Gaining ground across the globe - Kloben

Solar thermal
80
AllSun A/S
unifying the languages
of Domestic värme und
comfort technologies
Das T80 ist et Columbus egg –
kombiniering solar thermie with any
selectione af Alternative wärme sources,
conventional oder renewable.
Vi have kombineret simple installatione
und user-freundlichen solutionez to meet
Europaische Customer needs i ein true
system integrator.
allsun@allsun.dk
large-Scale inStallationS
Solar thermal companies do not rely
solely on the competence of external
planners and installers, however. They all
have their own in­house planning teams
after all. “We have a highly professional
team in the planning department”, says
Newton Koeke for example. Michele Speri
adds: “We have a great staff of 15 people
who work in solar planning.” For over a
decade now, Wagner & Co. has been using
a technical support team that specialises
in large­scale solar systems and
deals with layout and planning, supports
installation and commissioning and performs
after­sales service. Ezinç is another
company that provides customer support
for large­scale systems: “We have our
own Project Department in which our engineers
conduct all projects­related tasks
such as designing, planning, calculation,
surveillance during installation and commissioning.
We also support our customers
through our Project Department based
on our extensive experience in installing
large­scale systems”, says A. Kutay Ülke
from the Export Department. “For large
thermal plants we perform all the calculations
and also support the distributor”,
adds Mark Perger, International Manager
of the Australian company Solahart Industries
Pty Ltd. In addition to planning,
after­sales service is also offered by many
companies: “In Turkey we established an
after­sales service organisation for planning
and installing while outside Turkey
our distributors depend on plumbers carrying
out these services”, explains Taçnur
Yılmaz, Export Deputy Manager at the
Turkish company Baymak, which is a
member of the Baxi Group.
While planning teams are established
in all companies, the number of companies
with in­house installation teams remains
clear. “That is not our concept. We
manufacture systems and then distribute
them to installers”, says Mario Waisman.
Baymak has so far implemented large-scale solar
thermal systems that include up to 500 m 2
of collectors in Spain, Italy, Canada, Australia,
New Zealand and Turkey. Photo: Baymak
At Wagner & Co., activities are limited to
manufacturing, distribution and technical
support. “We want to help improve the
qualifications of planning and installing
companies instead of just keeping the
work within our company. We only maintain
a specialised installation crew for our
Solar Roof collector system that features
large collector elements”, remarks
Andreas Knoch, CEO of Solar Thermal Marketing
and Sales. Chromagen, on the other
hand, is one of the companies who occasionally
install systems on their own:
“We have our own installers but we work
mainly with subcontractors”, explains
Dorit Cohen. The same applies to Solardome:
“We mostly outsource labour, but
in two projects we were directly involved
with the installation”, says Brennen
February. Ouraset assigns project leaders
for large­scale projects.
Installers are also employed by Derya
Solar Collector C.O. and Ezinç from Turkey,
Elcora from Cyprus, Transsen, Tuma and
Heliotek from Brazil, Módulo Solar and
Heliomex from Mexico, Sunrain from
China, Chiryu Heater from Japan, Solar
Dynamics from Barbados, Solartech Sales
& Service from Malaysia, Tisun from
Austria as well as Emmvee and NRG Technologists
from India. In this regard, NRG
Technologists uses an in­house variant:
“We have our own installation and service
team. We cannot rely on others to do a
competent job and finish the job well.
Hence, all installations are performed by
trained in­house personnel who are specifically
employed for this purpose”, says
Chaitanya Yardi, Marketing Director. “We
have about three teams of installers, each
comprising around 5 to 8 people, who
work solely for the company. They are responsible
for carrying out proper installation
based on the guidelines laid out by
the company.”
Jens-Peter Meyer
Sun & Wind Energy 5/2009