Enertia Sun Power: Transcending the Solar ecosystem of India
India’s entrepreneurial ecosystem is fast evolving. Globally, India is now a viable market for investors to bet their funds on Indian start-ups. Entrepreneurs and young ones are necessary to fuel a nation’s growth as they breed fresh ideas and energy. When we talk about growth, one of the most pivotal paraphernalia towards this end is Electricity. The Indian electricity story is baffling as well as complicated. Despite having a huge demand, DISCOMS are in a poor financial conditions. Electricity in India has been erratic and inefficient.
Solar power promises to change the landscape of Indian power sector. Favorable government policies have also helped the entire ecosystem related to solar energy. To tap this new opportunity, a bucket full of solar power companies jumped on the bandwagon. But when it comes to think of a company that works with a solid vision, only Enertia Sun Power, a burgeoning force in solar power, comes into mind. The Company is known to add value to its customers. It was founded in 2013 with the sole mission of providing viable and efficient solar solutions to its customers.
The current business model of the company is providing end to end solar power turnkey solutions to its customers. This means it engages with the customer right at the conceptualization stage till the point of arranging all permissions and approvals post the plant commissioning.
Expanding its horizon:
Initially, Enertia’s services were limited to solar thermal solutions. However, with time and market maturity, the company diversified into solar power systems. Based out of Meerut and Greater Noida, Enertia is a first generation business enterprise. It was conceived over informal discussions with colleagues and friends that led to the germination of an idea of promoting solar power. Appalling power situation in UP proved to be a catalyst. Starting with an idea, Enertia soon moved towards offering customized solutions to its customers, be it thermal or photovoltaic systems.
Today, Enertia has over 3 MWp of solar power plants under construction spread over UP, Bihar and Punjab that are due to be commissioned in the coming quarter. By the end of Financial Year, it shall have over 4 MWp of solar power plants under long term operations & maintenance contracts. This establishes its vision of providing long term reliable services to the customers. It is not only about solving a problem that today more than 1000 other companies are also solving. It is more about solving the problem in a thorough manner for a long time to come.
Seamless, Efficient& Affordable:
Today Enertia is empaneled with UP-NEDA (Uttar Pradesh New Energy Development Authority) for subsidy based projects. With 30% subsidy from MNRE, its project offering becomes extremely lucrative and affordable. Technically, it is constantly developing solutions that significantly increase the yield of its plants which in turn improves the return-on-investment for the customers. In the last one year, it has undertaken the following initiatives that have given 15%-20% higher yields:
- Incorporation of trackers with rooftop systems
- Use of micro inverters that eliminate loses
- Use of fixed voltage inverters with optimizers that not only improve yield but also decrease O&M costs significantly
To make solar really affordable, Enertia has also introduced various schemes besides the CAPEX model for its customers. Few such initiatives are:
- a) Pay as you consume model, eliminating the need to pledge upfront capital
- b) Loans from various banks & NBFCs
Challenges:
For a young company such as Enertia, challenges are constant partners. Access to reliable and affordable funds is a thorn in each start-up’s flesh. With bank financing, though funding is reliable, it does not go a long way in scaling up the business. Another challenge that it regularly faces is the supply-chain management. With over 10-15 vendors to deal during the course of each project, it is challenging to maintain the right quality and delivery schedule of the components. But despite these hurdles, it has been steadfast on its vision to make India a nation with surplus energy.
Technology is the way to go:
The Company has been able to serve clients across a wide range of domains. Its clients range from industries such as education (schools, colleges) to health (hospitals and medical institutes to various industries such as publication, cold storage and fuel pumps, etc.
This would not have been possible without the efficient use of Technology. Use of state of the art technology has played a big role in not only gaining market share but also in project execution. The Company now uses software to automatically generate commercial and technical proposals for the customers within minutes of meeting them. To expedite the process of site survey, it now uses drones and cameras. This makes the process not only fast but also minimizes errors. Recently, it has also started using the automatic sensor based bots for cleaning the solar panels. Though still in pilot phase, the results are encouraging.
The Company has hugely benefited from various government plans for the betterment of solar power. There are two schemes that have significantly altered the solar landscape, especially for the rooftop plants.
Favorable Government Eco-System:
The Government of India, along with various State Governments, have been promoting solar power for the nation’s energy sufficiency. Various schemes have been introduced but the following two stand out, in general, and for rooftop, in particular:
Subsidy: A direct capital reduction significantly reduces the capital liability of the customer. With the current market prices, a solar plant now breaks even in 2-3 years.
Net Metering: This one step has given a big push to the acceptance of solar plants. No more does a customer worry about wasting the excess power generated. Even though the approval mechanisms are patchy and time-consuming, Net Metering is still a big plus to the solar industry.
Achievements:
- Empaneled partner with Central Electronics Ltd (CEL)
- Empaneled partner with Uttar Pradesh New Energy Development Authority
- Among top 10 startups in the Clean Energy Space in 2017-18
A lot of new initiatives are lined up for the coming year. These include developing the residential market for solar power plants and enabling ready credit for financing such systems. The idea is to make plants, be it industrial, institutional or residential, really affordable. Starting 2019, Enertia is also getting sales associates on board in various Tier-2 and Tier-3 cities to improve its market penetration. It also plans to engage itself into aggressive marketing programs to improve the market reachability.
Key figures:
Mr. JP Gupta – Director
With over 40 years of experience in the insurance sector, he is instrumental in understanding the requirements of a service-oriented organization.
Mr. Gaurav Gupta – Director
An engineer by qualification, Gaurav has worked across continents with clients such as Nokia, Samsung, and Continental etc. The 36 years young Director looks after the overall operations of the organization.
