By Joe Sebastian And Deepak Sabu (Group 177)
The sun is shining bright showering lots of electricity! If someone says like that most of us will think, is he mad but he but he is right about that, yes I am talking about the solar power. The Australian roof tops have been fitted with solar panels since 1970. The geographical location of the Australian continent is the most sustainable for harnessing solar power, all over the nation it is estimated that more that 300 MW of photovoltaic power is harnessed and it is estimated that it have been contributing 0.1 to 0.2 total percentage of the total produced power. the Australian government have been supporting the use renewable energy for a long time . “Don’t waste your roof top make energy fresh every day” is catch line that most of the people living in Melbourne is familiar with this catch line is used to promote and advertise solar energy in the normal house hold
How much does it cost to harness electricity on your roof?
A solar panel with a 1575w capacity which can generate 6.3 KWh per day would cost you almost $ 8900 reducing the solar credits discount which is about 2418; the overall cost will be $ 6504
How to market the power of sun?
Be customer centric, the primary focus of marketing weather its a ball or solar panel is the customers, if a company begin their marketing strategy by boasting how wonderful is there company then that company is making a very huge mistake. Company which starts with talking to the customers in the beginning have a better success rate it is always about the customers it does not matter how great your company is all it matters to the customers is that what they gain from your product
What will make the customers what your solar panels?
Solar panel on a red roof reflecting the sun and the cloudless blue sky
- Bills, remind the customers about the huge utility bills they have to pay every month and convince them that the solar panels which they can fix will reduce their utility bills and this has a long term effect.
- Remind the customers about the cost of the unstable fuel supplies and the future price hike.
- Show an example , if there is another house in the same neighbourhood which has your product tell that to your new customer it gives a sense of feeling that if a person in their neighbourhood have trusted you then it gives a good feeling on your new customer
- Educate the customers about the negative effect of the conventional fuel, this might not sound as a great sales pitch but yes people are concerned about the global warming! Although the primary aim of most of the customers are attracted towards the financial gains, but there is also a large number of people who wants to do it for the environment.
Make sure to define your product tell your prospect customers about the after sales service that you offer, people will have lots of doubt regarding the after sales services. There will be many usual questions like what will I if there is some trouble with the product. What should i do to maintain the product.
Reference:
Marketing Management Blog 
Solar power is definetly a cheaper source of power. But in reality it’s not very popular. The problems with solar power are that the energy conversion ratio is low, in a gloomy cold day when energy is most needed solar energy contributes very low capacity and the initial cost is far above the means of general public. Those are the main reasons for poor sales on solar panels. So the marketers must introduce novel approaches to handle these barriers. Asking banks to give loans to deserving customers to purchase solar panels is a good way to solve the initial cost barrier. Asking government institutions and private institutions to purchase it because of its benifits to the environment is also a good approach. Because the energy consumptions in night in these institutions are very low they will definetly have a huge saving on their budget
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How to market the power of sun?
Personally I think that this initially entails the knowledge that has gone into the process of recognising that there is a way of capturing the energy and turning it into electricity.
Following that, one would look at how many other companies are doing the same thing, how many are sharing the pie.
Then looking at how many people make up the pie.
Based on that, how is the company actually improving the life of the user, that grey zone is there between costs and profit.
These are just a few thoughts, yet not limited to the complete make up.
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Thanks for your post on the uptake and marketing of solar energy options.
I am the proud owner of a stand alone solar system that actually cost about 12.5% of my totall build cost (lucky I am married to a builder!), so I am very aware of the cost ( although my costs were more to do with batteries than panels).
I can’t help but think that the prohibitive up front cost is the real barrier to higher rates of adoption than the guaranteed rates of return. I don’t have monthly or quarterly power bills to deal with ( yay!) but I did have to find more than $25k up front ( and this figure is way below industry average as I skipped the middle man and sourced the elements myself). Very expensive business is solar.
The technical aspect of this product also makes it almost impenetrable for someone of a non- electrical engineering background, so there must be a lot of expertise buried in retail costs. I deal with voluntary programs at work and we find that the largest barriers to adoption of new technologies or sustainable practices tend to be time, money or knowledge. Without government subsidies, I believe the second and third points remain critical to the pricing of solar technology.
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The concept of solar energy and solar panels is a positive one, although the upfront cost associated with installing a system to power the whole house is definitely prohibitive. As a customer evaluating the value proposition of installing solar panel, it’s difficult to justify, based on the payback period to recover the initial outlay and the probability that you may not remain at the same location to realise this. Other drawbacks include inefficiencies in energy capture, the need for battery banks and pollution from the photovoltaic panels to name a few. On the positive side is the lack of emission, noise and the elimination of a carbon footprint.
