00:00:00: [MUSIC]

00:00:15: >> Hello, [FOREIGN]

00:00:16: you're the CO1 founder of Ove Easy Solar.

00:00:20: Welcome to the show.

00:00:22: >> Thank you very much, David.

00:00:23: Happy to be here.

00:00:24: >> So as everybody can hear and listen,

00:00:27: we do another episode now in English.

00:00:29: Usually, we do a lot of episodes,

00:00:31: at least recently in German.

00:00:33: So we try our best because you are also not

00:00:36: a native English speakers,

00:00:37: but we have agreed that our English

00:00:40: might be good enough for our listeners.

00:00:42: So where are you from?

00:00:43: >> I'm from Norway.

00:00:44: So I learned German at school about 20 years ago now.

00:00:48: It's a bit rusty.

00:00:49: So thank you very much for being able to do this in English.

00:00:53: >> Absolutely. Ove Easy Solar is also a Norwegian company.

00:00:57: Can you just tell us in one or two sentences what you guys are doing?

00:01:02: >> Yeah. We have developed

00:01:04: a prefabricated solar solution for flat rooftops.

00:01:08: It's based on vertical bifacial solar panels.

00:01:12: So it disrupts the conventional way of

00:01:16: thinking about the flat rooftop solar installations.

00:01:19: It's especially a good fit for green roofs,

00:01:23: that where you want to install solar power on top.

00:01:26: >> All right.

00:01:26: >> And also where you need a lightweight solar solution.

00:01:30: >> Very good. I think a lot of

00:01:32: our listeners already know a bit around solar technologies.

00:01:37: But I think it might be very useful before we dive into

00:01:40: what you guys are doing and what's your USP.

00:01:43: Maybe tell us how was the usual PV setup,

00:01:48: and then we dive into what sets you apart

00:01:50: from this what we see convention in the market.

00:01:53: >> Yeah. The usual PV setup on rooftop and on flat roofs

00:01:59: is that you make use of a conventional solar panel

00:02:02: that typically measures one by two meters approximately in size.

00:02:07: It's a very commoditized product,

00:02:10: and all solar panels look kind of similar.

00:02:13: And then there are these mounting structures that are developed to fit

00:02:18: with that standardized or more or less standardized format for solar panels.

00:02:23: And normally you also would apply ballast in the form of

00:02:28: concrete blocks or something like that in order to keep the installation in place.

00:02:32: Or you would glue it or weld it to the roof membrane.

00:02:38: >> Good. But you do things differently.

00:02:41: What really sets you apart from this conventional setup?

00:02:45: >> Yeah. We have this prefabricated product that we call the VPV unit.

00:02:51: It's a vertical photovoltaic unit.

00:02:54: So it integrates the mounting structure and the solar panels in one single piece.

00:03:00: So it's very easy to plan, install, install, and do the documentation and logistics.

00:03:07: And the solar panels are quite small,

00:03:10: so we don't have much wind loads on the installation.

00:03:13: And thereby we avoid having this ballast or the fixation to the rooftop

00:03:20: that you use with the conventional solar panels.

00:03:23: >> But prefabricated means that you are using existing, let's say, materials and parts.

00:03:33: For example, the PV module itself, you're not producing.

00:03:38: You get this from somebody to integrate it in your system.

00:03:42: >> I know the PV module is also designed by us.

00:03:46: So actually every component in the system is designed by us

00:03:51: in order to integrate it into a completely re-engineered product for flat rooftop solar mounting.

00:03:59: >> So you get the cells, and then you start doing this from the cell level or even start earlier?

00:04:08: >> Yeah. So let's say the basic working principle is the same.

00:04:12: It's a silicon solar cell inside, regular PV glass,

00:04:17: but it's all just put together in a different way to enable this product.

00:04:23: >> Okay, so you get, as a supply material, you get the glass, you get the solar cell,

00:04:28: and then you integrate everything, but you're not producing the solar cell itself?

00:04:33: >> No, no. And we also, we don't have the manufacturing ourselves here in Norway.

00:04:39: We also outsource the manufacturing to manufacturing partners.

00:04:45: >> Okay, okay. Right, so you're basically integrating and have this new,

00:04:51: let's say, module and integrated system on the market?

00:04:54: >> Yeah, we have a different approach and product designed around the needs of certain types of buildings

00:05:03: and around the needs for the PV installers to make it simple and easy for them.

00:05:09: >> I mean, and please correct me, right, because you are the producer, not myself,

00:05:13: but you are going even a step further than a normal solar module producer would do.

