Solpod at Renewable Energy Founder Forum

Solpod was thrilled to be one of five clean energy start-ups selected to participate at the Renewable Energy Founder Forum, hosted by the Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) and Innovation Bay.

The Renewable Energy Founder Forum was held on Hopin, a virtual events platform. Over 170 executives and investors in renewables attended the online event.

James Larratt, CEO and co-founder of Solpod, presented at the forum on Solpod’s innovation that is helping more businesses adopt rooftop solar. Solpod’s relocatable solar systems means that now businesses have more flexibility in solar.  ARENA summarised Larratt’s presentation on their follow up blog:  “Unlike existing offerings, it [Solpod] unlocks opportunities to invest in solar for companies that cannot be sure they will be in the same place for the life of the system.”

Larratt outlined Solpod’s relocatable rooftop solar system, which can be bought or leased.  Solpod’s solar ‘pods’ are prefabricated, and efficient to install and remove via cranes.  Solpods are attached to roofs with a mounting solution that does not penetrate the roof sheet.

Solpod’s market demonstration and testing has benefited from a $1 million ARENA grant, involving a roll out across 25 sites with ERM Power, Property NSW and GPT.  See videos of some completed installations: Highpoint Shopping Centre in Melbourne; and in Sydney, Google Australia’s Headquarters and Olympic Park.

On the Innovation Bay follow up blog, Solpod is described as follows:

“Solpod is the world’s first redeployable rooftop solar solution, providing solar to commercial and industrial rooftop sites, using multi-panel ‘pods’ that are efficient to install, remove and relocate. Solpod’s innovative design and installation process mean businesses can benefit from short-term solar leasing, rather than committing to a long-term solar asset purchase. Solpod was founded in Melbourne in 2017 by solar executives James Larratt, James Walker, Nick Brass, and Tom Keddie.”

https://medium.com/@innovationbay/sector-spotlight-renewable-energy-5b0e4610d761

 

Image: James Larratt (CEO, Solpod) at Innovation Bay 

Dr Alan Finkel, Australia’s Chief Scientist, provided a keynote presentation.  During a panel discussion at the event, other contributors were Nick Carter (Senior Vice President — Energy Technology & Solutions at Macquarie Group) and Kristin Vaughan (Director of the Innovation Fund at Clean Energy Finance Corporation).

Recounting the panel discussion, Innovation Bay writes: “Renewable energy companies are quite resilient; in recent months cleantech companies have been much less impacted by COVID-19 than other sectors.”  Solpod is likewise optimistic about the potential for solar investment to help in economic recovery and jobs growth post-Covid-19, read here.

Innovation Bay reported: “The urgent need to reduce emissions and clean up energy is a huge global problem that comes with a global market.” Solpod is confident that its innovative solar solution will help many more businesses adopt rooftop solar, both domestically and globally.

In their blog, ARENA stated: “With a background in commercial solar, Solpod’s founders could see that previous products have fallen short, but are confident that their pods will allow them to tap into a trillion dollar global market.”

James Larratt says, “Solpod would like to thank the leadership of ARENA and Innovation Bay for supporting innovation and Australia’s vibrant clean energy start-ups.”

Solpods are proudly Australian Made and manufactured.  To find out more about Solpod’s relocatable and rentable rooftop solar solution, contact info@solpod.com.au or +03 9089 0753.