How to start the production of solar collectors from scratch

Work of machinery, equipment; Production and production of solar panels is one of the most developing types of business. Solar batteries are specialized devices whose operating principle is based on processing solar energy. The use of this technology has found implementation on a production scale and in home improvement. They are used for:

1. Heating the house.
2. Works of ventilation units.
3. Water heating, etc.

Today, the purchase and installation of solar panels is very popular in the private sector (country houses, dachas, cottages, etc.). This allows you to save a considerable amount on utility bills.

Relevance and market analysis

Due to low competition in the modern solar cell market, there are ample opportunities for production. Thanks to this, such a business idea has excellent prospects for making a permanent profit. Solar batteries are an inexhaustible source of energy that can be easily used in everyday life and in production.

The operating principle of such batteries is based on converting solar energy (free) into electric current (paid). This is how savings happen.

The energy stored in batteries can be used to directly power appliances and equipment, and can also be stored for use during rolling blackouts or as needed.

The advantage of such installations is that they can operate all year round and consist mainly of:

• pump;
• timer;
• distribution capacity.

Equipment

To assemble one collector you will need:

So, the cost of one solar battery will average 31 thousand rubles. Set markups for the finished product along with installation that are convenient for you and affordable for your clients. Costs for materials each month depend on the number of orders, but at the same time can be reduced due to bulk purchases.

Work on a prepayment basis to eliminate the cost of purchasing materials.

Room

For the production and assembly of panels, you will need a separate room, preferably a small workshop or garage, depending on the planned volumes. On average, to start, you will need a space with a total area of ​​at least 300 sq.m.

For the initial development of a business, it is better to rent a building and equip it in accordance with the norms and rules of production. The following must be provided on site:

• water supply;
• heating;
• ventilation;
• disinfecting elements;
• three-phase electricity line.

To ensure high-precision production, it is always necessary to maintain cleanliness in the workshop area.

Market research and advertising

Competition in the market

Before starting a business, be sure to research the competition. Despite the fact that such batteries are new for Russia, factories for their production have already been opened. They are located in Moscow, Krasnodar, Bryansk and Zelenograd.

Informing the population is a very important stage in the formation of a business. Most of the population of our country simply does not know about these technologies and the benefits of their use.

Order advertising leaflets, hire sales managers. Provide the necessary information to potential clients, expand their knowledge in this area, and point out the advantages of installing a solar panel. It’s better to entrust this work to marketers.

Equipment and consumables

After renting the premises, you need to take care of purchasing materials, raw materials, equipment and tools. Two types of silicon are used as the main raw material:

1. Polycrystalline.
2. Monocrystalline.

But the outer plates made of this material will be very fragile, so the design provides special protection. In terms of cost, such batteries will be much cheaper. Amorphous silicon or CdTe, GaAs can also be used.

The base matters not only in price; the ability of the panels to:

• tightness;
• resistance to mechanical damage;
• ability to bend.

To produce one battery with an area of ​​2 sq.m. you need to prepare in advance:

1. Selected base of 2 sq.m.
2. Aluminum frame.
3. current converter.
4. Insulated wire.

The tools you will need to prepare are a standard set:

• saws;
• levels;
• meters;
• jigsaw;
• electric drill;
• fastening material.

In addition, you will need more specialized equipment, which will require some investment:

1. Laser cutter.
2. Laminator.
3. Plate cleaning machine.
4. High voltage testing machines.

All work must be carried out on a high-precision, level table, which is called an inspection table.

Solar energy is used for free:

— space heating;

— heating water;

— ventilation units;

— lighting systems.

An illustrative example : in 1 hour of absorption of sunlight, a collector (2 sq. m. in size) will heat 2,000 liters of water to 70 ° C or heat a room with an area of ​​1,200 sq. m. m. This is enough for a private house.

Designed to produce energy year-round, batteries consist of a pump, a timer, and a distribution tank.

