“If you have a roof, you have a business”. This is how Independent Energy (EI) introduces itself to potential clients, with the mission of democratising access to solar energy. “We place a major focus on solutions that will enable us to achieve this reality”, revealed Ignacio Madrid Benito, CEO of EI, at the beginning of a round table he chaired at the Web Summit, the participants in which were a group of entrepreneurs and partners from the start-up, founded in 2020 within the Galp universe. The number one challenge, admits the CEO, is rendering this type of energy attractive in the long term. “This market is going to explode and become 10 or 100 times bigger than it is now, but the biggest challenges consist of engaging clients and ensuring the idea is attractive, as the solar market will never develop without such interest”.
Speaking to the participants in the “Solar Energy for Everyone” round table, and an audience of thousands of people around the world, the energy company´s CEO revealed what he calls the '3 Makes Plan', which translates into the solution uncovered by EI to overcome the challenges of engaging clients and making this technology attractive. “Make it visible, make it attractive and make it simple” are, as far as Ignacio Madrid is concerned, the three essential ingredients for the development of the solar energy market. “Making this energy visible to people is the first step in informing them and leading them to think about switching to solar energy”, he explained. Then, he reinforces, “we need to illustrate the potential savings involved, as well as efficiency and reduced costs”. Finally, says the CEO, simplification is vital. “Adhesion must be barrier-free and the client´s decisions with regard to the process and financing need to be facilitated”.
In order to achieve the goal of ensuring the sun shines for everyone, EI is now looking for partners and investors to back this venture, having taken advantage of the Web Summit as a 'showcase' for its business. “We live in an ecosystem and, as such, we don´t believe we can do this alone. We are always looking for partners to work on production, engineering, installation and business models”, concludes Ignacio Madrid Benito.
