Enthusiasm and Emotions for Photovoltaics
Interview with Jörg Niche, CSO of Solar-Log GmbH
Even a factual technical product can evoke emotions and enthusiasm, as proven by the South German company Solar-Log GmbH. What started as a small startup has now become a leading provider of photovoltaic monitoring, smart energy, and feed-in management. The focus is not on the products but on the connections to the customers and the targeted solutions. Thus, the company fills its claim “We create connections” with life anew every day, which was also clearly demonstrated by the awarding of the kununu Top Company Seal 2024.
When company founder Jörg Karwath developed a data logger for monitoring photovoltaic systems in 2004, it was not yet foreseeable how significant the areas of electricity and heat would become in the future. Today, Solar-Log, now a subsidiary of BKW AG from Switzerland, an internationally active energy and infrastructure company, offers complex and customer-specific solutions for the areas of Smart Grid, direct marketing, monitoring, EMS, and monitoring as a service through our service Solar Log TM Web-4U. Sector coupling and energy management are important topics in this context, because only when areas such as heating, cooling, electric charging, and electricity storage can utilize the PV system does the PV system's already existing added value further increase.
The model has changed over the years from purely receiving funds through feed-in tariffs to a better and more effective use. "The consumer wonders how he can make the best possible use of the electricity he produces," says CSO Jörg Niche, who, together with CPO Holger Schroth and authorized representative Julian Hegg, directs the fortunes of the company. "For our customers, who are mainly from the Commercial and Industrial market segment, it's always about added value. We increase this through our solutions to enable more effective use of PV electricity.
Relieving the customer
Solar-Log wants to create connections. This refers to both human contacts and technical components. "Through the themes of sector coupling and energy management in conjunction with our logger portal, we create technical connections," emphasizes Jörg Niche. "In the future, we want to expand our services even further. Currently, for example, electric heating and electric charging are being demanded. Here, peak shaving can be a first step. We introduced this product, which helps to cap load peaks, at Intersolar. We have set ourselves the goal of being the central controller in the field of renewable energy, to manage and regulate processes there – and to do this in conjunction with the coupling of various sectors."
To remain successful in the future, Solar-Log must already be very good at its services and products today. "What we do today is the basis for the business of the future. It's precisely the combination of hardware and software that creates solutions. We at Solar-Log are the interface, and we must decide which solution is best for our customer. He remembers the one who takes his problems off his hands directly, so he can focus on his core business," says Jörg Niche. "We are only successful if we have successful solutions for what will be demanded by our customers in the future."