Innovation Solar Energy Future

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Hello, everybody.

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Hello, LinkedIn YouTube viewers.

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It's three PM in Central Europe,

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two PM in the United Kingdom,

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and nine AM US East Coast.

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Today with me is Kai Buntrock,

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CEO of Outarc, company that is about to

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revolutionize solar panel industry.

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Hello, Kai. How are you doing?

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I'm alright, Mike. Welcome to everybody.

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Thanks for having me.

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And,

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I would limit the revolution that we do to the building

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integrated solar market and lesser solar wider, but,

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we'll dig into that during the course of our discussion.

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Certainly, we will.

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Could you tell a few words about the history behind the

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company, few words about yourself so our our

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audience could have a bit of orientation?

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Absolutely.

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So Altoc is a Germany based company founded ten

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years ago by Cornelius Paola.

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So he's the reason I'm I'm sitting here.

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He thought of building integrated

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photovoltaics being the next frontier,

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and he wanted to have it an easy use case,

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a plug and play.

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The looks need to be beautiful, so that's the baseline.

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But in terms of installation and operations,

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it should be safe and easy.

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So that's where he, in a couple of iterations,

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developed what we today call our fourth generation of the

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solar tile, solar roof tile.

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And our target GmbH is a fully vertically

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integrated design and engineering climate tech.

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We design and engineer product and process when it

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from the solar module manufacturing all the way to

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the power electronics, and we control the

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manufacturing processes, which are largely allocated in

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Europe already today.

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Okay.

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Which is which is quite important factor, right,

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because of the supply chains and so on?

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Definitely.

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So it's it's it's about local

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value adding functions to localize that as good as we can.

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The second element is, of course, supply chain,

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and the third element is resilience to potential shock

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because we control the manufacturing and supply side

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as best as we can while at the same time keeping all

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flexibilities when it comes to base materials.

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So this, I guess, sets us apart from larger players in in that

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field and gives us a nice niche advantage in the building

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integrated PV segment.

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Thank you very much for this. Okay.

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Let's talk about the industry itself.

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Solar panel photovoltaics industry is booming.

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You could tell it by driving around Germany,

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driving around Western Europe, also here in Poland.

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We have been noticing in recent months for various

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reasons, jumping and dropping down costs of electric

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power from various sources,

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and the global capacity or demand for photovoltaics

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according to my information is increasing.

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Yes? How does it look like from your perspective?

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What are your forecasts?

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How do you foresee for at least the upcoming five

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years for you?

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The direction is gonna remain as has for the last couple of decades.

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It's only knowing one direction, which is, growth.

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Everybody, be it the IEC,

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be it Bloomberg and New Energy Finance,

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have had difficulty to really hit the numbers in terms of

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future growth because it always over

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overachieved.

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So we see that trend obviously remaining over the next five

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years in particular, but beyond that as well.

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We see growth in different segments.

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You obviously have the large and utility scale installations

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across the globe.

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You have, however, a growing number of residential

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installations as well.

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And setting all the macroeconomics and politics

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aside, today, the power generation,

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electricity generation from photovoltaics is the

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cheapest source of energy in largest parts of our globe.

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And it simply makes sense in terms of economics and in terms

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of resilience, and therefore,

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we see only one direction which is which is growth.

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The challenges that we see in that regard is the supply.

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So that is an interesting part we can touch upon later.

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And the installation as well as operation and maintenance of

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these systems because that ask for a shift in

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workforce, and that is definitely a mid to long

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term effort that we need to see in

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the industry, not only in Central Europe but across the globe.

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So that's interesting times and a lot of opportunity.

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Okay. If you could tell a few words about the challenges.

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Yes?

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What are the challenges for such rapidly growing industry?

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Now that the the industry growth as a whole,

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So you as a individual player not

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having the the size and capacity as

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others may have,

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you run into a disadvantage when it comes to your sourcing ability.

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So economies of scale, obviously,

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always add to the picture,

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but of extreme importance in this environment in order to

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to secure your supply and at the same time secure it

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at appropriate and adequate price levels.

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So this is definitely a challenge.

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And larger players today obviously have an advantage.

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We, in particular, are in a niche where we decided,

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as I explained earlier on,

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to vertically integrate as much of the supply chain as as

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the production chain, and I must rather say as we can

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In order to make us more independent to those to

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those implications and effects.

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Being a niche of a niche,

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what building integrated photovoltaics still remains

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today makes it obviously easy because

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the the sheer volumes that we need to source are

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by far different than those of traditional rooftop solar

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installations or even than the the larger utility scale

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installations.

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So this is definitely a challenge that everybody faces.

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As is a climate tech in Europe producing own

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building integrated technology,

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one of the challenges is to convince investor base that

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taking on production risk into your portfolio is a good idea.

