How Chint Solar is Saving 2000 Engineering Hours Per Year With Glint Solar

Solving the Pre-Permit Stage Project Evaluation Challenge While Accelerating Pipeline Growth

The Company

Chint Solar is a leading player in the renewable energy sector, actively engaged in project
development, financing, realization, and operation of solar parks. Its European activities started
in 2016 with a commitment to achieving a successful energy transition, steering away from fossil fuels towards a sustainable future powered by clean energy.

With operations spanning multiple countries across Europe and a track record of over 500
MWp of completed projects, Chint Solar remains at the forefront of driving the adoption of clean
energy solutions and spearheading the transition towards a sustainable future.

With a focus on energizing people, Chint Solar encourages investors, landowners, and local
communities to embrace a future where green energy is accessible to all. By acting now, the
company paves the way for a brighter, more sustainable tomorrow.

Challenges Fuel Innovation

Before integrating Glint Solar into their workflow, Chint Solar's engineering team spent a
significant amount of time evaluating the pre-permit stage projects. This intensive focus on
preliminary projects was taxing, given the company's expansive operations across multiple countries and numerous projects.

To mitigate this issue and reclaim valuable engineering resources, the company initially
developed internal tools and outsourced engineering tasks to external service providers.
However, this approach posed challenges, including cost implications, the complexity of the
design process, and issues related to the availability and flexibility of external engineers.

These challenges prompted Chint Solar to seek a more effective solution, leading them to explore the
capabilities of Glint Solar.

1. Precious engineering hours wasted on early- and mid-project stages: Before integrating Glint Solar into their workflow, Chint Solar's engineering team spent a significant portion of their time, around 60 to 70%, evaluating solar projects. This intense focus on preliminary projects, while essential, detracted from later-stage projects, impacting overall project efficiency and progress.

2. Lack of technical know-how and information-sharing hurdle: The technical expertise required for evaluating solar sites primarily resided within the engineering team. However, there was a pressing need to empower non-technical business teams with these skills to expedite project lifecycles. This challenge highlighted the importance of knowledge transfer and autonomy in decision-making processes.

3. Fragmented GIS Data: Evaluating solar sites was hindered by the fragmented nature of GIS data, dispersed across various tools and geoportals. This scattered approach resulted in time-consuming and error-prone data evaluation processes, impeding the efficiency of project evaluation and decision-making.

In the face of numerous challenges, Chint Solar embarked on a quest for the perfect solution. They meticulously evaluated a range of tools for utility-scale solar projects. Their search led them to Glint Solar, a standout amidst the competition. 

Glint Solar's ability to meet Chint Solar's specific needs set it apart. Its efficient project development support perfectly aligned with Chint Solar's objectives, empowering their teams to evaluate and design solar sites independently. With Glint Solar by their side, Chint Solar found the ally they needed to navigate their projects with confidence.

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 “Glint Solar is saving us a foreseeable 2000 engineering hours per year! We now redirect that time to critical later-stage tasks, reducing costs and driving growth.”

Deniz Urla Head of Engineering and Design, Europe at Chint Solar

The Solution

Glint Solar streamlined Chint Solar's global project verification process, centralizing GIS data layers and simplifying site evaluations.

Its easy-to-use interface and layer library enabled effortless access and manipulation of data, eliminating the need for multiple tools while making the evaluation process fun, and as a result, more and more employees started using the tool and evaluating sites on their own. 

With map-based filtering options, Chint Solar efficiently evaluated site buildability, considering environmental regulations and soil quality. Easy-to-use preliminary design tools facilitated fast yet accurate project layouts, while centralized technical data accelerated decision-making.

Glint Solar also enabled detailed project evaluation reports and enhanced stakeholder communications with 3D visualization.

Overall, Glint Solar transformed Chint Solar's solar site evaluation process, driving efficiency and collaboration across teams on their path to a sustainable energy future.

Solution

One place to manage GIS data for quick site identification and/or evaluation
Easy access to market data for new market expansion
Easy-to-use design tool for business teams
Simplified site evaluation process
Equipping business teams to generate detailed project evaluation reports
Empowering business teams to create 3D project visualizations
Tailored onboarding for each user profile

Impact

Streamlined project verification process with access to a place to consolidate essential GIS data, thus reducing reliance on multiple tools and enhancing overall productivity.
Enhanced visibility into market-specific GIS data, thereby facilitating streamlined site evaluation, informed decision-making, and pipeline boost in new markets.
Empowered business teams to create preliminary project layouts, mark exclusion areas, and roads, facilitating accurate buildable area calculations from the start. Minimized design iterations for engineering teams, saving time previously spent on redundant project update tasks.
Facilitated seamless transfer of technical information for precise project evaluation, establishing a standardized process. Accelerated decision-making and improved accuracy in project evaluations by integrating structured technical data and evaluation guidelines—including inverter or panel types, AC/DC ratio, panel orientation, ground coverage ratio, row distance, etc.—into an intuitive evaluation tool.
Enhanced stakeholder communications and transparency through comprehensive project evaluation reports, offering insights into PV system performance and yield, geographical data, and irradiation metrics.
Eliminated reliance on external engineers for 3D visualization. Enhanced stakeholder communications and elevated Chint Solar's standing in the industry.
Smooth integration and immediate value addition, ensuring project success from day one.

The Results

Glint Solar has become Chint Solar's go-to solution, with its usage tripling since 2023, signaling a deepening reliance on its capabilities. This surge reflects Chint Solar's recognition of Glint Solar's transformative power. Let's explore the remarkable outcomes achieved through this partnership.

  • 2000 engineering hours saved: Glint Solar's implementation has dramatically boosted efficiency, saving Chint Solar a foreseeable 2000 engineering hours per year. This results in significant cost savings by eliminating the need for outsourcing engineering tasks and avoiding additional hiring.

  • Reduced time to make decisions on land: With Glint Solar, Chint Solar shortened its decision-making process for land acquisition, resulting in faster project initiation and development.

  • Portfolio and new market expansion: Using Glint Solar boosted Chint Solar’s solar project portfolio. This was particularly notable in Italy and France where the adoption of the tool spurred greenfield development processes.

Chint Solar understands the pivotal role of efficiency, speed, accuracy, and collaboration in early project stages to expedite timelines and seize opportunities with precision. With Glint Solar's technology, they aim to lead the charge in advancing sustainable energy initiatives and realizing their vision of a brighter, greener future.

Keen to discover how Glint Solar can significantly reduce project evaluation time and save engineering hours for your team? 

Book a personalized demo now to witness firsthand how you too can slash site prospecting, design, and evaluation times by up to 96% and supercharge your solar greenfield pipeline growth. 

Want to See a Personalized Demo?

There’s nothing quite like seeing it for yourself.

Schedule a one-on-one demo with our experts to see how Glint Solar can help you:

  • Prospect the finest solar sites with just a few clicks
  • Create engineering-approved project designs in minutes
  • Make instant updates to assess multiple project scenarios in no time
  • Visualize your solar projects in 3D
  • Bring all your project data and decision-making in one user-friendly hub
  • Develop a more collaborative process involving key external stakeholders earlier
  • Accelerate overall project development for later-stage colleagues

Experience a comprehensive and repeatable site selection, design, and analysis process in a fraction of the time compared to traditional approaches.

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