2014 Solarwatt began looking at the Swedish market. “In March 2017 we made our first delivery and sales have been growing since. Sweden is a very important market for us and we are gaining market share every year. With our local partners we are making Sweden among the top countries of our international sales, outside countries served by Solarwatt subsidiaries”, International Sales Manager Pol Spronck says. “Our partners played a crucial role in this success as they recognised our quality offering ahead of the market, just as PV took off in Sweden. German-manuafactured products are much in demand”, Spronck adds. “Though seldom used in a claim, our five-year, all-risk insurance policy is an importing selling point in Sweden”, he says.
Sales of 10 MW since March 2017
Solarwatt has sold more than 10 MW to date, mostly in dual-glass Vision solar modules. Around 10 MyReserve systems have been dispatched to Sweden for pilot installations by certified service partners thoughout Sweden and Gotland island. Other system components are also supplied, mostly inverters from a range of brands. The complete systems include mounting materials for a complete one-stop shop offering for installers too. According to Spronck the full Solarwatt Vision range is in high demand – from Vision 60P poly crystalline solar modules to 60M high-power mono PERC modules and all models in between. “Solarwatt Blue 60P glass foil modules are requested for some larger projects and we expect some large order for these modules as well as they are priced competitively. We also see rising order numbers for inverters and complete packages with mounting materials”, Spronck states.
Highest demand for dual-glass solar modules
„We see the highest demand in our dual-glass solar modules, Solarwatt Vision 60P,“ says Daniel Karlsson, Executive Vice President, Purchasing, at Ecokraft in Eskilstuna, a Solarwatt main service partners and Premium Partner. „I would say that about 95 percent of our customers choose that option instead of glass-foil modules. Our experience with Solarwatt has been outstanding and our customers had nothing but positive feedback on our product offering, service and professionalism“, Karlsson added. “Once MyReserve is launched in the weeks to come, we expect the huge demand as this product also meets the highest quality expectations from our customers with the highest efficiency, also fulfilling the highest safety standards, which I’ve not seen elsewhere.“
Three Premiums Partners in Sweden
So far Solarwatt has three Premium Partners in Sweden, all fully trained to install and service MyReserve. Hallands Energiutveckling in Getinge take care of the South and Western part of Sweden, Ecokraft in Eskilstuna for the North, East and a part of central Sweden, and Prolekta on the island of Gotland. All are official Solarwatt Service Partners too, so can be contacted with requests for any information. Sol-Eye, north from Gothenburg, will soon be authorised to install MyReserve.
Double sales figures in 2017
“We expect to double sales figures for Sweden in 2017, mainly for modules, MyReserve and inverters, and we aim to achieve this again in 2018”, Spronck says. „There is a huge amount if interest from Swedish companies. Our brand is quite established, with a good presence, and I believe we are the biggest dual-glass supplier in the Swedish market. A large part of the market share freed up recently and Solarwatt has progressed even faster than expected. There was a lot of interest from Swedish companies at the Intersolar trade fair in Munich, where we won the prestegious EES Award, with many leads generated. I believe many will choose proven, high-quality Solarwatt products for 100 percent peace of mind.“ Ecokraft has at least doubled sales every year for four consecutive years and Daniel Karlsson expects continuing growth in Sweden. He said: „The market for PV here is growing every year and I think it will keep growing for years to come. Interest in energy storage is huge and we are already getting a lot of requests. Swedish subsidies for both PV systems and energy storage systems will help both markets grow.“
Focus on quality
While it does not target subsidised markets specificallly, Solarwatt believes Sweden is bound to become an important PV and PV+storage market. „Sweden could very well become our most important area apart from those where we have subsidiaries, with most interest by far coming from quality-minded customers. We already have a strong presence in the quality-conscious market so building on this strong foundation offers a lot of opportunity,“ Spronck says. Is the Swedish market pretty price sensitive or rather quality oriented? “Like most other markets, I think it’s quite polarised. You got one end which values quality and the other looking for the best price. From the start, we have always prioritised quality and that is what we offer our customers. Top quality always wins in the long run”, Karlson says. Sales for the new Matrix energy storage system in Sweden will start next year according to Spronck.
End of 2015 had a installed grid-connected PV capacity of 85 MW and is as neighbouring Scandinavian countries like Finland one of the promising new European solar markets. (HCN)
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