This week, I sat down with Cesar Barbosa, founder & CEO of Nulife Power Services. I’ve been curious (and admittedly undereducated) about solar recommissioning and repowering, and today’s interview caught me up.
This was eye-opening for me. Exact Solar builds solar energy systems that actually last 25-30 years, but this is not the case across the entire solar industry.
Cesar explains why so many solar energy systems need major retrofits sooner than promised, what’s actually failing in the field, and how his team is helping fix systems that weren’t installed right the first time.
Expect to learn
* The three failure windows for solar energy systems (and what typically breaks in each one).
* Horror stories Cesar has seen in the field, and what causes them.
* Why experienced midsized solar companies are best positioned to win market share in the next few years.
Quotes
“What would you say if I told you, Aaron, we are doing half a million dollar P.O.s (half a million dollars’ worth of work) just going around and replacing MC4 connectors?... I can talk to you about central inverters blowing up… but it can be the more minute things that can cause major wiring management issues, bad terminations… at scale can be a multi-million-dollar disaster.”
You can listen to this episode here, or on:
* YouTube
* Spotify
Transcript
Aaron Nichols:Hello everyone, and welcome back to This Week in Solar. I’m your host, Aaron Nichols, the Research and Policy Specialist here at Exact Solar in Newtown, Pennsylvania.
Today we have someone I’m really excited to talk to — Cesar Barbosa, founder and CEO of New Life Power. I’ve been really interested in recommissioning, and it’s something I don’t know a lot about. So Cesar, I’ll let you introduce yourself and we can go from there.
Cesar Barbosa:Thanks, Aaron. I’m Cesar Barbosa, founder and CEO of New Life Power. Like you said, I’ve been in the solar industry for about 17 years now — and it’s starting to sound a little crazy to say that out loud, but that’s where we are.
I started in 2008 installing residential systems here in California, then quickly moved into the commercial space. Fast forward a bit — I moved into service, O&M, and now I’ve come full circle, going back to the systems I installed in 2008 to retrofit and repower them. It’s been a fascinating journey to see how far this industry has come.
Aaron Nichols:Seventeen years is wild. I’ve only been in the solar space for about two years, and it’s amazing to think about how much the industry has changed in that time — you’ve been on the solar coaster for way longer than I have.
Cesar Barbosa:Yeah, it’s been quite a ride. Around 2012, I was with SunPower, traveling across the country assessing some of the largest systems in the world at that time. And something became very clear to me — these systems were already failing or needing major retrofits, yet we were selling them with 20–25 year expectations. Something wasn’t adding up.
In reality, solar systems go through three major life cycles:
* Infant failure (1–3 years): design flaws or faulty technology.
* Mid-life issues (5–7 years): usually inverter replacements or design defects showing up.
* End of life (15–20 years): where we are today — widespread aging assets.
When you add all that up, you realize we’re standing at the start of what the Department of Energy calls a $100 billion crisis. We like to call it a $100 billion opportunity.
Aaron Nichols:That’s such an interesting way to frame it. And a lot of that comes down to installation quality, right? What causes these early failures?
Cesar Barbosa:Yeah — the “shiny install” problem is real. Every operator thinks they do the best work, but the truth is, you only get there by learning hard lessons. During the booms in 2005 and 2010, we had more work than we had qualified labor. So it’s not always bad intent — sometimes it’s just the industry growing faster than the workforce can keep up.
Failures can come from bad engineering — like using a tracker design not suited for local wind conditions — or from new technologies that hit the market before being fully tested. A bad batch of semiconductors or connectors can lead to massive recalls. We saw that with inverters, and we’re starting to see it now with batteries.
Aaron Nichols:So with all those issues in play, what does New Life Power actually solve?
Cesar Barbosa:We’re licensed electrical contractors — electricians by trade. What we do is bring together asset owners who have aging systems and qualified local contractors who can do the work right.
