Solar energy is booming, which is good news for Glint Solar. The Norwegian Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) startup helps energy giants such as E.ON, Recurrent Energy and Statkraft and large solar developers take the time it takes to plan and pre-engineer solar installations to accelerate the transition. We’ve built a platform to help you shorten your time. To renewable energy.
Glint’s software pulls data from multiple sources to help speed solar project evaluation. The platform features adjustable layout design and yield estimation capabilities along with country-specific Geographic Information System (GIS) data and terrain analysis, making it easier for solar developers to evaluate potential sites. Cloud-based collaboration capabilities give teams access to essential project data. The platform can also be used as a project presentation aid by providing 3D rendered project layouts “in seconds”.
According to CEO and co-founder Harald Olderheim, its customer base has grown nearly tenfold since TechCrunch last spoke with the climate startup in June 2022, when it closed a $3 million seed round. Now it has announced an $8 million Series A to continue fueling its growth by expanding into more markets in Europe.
Currently, its main customer regions are France, Germany, the Nordics and the UK, but with the new funding, the SaaS, which launched in March 2020, will expand its sales team to target customers in the “rest of Europe”, including Italy and Spain. , says Olderheim.
One notable change since Glint Solar launched is that it has narrowed its service offering to support land-based solar installation plans. This also eliminated the initial dual product focus that included floating solar installations.
Olderheim said the software could still be used for floating solar plans. However, he noted that there is more demand for ground-based installations. “The market is bigger,” he said, explaining why he decided to streamline his sales approach.
Glint Solar also doesn’t focus on roof-mounted solar installations. According to Olderheim, some customers are using the software to plan solar panels on “big rooftops.” But again, the reason you’re not focusing your efforts there is because you’re going after the biggest chunk of demand.
“If you look at the market, about 60% of the market is utilities, large scale. And about 20% are large rooftops and 20% are residential. So we are going towards the biggest markets,” he told TechCrunch. “If you want to make a big impact on the world… We can do this at utility scale. Because if you want to increase the world’s (solar) energy, it’s much faster.
“If you think about the impact we have on one large solar farm with 10 megawatts, 7,000 or 15,000 solar panels, this is a very efficient way to quickly increase energy production.”
Expand your influence
Another key focus of the Series A cash injection is product development. Olderheim said the startup will expand its platform to help customers plan where to deploy batteries that can be used to store energy and optimize renewable investments.
According to Olderheim, factors such as grid capacity, protection area and sound (since batteries make some noise when running) are all considerations that the software can take into account, as well as provide support to customers to ensure their batteries are compatible. . We help share information with landowners who are proposing solar panels and working to obtain the necessary permits.
He highlights how the cost of solar installation has decreased over the past decade (about 90% reduction). But he also says the project is still not progressing as quickly as it needs to, given the existential threat of a heated planet ushering in waves of disasters, from devastating floods and hurricanes to heat waves, droughts and wildfires.
“It takes time to get all the agreements (to deliver solar projects) with the landowners, the grid, the municipality, and all of those processes take time. That’s one of the reasons we use Glint Solar,” he added.
The startup is focusing on designing software to maximize accessibility as another strategy to help remove friction from solar project approvals.
“We’re making it very user-friendly so everyone on the team can use one piece of software together and work on solving these problems to make (project delivery) much faster. And because we can share everything with landowners, grids and municipalities, we can make decisions much faster and with lower risk.”
The platform has several “modules” that, for example, allow the same person to perform “site assessment, all project configuration and solar farm design,” according to Olderheim, helping project teams get more applications.
He also highlights the platform’s cloud-based collaboration features that allow everyone to work “in the same tool,” which he suggests gives it an edge over other tools.
Glint said customers are reporting that SaaS allows solar developers to triple their project pipelines on average and evaluate potential sites 10 times faster than traditional methods.
Of course, software can only do so much. Olderheim agrees that infrastructure investment and regulatory reform are key to further accelerating solar development, pointing to grid capacity and solar permitting as key areas that lawmakers will need to address.
“Sometimes it takes five years for (projects) to start building,” he pointed out, adding: “I know the EU is looking at shortening this to 12 or 24 months. So I think it’s very good.”
Glint Solar’s Series A was led by Smedvig Ventures, with additional investments from Antler Nordic and Antler Elevate, Futurum Ventures and Momentum.
Jonathan Lerner, partner at Smedvig Ventures, said in a statement: “The solar industry has done a great job developing ways to harvest green energy, but now we need better processes to execute these plans. This is the gap that Glint Solar fills. As one of the first integrated products for utility projects on the market, solar developers, engineers, analysts and executives will find everything they need to quickly and accurately find the best land space. “This is a much-needed advancement from manually trawling data from multiple sources and could save significant resources on critically important green energy projects.”
