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Speeding Up Solar Project Development: Podcast With Glint Solar
72 Plays4 months ago
Glint Solar is transforming the renewable energy sector by streamlining the initial stages of solar park development. Their innovative technology helps utility-scale solar developers quickly identify and evaluate potential sites, significantly reducing the time and effort required in the pre-permit phase.
In this podcast episode, we explore how Glint Solar is speeding up the adoption of solar energy and the challenges they face along the way.
📚 RESOURCES & LINKS
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- Website: https://www.glintsolar.com/
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/glint-solar/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/glintsolar/
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This podcast is proudly sponsored by New Perspective Marketing, a dynamic growth marketing agency in Boston, MA, celebrating 20 years in business. We help sustainably focused B2B organizations grow their brands and scale up revenue. If you or your organization is looking to grow, visit npws.com for more info.
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- Host: Dunja Jovanovic
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#cleantech #sustainability #podcast #solar #cleanenergy
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Transcript
00:00:00
Speaker
Hello, friends, and welcome to another episode of the Green New Perspective podcast, your go to place when you want to learn about innovative technology aimed at combating climate change. I'm hosting today a company that has developed technology that is accelerating solar adoption. If you want to learn how, stay tuned and enjoy.
00:00:27
Speaker
Hi, and welcome to the Green New Perspective podcast. Hello, Junjia. Pleased to see you. Can you tell us a bit more about yourself and explain what Link Solar does for those who are maybe not familiar with your company? Yes, sure. So first, my name my name is Prachi Verma, and I'm working as the head of marketing for ah an innovative company in the renewable energy sector called Glint Solar. ah So the motto of our company is to make the renewable energy progression easier for utility-scale solar developers. So we help utility-scale solar developers make the pre-permit or the initial stages of the solar park development easier, faster, and better.
00:01:12
Speaker
ah In simpler terms if we say that there is a lot of work required for creating a solar park you have to find a perfect solar site. Sometimes you don't you want to enter a new country and you don't know ah what specific requirements that country, you know, the the concerns required and everything. And we want to make that process easier as well as a process where you ah get some leads from people like some landowners, some farmers that, oh, you can use a land and you can create a solar park here.
00:01:44
Speaker
Right. So you want to evaluate whether that land is suitable for creating a solar park or not. So ah that process should also be easier so that you can quickly take decisions, right, that, oh, this site is good, and this is not such a good site for creating a solar park. And as well as the stages when you have decided the land, but do you want to create, ah but persuade the municipalities or the landowners that, okay, Here is what the solar park can look like, you know, here is a 3D view of the solar park. So all this is a very long process. Usually it takes around ah close to 30 days. With Glend, you can do it in five minutes and it might appear like a hyperbole, but actually
00:02:26
Speaker
There are a lot of specifics associated with the entire process. And as we as I said, we want to accelerate the adoption of solar energy. So I think the onus lies on us to come up with a technology that can help people who actually want to make the difference so that they can move faster. So yeah, that's in a nutshell about the company and what we do. And what inspired the foundation of the company? Where did you find the gap in the solar and the industry that you wanted to fill? So as I said, that if we look into the solar industry, it has seen an impressive growth. In 2022, we crossed the terawatt scale and to people who don't understand, you know it's ah it's it's very big, it's very huge. That means more and more countries and more and more locations are adopting this particular source of energy over the all the other sources.
00:03:16
Speaker
right be it fossil fuel or nuclear energy or whatever. So I think there are a lot of things that fueled this adoption ah as we saw some geopolitical concerns lately with the wars and ah you know European dependency on the Russian shale gas reserve. So the solar energy is not just but it's the growing it's not just because of it's it's sustainable but ah it's also because it's affordable you know the cost that this energy you can produce this energy and people can use this energy at a lower price so the cost factor is there
00:03:52
Speaker
And as well as there is a security factor because more and more countries, they now want to adopt ah um a security in terms of the, ah you know, the energy security. That's why more and more countries and companies, they want to create solar parks. But as I said that this adoption comes with its challenges. And the challenge was that ah if I am a business developer and I lack the ah skills that are required to create an analysis for a solar park. As I said, to analyze whether this park is suitable for generating X amount of electricity or not, I cannot do that on my own. I have to rely on a very technical person. These people are called PV engineers who actually their their task is more important when the permission has been granted for creating a solar park.
