Sena Development upbeat over new rooftop solar partnership

The goal is to supply 5 megawatts of solar-power systems to home-owners over the next 12 months, and to capture a 10-per-cent share of a Bt65-billion market within 10 years.

Despite a slow start in the nationwide development of rooftop solar-power systems in the Thai market, Kessara Tanyalakpark, executive director of the listed residential developer, said Sena’s experience and expertise in property business and the strengths of its partners could help kick-start the sector in the Kingdom, which offered a huge and promising opportunity.

The company aims to tap both new and old homes at its own housing estates, as well as at those of other developers, she said.

"We view rooftop solar power as a core business for Sena in the future. There are 30,000 new homes developed every year. And the numbers have been like this for 20-30 years. This means the overall market is quite large," she said.

Sopon Asawanuchit, managing partner at Confidante Capital, a private-equity firm focusing on the solar business, said First Solar – which has a US$5-billion (Bt168.5 billion) market capitalisation – had agreed to work exclusively with Sena at least for the first year.

The partnership will help Sena to offer rooftop solar modules at competitive prices, expected to be about Bt650,000 for a 10-kilowatt module, compared with Bt820,000 for the same-power module being offered at HomePro by other brands at present, he said.

Confidante Capital will contribute to provide a financing option for home-owners to lease the solar modules and receive a fixed return over a long period, he added. Kessara said Sena targeted a 10-per-cent share of the rooftop-solar market, for which the government’s target is to promote a total of 1,000MW of installations over the next 10 years.

Based on a selling price of Bt65 per watt, the 100MW target would mean a Bt6.5-billion revenue stream for the next 10 years.

The executive said Sena had recently also announced a joint investment with B Grimm in a solar-farm business, but rooftop solar systems should be an even more promising business.

"Solar farms may be rather a thing of the past, because they require a lot of land. Everywhere in the world, rooftops will be the future, since we already have the roofs," she said.

Most outfits trying to cater to the rooftop-solar business are approaching the market more like a business-to-business seller, but Sena will capitalise on its deep understanding of home-owners, including offering them after-sales service and a one-stop financing package, she said.

The developer has already begun installing rooftop solar panels in some of its housing projects and it expects to generate extra revenue from the sale of 750 kilowatts of electricity in the current quarter.

During the initial stage of its venture into rooftop solar, Sena expects to generate an additional profit of Bt6 million a year, which it sees as a good start for a diversified source of income as it builds a strong revenue base for the future, Kessara said.