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Thanks for your post.
The solar energy is sustainable and renewable. we will never run out of it. Using the solar power can help to slow or stop global warming. The solar panel systems that create electricity without producing global warming pollution. It is better than traditional energy. In additional, using the solar power can save some money. For example, in the past people using the electric water heater, they need pay a lot of electricity. If they change to use solar water heater, they can saving a lot of money. The solar power is instead to electric power.
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Thee need of the hour!
The importance of renewable forms of energy is growing drastically due to continuous exploitation of nature. Now, the world is looking forward to create a harmonious way of using the resources. The powerful economies in the world with growing population and rate of advancement creates use of solar energy. Like Australia, many other countries should come up with marketing the same idea in collaboration with the government. The campaign in Australia is very strong and creating awareness in minds of the consumer. The communication is very positive and also comparing the prices gives an extra edge for its choice among the customers.
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I do noticed many solar panel suppliers using how much you can save on your electricity bill to gain attraction from customers. However, the installation cost is considered to be quite expensive, not every family is able to afford it. I recalled my memory from a tv show that talked about solar panel scandal. A few families talked about their unpleasant experience of dealing with solar panel sellers, some paid large amount of deposit but nothing was installed; some had solar panel installed but easily get fault. The standard and quality varies across the industry. Therefore, I did a quick search on the internet, found out Choice has done a survey before. Its survey found out what are the major issues after solar panel has been installed. Which supplier is the best or worst. As a consumer, I would like to know more about the reliability of these suppliers, but we are lacking this kind of information from the advertisement. If the suppliers can provide more customers review/feedback in their marketing campaign, it would be more attractive to me.
https://www.choice.com.au/home-improvement/energy-saving/solar/articles/solar-power-survey-results
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The solar energy is an excellent option nowadays. We can save 30% in electricity bills and at the same time we’re contributing to protect the environment, thus the benefits exceed the initial installation costs, which has been reduced in the last 18 months by around 80%.
Australia is one of the developed countries with the highest electricity costs; thus considering the idea of installing solar panels is an excellent option. In less developed countries (like South Americans), this system is still unreachable for a regular individual. If so, this might cause a conflict of interest between the government and the electricity companies as they will lose part of the market as some customers might decide to go with private solar panel companies.
Unfortunately, the solar panels are not available for apartment units. However the electricity companies are offering bundles that include green components. This means that you’re supporting the production of green energy as wind and solar.
Reference:
https://au.pfinance.yahoo.com/compare/energy/article/-/14608888/how-much-do-you-save-with-solar-panels/
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group 56
the abundabce of a free energy source such as the sun, and the efficiency and cost effectiveness of solar panels should make solar power a rational choice that does not need marketing. However it has required subsidies and marketing to become successful. This shows no matter how good a product is , it still requires a marketing program.
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Solar Panels in the present world are gaining more popular. They are many companies that supply these panels for newly constructing house so that it will be a easy task for them to fix it.
Solar panels have more advantages. Electricity can be saved and every individual can generate little amount of electricity that will be useful to them. It is a one time investment and has more profit for people.
Capturing the natural resource and converting into energy for the use in different ways is a wonderful idea .
It has a great future and now a days people are inventing car planes that can run through the solar energy.
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There is great potential for solar power in Australia, harnessing the sun as a source of power not only reduces utility cost but also provides a greener and more sustainable source. However, solar panels are still expensive even with increasingly affordable options and rebates by the government, this could be a factor that why solar power/panels are still not very desirable. Next, solar panels are still in the development start and yet to realize its potential, from what I know it is only offered to landed households and not multistory building. Consumers are also not educated on the product and are still looking at the short term cost as at least $6000 is required to get it installed could pay at least 2-3 years of utility bills.
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Nice selection of topic, i would like to add some more points to this blog that could have given more information about the solar panels and its marketing strategies.
Commit your advertising to educating the customer about the cost savings inherent in solar. If you know when your local utility sends out bills to customers, you may wish to target those days with geo targeted web-based advertising, or local TV, newspaper, and radio commercials.
Talk to your customers about the long term costs of unstable fuel supplies. Coal, oil, natural gas, and other fossil fuels come with a diminishing supply and an increasing demand–an economic double whammy resulting in unending price hikes.
Tap into the power of community. If you’re on site to do solar in a neighborhood, go talk to the neighbors. Leave flyers. Ask your customer to refer you to their neighbors. Put up signs that say you were there, and that this person trusted you to put solar on their roof. Leave no stone unturned in local marketing.