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Now the the market environment as such, you know, growth only,

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but still there's a large negative sentiment on the

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investor and financier side to actually finance

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production capacity in solar, in particular,

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within Europe due to the lessons learned over the last

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couple of decades.

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That is a challenge not only to us, but to others as well,

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limiting the build out that actually would be needed just

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for the energy transition within Europe.

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And another

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hurdle that we see is the the workforce

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dedicated to solar.

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And the moment we move away from utility scale where you

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have reached great efficiencies and

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partial automation capabilities.

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In residential solar and rooftop and or building

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integrated as our talk provides it,

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you need to be able to service individual houses.

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So the numbers needed workforce

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to actually install and to operate those systems that

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needs to grow dramatically and all within that

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residential solar focused industry today in Germany and

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beyond have the one huge challenge to find the people

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who actually wanna work with us,

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have the adequate training and experience in

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order to provide the greatest possible benefit.

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So this is the three major challenges that I see,

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supply chain, finance, and access to human

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talent In that regard.

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And that remains the same, I believe,

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for the entire industry.

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Okay. Thank you very much for this.

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What I noticed on your website and when we had the chance to

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talk autumn last year, I noticed this beautiful line

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that I really like, the next level roofs.

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What is the basis?

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What is so innovative about the outdoor itself,

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about your product?

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Thanks for asking, Mike.

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So the innovative part that

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differentiates our talk most to all traditional

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rooftop solar and the newcomers in billing

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integrated PV is our orientation towards the

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greatest possible user advantage.

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We like to compare it to the Apple way of doing things.

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So you come from the user experience and you develop your

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technology to best suit that user experience,

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which led us to the way that we completely redesigned and

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that's why we manufacture it ourselves in miniaturized solar

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module that fits onto a standard

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solar roof tile.

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So we use as a carrier tile an existing roof tile and we

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miniaturize the PV technology to best fit that

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particular dimension.

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The next part is when you have that, you need to connect it.

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You make need to make the connection easy.

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You need to make it safe.

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So we designed and manufacture, which is

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actually secured by patent, our own

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connectors and the wire harness.

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That allows the system to actually operate in safety

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extra low voltage, so you don't need to be an electrician to

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actually do the installation on the roof.

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And thereby, the second dimension that is so close to our orientation is we

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wanna provide all existing stakeholders in the supply

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chain and in the value chain their ability to add value to

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their own business and to their customers.

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So we basically talk to the roofers trade where

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we say, you roofers have all you need at hand

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to actually take be take your role in the energy transition,

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provide building integrated photovoltaics in a safe and

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easy manner without you needing to train

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extensively to to become an electrician.

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So the safety extra low voltage and parallel

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circuit allows the Altac system to be installed

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fully by roofless without an extreme or

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additional training on the electrical side.

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And at the same time,

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in order to then bring those levels up to standard operating

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voltages, we have designed and manufacture our

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own PV booster as we call it.

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That is then the connecting point to all

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standard PV inverters that you use anyhow.

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So we wanna make it easy for everybody in the supply chain

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and the value chain.

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We want to have an intriguing product to the

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customer and users along the different stages,

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And that is what I would say differentiates us from the

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remainder of the traditional and new up and coming

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billing integrated PV players, whereas they say we

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make process and dimensions work for solar.

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We take solar, and we make it work for existing dimension and capability.

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K. Thank you very much for this.

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Basing on our previous conversations,

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what I've learned is that your ambition is to become actually

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the leading provider of solar tiles

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in Europe.

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Yes.

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And as I can hear, you aim to reach, like,

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difficult players among the market.

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Yeah? Because it's not just individuals.

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These are also companies.

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So what are your ambitions about this?

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What are the main directions that Altark is currently

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taking as a path to reach wide audience?

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Yes?

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Yeah.

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It's our go to market strategy and what we think that we do best.

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We actually are a climate technology company,

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and we provide building integrated photovoltaic

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functionality to existing traditional stakeholders within industry.

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Meaning, our b to b partners are represented through

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the roof tile Manufacturers.

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So roof tile manufacturers have a integral part to play in

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energy transition and building integrated PV.

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We enable them to do so.

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So they basically market their product carrying our top

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technology that we obviously wanna stand for in terms

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of quality and functionality

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Becoming thereby the category leader in Europe the

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least when it comes to solar roof tiles.

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Because we use standard roof tiles,

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we add the solar function.

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So in its purest sense,

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it is a solar roof tile that we provide.

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Our target wants to become category leader of that

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specific segment of building integrated photovoltaics,

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and we want to be what Intel is to other computer

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providers and and brands to the tile

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manufacturers, I.

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E.

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Enable their innovation, their empowerment when it comes

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to participating in the building integrated

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photovoltaic industry segment and being their playing their

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part in the energy transition.