00:05:22: A normal module producer, they would source the cells, the glass, they have a frame,

00:05:28: they put everything together, some cables, and then they sell the solar module.

00:05:32: But you go even beyond and you build and integrate the whole,

00:05:37: what I think it's called, balance of systems.

00:05:39: So everything which is like the, you know, everything is surrounded, right?

00:05:43: The cables, all the, you know, mounting systems and stuff.

00:05:48: >> Yeah, almost everything that goes on the top of the roof is included in this single product.

00:05:55: But of course, we don't install the complete installation.

00:05:59: We partner up with companies in the local markets.

00:06:04: So we have solar installation companies, partnerships in, of course, in Norway,

00:06:10: but also in Germany, Netherlands, Switzerland, and many other markets.

00:06:15: And they do the final installations and they pull the cables and install the inverters

00:06:21: and do the final documentation.

00:06:24: >> I would assume if you do everything integrated,

00:06:26: you probably try to standardize it as much as possible to lower the costs per unit.

00:06:33: But if you standardize it,

00:06:36: does it also mean that you will be suited for certain roofs?

00:06:41: Very, very good, even better than everybody else.

00:06:44: But for other certain roofs, you're not very well suited

00:06:48: because you have standardized everything.

00:06:50: >> Yeah, the big, let's say the big plan is to make a product that is standardized.

00:06:56: And that's the beauty of the flat roof solar market.

00:07:00: Flat roofs, in principle, have the same challenges everywhere in the world.

00:07:05: You have some wind, you have a load bearing capacity,

00:07:09: and of course, you want to produce energy.

00:07:11: And yeah, in the meantime, like tilted roof installations,

00:07:16: when you have specially designed products for this,

00:07:19: you run into all kinds of different standards in different countries.

00:07:23: You act architectonical considerations and color and things like that.

00:07:29: But for flat rooftops, you can standardize for millions and millions of square meters of rooftop.

00:07:35: >> Great, so that's exactly where you specialize in, then, in the flat rooftops,

00:07:42: which probably also has the upsides that a lot of the flat rooftops

00:07:46: are probably also commercial buildings, which are quite large

00:07:49: and larger than any residential buildings, so you can implement even more solar.

00:07:53: >> Yeah, that's also a benefit that makes it easier to scale

00:07:59: than if you have a product for the residential sector, of course.

00:08:03: >> And I would imagine that buildings are built differently across the globe.

00:08:11: Maybe there are some higher standards, like in Norway or Germany,

00:08:14: in terms of load and snow and wind, and I don't know what,

00:08:17: and maybe there are lower standards, I even don't know,

00:08:21: but I think even in the U.S. it's probably lower than in Europe.

00:08:25: I would assume for normal factory building or something like that.

00:08:29: Does this have any effect on your system, how to get it on the rooftop

00:08:37: and in terms of weight as well, because you have a certain weight

00:08:41: and there are certain structures where you might be too heavy for?

00:08:44: >> Yeah, well, surprisingly, it's surprisingly easy, I would say,

00:08:50: especially since our system is a free-standing structure,

00:08:53: it's not fixated to the building or doesn't contribute to building envelope.

00:08:59: We can avoid the most regional variations of building standards,

00:09:05: and when it comes to wind loads, calculations and how you deal with that,

00:09:10: there are smaller variations from country to country,

00:09:14: but it's all fairly standardized and the internal tests

00:09:18: and the statistical data we generate here in Europe,

00:09:21: we can also utilize that for the U.S. and Canada, for example.

00:09:24: >> Okay, great.

00:09:25: Let's talk a bit about your role and the role of your partners.

00:09:29: If I understood it correctly, you are basically producing,

00:09:34: and then you distribute your integrated system to installers

00:09:40: and partners who are actually installing the system.

00:09:43: So you are not the one installing them, is this correct?

00:09:46: >> Yeah, that's correct.

00:09:47: >> Short answer, long question, but I like that.

00:09:53: So I think it's, but maybe let's go a bit more into detail here.

00:09:57: I would assume that your product also has some benefits for your partners,

00:10:03: for the installers, because every system is basically the same,

00:10:06: so there must be some benefits.

00:10:08: >> Yeah, me and my other co-founder, we come from the solar installation sector,

00:10:16: so we've been working with these conventional products for many, many years.

00:10:21: And what we really wanted to do was to make something

00:10:25: that simplifies every part of the work that the solar installers do.

00:10:31: And so that goes already from the moment where you receive a customer call

00:10:38: and you start outlining an installation.

