Case Studies
Issue No. 6 - July/September 2002
Solaris Technology
Patient as the Sun
Like its products, Solaris Technology Pty Ltd is a quiet (and patient) achiever.
This small firm specialises in the design, manufacture and installation of renewable energy (solar and wind) power systems for industrial, commercial, domestic and agricultural applications. Wherever the power grid doesn’t go—remote homes and other facilities of all kinds—the electricity needed for lighting, pumping, corrosion protection, communications, monitoring and telemetry very often comes from a Solaris system.
In its brief life since foundation in September 1995, the company has won contracts—often repeat or volume business—from customers ranging from universities and high schools through municipalities and government departments to large corporates such as Western Mining Co (Olympic Dam diesel hybrid system) and Santos. Currently Solaris is turning over about $2 million per year.
Managing director, Sandy Pulsford, has been designing and supplying solar power systems in SA since 1980. He is accredited for stand-alone power systems and boasts the new solar-diesel hybrid accreditation which very few installers have.
This is a handy advantage, but the solar power industry as a whole got a greater fillip when the Howard Government introduced a rebate in January 2000. Solaris’ business “doubled overnight” when doing the right thing for the environment became somewhat less costly. After that 140% surge, growth has been steady rather than spectacular.
Sandy is careful to acknowledge that renewable energy isn’t cheap— it cannot be, as long as it is politically expedient to keep the cost of fossil fuels down. The advent of contestable electricity last year brought many enquiries, but few converted. Embattled corporates are looking hard at power conservation options before laying out substantial money on solar equipment that will accumulate savings only slowly.
“The people who come to us believing this may be a quick ...
