Carolina Energy Conservation

Carolina Energy Conservation has been quietly building one of the longest-running residential solar PV practices in coastal South Carolina, and the depth of their state-specific recognition was hard for our research team to overlook. Founded in 2009 by Jeff Thompson out of a Surfside Beach garage, the company is now headquartered at 9516 Highway 707 in Myrtle Beach with a second SC office at 40 Pennington Drive in Bluffton, and their service footprint covers the Lowcountry, the Grand Strand, and most of coastal South Carolina with extensions into the Savannah area and southeastern North Carolina. The company holds an A+ rating with the Better Business Bureau and has been BBB Accredited since January 2012, with only a single resolved complaint in the public record.

The credentials that stood out the most are the back-to-back Santee Cooper Solar PV Contractor of the Year awards in 2016 and 2017 — a recognition from South Carolina's state-owned utility that reflects sustained installation volume, system quality, and customer-satisfaction metrics tracked by the utility itself rather than self-reported. Carolina Energy Conservation has also appeared repeatedly in Solar Power World's Top Solar Contractors rankings from 2016 through 2023, including a Top 100 Residential Solar Installer designation in 2018. Their NABCEP PV Installation Professional credential (#102216-013865) sits with team member Eddie Galloway, with a NABCEP Photovoltaic Associate held by Fred Baker.

On the technical side, the company installs Canadian Solar panels paired with SolarEdge and Fronius inverter platforms, with Tesla Powerwall available for battery backup. They carry South Carolina General Contractor license G118852 and Electrical Contractor license M113819, and like the top-ranked installer in the state, they perform all work with in-house W-2 employees rather than subcontracted crews. Systems are backed by a 10-year workmanship warranty alongside standard manufacturer coverage on panels and inverters.

The company is smaller than the regional installers ranked above and below — roughly 35 staff as of 2022, with a cumulative installed capacity of about 2.7 MW — but for homeowners in Horry, Georgetown, Charleston, Beaufort, and Jasper counties, that local rootedness translates into firsthand familiarity with coastal wind-load engineering, Santee Cooper interconnection, and salt-air hardware selection.

With a composite score of 75.6 out of 100, Carolina Energy Conservation holds the second-ranked position in South Carolina for 2026.