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K. Thank you for this.

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As we are live on LinkedIn and YouTube,

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I would like to encourage the audience to ask questions.

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You can do this using comment section below the

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posts on LinkedIn and YouTube.

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We will see that we will see those questions, and we will,

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answer them in the second part of the show.

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Okay then.

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So,

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how does Outark harness digital tools to

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support the company growth?

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Yeah. That's the second key element, I would say.

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Digitalization of industry and our

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complex process environment is key to a

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mass market approach.

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If we wanted to remain in the niche,

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we could do it all by ourselves manual manually without any

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use of digital tools.

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We have opted to go completely different ways.

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So digitalization

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is a central element of our future evolution.

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And we wanna start by providing the users a great

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user experience starting from the configurator that they can

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use on our website where where they can basically configure

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their system and get an idea of what it would look like and

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potentially cost if they were to deploy a billing integrated

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PV solution. It starts from there.

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It then moves on to our business partners where we say,

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you wanna provide a

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solar

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yield

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specific offering to your customers in

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real time or as soon as you can.

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So we have created what is an offer tool.

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So this is the stage of actually where architects,

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planners, or even progressive roofers already are able

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to offer their client base and the entirety of the

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package where they say, this is how it would look like,

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this is the potential cost,

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and this is what it would actually yield in terms of

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power generated from your solar roof.

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Now the third element is then focused at the roofers

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themselves where we support their project management

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and different stages of realizing the installation.

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We provide a planning tool where they can actually see

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how the roof is should best be segmented into the

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solar function and non solar function tiles and how the

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overall system setup is best realized for

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their perspective.

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This, again, is part of this digital toolbox that we call

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Outac OS, our own operating system that will

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then be fully integrated through our web portal,

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which merits obviously is a large part because you guys

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support in in in developing that.

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So in in that regard, the question is, for time,

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digitalization is is a key element for the for

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the mass market approach of a product that we see here in

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building integrated PV to support all the stakeholders

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again along the entire value chain to do their jobs best

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possible and to provide transparency as early in the

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process as by any means realistic.

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K. Thank you. Thank you for this.

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What I noticed during our cooperation is a very strong

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focus on educational matters.

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Yes.

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The education of roofers, educations of architects,

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education of construction companies.

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I highly recommend to visit

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outarc dot com.

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This is the service which is continuously developed.

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I believe that it's a benchmark in many ways,

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in many fields in terms of design,

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in terms of development.

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We highly encourage everybody here to visit outark

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dot com.

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Speaking about Outark, if you could tell a bit

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where this name came from, what is the story behind the brand.

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Yes?

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I know it, but perhaps our audience would like to know it as well.

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There's a lot of about resilience.

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So I'll talk spanning from the Greek use of

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the words as being self sufficient in a certain way and element.

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And what our product suite and system solution would

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ideally provide to the customers and the users

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is an auto key in terms of their energy needs.

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Because from the generation of your electricity through

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solar from the roof all the way through your

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charging infrastructure in order to charge your electric

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car, to drive your

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smart home, be it be it the the the

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heating, the lighting, and all other needs of of

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electricity or power.

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That is what we are looking and strive to provide from from

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a single source structured around the the one

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element, the best user experience.

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So whereas today,

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customers would receive the solar roof tile

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plus the wire harness and the PV booster.

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We have third party elements that we provide when it comes

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to inverters and battery storage as well as charging solutions.

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The next evolutionary step for our talk is going to be to move

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closer to this outer p capability and to create

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own power electronics,

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combine the PV booster with a solar inverter functionality,

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add an energy management system on top,

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and allow to intelligently manage your battery storage

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and make use of your DC DC charging

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infrastructure with a clear interface to your to your smart

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home abilities.

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So this is the next evolutionary step,

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and that is what what people can expect from us when

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thinking of OTalk in order to reach Auto Key.

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Thank you very thank you very much.

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Personally, I'm a great fan of history.

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So it sounds familiar to me, something that I really, really like.

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But I guess that it's, I would say,

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the philosophy of your company, described in one one word.

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Yes.

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Because we are not talking about the as a consumer and

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producer of electricity, but also in terms of supply chains.

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Yeah. How your company is producing your tiles?

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How your company is distributing them?

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How your company is actually planning to eventually retain

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and to,

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deal with the leftovers coming from the production somewhere in the future?

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Yes? So Right.

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I guess that this may be, let's say,

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like a like a benchmark for also for different industries.

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Speaking about which,

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what is the advantage of Altar as of product delivered by

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Altar comparing to others from a perspective of a different

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user, from a individual who is building his or

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her home Yeah.

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And is aiming to reach this Altar key?

