How We Got Started

New Farm Solar was founded in 2014 by owner and operator Patrick Villines with a simple belief: every customer deserves an honest, thoughtfully designed solar energy system built with the customer’s goals in mind. No gimmicks, just honest, mutual excitement over a new project that is guaranteed to better the home or business owners lives.

Based in Arkansas and serving the surrounding region, New Farm Solar is one of the few companies in the state certified by the North American Board of Certified Energy Practitioners (NABCEP®), the industry’s gold standard for photovoltaic (PV) installation.

Backed by over two decades of experience and more than 500 completed solar installations, New Farm Solar designs and installs everything from traditional grid-tied systems to hybrid battery backup and fully off-grid power systems. We do not work on sales commissions. Instead, our focus is on designing the right system for each customer while delivering exceptional craftsmanship, long-term reliability, and outstanding value.

Our experience with battery storage has become one of our greatest strengths. More than half of our installations include battery backup, giving homeowners and businesses greater energy independence and peace of mind. Every system is custom designed with an emphasis on efficiency, durability, simplicity, and ease of maintenance.

Patrick with his daughter, June, at his self taught, homestead installation. Boxley Valley, 2009

Where It All Began

The name New Farm Solar comes from the meaning of the Villines surname: “dweller on the new farm.” For Patrick, whose family has lived in Arkansas’s Boxley Valley for nine generations, the “new farm” wasn’t a place—it was a new way of thinking.

The journey began with a decision to preserve the beauty of a remote homestead rather than cut a utility right-of-way through the Buffalo River countryside. Faced with the choice of living without electricity or learning to generate it themselves, Patrick and his wife chose solar. That decision sparked a lifelong passion for renewable energy.

Through the generosity of neighbors and friends, Patrick was introduced to Arkansas solar pioneers Jimis Damet and Flint Richter of Rocky Grove Sun Company. Beginning in 2006, he apprenticed under two of the state’s earliest NABCEP-certified installers, gaining hands-on experience designing and installing complex off-grid, battery-based, and grid-tied solar systems throughout North and Northwest Arkansas.

In 2013, Patrick earned his own NABCEP Photovoltaic Installation Professional (PVIP) certification, joining a small group of Arkansas installers recognized for meeting the industry’s highest standards of technical knowledge, safety, and workmanship.

When Jimis Damet passed from this world in 2014 and Rocky Grove Sun Company closed its doors, Patrick carried forward the values he had learned from his mentors in founding New Farm Solar. Their commitment to quality craftsmanship, integrity, and serving customers honestly continues to guide everything we do today.

For us, solar has never been just about installing equipment. It’s about helping families and businesses invest in reliable, long-lasting energy solutions while building relationships founded on trust. Every project we complete reflects the principles New Farm Solar was built on: quality workmanship, practical design, and treating every customer the way we’d want to be treated ourselves.