Production technology

Production technology is a labor-intensive and multi-level process. Making one panel takes at least 6 hours. To prepare one element you need:

1. Wash and clean the pre-prepared silicon.
2. Form the initial structure of the plate surface.
3. Etch the surface of the plate.
4. Apply phosphorus and burn the element.
5. Carry out the procedure of insulating the panel and using a special machine to remove all excess layers and degrease.
6. Apply an anti-reflective layer to the prepared surface.
7. After complete drying, apply a metal coating.
8. Dry the resulting structure and remove the contacts to the battery.
9. Test the finished element.

Features of the sphere

Working in the solar panel production industry is attractive to budding businessmen not only because of low competition. It also has other positive features:

• the possibility of opening with a relatively small investment;
• simplicity and accessibility of solar collector manufacturing technology;
• development opportunities (including through constant improvement of technologies in the field of solar energy);
• a large number of potential consumers of the service.

Of course, there will be some difficulties that cannot be avoided. For example, not many Russians know about all the benefits and useful properties of solar panels. Therefore, they will have to tell them about the benefits they receive on their own or by involving experienced marketers.

Staff

For high-quality production, solar panels must be produced in accordance with all norms and standards by qualified specialists. In addition to ordinary workers, you should definitely invite a certified employee with experience in such production to produce batteries.

It is better to invite foreign colleagues and learn from their experience.

So, the minimum required to hire:

• physics engineer;
• electromechanics;
• installer (2 people);
• driver (for product sales);
• sales manager

The business plan will definitely need to include employee wages, taxes and government duties. It is necessary to take care of vehicles for prompt delivery and installation of solar panels.

Selecting a room

A serious company must have its own premises. Rent 15-20 square meters for an office in a business center or residential building in a business district. Choose based on your budget: perhaps at the beginning of your journey you will work without an office.

We will consider the most profitable option - assembling the collectors yourself. You can do this in your garage or rent a storage space.

The garage is an excellent option for assembling solar collectors; it is cheap and convenient. 70-80 square meters are required for assembly, storage of parts and finished products.

Advertising and sales

Before establishing a business of this kind, it is necessary to calculate and analyze the competition in this particular region. Despite the relative newness of the products, there are already a number of private large companies and small industries.

High-quality and widespread advertising plays an important role in the successful conduct of business. It is a key point in the formation of the consumer market and the sales niche for manufactured elements.

Competent marketing will allow you not only to advertise your newly opened company, but also to inform the population about the benefits of using and installing solar panels. After all, many today are simply not aware of the advantages and economic profitability of such a new product.

Advertising should be as extensive as possible:

1. Leaflets at public transport stops.
2. Advertisements in newspapers and magazines.
3. Statements on radio and television.

It is important to develop your website, fill it with quality content, create groups on social networks, introduce topics on popular forums, etc.

All this together will make it possible to convey important information to the consumer and expand his knowledge about solar batteries and their advantages. You can do advertising yourself or hire professional marketers, based on the initial amount for the project.

Permits and documents

Business registration

To avoid difficulties with the law and in working with different customers, register yourself with the tax office as an individual entrepreneur. For small enterprises, a simplified taxation system is available at a rate of 6 or 12 percent.

OKVED code 27.20.3 - Production of solar panels for ground-based energy supply and their components. The activity does not require licensing.

List of documents for registration of LLC

• Application form P11001 - 1 copy
• Decision of the sole founder or minutes of the general meeting of founders - 1 copy
• Receipt for payment of state duty - 1 copy
• LLC Charter - 2 copies
• Documents confirming the presence of a legal address - 1 copy

Payback period

The costs will begin to pay off after 1-1.5 years, when production has already been fully established and the company has gained popularity. Consider the fact that the idea of ​​​​manufacturing solar panels for our country is quite new, so you cannot save on advertising. Otherwise, the business may become unprofitable.

In the domestic market, in comparison with foreign analogues, this area is still poorly developed, which means there is an opportunity to become a leading efficient company in the production of solar batteries. A competent calculation and a pre-drawn plan will allow you to effectively distribute investments and make a profit as quickly as possible.

How it works?

Foreign countries have been successfully using the business idea of ​​solar collectors for a long time.

This energy is used as an environmentally friendly and safe fuel. The batteries can be mounted on any building, and after their expiration date they can be easily replaced with new ones. Collectors are installed in special blocks, and the blocks are installed in systems according to customer dimensions.

