Shaping Renewable Futures
It’s high time we spotlight our valuable partners, and today, we’re lucky enough to sit down with Martin Jasienski from TotalEnergies. We’ll discuss various topics, including market trends and developments, goals for the next five years, and how software solutions impact business. Let’s get started!
Hi Martin, Thank you so much for taking the time to chat with us today. Let’s dive right in with the first question: Can you tell us a little bit about your role and responsibilities at TotalEnergies?
Martin Jasienski: Sure! So, my role is Head of TotalEnergies Solutions Belgium. We help our customers install energy solutions, namely solar panels, batteries and EV chargers. Broadly speaking, Total Energies helps customers make the step towards green energy. We install around 1,500 installations a year for what we call mass market users. Those are installations that are less than 10 kilowatts each. We also plan to install 8 megawatts of B2B installations this year. So we are active on both target groups by helping B2C and B2B customers switch to solar panels. On top of this, we help customers improve their autoconsumption with batteries and make the step to EV with integrated mobility solutions.
It sounds like you have a pretty broad range of responsibilities. If you had to choose one thing that you love most about working with TotalEnergies, what would it be?
Martin Jasienski: We are quite a powerful market actor with very large ambitions. We aim to become one of the top five renewable energy developers worldwide, which is a big goal. We are currently on track to reach our objectives, which is very exciting. Working on such ambitious projects, providing new possibilities to our customers, and supporting the transition to sustainable solutions is really stimulating.
Impressive! Speaking of the future: what are TotalEnergies’ goals for the next five years? How would you describe that?
Martin Jasienski: So, this question is twofold: for TotalEnergies as an international Company making a shift in energy transition and for TotalEnergies in Belgium.
As a global Company, we are transitioning from petroleum to renewable, clean energy. By 2050 the carbonated energies will represent 25% of our portfolio. To achieve this, gas is really a strategic asset to renewables.
In Belgium, our goal is to stabilise mass market segments so we can offer various energy solutions to our customers. As we have around 500,000 B2C customers in Belgium, we aim to grow our volume of activity reasonably. However, on the B2B front, we can help customers much more. We are investing in the B2B segment to reach more than 20 MWp per year by three years from now.
Let’s talk about the challenges that you’re facing in reaching these ambitious goals. What would you say are your primary challenges or obstacles at the moment?
Martin Jasienski: Our first challenge is to become a major player in the renewable energy sector. We still often see that customers aren’t aware that we’re heavily involved in clean energies. The company’s focus is shifting, and we have to let people know about this. So that’s really one of our challenges—for both B2B and B2C.
Another challenge is to drive innovation further. We are in a very fast-moving, dynamic market. We need to be very agile in how we implement solutions that fit our customers’ needs. With products changing at a very quick pace, we need to stay ahead of the curve. Local rules also change quite often, and so we have to bring stability into our procedures.
That makes a lot of sense. How do you see the future of the solar panel market developing?
Martin Jasienski: We see the development in Europe (especially in Belgium) in the coming years as quite important. Of course, we are still experiencing the effects of the energy crisis, but the market is getting back to stability again. On top of this, we see a lot of electrification of various usages: people are using electricity more and more for all their needs—on both B2C and B2B fronts.
We see residential and industrial customers really investing in electric devices. On the other hand, solar energy produces the energy necessary to fuel this transition. In the context of high volatility in the energy markets, this can be considered a sort of insurance. It goes beyond just producing electricity at cheaper rates—it’s also about removing risks from your organisation.
Given how fast the market is changing, do you plan to diversify your service portfolio at all?
Martin Jasienski: What we’re doing at the moment is really providing top-notch installations, with cutting-edge technology and state-of-the-art services. We are also developing new services for B2C and B2B in maintenance and extended guarantees. These kinds of services help the customer get the most out of their installation, ensuring they receive the level of production that they signed on for.
Great to hear, and I think our software has helped you a little bit on that level. How has our software helped your business? What specific challenges did it solve for you?
Martin Jasienski: I think Solar Monkey’s first value is that it allows our sales team to quickly analyse the customer’s situation. Before, we used more manual tools, where you had to gather and extrapolate data. Now, we have everything in one system, where you can meaningfully analyse the customer’s electricity habits. The software provides an easy overview, allowing you to configure systems in just a few clicks.
The software also enables us to design a solar installation and calculate the yield within 3-5 minutes, which saves a lot of time. You really get the possibility to give a business case to the customer, including the actual value and how many years it will take to be paid back. That’s really an added value to have everything in one comprehensive place. The software also produces a very nice offer document with the design, calculations and yield. Ultimately, this all-in-one system that generates offers quickly is super relevant.
Amazing to hear! Based on some of the feedback you’re hearing, what’s the favourite feature within the software? And on the flip side, what feature would you like to see implemented in the future?
Martin Jasienski: I think the preferred feature is the way it manages and calculates yield regarding shadows. So, it will calculate shadows automatically. If you see that there is some deviation, you can really narrow down the values and get to something that’s most relevant to the customer situation. So, I think the management of the shadow is one of the biggest added values and the most liked feature of Solar Monkey within our teams.
Regarding something that could be added: As I said, we are heading towards more and more electrification of the customer’s needs. So recently, Solar Monkey added some features about batteries, which is really cool. You have the possibility to make a calculation based on how the battery will improve the auto consumption of the customer, which is very useful. The same could apply in the future by adding a feature with EV chargers, which are becoming top of mind for our customers. It would be very beneficial for Solar Monkey to add this feature so that we could readily mobilise the pros and cons of installing an EV charger with solar panels.
Thanks for the feedback. I know that’s something our product team is discussing. Generally speaking, what has your experience been like regarding the collaboration between Solar Monkey and TotalEnergies?
Martin Jasienski: It’s really smooth at the moment. We’ve been collaborating for three years now and see Solar Monkey growing as well. At first, it had more of a startup character, but now we see it as more organised, structured and professional. We are quite happy to see the company’s trajectory and how we can contribute to this, because we give a lot of feedback. We give a lot of hints and ideas of ways to improve the software, some of which we already see implemented now. Seeing you grow and mature over the years has been cool. You’ve listened to the customers’ feedback to improve the product. At the moment, we have got quite a smooth and mutually beneficial partnership.
Great to hear, and of course, we hope it continues for a long time! Last question: what advice would you have for others considering a PV software solution?
Martin Jasienski: That’s a nice question. I think my advice is to look for something that embeds everything so as not to have too many things to tweak and optimise. So when you want to configure and refine the parameters, you really want to have something that has enough intelligence to make its own calculations, reducing the work and effort of the end user. The ease of use and pace are super important, and that’s really where Solar Monkey’s solution shines.
Additionally, you really want software that follows the market. It has to be up to date regarding brands of panels, inverters, and batteries. The features also have to follow the market’s evolution and trends. Because you sign up for years, you don’t change software every six months. You need a partner that will provide value as quickly as the market evolves.
That’s great; I think that’s super valuable for others reading this article. Thank you for taking the time out of your busy schedule to chat with us today! We hope to continue this partnership for many years to come and wish you all the best in meeting your demanding goals for the future.