00:10:42: If you use conventional products, say you have to combine solar panels

00:10:46: and mounting structures, you typically use two different softwares for,

00:10:52: let's say the mounting system planning and the wind load calculation,

00:10:56: and then you do another software for the energy yield calculations.

00:11:01: So there's quite a lot of work in the early phase for the installers.

00:11:04: We also simplify that part, so we also have a software solution

00:11:08: that makes it very efficient to do that part of the job.

00:11:12: And then when you're at the building site, in my experience,

00:11:19: there's also a lot of trouble that arises from combining deliveries

00:11:25: of different type of materials, solar panels, mounting structure, ballasts, cables,

00:11:31: the personnel that you need to mount.

00:11:33: Everything needs to be correct and in the right amount and at the right time.

00:11:38: This is also, of course, much easier when you integrate the entire installation

00:11:43: into a single product.

00:11:44: And then the mounting itself goes much faster when it's prefabricated

00:11:50: and there's much less vent manual work, there's less need for quality control

00:11:57: because it's prefabricated and you can really not make any mistakes when you mount it.

00:12:04: Right, so time to market is a lot quicker compared to other non-standarized systems.

00:12:11: If all of the listeners would go to your home page, which is Overeasy.no,

00:12:18: they can see very nice pictures on your system.

00:12:21: And I think it's very worthwhile to go to your home page.

00:12:24: It's even available in different languages, but you would see the system being vertically orientated.

00:12:31: Usually, if you have PV systems, they are tilted because they are either to the west,

00:12:37: to the south, to the east, almost never to the north, obviously tilted.

00:12:43: But your systems are really vertical.

00:12:45: This means that you have a PV cell on both sides.

00:12:50: So what are the ups and downsides of this system?

00:12:55: Because if you do it really straight in a 90-degree angle to the roof,

00:13:00: then you would not probably get as much sunlight.

00:13:03: On the other hand, you get maybe more because you use it from both sides.

00:13:07: So what's the idea behind it?

00:13:08: Yeah, that's a very important point.

00:13:11: So this whole product would have been basically impossible to develop, let's say, 10 years ago.

00:13:18: And it's been made possible because we now have bifacial solar panels,

00:13:23: which probably also many of the listeners have heard about.

00:13:26: So most solar panels that come available on the market today are two-sided already, or bifacial.

00:13:36: So they can produce energy from both sides.

00:13:39: So that was also something that came with my experience from working with solar installations here in Norway,

00:13:47: because we didn't mount panels vertically on the rooftops like this before,

00:13:52: but I had worked with façade installations quite a lot as well.

00:13:55: And I knew that a vertical façade here in Norway can produce quite well.

00:14:01: So if you can mount the panels vertically and you can utilize both sides efficiently,

00:14:08: the output would be quite good.

00:14:11: And actually, that's the case.

00:14:13: So now we have installations in 40 different locations all the way from Tromsø,

00:14:20: in the north of Norway, to Valencia in the south, or in Spain, in the south of Europe.

00:14:26: And we see very good results.

00:14:28: The energy generation is more or less equivalent to what you would get with regular oriented solar panels

00:14:37: in most of Europe, a little bit less, or in the south of Europe,

00:14:41: bit more in the north of Norway. Even if you generate a little bit less energy, the energy

00:14:47: that you generate is, if you mount them with one face towards the east and the other towards

00:14:53: the west, you get the energy produced during the morning and the evening, which is when

00:14:57: you actually have a higher energy price and maybe higher energy demand in the building.

00:15:02: So you get a better payback on the energy that you produce.

00:15:06: Right. This is actually the question I had, that the more north you go, the probably the

00:15:12: better this this upside is working because the sun has a longer time, at least during

00:15:18: the summer periods, a longer time, a flat, let's say, curve towards the panel than going

00:15:25: to the equator, where you have very quick sunsets and sunrises, where this system probably is

00:15:31: not working to the fullest then.

00:15:33: Yeah, it's a relative benefit of the system is better in the north. But also, like in Germany,

00:15:43: there's also a company called Next to Sun that has been working with vertical solar panel

00:15:48: mounting for combination with agriculture for about 10 years now. Yeah, they're doing

00:15:55: quite well as well. And they're also experiencing that the value or the monetary output of the

00:16:03: systems that they install is very good because of the time of day delivery of the energy.

00:16:09: Right. But then you would probably direct it towards east and west, is this correct?

00:16:15: Yeah, that makes most sense.

00:16:17: All right, great. Well, this is very interesting and probably quite novel in the market as

00:16:24: well. Are there any major competitors in the market which you don't need to name right

00:16:28: now or are you quite alone with this setup?

