Startup by IIT Grads Helps Indian Homes Run on Zero Electricity, Earns Rs 200 Crore in

Revenues

SolarSquare, founded by IIT Bombay graduates Neeraj Jain and Shreya Mishra, along with Pune
University graduate Nikhil Nahar, is a leading residential solar brand. They have educated
thousands of consumers and standardised installation of solar panels in 16 cities spread
across eight Indian states.

By Rinchen Norbu Wangchuk

In late 2020, entrepreneurs Neeraj Jain and Nikhil Nahar made a decision that would confound
most entrepreneurs. Despite running a Rs 100 crore bootstrapped and profitable startup
centred on setting up solar power installations for large corporations since 2015, they decided
to make, what many felt at the time was, a risky pivot towards the (B2C) residential solar
segment.
To help them make that pivot, Neeraj roped in fellow entrepreneur and IIT-Bombay graduate
Shreya Mishra, who had prior experience of running a consumer business.

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“Neeraj and Nikhil were only 26 and 27 respectively when they founded SolarSquare in 2015. In
the same year, I founded Flyrobe, a fashion rental startup. It was very different from the world of
solar energy. I sold my startup in 2019, and in the following year, my husband Neeraj convinced
me to join SolarSquare. He was an engineer with banking experience but wanted to do
something with deep meaning and purpose. While he had a good grasp of the solar market, he
wanted my expertise in building consumer businesses. That’s how we started experimenting in
the residential solar segment, which is more B2C,” recalls Shreya, co-founder of SolarSquare.

“Neeraj and Nikhil took a very bold call to experiment in the residential solar segment because
they understood the massive business opportunity it offered at a time when no organised
company in the solar energy space saw it. They saw that the residential solar segment looked
like the opportunity of the future. If they were to commit to this, they had to focus all their
energies on it. That was a major inflexion point,” she adds, speaking to The Better India.

As Shreya explains, “For the residential segment, we’ve built a lot of standardisation in solar
installations that has allowed us to scale. Imagine doing tiny solar installations that are
customised to each home! It’s too complex a process for a B2C operation. We standardised
everything and made prefabricated ready-to-install solar kits, which get installed in just six
hours. In other words, we underwent a lot of learning innovation for this segment.”

Barely three and half years later, SolarSquare has emerged as a leading residential solar brand
in India with a consumer base of more than 10,000 individual homeowners and over 100
residential societies. As Shreya claims, “A lot of serendipity led us here. Today, we are
operational in 16 cities spread across eight states. Over two rounds of funding, we have raised
about Rs 130 crore and we’ll be doing close to Rs 200 crore in revenues in this financial year.”

Even though about 20% of SolarSquare’s business still lies in the commercial and industrial
solar segment, they’ve pivoted close to 80% of their business towards the residential segment.
In the process, they have also doubled in size as a business — a significant feat.
“Today, 80% of our business is in the residential segment where we work with individual homes
(2BHK, 3BHK) and residential societies. RWAs buy solar power installations for their common
areas like lifts, water pumps, street lights, etc. Many of the high-rise apartments you see in
Mumbai, Pune, and Bengaluru are SolarSquare customers,” she adds.

The SolarSquare Team

Overcoming doubt

In January 2024, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said that the Union Government had set a target
of installing rooftop solar in one crore households over the next few months. When SolarSquare
decided to pivot to the residential solar segment in late 2020, this major market opportunity
wasn’t apparent.

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“Even families weren’t aware of the benefits of solar. People didn’t know the basics. Many
people confuse rooftop solar installations with water heaters. They didn’t know you could
power your home with solar. There were a lot of myths and misconceptions that needed to be
addressed and awareness levels were very nascent,” explains Shreya.
SolarSquare’s first mandate was to create a brand on the back of “educational marketing and
trust.” To that end, they published videos, content, and blogs, and worked with influencers to
create awareness. They have also published a free homeowner’s guide to going solar.

“Before installing anything, we will help a homeowner understand why solar is good for them
and what kind of solar installation is good for their home. We decided that we would first
educate people before selling them anything. See, there was rampant mis-selling in this
industry. Residential solar is a fragmented and unorganised market involving a lot of local
operators who do this as a side business. People were sold second hand or rejected panels
because they didn’t know how to authenticate warranty or quality of products,” explains
Shreya.