The principle of operation of a battery is to convert sunlight into electric current. The resulting energy is used either to directly supply electricity to electrical appliances, or is simply stored in batteries for use when needed.

Spain, Türkiye and the Mediterranean countries use this electricity generation system the most. Russia is just beginning to use solar energy and does not yet have political support. Although any solar roof or other surface can generate electricity, and therefore profit.

Business payback

In order to open a business producing solar panels using the assembly method from ready-made parts, you will need no more than 300,000 rubles. But a complete enterprise that produces all the components independently will cost no less than 5 million rubles. Attracting investors to such a project will also not be easy - due to the novelty of the activity, rarely anyone will agree to invest a lot of money in this business.

But as soon as stable sales of finished products are established, the investment will quickly pay off - after all, the price of solar panels on the modern market is 10,000 rubles per square meter. Their cost is half that amount, which is an excellent indicator of the profitability of the enterprise. If we add here the income that will be received from installing our products to customers, which will amount to about 40,000 rubles for each order, then rapid promotion of the product on the market is ensured.

Of course, at the first stage of business, consumer demand for domestic products will be cautiously low, but soon, as the products perform well, it will begin to grow rapidly. To do this, you will need to use advertising opportunities, the costs of which will also pay off very quickly - interested customers will be found quite quickly.

Manufacturing of solar collectors

The production of solar collectors does not involve the use of any complex technologies, and it is quite possible to carry it out on your own. Setting up a workplace for production will also not be difficult - you only need a table with a large surface, a drill, a router and a knife. The room in which production is carried out must be well lit and equipped with 220 Volt electricity. Based on these simple parameters, it is quite possible to equip a workshop in a private house (and adapt the garage as a warehouse for storing materials), and thus save on rent.

So, what materials are needed to make solar collectors?

— Cellular propylene (or polypropylene) – the base of the solar system is made from it. Polypropylene perceives sunlight well and is able to quickly heat up under its influence;

— Polycarbonate – used for the protective layer of the panel;

- Aluminum - used to make the frame that secures the structure;

— A special coloring composition, thanks to which solar energy is converted into heat.

There is another option for solar systems – silicon solar panels. They will need silicon slabs for the base, phosphorus, a metal layer, insulating materials and material for the reflective layer.

The duration of the production cycle of one collector will be from four to six hours. Depending on the dimensions of the system your customer has ordered, the manufactured manifolds are later assembled into blocks.

Before you take on a specific order, you need to first design the heating system. To do this, data is needed on the area and structure of the building, how many people live (are) in the house and what is the volume of water consumption, on the geographical location of the building and on the desired “outlet” water temperature.

As for the installation of a solar heating system and energy supply, the details here depend on what type of solar system you are installing - summer or winter (year-round). Summer types of solar collectors work on the principle of air circulation, and for year-round solar systems, additional equipment is required - a pump, a collection tank and a timer (and in such cases, not water is usually used as “charging”, but a non-freezing liquid - antifreeze).

Install a solar collector on the roof of the house (if it is needed to heat and power the building), on the roof of the greenhouse or next to the pool or outdoor shower (if the system is purchased to heat water).

Equipment for the production of

An entrepreneur can begin purchasing equipment only after becoming familiar with the technological features of the production being set up. In order to supply high-quality products to the Russian market, the entire technological process needs to be automated. In addition, this will reduce the cost of products compared to assembling them from purchased ready-made elements.

Of course, you can try to do something manually at home; for example, using technical tool kits for an experienced craftsman. But for real production you will definitely need the following types of equipment:

• laser cutter;
• laminating device;
• machine for framing products with aluminum frames;
• devices for grinding plate surfaces;
• automatic high voltage devices for quality control of product collectors.

It is not easy to buy equipment for the production of solar panels in Russia, since our factories have not yet established the production of this high-tech machine equipment. For business, you will have to buy a machine for solar panels made in China or Europe. The price of equipment in the form of individual machines and production lines very much depends on their configuration and power consumption. If you buy a line with low productivity, you will have to pay about 5 million rubles for it. But a fully equipped plant will cost much more – up to 10 million rubles.

