Oslo-based Glint Solar, a Norwegian solar developer software, announced that has raised $8M (approximately €7.43M) in a Series A round of funding. The round was led by Smedvig Ventures, with support from Momentum, Futurum Ventures, and Antler.
Jonathan Lerner, Partner at Smedvig Ventures, says, “The solar industry has done a great job at developing ways to harvest green energy, but now we need better processes to get these plans in motion. This is the gap that Glint Solar is filling.”
“As one of the first unified products for utility projects on the market, solar developers, engineers, analysts and management can find everything they need to locate the best land spaces quickly and accurately. This is a much-needed evolution from manually trawling through data from multiple sources, saving considerable resources in all-important green energy projects.”
Accelerating the adoption of solar energy
The solar power industry has experienced significant growth, with global solar PV capacity rising by 87 per cent from 2022 to 2023. Despite this progress, further efforts are needed to meet the targets set by the Paris Agreement.
Glint Solar is helping to accelerate solar adoption and combat climate change with its SaaS platform, which allows solar developers to quickly assess and pre-design sites in minutes, streamlining the process.
Founded in 2020 by Harald Olderheim, Even Kvelland and John Modin, Glint Solar addresses the slow pace of solar project development, where 73 per cent of companies’ time is spent on projects that don’t reach the permitting stage.
The company’s platform aims to streamline the permitting process, making it easier, smarter and faster. Glint Solar’s solution enables developers to triple their project pipeline and assess sites 10 times faster than traditional methods.
By integrating adaptable layout designs, yield estimates, and country-specific GIS data, the platform enhances collaboration, reduces land negotiation times, and improves communication with stakeholders through 3D-rendered project layouts.
Capital utilisation
Glint Solar has grown since its $3M Seed round in 2022, more than tripling its customer base in the past year. The software is used by solar developers and energy companies in over 35 countries, including Recurrent Energy, Statkraft, and E.ON.
The new investment will help the company expand into more markets and improve its product. Glint Solar plans to double its team of 30 people in the next year.
By 2025, Glint Solar aims to expand its platform with new tools, including a feature to help developers identify optimal locations for energy storage units, further disrupting the solar development process.
CEO and co-founder, Olderheim, says, “To counteract the effects of climate change, renewable energy needs to be adopted at a faster pace. The UN IPCC report says that 70-85 per cent of the world’s electricity must come from renewable sources by 2050 to avoid the worst impacts of a warming planet.”
“Luckily, utility-scale solar is quickly becoming the most cost-efficient form of energy one can build – in Texas, for example, it has overtaken coal as the most important energy source. The remaining factor is to also make solar energy development time efficient.”
“Software is at the heart of the solution and this investment allows us to continue to push the boundaries of making complex, fragmented data and insights easily accessible, directly impacting the speed of global solar adoption.”
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