Fill your quiver with all the right arrows. If you don’t know your customer’s primary interest in solar, ask. If you’re still not sure, or if they’re not giving you a full answer, be prepared to lead with the financial savings, but to pull out the environmental and social benefits at a moment’s prompting.
it could have been more interesting if you would have added some videos to it.
countries like India can have a very good market for the same as there are more consumers and less number of power generated by the government so there is load shedding in the various rural part of the country. where there is great demand for this kind of products.
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Four million Australians have installed solar panels in their homes so far. This has been a great success, and the fact that Australians are early adopters has helped. The issue is that amongst these solar citizens there have been main failures mainly due to the installation of poor material. This has contributed to negative publicity spread by word-of-mouth on the usage of solar panels.
The market is nevertheless growing since 2014 as there is since then a more sophisticated financing system than interest-free plans. Installing solar panels represents at least a 20-25K upfront investment so it seems like providing adequate finance was a missing piece that needed to be in place to ensure market penetration for this type of product.
Source:
http://www.businessspectator.com.au/article/2014/12/19/solar-energy/australian-solar-market-review-2014
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I think solar energy is regenerative resource.In 2015, the United States, Japan and other major markets, and other emerging markets rise leads, the solar energy demand continues to grow.According to place EnergyTrend TrendForce’s green to the latest report shows that in the first half of the world’s top five solar market ranked in order for China, Japan, the United States, Britain and Germany, high-profile Indian market this year, though a catch-up, but because of a late start at present still did not enter the top five.Installed in the second half of the forecast for the British and German would be flat, in between the two countries, the United States will enter the installation height, so the overall demand is still strong.
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A good blog – well done guys!
The thing about the solar industry is that it is not a means to an end – by that I mean that the selling of products to enable the generation of electricity for personal consumption is not the end of the industry – and you indirectly allude to this when you mention the inefficiency of the conversion.
Many of the white goods manufacturers and, indeed, computer manufacturers are now beginning to create products that run on DC current – which is the output of a solar array. Since our homes, as many would know, are powered by AC current, for solar generated DC current to power our homes it must be converted to AC current – a simple process but it sucks further efficiency out of the a system that is already quite inefficient. The silly thing is that most electrical appliances that have circuit boards (ie microwaves, computers, fridges – and even some that don’t – lighting – need to convert AC back to DC.
So, why-not by-pass this conversion and create products that run directly on DC power. That is what is in the pipeline – DC fridges, DC computer power sources (rather than the ‘wart” we are all accustomed to carrying with us) and more installation of DC lighting is taking one of the inefficiencies out of the system.
Here are some examples: http://www.geinnovations.net/solarrefrigerator.html
I love solar power – it is limitless, clean, and, once the initial installation is taken into account, free. As there are few moving parts, it is also quite reliable. The only thing missing are the products that tap directly into its production.
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Solar power is a great source of power however it has a strong reliance on sunshine. It probably going to work perfect in Queensland / SA, than NSW and VIC.
In addition, the battery storage technical is currently still quite immature so if the household didn’t use the electricity then it will go to the grid, or if none of the household are consuming nearby then the electricity generation may be wasted.
furthermore, electricity price for solar customer is relatively higher than normal customer, mainly because electricity retailer are forced to provide rebate to solar generation (minimum 6c per kwh in VIC e.g.). Hence it is important to evaluate the consumption usage of each hosuehold before making the purchase decision.
(http://www.agl.com.au/residential/energy-plans/electricity-and-gas-plans/price-and-contract-information)
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the blog nicely described about solar panel and its scope of development. as we all know that it is a cheapest and easy way to create our own power resource.Solar panels also require little maintenance. After installation and optimization they are very reliable due to the fact that they actively create electricity in just a few millimeters and do not require any type of mechanical parts that can fail. Solar panels are also a silent producer of energy, a necessity if dealing with picky neighbors.Even todays most efficient solar cells only convert just over 20% of the suns rays to electricity. With increased advances in solar cell technology this number is likely to increase. Besides their low conversion efficiency, solar panels can be a substantial initial investment. However, the cost of solar panels incurred is only the initial cost, after buying and installation they create free energy for use.
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Good topic chosen as we are the one who are responsible for investing in the coming generation’s future.Solar energy is an efficient source of energy as far as Australia is concerned. Also over one million of the homes have already installed these systems in their respective homes. It is just a matter of if not when renewable sources of energy such as this will overtake the conventional sources of energy. But the best time to invest in this area is now because nobody know for how long the rebates and incentives provided by government are going to last as they have already started reducing the incentives which one gets in household solar PV systems.According to a study in Melbourne only you can get $17,580 savings with 3KW solar system over 25 years of time. For your further you can check out the link below, it will tell you about the different reasons to why now is the best time to invest in solar systems as your source of energy for the house.
http://www.energymatters.com.au/solar-power/reasons-solar-power/#rec-value
Thank You
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