Pictured: Amber and Simon Smith, SA Energy
Demand for renewable energy at houses has seen a start-up relocate from the spare bedroom at home to a thriving business centre near Portsmouth.
SA Energy – named after the first-name initials of husband-and-wife founders Simon and Amber Smith – moved into one of 20 light engineering workshops at Fareham Innovation Centre, which overlooks Solent Airport.
The firm, which began trading just weeks before first pandemic lockdown in March 2020, has a burgeoning order book as energy costs spiral to record levels due to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, along with wider public acceptance of renewable energy as “mainstream”.
SA Energy, which designs, installs and maintains solar panels, heat pumps and battery storage systems from products bought in from manufacturers and suppliers, was bursting at the seams at the Smiths’ family house near Portsmouth.
Simon, one of two directors, said: “We started up in January 2020 and then, within weeks, the pandemic came.
“The lockdown ground us to a halt for an initial three weeks, during which time I did quotes and chatted with people over the phone – we won their business and we have been busy ever since.
“We were classed as construction, so we were allowed to work on sites during lockdowns. We had limited access to sites and just cracked on.
“That spare bedroom at home quickly ran out of space and the garden shed wasn’t big enough for all the electronics testing, products and IT.
“We read about Fareham Innovation Centre and luckily got the only light engineering workshop available at the time.
“There is clearly demand for these kinds of facilities – many start-ups need dedicated workspace where the innovation, tinkering, elbow grease, assembly and testing can be done in a supportive community of like-minded entrepreneurs.”
To date, SA Energy has carried out 150 customised domestic installations.
Simon, who was a sub-contracted renewables installer before branching out on his own, added: “Renewable energy for people’s homes is now mainstream due to a maturing market.
“Public acceptance has thankfully increased, especially as installation costs have come down over years and despite subsidies being phased out.
“You will now see neighbours happily sharing how their renewable energy sources have reduced their electric bills in the current climate and the future date when their investment will have paid for itself.
“With the average annual dual-fuel bill forecast to reach £4,328 from next April, having been at £1,137 back in 2019, you can see why many householders are switching to renewables.”
On the back of commercial demand, the firm has just appointed a second director, Braden Read, who was previously a sub-contractor and now manages site-side.
Via brokers, SA Energy is also seeing demand from landlords and operators of commercial buildings such as offices, warehouses and factories.
An electronics engineer by background, Simon, who first started out in business at the age of 19 repairing telephone handsets, said: “If you own the building, solar panels make sense – and it isn’t even worth doing the maths.
“If you have the capital to crack on, just get on with it, for two compelling reasons.
“First, your energy costs are going through roof – using electric you have generated yourself will always be cheaper than electric you buy in.
“Secondly, it is also super tax deductible, effectively meaning a 19% discount on installation.
“There’s also this to factor in. If your tenant benefits from cheaper renewable electricity, they are more likely to stay with you because you’re making occupancy costs a little easier for them. It’s another income stream.”
SA Energy currently has three staff – Simon, Braden and Amber, who is office administrator.
Stephen Brownlie, Fareham Innovation Centre’s Centre Director, said: “SA Energy is another notable example of a tech start-up which began life in the spare bedroom – we have quite a few businesses here that rapidly outgrew residential addresses.
“There is clearly a huge market for domestic renewables. For instance, government figures show that there are nearly 1 million homes in the UK with solar panel installations, out of 28 million or so homes.
“Given the growing consumer appetite for renewable energy, SA Energy is on course to benefit from the generational shift away from fossil fuels as the UK heads to net zero by 2050.
“We are proud to play a small part in that, with solar panels here on the roof of Fareham Innovation Centre helping to generate clean electricity on site.”