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Well, the greatest benefit is fantastic looks with

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an absolute safe functionality and

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the usability unrivaled usability.

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What do I mean by that?

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As it the looks is the baseline because unless it looks

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good, people won't consider.

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So the next level for us was that we brought on to the next

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level is the usability and functionality.

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So it functions

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without power electronics on the roof due to the

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design effort that we've put into that.

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So you have a parallel circuit that operates

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without any power electronics,

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meaning you don't need microinverters or optimizers on

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the roof because in in a lot of cases you have

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shadow situations and the so called shadow resilience is the

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highest in the altaic solar rooftop system due to that

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parallel circuit architecture that we have developed.

23:18 → 23:20

Why is that a benefit to to the end user?

23:20 → 23:24

You don't have to worry about power electronics to be

23:24 → 23:27

exchanged or operated on your roof

23:27 → 23:30

because that is a that adds complexity over the lifetime of

23:30 → 23:33

your system and potentially cost.

23:33 → 23:36

Because once in a lifetime in your

23:36 → 23:40

solar arrays life, you will have to exchange your

23:40 → 23:44

power electronics on the roof or off the roof.

23:44 → 23:48

The same on our side with a with a PD booster that has a

23:48 → 23:50

longer life because it's in house.

23:50 → 23:51

The stress is different.

23:51 → 23:55

Nevertheless, if anything needs to be done that is within the building

23:55 → 23:57

envelope, easy access.

23:57 → 24:01

Whereas when you have different solutions building

24:01 → 24:04

integrated, they usually use power electronics

24:04 → 24:06

optimizes all

24:07 → 24:11

microinverters on the roof and study

24:11 → 24:15

a Swiss study that came out just this week

24:15 → 24:19

actually provided that roughly thirty thirty four

24:19 → 24:22

percent of power electronics

24:23 → 24:26

need to be exchanged after a fifteen year lifetime.

24:27 → 24:30

So after fifteen years, your array will hold an

24:30 → 24:32

easy thirty years.

24:33 → 24:36

So once half through the life of your of your system,

24:36 → 24:40

you will face the exchange of power electronics.

24:40 → 24:41

So this is a benefit.

24:41 → 24:44

The next benefit is you don't need to have special

24:44 → 24:46

installation crews.

24:46 → 24:50

So lead times from actually ordering to

24:50 → 24:53

installation can be dramatically decreased because

24:53 → 24:58

you take advantage of existing roofer capacity.

24:58 → 25:01

You do your roof, you make use of a roofer,

25:01 → 25:02

that's all you need.

25:02 → 25:06

You don't need any specialized people to be trained on a

25:06 → 25:10

particular system setup because all they need to do is a two

25:10 → 25:13

day training to understand what are the

25:13 → 25:16

specialties when it comes to the wire harness and how to

25:16 → 25:20

best lay it out on on the roof.

25:20 → 25:21

That's it.

25:21 → 25:25

So we have the opportunity to match client interest

25:25 → 25:29

with existing roofer capacity that again

25:29 → 25:32

shortens time to market and delivery times

25:32 → 25:36

for for the customers and ideally

25:36 → 25:40

the the the installation cost reduction because you have one

25:40 → 25:43

crew that comes once and does the roof once,

25:43 → 25:45

and you don't have a sequential

25:46 → 25:50

caretaking, especially when talking about rooftop solar.

25:50 → 25:54

So this this is this is the second benefit and the the

25:54 → 25:56

third benefit, safety.

25:56 → 26:00

We really take utmost care to reduce any fire

26:00 → 26:03

risk to the absolute minimum.

26:03 → 26:07

So being a safety extra low voltage and parallel

26:07 → 26:11

circuit operating below a hundred and twenty volts in

26:11 → 26:14

direct current assures exactly that.

26:14 → 26:17

So we have low current and low power,

26:17 → 26:21

and and that reduces any potential fire risk as we're

26:21 → 26:25

talking within the building integrated PV segment.

26:25 → 26:30

You are close to any envelope materials

26:30 → 26:35

yet that could potentially have then become a fire hazard.

26:35 → 26:37

Whereas in traditional rooftop solar,

26:37 → 26:42

you always have the the roof surface in between to

26:42 → 26:45

safeguard any any risk that may occur.

26:45 → 26:49

So this is this is a a definite element that one needs to

26:49 → 26:51

take particular care of.

26:51 → 26:53

We do that as well,

26:53 → 26:57

and we believe that we have the leading system architecture

26:57 → 26:59

in order to assure it.

27:00 → 27:01

K. Thank you very much.

27:01 → 27:04

We have a question from the audience coming.

27:04 → 27:05

So

27:06 → 27:09

Sohrab Jagalakar.

27:09 → 27:12

Please excuse me if my pronunciation is wrong.

