The Investments

Jan 28, 2021   The Solar Man   Solar Power Systems

“A client coming into a meeting, ready to invest a large sum of money, would know everything about the product, and how he would be able to extract his money’s worth from the product”

If you are one of those people who believes that this is true, and you plan on selling your product based on this assumption, then you are only going to be right 50% of the time. But, if you are in the field of renewable energy in India, these odds reduce to 30%, and that is when I’m being optimistic.

In such a scenario, the client is usually meeting you because he heard the benefits of your products by either following Industry trend or trying to lead the industry. It’s only in the second scenario that you find this 30 %. This coupled with a 20% conversion rate of any sales call reduces your sales odd’s drastically. So, if you’re seriously considering installing a Solar Power Plant at your facility, do consider the following questions.

Given the average cost of production of your product, would a reduction in the cost of electricity improve your profit margin making you more competitive?

Is the available space of your facility viable for a solar power plant?

How is your electrical energy being utilized at your facility?

After these questions are answered by you, and you do realize that solar is the way to go, then choosing the right EPC Company is the next step.

While sitting with a client the other day, I asked him what got him interested in Solar technology and what convinced him for putting in his capital for this venture.

He said, and I quote, "It's not the upfront cost that bothered me, the return of investment for any solar project is guaranteed, with new technologies coming up and solar panels improving in efficiency, my investment would return to me and I will be able to earn from the project twice over in its life. What is bothering me is the fact that there are so many EPC's giving rejected/sub-standard panels, solar inverters, solar batteries, etc. have flooded the market, and since they are defective in some form of the other, they are available at much cheaper rates.

This a true and scary picture that has become the reality of the solar industry in which the client who is ready for renewable energy cannot do so for the skepticism caused by such people who just want to dupe people, make a quick buck and cash out.

So how does one filter out such fiends?

It’s simple really. Look for the professionals. People who don’t compromise on quality and have a proven after sales service show that they care about their business. See the plants installed, talk to their previous clients, read testimonials, simple stuff which would help you to weed out those who are trying to pull one over you.

On top of this, you can even ask to see live data of the solar power plants installed by asking permission to access the remote monitoring devices that the EPC would’ve installed at the solar power plants. This would give you live feed of how the plants installed by the EPC are performing.

Follow these simple practices and remember to choose the right quality product. If you do this, you will have a guaranteed cash-generating asset with you for the next 25 years.