The Entrepreneur Who Recognized a Niche and is the Only One Cleaning Solar Panels with His Robot Zolika

If we do not maintain the car we bought for a lot of money and most often went into debt for, if we do not change its oil, we risk that the engine will completely fail after some time. The same goes for solar panels, which have become a hit product on the market among both citizens and entrepreneurs looking for solutions to reduce electricity bills.

Lider recently wrote a major piece on the profitability of investing in this type of renewable energy, in which we concluded that solar energy is currently a win-win situation for all market participants. Many entrepreneurs with different careers in solar power plants have recognized a business opportunity and are now taking advantage of the fact that demand for solar energy has increased by 300 percent in the last year. The sun has become a source of savings for customers and a source of income, not only for manufacturers and distributors of solar power plants but also for all related activities.

Thus, Dejan Gajić, the owner and director of Cleanergy Solutions, recognized his opportunity two years ago and entered a very narrow niche of maintenance and cleaning of solar panels, which, like cars, lose their efficiency without maintenance.

– I spent my working life in tourism. During the first corona quarantine, all the uncertainty of that industry surfaced, and I began to think intensively about changing my business direction. I intensively researched green technologies, especially solar power plants. I started studying all available literature and noticed that power plants lose their efficiency due to pollution, meaning that the losses are significant and measured in substantial percentages of reduced delivered energy. I became interested in modern technologies used for maintaining solar power plants.

I noticed that in Croatia, service maintenance is reduced to remote reading of production, replacing defective parts of panels, and eliminating faults in devices. In general, I realized that there is a need for maintenance and cleaning of solar panels, washing with modern devices, and that no one provides that service. I made various simulations of the profitability of our service, estimated that the trend of switching to own energy sources will continue to grow, and in February 2021, I founded the company – Gajić recounts his new entrepreneurial journey.

In the first year, Cleanergy had a smaller volume of service provision, spending most of the time at the computer, sending brochures, and educating the market about the need for cleaning.

– That period was not easy to survive. We did not waver; we believed in this business, continued to invest, and equipped ourselves with the latest technology. Today, the situation is somewhat different; companies’ awareness of the need for maintenance and washing of their power plants is increasingly present, and we have renowned Croatian companies among our clients – says Gajić.

What his company actually does is increase the efficiency of solar panels. Thick and greasy layers of pollution prevent the full efficiency of the solar power plant, and the average loss in production in Croatia is about 15 percent.

– The power plants we wash also have higher losses. These are usually power plants located in traffic-intensive areas, in industrial zones, on farms, and the level of pollution is higher than in isolated power plants that are not near larger sources of pollution. We are closely specialized in washing solar panels; today we have experience washing complex solar power plants that were hard to believe could be cleaned so effectively. This job requires high physical fitness and resourcefulness from the people who do it. The job needs to be done well even in the toughest conditions; we are adaptable in the field and do not complicate life for our clients. Our goal is for every job we complete to be a ticket to another solar power plant. We do not give up until we wash the panels to look like they have just been installed – claims Gajić.

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One unique specialized robot for cleaning panels in the region

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In Croatia, there are companies that have cleaning services for power plants in their portfolio, and these are primarily companies that deal with panel installation, and cleaning is not their primary activity. Additionally, as in all industries, there is a shortage of labor willing to do demanding physical jobs in hazardous conditions, at heights, on roofs, on sheets, and in extreme weather conditions.

– That is why we do this job with a robot named Zolika, the only one of its kind in Croatia and neighboring countries. It is the latest technology for washing panels that allows us to clean panels effectively in hard-to-reach areas and under various circumstances. Since I own a robot specialized for this purpose, today I can often do this job myself; I only need an assistant for certain power plants – says Gajić.

Cleanergy is a family business, whose administrative tasks in the ‘back office’ are performed by family members, and while the business is still in its initial phase, it will remain that way.

Although they have been on the market for just over a year, they have ‘brought in’ clients from various sectors, companies in both private and state ownership.

– Our clients are companies from the wood, agricultural-food industry, and retail chains. We have washed solar panels on hospitals and other facilities owned by local government units that have installed photovoltaic panels up to 5 MW. It will take us time to establish ourselves in the market, and that is why our first short-term goal is to inform all stakeholders about our service this year, and in the long term, we want Cleanergy Solutions to be synonymous with this service, and we believe we will succeed in that – concludes Gajić.

The cost of cleaning is defined per square meter of panels, and when defined in relation to the production of the power plant, the cost depends on several parameters: on the price of kWh that a particular company pays (there are several tariffs depending on the size of the company), on the logistical conditions in the field and the availability of panels and water, on the level of pollution, and generally, the price is attempted to be determined in correlation with the more produced electricity.

– This is the best representation of the profitability of washing. In any case, the benefit and revenue growth from increased electricity production is multiple and significantly greater than the cost of our service – concludes Gajić.

It is recommended that power plants be washed at least once a year, as this should be an essential part of their regular maintenance. Those exposed to higher pollution factors should be washed as needed, two to three times a year.

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Dejan Gajić, Cleanergy Solutions

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