Pure, uninterrupted energy-efficiency

plant to 1.3 GW by 2016 – together with the ongoing investments in technology and R&D this will future-proof our production.”

Commercial self-consumption study for Germany

“The regulatory and general economic environments of each country are of absolute importance for the attractiveness of solar technology,” says Mr Graré. “Currently the UK shows high growth in demand, because of its reliable/stable ROCs scheme, but even after the end of the heavy subsidy schemes, Germany is still our biggest market.”

REC recently published a detailed study on the viability of commercial self-consumption of solar energy in Germany, in order to raise awareness and educate potential customers. The main findings were that a solar installation with self consumption is most attractive for the retail segment, followed closely by manufacturing, with only small benefits for heavy industry. The payback periods range from 7 – 9 years for retail to 8 – 10 years for manufacturing, and 12 – 15 years for heavy industry. Similar studies were carried out for Italy and Turkey.

Going with the demand

53 per cent of RECs turnover is generated in Europe, followed by 37 per cent from Japan. “We went to Tokyo two years ago, because we found that our company’s values and qualities are really appreciated in this market. We are not keen to push into markets with low prices and high competition; we would rather work with customers who see us as partners and who respect our quality approach,” explains Mr Graré. And there is also a lot of light on the horizon in Europe, he adds: ”We expect a big demand for large-scale plants in countries like Spain, Cyprus and France soon. Confidence in Europe is recovering, and banks will start to back investments – lower and lower system costs have started to make solar plants good investments, even without the need for government subsidies.”

REC products enter the markets via partner channels, distributors and networks of installers; sometimes also directly via EPC contractors, explains Mr Graré. “Our

systems are suited for utility plants and rooftop installations on residential or commercial buildings. The biggest potential is in mid-sized commercial rooftops – these will benefit most from our technology.”

The future is bright

“In our business we are proud to be the last man standing in Europe in terms of a positive net cash position,” says Mr Graré. “This success is due to a combination of our unique corporate strengths. We had a head start by moving our production to Singapore – close to the home markets for raw materials. We also embraced the globalisation path, which maximised opportunities for us.”

These strengths also provide a basis for future growth, because the solar business is an extremely fast-changing environment, or – in Mr Graré’s words: “In our business, six months ahead is light years ahead. And there are so many paths for us to take, because being debt-free, we can respond flexibly and independently to market opportunities. It is also a strong part of our identity to be committed and loyal when it comes to partners and customers, and to make no compromises in terms of our own quality and value.” n

FoturSol AG is a Europe-wide REC wholesaler and is listed as an official REC distribution partner at our Swiss headquarters. REC is a market leader in its price-performance ratio. Through its commitment to sustainable and environmentally friendly practices it provides a positive European business culture for its customers.

FoturSol AG • unter Sagi 6 , CH-6362 Stansstad • Tel +41 41 - 6186 108 • Fax +41 41 - 6186 109 • Email: info@fotursol.ch

Schneider Electric is a global leader in energy management and automation technology. Philip Yorke spoke to Patrik Steiner, the company’s Nordic marketing director, about its launch of the world’s first ePAC controller and other ground-breaking new products, as well as its strategy for growth.

Schneider Electric was founded in 1836 by the Schneider brothers in France who took over the Creusot foundries to make armaments and heavy machinery. From its earliest beginnings, innovation played a major role in the company’s fortunes and by 1891 Schneider had evolved and innovated in order to launch itself into the emerging global electricity market. In the years that followed, the company was closely associated with Westinghouse and continued to expand through a series of strategic acquisitions.

By the early 21st century Schneider, in part through a number of key acquisitions, was leading the field in a number of new electrical market sectors including UPS (Uninterruptable Power Supply) Movement Control, and Building Automation. In addition, it strengthened and extended its lead in advanced, ‘Smart Grid’ technology with the acquisition of the distribution activities of Areva T&D. Today the Schneider Group is represented in over 100 countries and employs more than 140,000 people worldwide. In the first quarter of 2014 alone the group recorded revenues of more than €5.7 billion – a growth of 7.7 per cent in total on the previous year.

Leveraging innovation and diversity

Schneider Electric provides cutting-edge technology and integrated solutions that optimise energy usage and control in markets such as infrastructure, manufacturing, energy, data centres and commercial and residential buildings. With its unique and diverse portfolio in electrical distribution, industrial automation,

critical power & cooling, energy efficiency and building management, Schneider is the clear industry leader and the only global specialist in energy management.

Innovation is a key driver for growth at Schneider and the company devotes more than 5 per cent of its worldwide sales to research and development. More than 7500 R&D engineers throughout the world are dedicated to making Schneider’s solutions greener, simpler and easier to integrate into the daily environment of its customers.

Schneider Electric is also committed to putting sustainable development at the heart of its growth strategy. The company has been measuring its sustainability performance since 2005 in order to improve its eco-efficiency, business operations and social responsibility programmes. In addition, Schneider enhances its customer’s automation and connectivity capabilities by making them simpler to manage and thereby optimising many aspects of their everyday business operations.

Mr Steiner said, “We are continuing to see consistent growth, which is being enhanced by our strategy to acquire companies that complement our existing portfolio and range of services. We are consolidating our gains right now following some recent acquisitions and new product launches. Our main focus for the foreseeable future is to develop products that are smarter and more costefficient. This will be achieved through the changing architecture of our products and our advanced IT technology.

“We are growing the market in a number of key areas, including power breakers and PLCs and matching these to IT networks. This means there is a sea change in the way that we allow our software compatibility to be integrated into third party systems and software. We have numerous state-of-theart R&D facilities, which are located all over the world and these are complemented by our development centres in key locations.

Mr Steiner added, “When it comes to solutions, we utilise our own products and test them in our factories to make them more reliable and cost-effective. So this is all about increasing efficiency and reducing the costs for our clients. A helicopter view would be that through better technology and closer collaboration with our customers, we can do more to enable them to optimise their energy efficiency needs and enhance their manufacturing processes.

“Today the biggest markets for our energy management, automation and control products are metals, mining and the water management industries. Here our programmable PLCs and validated architecture makes it easy for them to be more energy efficient, and our environmental management programmes also add to our customers’ well-being as well as to that of our local communities. All our latest energy management products including the revolutionary Modicon M580 automation controller will be showcased at the next SCA-Automatic Trade Fair in Gothenburg in October 2014”.

Innovative building design, powerful energy control

In Sweden itself Schneider Electric was recently able to provide the solution when Mackmyra Swedish Whisky wanted to build the world’s most environmentally-friendly distillery. Together with Gävle Energi, the local energy municipality organization, Schneider Electric™ incorporated breakthrough designs and helped to build a scalable, energy efficient six-storey facility that relies on gravity to produce world-class whisky.