27:14 → 27:15

Person from our audience is asking,

27:15 → 27:19

I would like to understand how the Altarc system is able to

27:19 → 27:23

integrate with existing PV systems if

27:23 → 27:27

some customers wanted to add on their system.

27:27 → 27:32

That's always the question, do you have roof area left?

27:33 → 27:36

We we would say there the use case for the auto talk system

27:36 → 27:41

is when you renovate your roof Or when you build new.

27:41 → 27:45

And ninety five percent, because building industry is

27:45 → 27:48

moving towards circularity and and has a stronger

27:48 → 27:53

focus on sustainability We focus on renovation.

27:53 → 27:57

So do you have a roof area left in order to add

27:57 → 27:59

further solar capacity?

27:59 → 28:00

Because what you would do,

28:00 → 28:03

you would do away with your existing roof tile and exchange

28:03 → 28:05

it through an

28:05 → 28:09

technology carrying solar roof tile system

28:09 → 28:12

from one of our partners, be it Skalpnir, be it Creaton,

28:12 → 28:14

be it Jacobi Weiter.

28:14 → 28:17

So this is the first question to be asked.

28:17 → 28:20

Then it's just with any other aspect.

28:21 → 28:25

Technically, that is an that is on the elect electrics side of

28:25 → 28:29

things and and as to the capacities of your

28:29 → 28:33

existing power electronics and whatever you have as a use

28:33 → 28:38

case as an individual, you can then integrate the growing

28:38 → 28:40

generation that you have achieved.

28:43 → 28:45

Okay. Thank you very much for this.

28:45 → 28:48

Another question coming from the audience.

28:48 → 28:53

Konrad Sterenczak is asking, sorry if I'm if I

28:53 → 28:57

have missed it, but what is the lead time for this product?

28:59 → 29:00

Good question.

29:00 → 29:03

It there's a theory and then there's practice.

29:03 → 29:07

So in theory, you can have this product readily sitting on your

29:07 → 29:09

front porch in six weeks.

29:10 → 29:14

Whether that is then the same in real life along

29:14 → 29:17

the entire supply chain when it comes from the wholesaler to

29:17 → 29:20

the roofer, that is a different ballgame.

29:20 → 29:24

What we can say is that we operate on thirty day

29:24 → 29:27

notice periods with our b two b partners.

29:27 → 29:31

So we have a road a rolling forecast of six month

29:31 → 29:36

with a detailed thirty day delivery schedule.

29:36 → 29:40

They then provide that to the product holding

29:40 → 29:44

wholesalers, and they again then provide it to the roofers.

29:44 → 29:48

So depending on demand in your specific region and the

29:48 → 29:50

availability, that is the bottleneck, I guess,

29:50 → 29:54

more so than the product of the installation capacity with the roofers.

29:54 → 29:56

It can be very quick within weeks,

29:56 → 29:59

or it takes longer at I.

29:59 → 30:00

E, month.

30:01 → 30:05

Actually, the question from our viewer leading toward

30:05 → 30:08

another question because I'm in the process of

30:08 → 30:12

renovating an apartment, which is completely different thing.

30:12 → 30:16

But what would be the best moment for individual recipient

30:16 → 30:18

to purchase your service while, for example,

30:18 → 30:22

I'm buying myself a house which requires renovation, let's say,

30:22 → 30:24

in the country or somewhere in Europe.

30:24 → 30:24

Yes.

30:24 → 30:26

I would like to renovate it,

30:26 → 30:29

get as much as possible from it.

30:29 → 30:32

So what would be possibly the best moment to order to

30:32 → 30:34

order out?

30:34 → 30:36

Or do I need to have the, let's say,

30:36 → 30:40

architecture skeleton of the roof already ready?

30:40 → 30:42

What would be the best stage to order your service?

30:42 → 30:45

That is the best moment as you just said, Mike.

30:45 → 30:47

So in terms of the layout,

30:47 → 30:50

it would be good that you have your final layout available.

30:50 → 30:53

Another strength that I didn't mention is that the

30:53 → 30:57

Altag system is created in a way that the roofer can fully

30:57 → 30:59

adapt on-site.

30:59 → 31:01

Obviously, we have a planning,

31:01 → 31:03

but we know what happens with life.

31:03 → 31:06

Life is what happens while you're making other plans.

31:06 → 31:09

So having a solution that is fully embedded in

31:09 → 31:13

existing industry dimensions and workflows,

31:13 → 31:16

the roofer can freely adapt on-site.

31:16 → 31:20

Meaning, there is a roof window coming up at

31:20 → 31:24

a certain area in the roof that wasn't planned before.

31:24 → 31:27

It's not an issue. The roofer can react on-site.

31:27 → 31:31

It's just a matter of how to actually lay the wire harness.

