Solar&StorageXtra caught up with Claire Gardner, Marketing Manager for Solis Europe after the Women in Solar Europe Network (WiSEu) hosted their first “speakeasy” event at Solar & Storage Live’s HQ – which was a great success!
Claire also discussed Solis Europe’s experience at Solar & Storage Live in Birmingham this September, her talk at the show, and her crucial role in helping the Solar Taskforce inspire fresh talent.
“We’re in the industry now and know good it is, so it’s our responsibility to talk about it and get the message out there.”
Interview with Claire Gardner, Marketing Manager for Solis Europe
Xtra: What is Solis Europe’s role in the industry?
Claire: We have a broad standard mission, which is to develop technology that drives clean energy and supplies clean energy to the world.
We’re doing that through innovation and technology, and we operate through a span of sectors, from very small inverters for balcony systems to large utility-scale across Europe and globally.
We tailor our products specifically to the needs of certain markets. For example, South Africa has very different needs to the German market and the North American market. To that end, we’re very clear on supplying local knowledge and local teams to support local markets. Thinking globally but acting locally.
Xtra: Can you talk to us about your role in the Solar Taskforce?
Claire: The Solar Taskforce has got lots of different elements to it, and I’m specifically part of the skills and workforce. That is also broken up into different areas because there’s a vast array of skills within our industry’s workforce.
We look at specific apprenticeships and other aspects such as the need for leadership, training, and coaching.
Xtra: How did this experience feed into your talk at Solar & Storage Live?
Claire: In my talk, I explained that there are two jobs to be done, in my eyes. We haven’t got enough physical on-the-ground skills to install all the solar that we need to hit our net-zero targets. Therefore, there are short-term targets and requirements to reach this.
There’s also of longer-term – how do we just make our industry more visible and desirable to attract this talent?
People need to see and understand the vast amount of careers that are within the solar industry. They see solar panels and think of electricians, but there’s so much more to it than that. There are roles familiar to many such as marketing, sales, media, law, business, civil engineering, and more.
Solar can be a sort of hidden industry that’s doing great things, so my talk centred around that as well as kind of delivering against purpose. A lot of people want to work in a business and industry that plays to their purpose, where we’re all striving for the same goal.
We’re in the industry now and know how good it is, so it’s our responsibility to talk about it and get the message out there. For example, do the careers fairs, or do a presentation at your children’s schools! You never know what great talent you might inspire.
Xtra: How does your Solar Taskforce role work alongside your role in WiSEu?
Claire: One of the Solar Taskforce subgroups that I’m chair of is the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) work stream, which is specifically looking at those elements. That work overlaps with what we’re doing in WiSEu, so I’m able to bring in those learnings.
We’re working on sort of frameworks that we could perhaps use as a trade association, frameworks on D and I that companies can draw on. Some companies are doing all the right practices without even thinking about it, but there are still improvements to be made.
We know that we don’t have a gender-balanced workforce, so we focus on that as a priority because a lot of other imbalances will naturally decline once it’s evened out. Of course, gender balance is an issue across lots of industries – not just ours – but we have a huge amount of highly talented women in our industry who we can use as voices.
Alongside this, we can work with senior and male allies within our industry to help drive forward change.
As part of the Solar Taskforce, we can create some tools to help businesses improve what they’re doing and build on the knowledge of those companies that are doing it well.
Xtra: Touching on your work with WiSEu, can you talk to us a bit about last Monday’s event?
Claire: Monday’s event (07/10/2024) was the first of our “speakeasies”. This event was open to our key allies and voices in our network. This doesn’t only include our female members, but everyone who can come together to share learnings, insights, and experiences.
We’re driving a healthy conversation about the positive actions the network can do, and I liked a lot that many of the faces engaging in the conversation were men.
They’re members of companies who are doing great things not because they want to tick a box, but because they understand the business benefits of having a gender-balanced workforce.
We’re hoping to drive this conversation and build upon it further through a series of informal events which are all about getting together in a relaxed environment. Hence, the “speakeasy” format.
These events will be planned around other big events going on because no one needs extra commitments in their diaries. For example, this speakeasy was planned in London for around the same time as a large Bloomberg event for which many of our members would’ve planned to be in town for anyway.
Again, we organised our WiSEu breakfast networking event at Solar & Storage Live in Birmingham, which many members already attended.
Xtra: How did Solis find Solar & Storage Live?
Claire: Solar & Storage Live in Birmingham this year was much bigger. Everyone I spoke to, whether it be other exhibitors or visitors, was wowed by the scale. It’s a visual representation of the UK solar industry, where it’s going, and how it’s performing.
There was a huge amount of positivity in the room for us specifically as an exhibitor. It’s always great to reconnect with our installers and chat with them directly.
These events are important to us because we really get to engage and give installers the chance to come and meet their service support team.
Missed out on Solar & Storage Live, or want to come back for more? Don’t miss the Barcelona edition from 13-14 November.
