“A team you can rely on”

SUNOTEC presents itself as Your General Contractor at Intersolar Europe 2023

“The summit belonged to all of them,” says Tashi Tenzing and turns around to the large black and white group photo showing his grandfather Tenzing Norgay and the team of the first successful Mount Everest ascent. SUNOTEC invited the extreme mountaineer to this year's Premium Dinner Event as part of the brand’s activities at Intersolar 2023. On the roof terrace overlooking Munich's Frauenkirche, Tenzing took the more than 80 guests on an inspirational journey to the top of the world – from camp to camp to the summit. The message: Such challenges can only be achieved together – and with a large, committed team in the background.

The connection to the daily work of SUNOTEC was made clear by CEO Bernhard Suchland during the subsequent discussion on stage: “In our company, reliability is one of the key values”. SUNOTEC’s Founder and CEO Kaloyan Velichkov added: “And without that and the commitment of each and every employee, we would never have gotten to where we are today. That's why I would like to say thank you to all members of the SUNOTEC family.”

“WE'RE AT BASE CAMP RIGHT NOW”

During the discussion, various mountain analogies focused on the challenges the industry faces. “We are at base camp, so to speak, and there is a lot to achieve in the next few years. One of the challenges will be to implement larger projects in a shorter timeframe, for instance,” Andreas Lukasczyk, Managing Director at SUNOTEC Germany GmbH, summarized.

After the Corona-induced silence in the exhibition halls over the past few years, the Intersolar Europe once again showed itself to be the pulsating centre of an industry that continues to grow at a rapid pace. “The fact that people are talking about the enormous growth in our industry is of course nothing new,” commented Bernhard Suchland. “But the fact that we are once again talking to each other in person to this extent reflects the current mood of the booming photovoltaics industry. Our discussions with customers and partners on site were very positive.”

It was clearly noticeable at Intersolar Europe: large PV plants, more and more also in the three-digit megawatt range, are in demand worldwide and they are to be built quickly in order to achieve the climate goals through a green energy turnaround in the next few years. This has long since led to bottlenecks in construction in Europe and elsewhere. What is needed are companies that are able to realise turnkey operations reliably and in high quality, even for large projects. A clear change of role was confirmed at Intersolar: While in previous years it was mainly developers and investors who set the pace, it is now the companies that can provide the corresponding capacities from engineering to procurement to construction.

With that in mind, SUNOTEC presented itself in its new role in Munich. “Here at Intersolar we introduce SUNOTEC in its new shape and form as General Contractor,” said CEO Bernhard Suchland. SUNOTEC offers the entire range of services related to the construction of large-scale utility PV systems: from the preliminary drawing to engineering, procurement, construction and final handover, including operations and maintenance – all from a single source.

2.3 GIGAWATTS IN ONE YEAR

In order to fulfil their role as General Contractor, the company expanded rapidly in the past year. More than 1,400 permanent employees now work for SUNOTEC. The company's own fleet comprises more than 500 vehicles and specialized machines. And in 2022, SUNOTEC achieved its most successful year by completing solar parks with a total output of 2.3 gigawatts (GWp). Since the company was founded, this figure has risen to a total of 6.6 GWp spread over more than 500 projects worldwide.

MARKET LEADER AS A TEAM EFFORT

Visitors to the company’s booth were able to learn how the SUNOTEC team makes these successes possible through their daily work. “We wanted to put the spotlight on those who work every day to ensure that the PV expansion goals of the green energy transition are achieved,” emphasized SUNOTEC CEO Bernhard Suchland. “We therefore focused on the expertise and experience of our employees,” summarized SUNOTEC Founder and CEO Kaloyan Velichkov. “It is thanks to them that we have established ourselves as the European market leader in the construction of utility photovoltaic systems.”

PHOTOVOLTAICS FROM THE PERSPECTIVE OF ITS MAKERS: THE MAGAZINE “COMPANION”

The stand took its guests to construction sites all over Europe and to the company’s headquarters in Sofia and Munich. In numerous episodes, the story of SUNOTEC was told from the perspective of its more than 1,400 employees: from the role of the much sought-after in-house geologist, to the strategic setup of Turnkey Operations, interviews with those responsible for Mechanical & Electrical Services and the presentation of the new Operations and Maintenance department.The stories of the SUNOTEC experts from the construction sites and from the company headquarters were then captured in the new magazine “COMPANION” through reports, infographics and picture series.