31:31 → 31:33

The tiles themselves in their dimensions,

31:33 → 31:37

they can basically do away with with the most

31:37 → 31:40

complex topographies of the roof that you can imagine.

31:40 → 31:44

So this this definitely is a good timing where you actually

31:44 → 31:46

have an idea what the dimensions of your roof area

31:46 → 31:48

would be, what the

31:49 → 31:52

what the direction to the sun your roof will have,

31:52 → 31:57

and when you then gain an idea of what is your energy usage yourself.

31:57 → 32:01

Will you be using it for electricity only?

32:01 → 32:04

Will you be heating? Will you be creating warm water?

32:04 → 32:08

Will you be charging potentially your electrified

32:08 → 32:10

mobility via the car or other elements?

32:10 → 32:15

Will you be engaging in p two p trading in your neighborhood?

32:15 → 32:17

So all those elements become of relevance,

32:17 → 32:19

and that then gives you an indication of whether you want

32:19 → 32:23

to maximize the energy generation from your available

32:23 → 32:27

roof area or whether you want to optimize it to your use case.

32:27 → 32:31

So the the the point in time would

32:31 → 32:36

definitely be early enough when you have a a roof design.

32:36 → 32:39

It is interest interesting to let your planner or architect

32:39 → 32:43

know that you consider a billing integrated PV solution

32:43 → 32:47

and that you know about the Altac system because still only

32:47 → 32:51

one percent of users know about solar roof tile existence.

32:51 → 32:55

To basically tell them while planning your roof that you're

32:55 → 32:59

looking to use that system because that can positively

32:59 → 33:03

impact the overall planning process due to the

33:03 → 33:05

fact that architects, for example,

33:05 → 33:07

don't need to consider specialties

33:07 → 33:11

or peculiarities in order to make it

33:11 → 33:14

the roof fit to the system because the the system fits

33:14 → 33:16

itself to the roof.

33:16 → 33:19

Okay. Thank you very much for this.

33:19 → 33:23

I have a question, but another question comes from Konrad

33:23 → 33:24

Sterenczak.

33:24 → 33:27

Both are question

33:27 → 33:32

both members of our audience are saying thank you for the answers.

33:32 → 33:36

So, gentlemen, likewise,

33:37 → 33:37

one more question.

33:37 → 33:41

What is the upkeep of this product?

33:41 → 33:45

What I mean by this is there are any running costs of the

33:45 → 33:46

consumer should be aware of,

33:46 → 33:49

like the cost following the installation?

33:51 → 33:54

The most dramatic cost implications that any

33:54 → 33:57

system, be it on the roof, roof integrated,

33:57 → 34:01

be it out of or another system is, as we earlier touched upon,

34:01 → 34:02

power electronics.

34:02 → 34:04

After fifteen years,

34:04 → 34:07

probability of you and the need to exchange your power

34:07 → 34:10

electronics, microinverters, and optimizers is gonna

34:10 → 34:12

dramatically increase.

34:12 → 34:15

So this is going to be a hefty cost.

34:15 → 34:17

So you better make sure that, a,

34:17 → 34:19

you have the product available, and, b,

34:19 → 34:23

you have easy access in order to arrange for that exchange,

34:23 → 34:27

ideally, not to be not it to be necessary to climb onto your

34:27 → 34:30

roof, take whatever you used as a cover off,

34:30 → 34:34

and then exchange power electronics and put the solar

34:34 → 34:35

function back on.

34:35 → 34:36

So in that regard,

34:36 → 34:39

our system is maintenance free over the lifetime when it comes

34:39 → 34:44

to the roof, set aside dramatic weather events where you

34:44 → 34:47

have a a tree hitting your

34:47 → 34:51

roof and parts of that roof actually going out of function,

34:51 → 34:54

but then again, you can add because of standard roof tile

34:54 → 34:58

dimensions as soon as I'm by any means possible to make

34:58 → 35:00

up for that loss.

35:00 → 35:03

Other than that, we do not have any running cost.

35:03 → 35:07

We do not see within a European context that it has

35:07 → 35:10

specific cleaning necessities.

35:10 → 35:14

Other than that, the wire harness as such is is fully

35:14 → 35:18

secured due to its design and layout.

35:18 → 35:21

Again, it's it's maintenance free.

35:21 → 35:24

And what you need to face then is the PV booster,

35:24 → 35:26

but that is going to be installed within the building

35:26 → 35:30

envelope with easy access and that obviously then needs the

35:30 → 35:32

main first first maintenance, hopefully,

35:32 → 35:35

fifteen plus years into its life.

35:35 → 35:39

We would hope that it is far beyond that because we

35:39 → 35:44

see that the system lifetime as it is stands at around forty years.