00:04:38
Speaker
We don't need them to spend a lot of time in the initial stages where we are just evaluating land. We are just trying to see which land this versus that, right? So at that phase, there was a lot of bottlenecks that people were facing. They had to wait for PV engineers to do that task for them. So we provided these companies with the autonomy to analyze and to evaluate and find land on their own. And the engineers are happy because they did not want to spend time on trivial tasks and yeah obviously their skill set is more needed ah during the later stage when there is actual construction happening in the park. And so yeah, it's a win-win situation. We are making the entire process easier and all the people associated happier with with how they do the work. And can you share a highlight from one of your recent projects?
00:05:28
Speaker
Yeah, so it's ah like we are adding, you know, new countries every two weeks or every week sometimes. So um if we do you... operate Sorry for interrupting you. I don't think we mentioned that you are working in Europe and... So we have, it's not that we are working in Europe, we are based out of Norway, but we have got customers from across the world, ah from Europe and ah some parts of Asia as well. we We have the data and the technology and the capabilities that you know people from across the world can utilize. And um yes, based out of Norway, we are sending the ripple effects of solar adoption to the world.
00:06:10
Speaker
And let's go back to the question about your um recent project. Definitely. So ah there are two projects that I would like to mention where I was particularly very happy because we worked on creating these customer success stories. And the they told us that after using our tool, they were in they were saving 2,000 engineering hours per year because of Glint. And that's such a huge advantage for any company because you see it's not just the cost that is associated with either outsourcing the engineering work as well as you know ah recruiting more people in your team because you see companies that are adopting solar technology they are expanding their the regions that they are they want to focus
00:06:59
Speaker
and as well as the project, the number of pipeline that they are generating. So more and more projects are coming, but it's it's not so easy and it's not economical and sometimes it's not even possible to add those many people to accommodate for that increase in the portfolio size. ah So I'm really happy that we are working in a company that's making things so easy and they told us that It's not just easy. It's fun to work in your tool. And because of sometimes it happens that because of the tool, they were able to enter a country that was not possible for them to do it without without the tool. So that's so so good to hear from the happy customers. And one more example is is I'll not tell the name of the company because you can go to our website and read the case studies there. But this is a company. It's based out of France. and
00:07:53
Speaker
They used a Glint tool to reduce the time that they were spending on finding the land. So they told us that they were using 15 to 20 different websites. you know Every time they had to find a land, they had to go to 15 to 20 websites and they had to evaluate, oh, this site is not fulfilling this criteria or the other one. and so So it was a lot of back and forth and a lot of time was getting wasted on just evaluating and finding you know the perfect site that they need. And with Glint, it's like the click of a button. You know you just have to make three or four clicks and voila, you can find, yeah let's say, I want to find a site that 15 kilometers from a substation. I can do that very easily on Glint.
00:08:37
Speaker
And I don't have to worry about you know ah in which countries specifically, because we have the market-specific data. So I want to, sitting in France, I can expand the operations in Romania or or Spain or Germany. So yeah, I think that's very impactful. and Do you have any competition? like Are there some similar softwares? And if yes, how do you differentiate? I guess that's a perfect question for you. Yeah, I think coming from marketing, I think differentii the differentiating factor is something that we absolutely want to be clear upon. But I'm so happy that there is no other software that is doing all the things that Glensolar can provide these companies with.