“Also, many were sold solar power installations without after-sales service. If you are buying
solar, buying the right after-sales service is very important because, without it, your investment
goes down the drain. We had to educate people about these things,” adds Shreya.

The next biggest challenge for SolarSquare was convincing potential investors that their
decision to foray into the residential segment made business sense.

“When we went out to raise funds, potential investors thought that residential solar is a small
market. Most of them were more engaged in fintech and e-commerce. They felt that residential
solar was a very brick-and-mortar business where you have to go from one home to another,
educate people, close an order, install panels at their homes, and maintain them for years.
Nobody understood this market and its potential,” says Neeraj.

Speaking to Forbes India in June 2022, Shreya claimed that residential solar was a ‘$50 billion
opportunity’ based on her estimates. It was a very bold claim back then given how international
market research and advisory companies like Custom Market Insights estimated that the entire
Indian solar energy market was worth $38 billion in 2022.

“Looking back, I probably wildly underestimated the market. With one crore homes potentially
going solar in the next three years, this market will probably see $25 billion. In a decade, this
could very well be a $75 billion to $100 billion market,” claims Shreya.

“It’s a unique time in history where you can create a consumer brand in energy. Otherwise,
energy has always been the game of large corporations and Government-owned power plants.
Energy is now personal and private, and we can create a consumer brand around it. Investors
took a lot of time to build their understanding of the possibilities in this market,” she adds.

SolarSquare: Helping homeowners go solar

How to go solar with SolarSquare?

So, how can a homeowner in India install solar power in their homes with SolarSquare? A
journey with them begins with registering an inquiry either on their website or WhatsApp. Once
customers register a query, SolarSquare sets up a ‘free solar consultation’.

“Our solar consultant, a trained expert, will visit your home, survey your roof, understand your
electricity requirements, study your electricity bills, and guide you to the right solar solution for
your home. They will also explain how solar power works, what are the different technology
choices available, etc. We consult the customer with the right solution for their home, answer
all their queries, and only then comes the question of selling anything to them,” claims Neeraj.
 Families are first explained the process, cost and benefits of going solar.

Also, many consumers understand the benefits of going solar. Whatever money they put into
installing solar, they’ll recover their investment in three to five years depending on the electricity
tariff and then enjoy 20 to 22 years of free electricity. However, the initial investment of Rs 2 lakh
to Rs 3 lakh to install a rooftop solar system is often difficult for most middle-class families in
Indian cities.

“During this consultation, we also take the consumer’s PAN card, check his loan EMI eligibility,
and present the EMI schemes we can offer to them. People can go solar on a six-month zero-
cost EMI, 12-month EMI, or 60-month EMI. That makes it an affordable proposition. Also, in
case of 60-month EMI, their initial down payment to us gets covered through the subsidy given
by the Union Government,” claims Shreya.

To power a 2 to 3-BHK home that doesn’t have air conditioners, a consumer will need a 3-kW
to 4-kW solar installation. If such homes have an air conditioner, they may require 5-kW to 6-
kW.

“The most commonly sold residential rooftop solar installation is 3-kW. A solar kit for this
energy requirement is about Rs 2 lakh, of which the Government covers Rs 78,000 as a subsidy
(under the latest ‘PM-Surya Ghar: Muft Bijli Yojana’). The consumer ends up paying only about
Rs 1.2 lakh,” she explains.
“On this 3-kW system, consumers end up saving Rs 3,000 to Rs 3,500 a month in electricity
bills. In a year, this amounts to approximately Rs 36,000 to Rs 40,000 a year in electricity
savings. In about three to four years, you can recover all your initial investment. Following this,
this solar installation can give you free electricity for the next 20 to 25 years,” she adds.

“For the consumer on a five-year EMI, their net investment comes down to zero because their
down payment gets covered by the subsidy given by the Union Government, and monthly EMIs
are covered through monthly electricity savings achieved after going solar. In net terms, the
family doesn’t even have to arrange any substantial sums. We call this the zero investment
scheme of solar, which we educate the consumer about during a consultation,” says Neeraj.