00:16:32: Yeah, there's a few players in the, let's say, the vertical solar market aiming for

00:16:38: different kind of segments. So I mentioned Next to Sun, they're probably the biggest

00:16:43: one in this area, but they're on the ground and rooftop segment. There's less competition,

00:16:50: but there's also a couple of companies active there. And I think we will see the vertical

00:16:57: solar mounting grow as a kind of segment in the solar industry for the coming years,

00:17:03: for sure. I think it's very interesting. And I welcome the competition. That means

00:17:06: that we're onto something.

00:17:09: And yeah, so you already mentioned that you have been installing systems from Spain to

00:17:15: Norway. This means that Europe is your main market currently, or are you also working internationally

00:17:21: on a global scale in Asia or in the USA?

00:17:24: We're still a fairly small company. We're nine employees, full time employees at the

00:17:30: moment. So we're concentrating our attention on Europe. We have requests from US quite

00:17:39: frequently. We have pilots in the US and Canada as well. Yeah, we're interested in that too,

00:17:46: but there's more than enough to do in Europe for the next couple of years.

00:17:51: The company and every single module you're producing really counts. So nine employees.

00:18:01: Annual capacity of an actual production of these modules. And what are your plans for

00:18:07: the next two to three years?

00:18:09: The company was founded four and a half years ago. And the first three years we spent mostly

00:18:15: doing R&D, testing out if this solution would work with regards to energy generation and

00:18:20: wind loads and certifications and those kind of things. We've been one and a half years

00:18:27: on the market now with the certified product. And we've delivered almost one and a half

00:18:34: megawatt over that time. So I would say we're still in the very beginning of the scale up

00:18:39: phase. And now aiming to scale up to the range of tens of megawatts per year in the next

00:18:49: couple of years.

00:18:50: You do this with partners as I mentioned already before. Are these in Europe or somewhere in

00:18:54: Asia or in the Americas? Where are these production facilities currently?

00:19:00: We now do our manufacturing in China with partners there. We have been through a lot

00:19:09: of prototyping and early manufacturing in Europe as well. But it made sense now to move

00:19:15: the entire manufacturing to China, because that's where we basically see the best technology

00:19:22: and especially for our kind of product. This is a good match. And also a very flexible

00:19:30: setup where we can upscale the manufacturing when we need it. So we're very happy with

00:19:39: our partners there.

00:19:40: Right. Obviously China is the big competitor to Europe in terms of great production upsides

00:19:47: and possibilities to do production there. Nevertheless, Europe, particularly the last

00:19:53: couple of years, has been seeking to attract investments in the renewable energy space.

00:20:01: Do you see in the foreseeable future that you might come back to Europe or that you may

00:20:08: in parallel start a production in Europe as well?

00:20:11: That might happen. But to be honest, at the moment, the technology development in China

00:20:18: on solar panels is going so fast that it's really difficult for European players to keep

00:20:26: track with that. On that note about global trade and dependency on China, I think in

00:20:32: my view, we should also appreciate that global trade is a driver for collaboration between

00:20:40: countries and a stabilizing power. So I think we should also kind of embrace the global

00:20:46: collaboration and we should try to find the niches. And like we do, we develop a product

00:20:53: based on the needs of the customers here in Europe, what we utilize the technology from

00:21:00: China. And I think in a globalized world, we should build on these kind of collaborations

00:21:07: and play each other stronger.

00:21:11: Right. You said that in the next couple of years, you're planning a couple more tens

00:21:19: of megawatts to be produced. Of course, in the rooftop, let's say a market, this is already

00:21:26: quite a lot. Of course, this is compared to some of the bigger producers, which are producing

00:21:33: gigawatts of solar still quite small. Where do you think your ambitions will take you

00:21:41: in more into the longer run? And what does it mean for the growth of your company? Are

00:21:46: you seeking capital? Are you more trying to grow out of your existing cash and liquidity?

00:21:57: What's your plan?

00:21:58: Yeah, the potential is quite enormous. We haven't been talking so much about this, but

00:22:04: one of our main segments for our product is green roofs. So the roofs where there's vegetation

00:22:11: growing, and you want to combine with solar. And even just this market in itself represents

00:22:19: more than probably around 20 million square meters of rooftop built every year in Europe.

00:22:28: It's potentially a gigawatt size market in itself. And there are, I think there are no

00:22:36: other products as specialized and well-fitting as ours. So even just in that niche, there's

00:22:43: a potential to grow to the gigawatt scale. And then we have low weight requirement rooftops

00:22:48: and more generic flat roofs. So the growth potential is enormous. And I think capital

00:22:58: is what we need to grow. So we will definitely be looking for capital in the Series A round

00:23:03: now in the next 12 months from now. We just closed around now in June 2025 with an original

00:23:11: crowd funding platform. But yeah, the markets out there is basically no limitation for growth.