00:09:20
Speaker
As I said that we are specifically focusing upon the initial stages or to be more precise these other stages when you have not gotten the permit that okay now you can start building a solo park on this land so we are sitting before that phase. And I don't know but the reason, but maybe companies were not seeing it as that important an area to focus upon. But we saw the opportunity there. And a lot of companies are the they were looking for a solution like that. So we were the first mover advantage with what we got in the market. so um And also our roadmap and even the feature updates that we do is more and more aligned with the what our customers are telling us.
00:10:07
Speaker
and we And from every now and then we go to them, we discuss with them that, oh, this particular feature is helpful for you or not. And we create the entire roadmap in collaboration with our customers and you know so that they know that what kind of updates are important and they can be a part of that process as well. So I think that's a very big advantage that we are creating a tool for real people ah to solve the real problems. And that's where the differentiator is right now. And on the communication side, since your product is unique, ah how do you educate well the solar industry that they need this kind of software? um Actually, to be honest with you, i I don't have to actually teach them because I just have to know the problem. you know And we just have to tell them that, hey, ah if you are facing this problem, then ah we think that we have the solution for you.
00:11:02
Speaker
And it's the education part is more around telling them, how is it possible? How is it possible to do the 30 days worth of tasks in just five minutes? So yes, there is already a challenge that they are facing. Yes, there is already a need for the tool. So we just have to tell them that this is not too good to be true. It's actually true that there is a tool like this that exists. And it can we were we we we were hearing you and without you even telling us that you need it. Something like this, so yeah. and And do you see differences in the markets for solar in different regions or continents? ah You mean in terms of ah how different the solar energy scenario and requirements are for different countries? Yeah, especially when we talk about doing the land, they use solar parks, which is, well, your expertise.
00:11:54
Speaker
Yeah, definitely. yeah it's large and you know Let's say, for example, for Germany, they have a certain requirement with Autobahn. And in Sweden, they don't share the grid data details and things like that. So there are a number of challenges that and and differences. you know It's ah different for every region, for every country. And sometimes, within the country itself, there are certain regions there where there is a lot of data. And there are certain regions where the data is not so good enough. But um yeah, as I said, that because we have market-specific data and we know what is specific, things are required. Let's say, for France, they are more inclined toward agri-PV, which is agriculture plus solar energy. They want to create
00:12:42
Speaker
a system where they can plant maybe strawberries so that they they require some shade, you know, things like that. So we are also um creating a new research and we are updating the tools so that we ah come up with a bespoke solution for Agree PV projects as well. oh Yeah, as I said, it's very different. And that's what is the beauty ah in in in the industry and the challenges that they face. And yeah, And where were your challenges at Glenn Solar while you were growing scaling the company? um So I think the challenge for us, to be honest, is that, as you said, it's different for every country, right? So you have to explain to every geography, like if you want to open a market, it's not just ah one approach that we can take for it
00:13:33
Speaker
every other country that, okay, this is our secret sauce and we are going to reach every other country in Europe ah with that you know value proposition, with that knowledge or with that data requirement. It's not like that. So we have to create a system where we understand the requirements for each and every geography So be it localization, you know, creating messaging and content pieces in their own language, as well as, you know, the keyword the strategy to to understand what kind of challenges people are facing and what kind of searches that they are ah
00:14:11
Speaker
actually conducting on search engines and everything in between. So we have to understand that. And I think that's the challenge marketing wise that we are facing. If you want to ask about the company level or the product level level challenges, I think it is the same. that yes, we have, ah the we are moving, as I said, we are increasinging increasing the number of countries that we can deliver to. And then for every country, the data requirement and the the tool requirement are different. So we have to understand that and we have to explain it to everyone. And I think that's challenging as well as satisfying at the same time. So, and we learn a lot when we talk to people, when we move to new countries, and that's a learning and evolving process, I would say.