35:44 → 35:46

K. Thank you very much for this.

35:46 → 35:49

You mentioned one very important thing.

35:49 → 35:53

One percent of roofers is aware of the

35:53 → 35:55

existence of solar tiles.

35:55 → 35:58

What can we do in order to turn it to ten percent,

35:58 → 36:00

twenty percent, thirty percent?

36:01 → 36:03

Yeah. Perfect question, Mike.

36:03 → 36:06

I mean, it's it's it's occasions like these where we

36:06 → 36:09

talk about it and interested,

36:09 → 36:11

people learn about it and then spread the news.

36:11 → 36:13

It's not just about Altag.

36:13 → 36:16

Altag is just as well about energy transition as it is

36:16 → 36:19

about its own economic success.

36:19 → 36:23

We obviously want to make it as easy as possible for everybody

36:23 → 36:25

who wants to to adapt that.

36:25 → 36:28

But set setting that aside, is it talking about it,

36:28 → 36:29

spreading the message,

36:29 → 36:32

letting people know that there is something like building

36:32 → 36:33

integrated photovoltaics,

36:33 → 36:37

that there is something like the special segment of a solar roof tile,

36:37 → 36:40

and ideally then letting people know that there is even

36:40 → 36:44

something as as as wonderful as as our

36:44 → 36:48

solar roof tile technology enabled systems due to all the

36:48 → 36:52

benefits that can reap from using that particular technology.

36:52 → 36:55

So in in that regard, it's it's it's word-of-mouth.

36:55 → 36:57

It's spreading spreading the word,

36:57 → 37:00

letting people know who are in similar situations that you've

37:00 → 37:04

heard about something and that there's more possible than a

37:04 → 37:07

lot of people actually think is possible and that the industry

37:07 → 37:10

has further progressed because we're not just here for a

37:10 → 37:11

couple of months.

37:11 → 37:14

We are a ten year old company in our fourth product

37:14 → 37:17

generation working with industry blue chips in the

37:17 → 37:18

building industry.

37:18 → 37:21

So this is a a very solid setup.

37:21 → 37:23

We provide product and performance guarantees of

37:23 → 37:27

twenty five years, So there's really, from that end,

37:27 → 37:30

nothing or little to worry about other than getting to

37:30 → 37:32

know that it's possible.

37:33 → 37:35

K. Thank you very much for this.

37:35 → 37:38

On which markets you are currently available?

37:38 → 37:39

Which countries?

37:40 → 37:42

We actually work opportunistically.

37:42 → 37:47

Obviously, the system characteristics need to fit to to the to the system

37:47 → 37:50

Necessities in a given geography.

37:50 → 37:52

Our home market is Germany.

37:52 → 37:54

Our second

37:54 → 37:57

growth markets are Switzerland and Austria.

37:57 → 38:01

We have a very close connection to Norway because there we have

38:01 → 38:05

the furthest progressed industry partner using solar

38:05 → 38:07

technology from our tag

38:07 → 38:11

and in and assembling that fully automatically on their

38:11 → 38:14

existing rooftops at Skaldnes in Norway.

38:14 → 38:17

We are in Denmark, in the Netherlands, in Belgium,

38:17 → 38:18

and in Luxembourg.

38:18 → 38:21

We have first projects in Northern Italy,

38:21 → 38:26

and we're looking to enter Ireland, England, and Spain.

38:26 → 38:28

France is on the map as well.

38:28 → 38:32

So as the capacity on the production side

38:32 → 38:36

increases, we obviously look to service more markets.

38:36 → 38:37

Currently,

38:38 → 38:41

demand is higher than the possible supply,

38:41 → 38:45

so we're we're doing our utmost to to gain investor interest

38:45 → 38:48

in order to push for that production growth.

38:48 → 38:53

So, yeah, those that is the market set up as of now, basically,

38:54 → 38:56

Europe as we speak.

38:56 → 38:58

Thank you very much for this.

38:58 → 39:01

Another question coming from coming from the audience.

39:01 → 39:03

This is Magdalena Savitska.

39:03 → 39:07

What business outcomes do you expect from investing in

39:07 → 39:08

digital tools?

39:08 → 39:11

Is it about supporting your way to go from a niche

39:11 → 39:16

amass, accelerating the growth, spreading the info about the solution?

39:17 → 39:21

It's basically hitting the nail the the nail on his

39:21 → 39:23

head, Magdalena.

39:23 → 39:25

Thanks for the question.

39:25 → 39:29

We actually want to do away with any entry

39:29 → 39:33

obstacles to stakeholders of the segment.

39:33 → 39:36

So whatever holds some a person

39:36 → 39:40

back adapting it, be it be it a

39:40 → 39:44

customer, be it an architect, be it a roofer,

39:44 → 39:48

we wanna do away with these obstacles and make it as easy

39:48 → 39:51

as we can in order for them to have full full

39:51 → 39:54

transparency, what it takes, what it's gonna look like,

39:54 → 39:56

and how it how much it's gonna cost.

