The Future Looks Bright for Kuby Renewable Energy

Kuby

December 19, 2017

Business has been good at Kuby, an electrical and engineering construction firm that specializes in renewable energy. “We’ve been increasing revenue three to four times year-over-year since we started,” says Jake, an electrician by training who left the oil and gas industry to start Kuby with his friend Adam Yereniuk in 2015.

But growth brings new challenges. “We have ten employees, but it fluctuates between ten and twelve,” Jake says. “We’re shooting for 25 to 35 next year. Employees are probably our biggest challenge. There are a lot of people who want to be in [solar], but we need to find the right people.”

Today, the duo’s big gamble is paying off, but their venture wasn’t always so certain. “I was working for one of the larger oil companies in Alberta for five years as an electrician and then as an electrical supervisor. I was making great money, and I saw myself climbing the ladder in front of me, but I really had no interest in it.”

The vision for Kuby came after Jake took a trip to Costa Rica with his girlfriend. “I was down there and they were running, I think, one hundred and ten days purely off renewable energy—the whole country. I thought that was so cool. I realized everywhere in the world was going to this solar energy movement.”

When Jake returned to Alberta, he saw an opportunity in the local market. “I looked into it and realized there was only a handful of people doing [solar installation] here. I took a few courses through the electrical union. The guy that was teaching there offered me a starter position.”

It was a quick decision. “I weighed my options for all of ten minutes and said, yeah, this is what I want to do. I pretty much gave my notice to the oil company right then. They thought I was crazy because it was coming up on a slow time recession-wise. The price of oil was tanking, and I had a pretty comfortable maintenance gig going.”

Jake says that while the NDP government in Alberta has been supportive of the solar industry, he’s not worried about the possibility of a new party coming in. “At that point, the market will have picked up enough to lower the costs naturally, and people will do it anyway…. A big part of the solar business is educating people. You will see a return on your investment in the lifetime of the system.”

 

Kuby strikes a deal with Tesla

A turning point for Kuby happened when Jake was in Vancouver in 2016, at a Tesla dealership. “I was kicking tires, chatting with the guy. When someone buys a Telsa, they need a charger. He goes to check if anyone is installing Tesla chargers back in Edmonton, and nobody was. I gave him my card and said we definitely want to get on that.” After an extensive vetting process, Tesla certified Kuby as an official installer.

Today, Kuby is also certified to install Tesla’s Powerwall (a rechargeable battery used to store electricity in homes) in Western Canada, a relationship forged when one of Kuby’s solar customers wanted to install a Powerwall in Inuvik, N.W.T. “Only one per cent of solar installers ever get that [Powerwall] contract [with Tesla]. We were one of them.”

And Kuby’s relationship with Tesla continues to evolve. The company is about to install Tesla charging stations at roughly 40 locations around Edmonton, such as major shopping centres.

It’s been a long and busy road, Jake says, but “now we’re cruising.”

Source: http://cleanenergycanada.org/kuby-renewable-energy-edmonton/

Related Articles


Latest Articles


Changing Scene

  • Federal Investment to Add 989 New Montreal Homes

    Federal Investment to Add 989 New Montreal Homes

    November 18, 2024 The federal government is providing nearly $364 million to help build 989 new homes in Montreal. The announcement took place at 5200 rue de la Savane, in Montreal, which received $100 million dollars through the Apartment Loan Construction Program (ACLP) to build 303 homes and will be operated by Olymbec. This rental building, named Lynk, is designed to… Read More…

  • ABB and NIEDAX Group Announce Completion of Joint Venture with the Formation of Abnex Inc.

    ABB and NIEDAX Group Announce Completion of Joint Venture with the Formation of Abnex Inc.

    November 18, 2024 ABB completed the previously announced 50/50 joint venture with Niedax Group. The Abnex Inc. joint venture (JV) will broaden solutions and advance opportunities in the rapidly growing North American cable management market. Integrating engineering and manufacturing capabilities of ABB’s Installation Products Division with Niedax Group will enable the newly formed company to deliver a… Read More…

  • Ontario Building More Electric Vehicle Charging Stations

    Ontario Building More Electric Vehicle Charging Stations

    November 18, 2024 The Ontario government is building over 1,300 new electric vehicle (EV) charging ports in small and medium-sized communities, marking a major milestone in the province’s plan to increase access to EV chargers outside of large urban centres and support the electrification of transportation across the province. As the province continues to see… Read More…

  • Ontario Investing Over $74 Million Through Next Round of Skills Development Fund Capital Stream

    Ontario Investing Over $74 Million Through Next Round of Skills Development Fund Capital Stream

    November 18, 2024 The Ontario government is launching the second round of its Skills Development Fund (SDF) Capital Stream starting November 29, with over $74 million in available funding to build, expand and retrofit training facilities for workers in the trades, including construction, manufacturing technology and health care. The government is also investing nearly $5 million from the first… Read More…