00:14:57
Speaker
I think collaboration is the key here in clean tech. um But where do you see a Glint in, let's say, next five years? So next five years, it's something that so we have discussed internally quite a lot of times. We want to be a company ah that's actually making a difference to the world and we want more and more solar companies to start, you know, using a tool that can help them accelerate or move fast towards the the later stage or later project stages. So that means they are bringing more and more leads into the pipeline and they are converting more and more leads to to the later stages. So we see ourselves as a company that is bridging that gap between a speed and efficiency and, you know,
00:15:49
Speaker
also the effectiveness of how quality projects or lands are going to later stages. So we see ourselves as someone who is enabling that growth for for the solar industry. Since your company is well aiming to accelerate the adoption of solar energy and help solar companies to grow, what do you think that needs to change so the global energy landscape moves into a more renewable direction? um I think there are a lot of recent events that have fueled that kind of a growth, you know, the renewable energy growth. And I've mentioned previously that the geopolitical events that we saw ah more and more countries, they want to be self-reliant when it comes to energy.
00:16:37
Speaker
they It's not just about self-reliance, it's also about understanding that ah you know a sustainable way of producing and securing energy is far better than going the fossil fuel or nuclear way. So I think there is a transition that is happening and as we speak, the solar industry is witnessing more than 40% growth year after year and that's quite impressive. And even and within that growth, if we look into the utility scale solar growth, that is more than 70%. So I think that we are moving in the right direction, right? ah But how far will we be able to sustain this growth is the is the question. And for that to happen, because there is a limited amount of land and everyone wants to win the solar race, and yeah,
00:17:27
Speaker
We think that it's important for everyone, for each and every country who wants to invest and develop in this sphere, they find the right land or location for solar park development. And yeah, let's see how it goes. But right now the scenario is looking very promising for the solar industry particularly. And for our listeners who are interested in either working in solar or adopting solar tech, what advice would you give them based on your experience? um See, based on my experience, I think I personally enjoy working in an industry. I know where I know I'm doing the right thing. I'm helping the environment. That's so so satisfying. But at the same time, it's also um a cross-section of technology and and speed, as I said.
00:18:13
Speaker
So yes, you get to work in ah in an industry which is technologically very advanced. We see more and more advancements are happening, you know, in terms of the manufacturing or and the solar panels, the kind of capacity or energy yield they can generate. So I think ah being at the intersection of technology is always better because yeah the technology always grow. So if you want to get into an industry which will, so you can look at your children and you can say that, oh, I'm working for the right cause, you know, I'm actually working on saving the planet. That is very satisfying. the If you are interested in technology and you want to learn more about a bee, ah you know,
00:18:57
Speaker
at the epicenter of technology, then it's good to come to such an industry where technology is always ah growing and changing. At the same time, as I said, there are many conferences happening related to solar industry where you learn a lot, you meet people, Suppose if it's a wind developer and they want to move into solar and vice versa, you you know you explore various different options. and So yeah, it's it's the my suggestion would be to definitely go to such an industry where you can make a difference.
00:19:31
Speaker
And where can people get informed about Clint? Website, socials, share all your links. We are going to add them in the description of the video. Definitely. So ah yes, if you want to learn more about Clint Solar, ah you're more than welcome to our website. We have all the information there. You can follow us on LinkedIn, Instagram, Twitter and Facebook as well. And obviously, you can get in touch with me specifically on LinkedIn and a lot of us and we'll be happy to help you with whatever questions you have. Well, thank you, Prachi, for being my guest here on the Green New Perspective podcast. Thank you so much. It was such a pleasure. Thank you.
00:20:17
Speaker
Thank you for watching another episode of the Green New Perspective podcast and a big thank you to our sponsor New Perspective, a Boston-based marketing agency working with clean tech clients only. And if you're interested to learn how our sponsor is helping clean tech companies to grow and to succeed in this market, check out the info that we shared in the description of this episode. You have the website there and the social media. And if you want to support us and what we do here at Green New Perspective, You can consider subscribing to our channels. We are everywhere on YouTube, Sancasters, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you stream your podcasts. And we appreciate your feedback and your support. I hope that you enjoyed this conversation and that I'll see you in the next one. Bye.