For years, I couldn’t confidently recommend a contractor outside our region because I didn’t know their quality. Now, through our new program — The New Life Method — we’re building a national network of vetted operators.
It’s a licensing partnership where local contractors can join, get our full playbook — everything from estimating, pricing, compliance, to execution — and access pre-qualified projects from our asset manager relationships. We provide oversight and ensure quality control. It’s a win-win.
Aaron Nichols:That’s huge. So if a contractor joins the program, what do they get that they didn’t have before?
Cesar Barbosa:First, they get the playbook — the exact systems and processes that helped us execute over $25 million in repowering and decommissioning work.
Second, they get lead flow — real, pre-qualified opportunities. A lot of contractors waste time chasing deals that might not materialize for five years. We filter that out and deliver viable projects, plus support and oversight to make sure the work meets standards.
Aaron Nichols:That makes so much sense. And I assume this isn’t just a U.S. issue?
Cesar Barbosa:Exactly. The U.S. is just one market facing this. Australia, Europe, and Asia are seeing the same failures. It’s a global issue. Our focus is the U.S. for now, but that could change based on demand.
Aaron Nichols:I have to ask — do you have any horror stories from the field?
Cesar Barbosa:Oh, plenty. Here’s one: we’ve done half a million dollar purchase orders just to replace MC4 connectors — that’s it. Imagine spending $500,000 just replacing connectors across a site.
We’ve also seen central inverters blow up, trackers collapse, junction box lids falling off the backs of modules. I mean, if I were an asset owner and got a $500,000 bill five years into the life of my system, that’s not the ROI I was promised.
It’s a combination of manufacturing issues, engineering oversights, and poor installation practices.
Aaron Nichols:That’s wild. I’m grateful to work for a company that’s been around 20 years and prioritizes service and long-term quality. But for people just getting started — what should they know so they don’t end up needing New Life Power?
Cesar Barbosa:Good question. I always say — we’re like the funeral coordinators nobody wants to call, but eventually, they will.
If you’re new to solar:
* Partner with experienced professionals. Bring in people who understand maintenance and failure points.
* Get independent third-party commissioning and QA. Don’t rely on your own team to grade their own work — that’s too biased.
* Learn from operators who’ve seen it all. Small mistakes at scale become million-dollar problems.
At New Life, we’re building a national network of trusted operators who can assess each system case-by-case. Every repowering job is unique — you can’t treat them like new builds.
Aaron Nichols:That’s great advice — and super timely. Especially now that we’re facing a post-IRA world with less federal support. What should clean energy leaders be focused on in this new landscape?
Cesar Barbosa:We’re definitely in a new chapter. Like the saying goes, “When the tide goes out, you find out who’s still wearing their shorts.”
When incentives disappear, it exposes who built sustainable businesses and who didn’t. The large, over-leveraged players will struggle. The very small shops will feel it too.
But the mid-sized operators — the ones who’ve been in business 5–15 years, bootstrapped, ran lean, learned from the ups and downs — they’re in a great position. This is their time to gain market share, and the repowering and decommissioning sector is a huge part of that.
It’s a $100 billion industry that’s only just beginning.
Aaron Nichols:So true. And to close, I always ask this: my grandma just turned 80, and she was born into a world without renewable energy. What do you think clean energy will look like 80 years from now?
Cesar Barbosa:Eighty years — wow. Hopefully I’ll still be around!
I think we’ll see flying and elevated vehicles, nuclear playing a bigger role, and solar evolving with new materials — maybe still silicon-based, but more efficient.
The big question is: will we still have the same blue-collar labor force? With automation and AI, I wonder how much fieldwork will still be done by humans. We might need new ways to deploy and maintain systems.
But one thing’s certain — clean energy will be smarter, smaller, and everywhere.
Aaron Nichols:That’s a great vision. Cesar, thank you so much for joining us today.
Cesar Barbosa:Thank you, Aaron. It’s been great talking with you, my friend.