It would not be amiss to create a fleet of enterprise vehicles, because it is very profitable to offer your customers not only ready-made equipment, but also its delivery to the specified address. Many clients will agree to enter into contracts for the supply of Russian-made solar panels only on the condition that the company’s employees will participate in installing the equipment and setting up its operation on site. And if you hire transport for all these purposes, it will be much more expensive than acquiring your own. In addition, these additional services and quality assurance can quickly persuade our people to buy Russian-made solar panels. Still, trust in our domestic manufacturer has been greatly undermined recently.

Description of a business idea for the production of solar panels

Solar energy is especially popular in the Mediterranean countries - Greece, Italy, Spain and Turkey. However, this segment of alternative energy is well developed in other European countries, as well as in the USA.

Why is the popularity of alternative energy production growing:

1. Cheapness. It is more profitable to produce electricity from solar panels – both on an industrial scale and for self-sufficiency.
2. Availability. To obtain energy from solar panels, you do not need to purchase additional raw materials - for example, coal.
3. Autonomy. There is no dependence on prices for electricity, raw materials and the political situation in the world.
4. Environmental friendliness. Such energy does not harm nature, which is why it is so popular in industrialized countries.

In this regard, the demand for solar panels is growing, especially in Russia, where this market segment is just developing. For example, while solar panels have been popular in Europe and the USA since the early 2000s, they are just beginning to penetrate into Russia.

The production and installation of solar panels is a promising business for development in Russia.

The purpose of this business plan is to explore this niche and help the entrepreneur open his own business selling solar panels.

The following business development options are possible:

• organize the production, sale and installation of batteries;
• find suppliers, organize the sale and installation of equipment.

Tools and materials for work

One of the advantages is a minimal set of tools for work. You will need the following equipment:

• 2 drills (25 thousand rubles).
• 2 screwdrivers (10 thousand rubles).
• Hand tools, 2 sets (20 thousand rubles).

Most of the work is carried out at the customer’s premises, where the batteries must be transported. It’s best if you have a personal car like a GAZelle, but you can get by with a station wagon. If you don’t have a car, you’ll have to spend money on purchasing one. We will not include costs, since we own the car.

Thus, the investment in the tool will be 55 thousand rubles.

Where to start production and installation of solar panels

In order to establish the process of producing solar panels, it is necessary to organize cooperation with engineers versed in physics and electromechanics.

This will allow you to accurately select the type of raw materials that will be used in production and determine the amount of investment capital required for such a startup.

Typically, solar cells are made from monocrystalline silicon. The cost of this material is relatively low.

However, silicon wafers are fragile, as a result of which they will require additional protection from external influences.

To produce solar collectors, a businessman will also need to purchase cellular polypropylene and polycarbonate, aluminum frames, electric current converters, and insulated wires.

Financial calculations

Investments in the project

Start-up investments include:

• rental of premises – 30 thousand rubles;
• purchase of equipment – ​​700 thousand rubles;
• purchase of materials – 650 thousand rubles;
• buying a car – 300 thousand rubles;
• arrangement of the workshop - 150 thousand rubles;
• advertising campaign – 250 thousand rubles.

Operating expenses and depreciation

Monthly expenses to maintain a business include:

• rent – ​​30 thousand rubles;
• utilities – 45 thousand rubles;
• purchase of materials – 650 thousand rubles;
• employee salaries – 320 thousand rubles;
• advertising – 150 thousand rubles;
• taxes.

Revenues and profit generation

The company produces batteries of different capacities and for different purposes - for home and industrial use.

The average bill is 100 thousand rubles. Product margin is 30%.

It is expected that on average 20 solar panels will be sold monthly. Thus, at the initial stage, the enterprise will earn 2 million rubles per month.

Business expenses and taxes are deducted from this amount. Net monthly profit – 500 thousand rubles.

Project payback period

Provided that 20 batteries of average cost are sold monthly, the business will pay for itself in six months. In this case, it is necessary to take into account the seasonality factor - in winter, the demand for such products decreases.

The production and sale of solar panels is a promising and low-competitive business. However, it has certain risks. In order to calculate all possible organizational risks, study in detail the niche and the possibility of its development in individual market segments, it is recommended to order a business plan from professionals.