39:56 → 40:00

So in terms of our investment into the digital

40:00 → 40:03

tool set, this indeed is an investment

40:03 → 40:07

into the ease of the use of the product and

40:07 → 40:12

lesser so a business segment in itself.

40:12 → 40:17

We support and help retail customers just as

40:17 → 40:20

well as the the the roof tile manufacturers or

40:20 → 40:24

the roofers in the use and adaptation of the system and

40:24 → 40:30

its characteristics and provide for them the best possible user experience.

40:31 → 40:32

Thank you very much for this.

40:32 → 40:34

Once again, ladies and gentlemen,

40:34 → 40:37

I would like to encourage everybody to visit Altar dot com.

40:37 → 40:40

It's an absolutely beautiful service.

40:40 → 40:42

There are actually more than one company behind it.

40:42 → 40:47

Merit provided engineering capabilities in order to make it grow.

40:47 → 40:51

We have some nice plans for the upcoming weeks also coming soon.

40:52 → 40:56

Kai, is there anything that you would like to tell the

40:56 → 40:59

audience, tell the people, tell the market

40:59 → 41:03

by yourself without any questions asked from my side,

41:03 → 41:07

some free thoughts coming out from your heart,

41:07 → 41:09

out from your mind?

41:09 → 41:12

Don't reinvent the wheel if you don't need to.

41:12 → 41:14

I think there's a lot to do in terms of

41:14 → 41:16

technology, market approach,

41:16 → 41:18

and keeping your customer base happy.

41:18 → 41:21

And the way we chose, for example,

41:21 → 41:24

and that's why Marek's and I'll talk actually joined forces

41:24 → 41:29

is you guys might you've you've done similar elements in the past as well.

41:29 → 41:32

You have a growing understanding of solar and its

41:32 → 41:38

peculiarities and specialties in a in a in a growing depth.

41:38 → 41:41

So this this obviously supports our mission because it makes

41:41 → 41:43

the process more efficient,

41:43 → 41:47

more timely because time to market is always an element

41:47 → 41:49

that that is high on the agenda.

41:49 → 41:53

And I feel it is it is nice to see

41:53 → 41:57

that the availability of services in this

41:57 → 42:00

entire ecosystem is growing alongside

42:00 → 42:04

because we are by no means able to do it all by ourselves.

42:04 → 42:06

We never follow that philosophy.

42:06 → 42:08

We take advantage of the pros where we can find them here

42:08 → 42:12

with Merix when it comes to the setup of our digital services

42:12 → 42:16

and the front end to the customers and and let us focus

42:16 → 42:19

on what we do best, designing, engineering,

42:19 → 42:23

and manufacturing climate tech in Europe.

42:23 → 42:28

So that that is something that I would advise to try.

42:29 → 42:33

Obviously, there's there's then an obstacle where you can say,

42:33 → 42:37

okay, Merrick's now doing in a in a in a hypothetical

42:37 → 42:40

world all the setups for different building integrated

42:40 → 42:42

solar providers.

42:43 → 42:46

I I I wouldn't shy away from it because at the end of the day,

42:46 → 42:48

we're all professionals.

42:48 → 42:52

The market segment is so huge and we we really

42:52 → 42:56

operate here on on an eye level trust.

42:57 → 43:00

So go for it, I'd say,

43:00 → 43:04

and make best use of existing ecosystem in order for you to

43:04 → 43:06

focus on what you do best.

43:06 → 43:08

Thank you very much for this.

43:09 → 43:10

Ladies and gentlemen,

43:10 → 43:13

if any questions would come up to your mind,

43:13 → 43:16

you would like to address them to our today's guests,

43:16 → 43:21

please feel free to contact company called Outarc

43:21 → 43:24

using their beautiful service, using their social media.

43:24 → 43:28

They are on LinkedIn. The website is developing.

43:28 → 43:30

There's more than one language available at the moment.

43:30 → 43:33

If you would like to talk about the digital site,

43:33 → 43:36

you can contact me or any of my colleagues.

43:36 → 43:38

I would like to say thank you for thank you, Kai,

43:38 → 43:40

for being together today with us.

43:40 → 43:42

Thanks for having me.

43:42 → 43:44

Thank you all for watching.

43:44 → 43:46

Have a beautiful rest of the week.

43:46 → 43:49

Nice Valentine's and so on,

43:49 → 43:52

and we will get back to you with another show soon.

43:52 → 43:54

Thank you very much, and have a good one.

43:54 → 43:58

Wonderful. Good day, everybody. Bye bye.

43:58 → 43:58

You.