Soly raises €30 million for intelligent control of solar panels, home batteries and charging stations

By Team IO

Solar energy company Soly has raised €30 million in growth capital, the company reports in a (Dutch) press release. The investment will enable Soly to expand into other countries. The company recently launched the Soly Brain®, an intelligent control system for solar panels, home batteries and charging stations. It allows end users to generate extra income by making smart use of renewable energy sources. For example, the system ensures that solar panels are switched off when the cost of electricity is negative.

“Soly’s mission is to make solar energy available to everyone. With this investment, we can help even more people and businesses, in even more new countries, to switch to sustainable and affordable energy,” said Patrick van der Meulen, co-founder and CEO of Soly.

Energy company of the future

With this investment, Soly is working towards becoming the energy company of the future. Milan van der Meulen, co-founder, explains: “The energy transition has long ceased to be about generating energy alone. In the coming phase, forecasting and driving sustainable energy is crucial. In 2023, we therefore launched our energy control system: the Soly Brain®. Based on our dynamic energy contract, it intelligently controls solar panels, home batteries and charging stations, among others, to create an additional revenue model for the end user. Eventually, we will bundle all our users into a Virtual Power Plant to actively balance the energy grid and offer new services. This year, we will already start realising the first energy networks in the Netherlands and Germany.”

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Challenging market

The transition from fossil energy to decentralised and renewable energy is characterised by exponential growth but also by erratic market conditions. Driven by extremely high energy prices, the European solar market grew by 40 per cent in 2022, while in the latter part of 2023, market demand fell sharply. Partly due to rapid international expansion, new products and its proprietary software platform, Soly tripled its turnover in 2023 compared to 2022. Soly now operates in the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, the UK and South Africa, selling and renting solar energy systems, batteries and charging stations.