By Danielle Kutchel
Self-described as Casey’s best kept secret, United Solar Energy is moving forwards at leaps and bounds.
The quiet achiever doesn’t normally participate in business awards, but decided this year to enter the 2021 Casey Business Awards.
It was then named as one of three finalists in the Business Leadership category.
It’s not bad for a business that started in a garage with an investment of just $1500, according to founder and CEO Richard Vargas.
While a local business at heart, Mr Vargas said the United Solar Group has now expanded into four countries.
It was “right in the middle” of Covid, he said, meaning the business had to be nimble and manoeuvre around the global challenges.
Still, United doubled its workforce with the majority of staff living local to the Casey office in Hallam.
Almost 80 per cent of the products and services it is supplied with also come from the Casey area.
“We’re not intending to move to any other place. We’ve been here for years,” Mr Vargas said.
As families and businesses faced financial stress over the course of the pandemic, Mr Vargas said the company knew it was well placed to help by offering a means of reducing power bills through targeted and well-designed solar systems.
“It was an eye opener for us as a company to know we did help a lot of families during the pandemic,” he said.
“In the last three months of last year, we saved in excess of $2 million in electricity for those families. It’s mind-boggling.”
United has been demonstrating leadership through its business practises for many years.
The company has a particularly strong focus on education and goes out of its way to upskill the next generation of electrical engineers.
Around two or three years ago, United started up an internship program for electrical engineers on the cusp of graduation, providing them with the practical local, national and now international experience they need to make it in the industry.
Over 300 people have passed through the program, and United has helped place more than 50 per cent of those people into jobs.
“We really led from the front and now in our industry there’s a lot of other solar companies either employing the interns that come through our business, or looking at how we do things and how much of an impact it’s made on our business and now they’ve jumped on the internship bandwagon,” Mr Vargas said.
“We’re one of the pioneers when it comes to accepting electrical engineers within our solar industry.”
The program also demonstrates another of the values that United holds dear: supporting other businesses.
And that’s particularly important in the growing area of Casey, he explained.
“If you’re a small business and in the Casey area, there’s significant opportunities for you to grow,” Mr Vargas said.
“I think that the more local businesses support each other the better it will be and that’s what makes Casey such a strong council area to be a part of.”
