Renewable energy: ‘You have to do it, no matter what’

VerusSol’s Joost Leendertse tells Paul Strohm that many companies’ approach to renewables is wrong.

The post-covid inflationary bulge, combined with the electricity price surge that followed the invasion of Ukraine, has given a greater sense of urgency to achieving a degree of energy self-sufficiency, nationally and individually.

The pursuit of environmental sustainability has, for some time now, been on the corporate ‘to-do’ list for many enterprises as they seek to satisfy their ESG objectives and reorientate for net-zero carbon. But there is nothing like cash-flow pain for concentrating corporate minds.

But responding to financial pressure alone is the wrong approach, according to VerusSol chief executive Joost Leendertse. Netherlands-based VerusSol was founded to help companies exploit the potential of solar power.

Leendertse says that, at present, not everybody is thinking “in the right box”. “Every day, I have to tell people to think differently,” he says. “They still think in terms of return on investments, how much money [photovoltaic panels] get in and how soon they get their money back. They don’t see it as an essential that you have to do, no matter what.”

He emphasises the point by comparing not having a renewable energy source to “building a 10-storey apartment block without an elevator”.

Another incorrect approach to solar panel projects is to assume that there is a one-size-fits-all solution. Each project needs to be bespoke, Leendertse says. “There are so many variables, such as the type of panels, what the building’s interior is like, and what the wishes of the client are.”

Building variables

The way occupiers consume electricity varies widely and there are other variables associated with the building itself, such as the average ambient temperature in a location, the incidence of sunlight, the presence of other buildings and trees that might cast shadows.

There are also externalities created by planning legislation and by central and local government regulation concerning electricity supply and tariffs, while corporate tax laws are also a potential inhibitor, particularly in Germany. And regulations that affect whether it is permissible to supply power to a tenant directly vary greatly across Europe.

The physical grid infrastructure provision also has a huge influence on the PV solution for a particular building, particularly where there is insufficient capacity to feed the grid.

‘People still think in terms of return on investments and how soon they get their money back. They don’t see it as an essential that you have to do, no matter what.’

Joost Leendertse, VerusSol

Leendertse says there are several red flags that can frustrate a PV panel project, “if one of the parties around the table doesn’t want to work together, if the roof stability is not there, or the roof cladding is too old and may need to be replaced, if there are insurance problems, or if goods stored underneath the roof are in some classes of chemicals”, for instance. “For all the others, there are solutions,” he states.

Different asset classes also present different levels of opportunity due to the range of building types. While an urban tower, whether residential or offices, may have a relatively small roof top, industrial and logistics buildings with their large footprints in relation to leasable area, have been identified for their enormous potential as platforms for harvesting solar radiation. In theory, the panels could supply the building’s occupiers directly, or could feed the grid so that the income from doing so could benefit the tenant, the landlord or both.

However, Leendertse contends that PV panels should supply the tenant directly without involving an external power company. “It’s the only way you can solve it,” he says. “And it’s the only way the environment will benefit.”

Value to the environment

He adds that other solutions, those that feed power into the grid, are “fake news, greenwashing”. “Transportation of green energy costs energy and if you do it via the grid, somebody else is the owner and somebody else gets the money. The value should go to the environment, not the moneymaker.”

As we are frequently reminded by renewable energy’s detractors, the sun does not always shine, and the wind does not always blow, so other sources of energy will be needed until effective mass storage becomes available.

Leendertse says battery technology is making strides, but the variable nature of renewable power sources means a base load has to be supplied from elsewhere. “We need 30% base load. But if nuclear power plants are being closed, we don’t have any other base load besides storage.”

While one of the holy grails in renewable energy is storage, Leendertse says the other is supply management. “When all electricity meters are speaking the same language, they could know that in two hours’ time company A is going to run two machines, but company B does not need the energy at the moment, so someone else can use the energy.”

Local smart grids or virtual grids will be the future, Leendertse predicts.