Once the family (consumer) decides to book their services, the startup draws up a detailed
technical design, takes care of all their Government permits, and applies for their subsidy. After
the consumer has approved the final design, they pay an advance which is covered by the
subsidy, and then, the company delivers their ready-to-install solar kit.
“Our ready-to-install kit includes our trademark Wind Pro Mount elevated structures, which are
also known as module-mounted structures. Measuring about six feet tall, these structures are
the backbone of our installations holding up the panels. These structures are very sturdy, come
with a 10-year warranty, zero-rust guarantee, and certification from IIT-Bombay that even during
a cyclone with wind speeds of up to 170 kmph, nothing will happen to the rooftop solar
structure,” she says.

“See, these solar installations are subject to external weather, elevated, and on top of a roof,
and subject to high wind speed pressure. They have to be durable. We install our solar kit in just
six to seven hours. Once installed, the customer requires an inspection from their local power
discom. Once the site is inspected, their final bank details are uploaded on the Government
portal and the subsidy comes into their bank account within just 30 days,” notes Nikhil.

The Union Government recently launched the National Portal for Rooftop Solar on the back of
which all of these Government subsidies and applications are done.

“We take care of all these applications for the consumer. We take care of Government permits,
subsidy applications, EMI applications, inspections, design, procurement, etc. We are a full-
stacked brand that offers end-to-end solutions for the Indian consumer,” says Shreya.

“We offer a five-year comprehensive solar care plan in which we take care of everything from
panel deep cleaning to technical, mechanical, and electrical maintenance. Once installed, it’s
your roof and solar energy but our responsibility. As a policy, we sell a five-year comprehensive
solar care plan so that consumers can enjoy the benefits of zero-electricity bills year after year.
Consumers can renew their after-sale care plan with us after these five years,” notes Neeraj.

“If you look at rooftop solar systems as an investment, you’re seeing 20-25% IRR (internal rate
of return) if it gives you the right performance. Maintenance is important because that’s how
you realise that 20-25% IRR. Every month or three months, a trained SolarSquare technician will
come to your home, do a complete technical check, electrical maintenance, and mechanical
check, and do a deep cleaning of the solar panels to ensure any hard dust or bird droppings are
removed. Following this check, you will see a spike in power production,” claims Shreya.

A residential solar installation set up by SolarSquare

Looking to the future

One of the biggest challenges moving forward for companies like SolarSquare will be managing
solar panels that reach the end of their lives. These discarded panels are often left strewn
around or eventually get mixed up with domestic solid waste and end up in landfills.

According to a report by the International Renewable Energy Agency, “large amounts of annual
(solar panel) waste are anticipated by the early 2030s” and could touch 78 million tonnes by
2050. Shreya, however, believes there are ways to extend the lives of these used panels.
“If you maintain your rooftop solar installation well, it can last up to 30-35 years. So, once a
consumer retires their solar rooftop system, they can donate the panels to non-profits working
for a worthy cause. These panels can run for another 10 years because they’ve been maintained
so well. These solar panels can have a second-hand life too,” she notes.

But she does admit that ventures like SolarSquare will have to devise comprehensive plans to
recycle decommissioned panels. “Since we are only a nine-year-old company, we don’t have
any solar installations that have reached the end of life. The question of disposal and recycling
is important. Thankfully, you already have companies in the US that can recycle 70% of the
components and materials used to make solar panels,” she says.

In India, meanwhile, a team of researchers at the Centre for Sustainable Technologies (CST),
led by Dr Monto Mani and operating out of the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) in Bengaluru, is
exploring whether old discarded solar panels can be upcycled as a building material. With this,
they are looking to extend the panels’ useful life by a few decades.

However, in terms of their future as a business, things look good.

In December 2021, they raised Rs 30 crore in their Seed round. During their Series A round in
October 2022, they raised Rs 100 crore. “Lower Carbon, one of the world’s largest climate tech
funds, is our shareholder. It was their first investment in India. We also have Elevation Capital,
who are investors in Swiggy and Urban Company, and other notable investors on board,” she
says.

Moreover, according to a November 2023 report by the Council on Energy, Environment and
Water (CEEW), more than 25 crore households in India have the potential to deploy 637 GW of
solar energy capacity on rooftops. According to a Times of India report on the same, “Further,
the CEEW report found that deploying just one-third of this total solar technical potential could
support the entire electricity demand of India’s residential sector (~310 TWh).”

For ventures like SolarSquare, the opportunities are massive and the future looks promising.

Sources

Homeowner’s Guide to Buying Rooftop Solar by SolarSquare