How To Start Solar Panel Business - Learn in 10 Minutes

What is Solar Energy and Solar Panel? Solar energy is the energy emitted by Sun. The sun is an amazing creation of God. The sun radiati...

What is Solar Energy and Solar Panel?

Solar energy is the energy emitted by Sun. The sun is an amazing creation of God. The sun radiations travel 93million miles to reach home in about 8 minutes. The higher the intensity of rays, the higher energy (in the form of heat) these rays possess. Solar Panels convert this heat into electricity to run our home appliances. A solar panel has many solar cells which are wired together so that the energy absorbed from the sun rays can be saved in batteries or directly supplied to the appliance. Simply put, below is the process:

1- Sun rays are absorbed by solar panel and electricity is produced in dc current.
2- As we are not using electricity all the times so we use battery system to store this energy.
3- An invertor makes the dc current to ac current because our home appliances run on ac current.

How to Calculate the Electricity Requirements for my home?

Below is step by step procedure to calculate the number of solar panels you need.
1- Check the previous electricity bill and find out the electricity utilization. (in Kilo-watt hours) Tip: you can subtract the current month meter reading from previous month meter reading and then divide by 30 to find daily and then divide again by 24 to find out kilowatt hour usage.
2- Due to weather changes, solar panels cannot produce same amount of energy which you designed for so you need to add 25% extra kilowatts you calculated in Step-1 above. This is your target watts which you want to produce from Solar panels. Tip: if you produce extra watts, you can sell it back to the government depending upon the country you live in.

How Many Solar Panels for Home Do I need?

Each solar panel may have different KWH (Kilowatt hour) electricity, as a general note, usually one solar panel produces about 1 kWh per day so you would be using the same number of solar panels which you calculated in the above section (step-1). If you are a businessman, please check with your solar panel company about the ratings of solar panels which you are going to place order to.

How much do I save?

For sure you will save money however the amount of money depends on several factors such as:
1- Which solar panels are you using.
2- How much is your electricity charges and taxes.
3- How good is your battery and invertor system. Tip: Some poor batteries have electricity leakage or poor electricity storage. Always buy good batteries or ask the supplier to provide battery with high efficiency.

How Much is Maintenance Cost?

1- High Quality products (specially batteries) have less maintenance costs.
2- If you are business man, ask your solar supplier to provide warranty of the equipment. Offer good maintenance support service terms to your customers in order to retain them and getting more business via your customers. Consider offering them annual maintenance contract so customer will have complete peace of mind when signing the deal with you. Tip: Usually 3000-4000 PKR per year per 1KWH is the annual maintenance contract charge.
3- If you are a consumer, ask your service company to provide 2 year warranty and free maintenance service for first year possibly.

What Are Different Types of Solar Panels?

1- Off-Grid: Solar Panel + battery bank + invertor
2- On-Grid: Solar panel + invertor (electricity is not stored, it is directly supplied to the appliances)
3- Hybrid: Mix of Off-Grid and On-Grid

There are Commercial and Ground Mounted Solar Panels which we are not discussing in this guide (to keep this guide simple). For most of the needs in Asian countries, off-grid panels will be required.

How Solar Panels Are Installed?

The installation process is not completed.
- Check this video tutorial for Solar Panel Installation.
- Another 2 minutes video for further exposure.

How Much Investment Is Required to Start Solar Panel Business?

- Option-1: Search on Alibaba and express your interest to suppliers and offer them to become their long term business partner. There is a chance that some of the suppliers with good business sense may provide you free of cost unit or at cheap rate to start with.
- Option-2: If you are willing to invest, purchase a solar panel, battery, and cabling from your local market and install at your own house to experience the full life cycle of this business. You will gain insightful exposure about investment, ease of installation, cabling details, efficiency and other useful information. This which will help you well to make a good business model for your customer.

What Else Do I need to Start This Business

- Installation Team Member (with Basic Training)
- Business Registration and Legal Documentation
- Small Warehouse to Start With.
- Marketing Budget (Facebook, WhatsApp, SMS Marketing, Brochure Printing) Tip: Start with minimum budget or try free marketing. Read this marketing guide.
- A Basic Website (contact dailytenminutes.com team to seek FREE guidance for creating a website in one hour – It’s that easy!)
- Vehicle for Hardware Delivery. Tip: You don’t need to buy a vehicle. Initially you can hire on daily basis (as-and-when-required)
- Installation Tools
- Invoicing Receipts. Tip: Check this free invoicing resource
- Graphics Designing:. Tip: You can create awesome graphics on canva within 10 minutes via thousands of free templates. For detailed guide on graphics designing, read this article at dailytenminutes.com

How to Import Solar Panels in Pakistan/India?

- Search local market and you will get existing suppliers and purchase from them without going in to hassles of import process.
- Search on Alibaba.com. Preferably work with a company who has experience of your country. Usually they take ownership of end to end delivery (including shipment and customs clearance).

How to Secure Finances:

- Attract Investors: Share your idea and details with your friends and family.
- Crowd Funding: Crowdfunding is a process to get small investments (typically via internet) in your business. Check this resource for crowdfunding.
- Find A Business Partners: Check with your colleagues if anyone interested in joint venture.
- Speak to Society/Community Office and Convince them to invest with you.
- If you have enough amount to investment, consider becoming a silent investor with a running business. You will be able to learn a lot to launch your own business later.

Tips for Starting Solar Panels Business:

- Visit an existing Solar Panel company and explore their business model, products range and pricing model.
- Check on Alibaba if there are some suppliers offering free samples for testing.
- There are many types of batteries from cheap to expensive. Research properly before you place the order. Ask someone on Quora.com if unsure.