy, Information Technology, Solar
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BASS Electric
BASS Electric is a general engineering, commercial electrical and commercial solar contractor service provider company.
Founder(s):
Location: San Francisco, California, United States
Industries: Electrical Distribution, Industrial Engineering, Solar
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Sunrun
Sunrun provides residential solar electricity and solar power services for homeowners.
Founder(s): Edward Fenster, Lynn Jurich, Nat Kreamer
Location: San Francisco, California, United States
Industries: Clean Energy, Energy, Renewable Energy, Solar
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Light Matters Foundation
Light Matters Foundation is a company for to improve the daily lives of families in developing countries by providing them with solar.
Founder(s):
Location: San Francisco, California, United States
Industries: Association, Energy, Health Care, Mining, Solar
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MP2 Capital
Founded in 2006 to satisfy the growing demand for renewable energy resources
Founder(s):
Location: San Francisco, California, United States
Industries: Energy, Renewable Energy, Solar
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SunReports
SunReports is an application that enables its users to measure power consumption of solar energy systems.
Founder(s): H.P Baumeister
Location: San Francisco, California, United States
Industries: Clean Energy, CleanTech, Solar
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CalSol
CalSol is a UC Berkeley student group involved in the design, construction, and racing of solar vehicles.
Founder(s):
Location: San Francisco, California, United States
Industries: Construction, Racing, Solar
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Declination Solar
Declination Solar operates as a solar contractor.
Founder(s):
Location: San Francisco, California, United States
Industries: Energy, Power Grid, Solar
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Bay Area Solar Companies
Solar Installers
Founder(s):
Location: San Francisco, California, United States
Industries: Energy, Mining, Solar
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Acurex Solar Corporation
Acurex Solar Corporation
Founder(s):
Location: San Francisco, California, United States
Industries: Manufacturing, Solar
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Scaled Solar
Scaled Solar provides solar energy solutions that help commercial customers cut electricity costs
Founder(s):
Location: San Francisco, California, United States
Industries: Energy, Manufacturing, Solar
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Generate Capital
Generate Capital builds, owns, and operates sustainable infrastructure to deliver affordable and reliable resource solutions.
Founder(s): Jigar Shah, Matan Friedman, Scott Jacobs
Location: San Francisco, California, United States
Industries: Renewable Energy, Solar, Sustainability
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