00:23:18: It's about executing and getting out there.

00:23:21: Great. So what are your, let's say, best hopes to the future? You have mentioned that you

00:23:27: were working in the solar business before, so you have some history around the solar

00:23:33: market. And you probably will share my experience that this market has been, I mean, changing

00:23:39: a lot over the years. And now we are in a particularly new global situation where we

00:23:46: have Europe. You are being a European company. You have strong partners in China. We still

00:23:55: have an ongoing war in Eastern Europe and Ukraine. We know that the agenda is changing

00:24:01: in the United States because of the Trump administration. Are you worried around a strong

00:24:07: solar development? Or is it maybe the opposite? Because you say, well, this is a great, I

00:24:12: don't want to be cynical here, but this is still a, let's say, a large opportunity here

00:24:17: to show that we have a solution out there which can give us more energy independence.

00:24:22: Well, I think the big underlying problem here is that we need to decarbonize our energy

00:24:30: systems. And there is no way around that. We just have to do it. And the urgency is growing

00:24:35: every day, even though today, if you go into the news, there is not so much about that.

00:24:43: There is more about wars and conflicts and tariffs and whatnot. But on the longer term,

00:24:49: one of the biggest problems for our planet and humanity is climate change. And we just

00:24:56: have to deal with that. And in order to deal with that, we need renewable energy. And renewable

00:25:00: energy will be most likely produced by solar and wind. So it's going to happen. But I am

00:25:07: worried on the short term because I think there's much too little attention drawn to

00:25:13: this today. And even the capital available for innovative companies and startups and

00:25:21: scale-ups in this area now in Europe is very limited. And I think don't think that's a

00:25:29: good situation. We need to move forward and start preparing to tackling those challenges.

00:25:36: Absolutely. And is this something which your shareholders are sharing as well, or do they

00:25:44: focus on just the numbers you are doing? Maybe give you a bit more time to grow to tackle

00:25:49: this overall challenge?

00:25:50: Yeah, I know. I'm very happy with my shareholders. I think they are patient. They know that

00:25:58: it takes time to grow, especially during these times. But yeah, I would wish for better conditions,

00:26:06: both on the commercial side, but also on the financing of projects and companies that contribute

00:26:14: to finding the right solutions for the future.

00:26:17: Yeah. I mean, I think we have seen a very good insight of your company, your product. Obviously,

00:26:23: we could spend a lot more time on any more given detail. Is there anything you would

00:26:27: like to mention before we close our conversation?

00:26:31: Yeah, I would like to mention this specifically, because I heard on some episodes on your podcast

00:26:39: from before that you've been talking about climate resilience, flooding, extreme weather

00:26:44: events, and of course, renewable energy and decarbonisation is one part of it. But what

00:26:50: I think is so beautiful about what we do, and as you said, if you go to our webpage,

00:26:55: you see this combination of solar panels and green roofing on the same area. And I think

00:27:02: it's just so beautiful and so important that we make this use of the spaces in urban areas,

00:27:09: not only for energy generation or roofing, but also green roofs that provide temperature,

00:27:17: reduction of the urban temperature, heat effect, the water retention and avoiding urban

00:27:24: flooding, and also bringing in biodiversity in the cities. So I really hope and believe

00:27:30: that this is the solution for urban rooftops in the future.

00:27:35: Absolutely. And I think that's very good to mention this here again. And I would also

00:27:41: assume that the way how your system is installed gives also some shadow, which is needed for

00:27:47: those plants to grow. Otherwise, they will be exposed totally to sun. So there's probably

00:27:52: a win-win situation between technology and biobased solutions.

00:27:56: Actually, we see benefits both ways. Actually, the quality of the plants below the panels,

00:28:02: as you say, they are better. They are a bit protected from the sun and it gives less evaporation.

00:28:10: And the plants also, they reduce the temperature, so better operating temperature for the solar

00:28:15: panels and also provide some more extra reflection of the light, which bounces back onto the

00:28:21: panel. So it's a beautiful combination.

00:28:26: That is great. Well, this is a wonderful product, a wonderful company. We wish you a lot of

00:28:30: luck also outside of Norway, obviously, across Europe. And we probably hear a lot from you

00:28:38: in the future. Thank you very much.

00:28:39: Thank you very much for the opportunity, David.

00:28:42: All right. Bye-bye.

00:28:43: Bye.

00:28:51: .