Photo voltaic vitality is booming, which is nice information for Glint Photo voltaic. The Norwegian software-as-a-service startup has constructed a platform that’s serving to vitality giants and huge photo voltaic builders equivalent to E.ON, Recurrent Vitality, and Statkraft reduce the time it takes to plan and pre-design photo voltaic installations to speed up the transition to renewables.
Glint’s software program pulls in information from a number of sources to assist velocity up Photo voltaic challenge assessments. The platform options adaptable structure designs and yield estimates, together with country-specific geographic info system (GIS) information and topographic evaluation to make it easer for photo voltaic builders to guage potential websites. Cloud-based collaboration options permit groups to entry important challenge information. The platform may also be used as a challenge presentation help by serving up 3D-rendered challenge layouts “in seconds.”
Since TechCrunch final spoke with the local weather startup in June 2022, when it closed a $3 million seed spherical, its buyer base has grown nearly 10x, in line with CEO and co-founder Harald Olderheim. It’s now saying an $8 million Sequence A to maintain stoking the expansion hearth by increasing into extra markets in Europe.
Its important areas for patrons presently are France, Germany, the Nordics, and the U.Okay. however with the brand new funding, the March 2020-launched SaaS might be increasing its gross sales groups to focus on prospects in “the remainder of Europe,” together with Italy and Spain, Olderheim says.
One notable change since Glint Photo voltaic launched is that it’s narrowed the service proposition to help the planning of land-based photo voltaic installations — dropping an earlier twin product focus that had included floating-solar installations, too.
Olderheim stated the software program can nonetheless be used for planning floating photo voltaic. However he famous there’s extra demand for ground-based installations. “It’s an even bigger market,” he stated, explaining why they’ve opting to streamline their gross sales strategy.
Glint Photo voltaic additionally isn’t targeted on roof-mounted photo voltaic installations. A few of its prospects are utilizing its software program to assist plan photo voltaic arrays on “large rooftops” as nicely, per Olderheim. However, once more, the rationale it’s not focusing effort there may be as a result of it’s going after the most important demand chunk.
“When you have a look at the market, about 60% of the market is utility, giant scale. After which about 20% is large rooftops, and 20% is residential. So we’re going for the largest market,” he informed TechCrunch. “If you wish to make a huge impact on this planet … we are able to do it by means of the utility scale, as a result of that’s a lot quicker for those who’re going to construct improve the [solar] vitality on this planet.
“When you assume the influence we’re making by one photo voltaic plant, a giant one — like 10 megawatt, perhaps with 7,000 or 15,000 photo voltaic panels — it’s a really environment friendly manner of rising the vitality manufacturing quick.”
Increasing influence
One other large focus for the Sequence A money injection is product improvement. Olderheim stated the startup might be increasing its platform to assist prospects plan the place to web site batteries that can be utilized to optimize renewable investments by storing vitality.
Elements equivalent to grid capability, protected areas, and sound (since batteries produce some noise as soon as operational) are all issues the software program will be capable to think about, per Olderheim, in addition to offering prospects with help to make sure a battery is suitable with the proposed photo voltaic array and serving to them share the knowledge with landowners as they work to acquire the required permits.
He emphasizes how a lot the price of photo voltaic installations have dropped over the past decade (down round 90%). However he additionally says that initiatives nonetheless aren’t occurring as quick as they should given the existential threats of a heating planet which can be driving waves of disasters, from devastating floods and hurricanes to heatwaves, droughts, and forest fires.
“It takes time to get all of the agreements — with the land proprietor, with the grid, and with the municipality — to [deliver a solar project] and all these processes take time; in order that’s one of many causes we’re doing Glint Photo voltaic,” he provides.
The startup could be very targeted on software program design to maximise accessibility as one other tactic to assist take away friction from photo voltaic challenge approvals.
“We’re making it very person pleasant so everybody in a workforce can use one software program collectively and work on this downside to make [project delivery] a lot quicker. And you’ll share every part — with the land proprietor, with the grid, with the municipality — to allow them to simply take choices a lot quicker with the decrease danger.”
The platform has a number of “modules” that permit the identical individual to, for instance, “consider the positioning, manage all of the initiatives, and design a photo voltaic park,” per Olderheim, supporting challenge groups to get extra functions out.
He additionally flags the platform’s cloud-based collaboration options that permit everybody to work “in the identical device,” which he suggests assist give it an edge versus different instruments.
Glint says prospects are reporting its SaaS helps photo voltaic builders to triple their challenge pipeline on common and consider potential websites 10x quicker than conventional strategies.
In fact software program can solely accomplish that a lot. Olderheim agrees that infrastructure funding and regulatory reform are key to additional accelerating photo voltaic rollouts, pointing to grid capability and photo voltaic allowing as the primary areas for lawmakers to sort out.
“Generally it takes 5 years from a [project] to begin to get constructing,” he factors out, including: “I do know the EU is taking a look at this to cut back it to 12 or 24 months. So I feel that’s an excellent [start].”
Glint Photo voltaic’s Sequence A is led by Smedvig Ventures, with further funding from Antler Nordic and Antler Elevate, Futurum Ventures, and Momentum.
Commenting in a press release, Jonathan Lerner, associate at Smedvig Ventures stated: “The photo voltaic business has finished an ideal job at creating methods to reap inexperienced vitality, however now we’d like higher processes to get these plans in movement. That is the hole that Glint Photo voltaic is filling. As one of many first unified merchandise for utility initiatives available on the market, photo voltaic builders, engineers, analysts and administration can discover every part they should find the very best land areas rapidly and precisely. This can be a much-needed evolution from manually trawling by means of information from a number of sources, saving appreciable assets in all-important inexperienced vitality initiatives.”
