Unlocking Solar Energy For Your Business

Unlocking Solar Energy for Your Business

5 Key Tips for employees who want to look at implementing solar for their organisation.

As the global focus on sustainability intensifies, businesses are increasingly turning to renewable energy solutions like solar photovoltaic (PV) systems to meet their environmental goals while also reducing their ever-increasing energy costs. For employees within organisations, such as operations, facility, property and sustainability managers starting this journey can feel like a daunting task. However, with the right guidance and support, embracing solar energy can be a smooth and rewarding journey. Here are five essential tips to kickstart your solar initiative:

1. Find the right partner – Choosing the right Solar PV partner is key. Look for a trusted partner with a solid track record. Don’t settle for second-best – go with a team that’s as committed to your success as you are. They will be able to do a lot of the heavy lifting when it comes to technical and commercial evaluation and also support you on the internal discussions further down the road. There are plenty of companies who can deliver this at a low price but when it comes to an energy generation asset that can produce renewable energy for 30+ years and also the complex internal discussions you’ll go through then it’s worth choosing your partner carefully.
2. Get to know your business – It’s worth getting together some basic information on your business’ energy usage so get your latest electricity bills and 12 months of your half hourly data (a spreadsheet that is broken into 365 days and 48 half hourly cells with your energy usage every half an hour) – usually whoever buys your energy or your energy supplier can provide you with this. If you have site diagrams great but it’s not needed at the outset. Also have a think about where solar could be placed on your site such as the roof or available ground within your boundary. But don’t let this stop you from starting your conversations with a partner – they can support you with this.
3. How are you going to fund it? – Do you think you’ll be able to the get the available capital to fund it yourself or is that unlikely? If so then you can explore financing options like Power Purchase Agreements (PPAs) where a solar partner will fund the project and the ongoing maintenance and operation and you just buy the energy that is generated from the panels at a much reduced price than off the grid (and you get all the carbon benefit). With the right financial strategy, solar power becomes a smart investment, not a drain on your bottom line.
4. Have those internal discussions – Different functions within your business will have different reasons to why solar could be a good move for the organisation. Finance will be motivated by the savings. Operations will want to know how it impacts the property or site operations, your energy/sustainability team will be interested in the reduction of your carbon footprint and your C-suite will likely want to explore all of these. Choosing the right partner will help you provide them with all the information you need and will even join in with those discussions.
5. Is it a non-starter? – No one wants to waste their time so it’s worth working out quickly whether this can’t go ahead. It might be practical reasons like your roof is too weak or your lease is up in 3 years and you plan to move out. Or it might be that you don’t have the budget to buy it but also your board won’t commit to a long term contract for a PPA (15 years+). Or you have a parent company overseas that aren’t supportive of this kind of project. There are lots of reasons why these projects can’t go ahead but it’s worth understanding this at the early stages.