
He spent decades learning how power plants get financed, built and operated. Then Rob Lamkin bet on inflatable solar collectors - and learned that durable persistence means knowing what to keep, what to stop and what to build next.
Cool Earth Solar is a California solar company with two lives: it launched in 2006 as a venture-backed clean-energy startup chasing utility-scale power with cheap, air-inflated plastic concentrator dishes, then evolved into a locally owned residential and commercial solar installer serving the Stockton-to-Placerville corridor. Today it designs, engineers, and installs solar power and battery storage systems in-house - no outsourcing - under CEO Rob Lamkin, and has been a recognized SunPower dealer, winning national and regional dealer awards.