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Solar panels are great but often homeowners have limited means and don’t know how to go about it. This startup is looking to empower ordinary Indians to embrace clean and green solar power.
The Origin Story
Although solar is the future in a carbon-neutral world, not all homeowners can afford home solar systems as it requires an investment of at least INR 1 Lakh. In addition, people have to spend a lot of time and effort finding the proper hardware. Loom Solar was set up to eliminate these barriers in adoption. The founders were aware of the two specific problems that solar panels could solve at the B2C level.
Urban homeowners can utilise unused rooftop space to install solar panels and thus save on a significant amount on utility bills. Plus, these can help deal with long power cuts and frequent voltage fluctuations faced by more than 250 Mn households in semi-urban and rural areas.
The Growth
Loom Solar clocked INR 35 Cr in revenue in FY2021. It reached the target of selling 50K RTS systems in November 2021 and sold a total of 1.5 Lakh units to date. Currently, solar panels account for 60% of its revenue, but the launch of the storage devices will rebalance its business.
The Differentiator
The startup aims to offer homeowners end-to-end solutions as India targets installing a rooftop solar (RTS) capacity of 4,000 MW in the residential sector by 2022. Apart from making solar panels, Li-ion batteries and inverters for power generation and storage, it is reaching out to a large number of homeowners to bring easy-to-access, price-optimised systems, where it tied up with Housing.com. Eventually, it claims that customers will get their investment back in four to five years and will enjoy the benefits of free electricity for the next 25 years.
The Journey
Loom manufactures solar panels and will soon launch lithium-ion batteries and inverters as convenient storage solutions in sync with India’s ambitious green energy plan. It offers 15 SKUs, including its flagship product Shark Bifacial, a high-efficiency product where both sides of the panel can generate power. Its products are sold pan-India via a 10,000-strong reseller network.
What’s Next
The company will grow its energy storage solutions and increase its current market share in the residential solar market from 1% to 5% by 2025. It is also looking to enter into partnerships with strategic investors for the next phase of growth.
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