After spending about a year reorganizing its operations, Solarprime announced that it is beginning a new phase of growth. The company has resumed expanding its franchise network with a different strategy than the one adopted during the peak years of distributed generation: less focus on volume and more attention to the quality of its partners.
To lead this process, the company brought in Luis Zemlenoi to assume the Expansion director position. With 17 years of experience in the franchise market, Zemlenoi arrives in the energy sector with the mission of accelerating the network's growth, now focused on higher value-added solutions, such as hybrid systems and battery energy storage.BESS).
Currently, Solarprime has 86 franchises, more than 30 projects delivered throughout the country, and 270 MWp of accumulated installed capacity. The systems installed by the company generate approximately 33,75 GWh of clean energy per month, equivalent to 405 GWh annually, providing an estimated savings of R$ 27 million per month and R$ 324 million per year to its clients.
Solarprime's goal is to reach 100 franchises in the next three months and end 2026 with approximately 120 units. However, this growth will be different from that seen during the solar energy boom.
According to Zemlenoi, the company voluntarily halted its expansion in May of last year to review internal processes and reassess the network's profile. "We stopped the expansion to understand the company's current structure. We went through a whole qualification process, reorganized the operation, and now we've restarted the selection process for new franchisees," he states.
During this period, the company also reduced the number of units. The decision was part of a strategy to retain only partners aligned with the company's new positioning. “We had franchisees who were no longer performing and others who weren't adhering to the new business model. So we decided to terminate some contracts. Our goal was never simply to have the largest number of franchises.”
According to the executive, the franchise market has matured and it no longer makes sense to only pursue network growth indicators. “There’s a great deal of vanity in franchising about having the largest network. But the largest number of franchises doesn’t mean the highest revenue. Today we prefer to grow with partners aligned with the company culture,” he emphasizes.
Solarprime's main change lies in its commercial strategy. While continuing to operate in photovoltaic generation, the company will now focus its efforts on offering hybrid systems and energy storage solutions for commercial and industrial consumers.
“Today our focus is on hybrid systems and BESS. The residential market continues to exist and still has room for growth, but our direction is much more geared towards the commercial and industrial segment.”
According to Zemlenoi, Solarprime had already been preparing for this transition even before resuming network expansion. The company claims to have been working with energy storage for approximately two years and has accumulated more than 20 completed projects, totaling more than 6 MW of installed BESS capacity.
Engineering will be handled by Solarprime.
Contrary to what many imagine, the new expansion model does not require the franchisee to master all the engineering involved in storage projects.
According to the director, the technical structure will remain centralized within the company. “The franchisee will not be responsible for the entire sizing of a BESS project alone. We have a special projects division for that. The engineering, training, and all the technical aspects will be handled by us.”
Therefore, the profile sought by the company is different from that adopted in the early years of distributed generation. "Today we are looking for people with a commercial profile. All technical training will be provided by our team."
Solarprime states that it currently has 14 departments dedicated to supporting its franchise network and reports that its engineering team received training directly from the Chinese manufacturer SOFAR to work with storage systems.
2027 could be a new 2019.
According to Zemlenoi's assessment, the Brazilian energy storage market is about to enter a cycle similar to that experienced by distributed solar generation starting in 2019. "We understand that 2026 and especially 2027 could represent a new 2019 for the energy sector."
According to him, this expectation is related to the increased electrification of the economy, the expansion of electric vehicles, and the growing need for energy security.
"Distributors are no longer able to meet all the demand in the way the market needs. Companies have realized that a power outage means financial loss and loss of production," he analyzes.
According to the executive, this change is likely to boost the adoption of energy storage systems in the coming years. "This market will not stop growing. Energy is becoming an increasingly integral part of people's lives. Today, practically everything is migrating to electric power. It's a trend that is only expected to increase."
Although the company intends to accelerate expansion, Zemlenoi states that growth will be conducted gradually. “We don’t have a plan to sell 50 franchises per month. We want to carefully select who joins the network because we seek partners aligned with our culture and prepared to keep up with market evolution.”
According to the executive, the new phase of solarprime It will not be defined by the size of the network, but by its ability to offer more complete solutions for a sector undergoing rapid transformations. "We don't just want to sell a system. We want to continue serving this customer over the years. That is Solarprime's commitment and that is what underpins our strategy for the future," he concludes.
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