At Solar & Storage Live in Birmingham, Solar&StorageXtra spoke to Mark Henderson, Sales & Marketing for Dale Power Solutions.
Mark discussed Dale Power Solutions’ podcast Current Talks, how the company is helping to educate people coming to the solar and storage industry for the first time, and the topical sector issues they’re tackling head-on.
Storage is very much in its infancy as sector, so there are a lot of challenges and questions that businesses are coming up against. It’s good to help other businesses get to grips with them.
Interview with Mark Henderson
Xtra: What is Dale Power Solutions’ role in the industry?
Mark: Dale Power Solutions was originally established in the backup power industry, with generators and UPS as our core business throughout the UK and now the Middle East.
We provide full backup power solutions to multiple industries and sectors. These include the delivery of equipment, engineering, design, manufacturing, installation, and service and maintenance.
Our natural next transition was batteries because energy storage seemed to perfectly fit what we do; we can design, install, and do operational and maintenance services.
Xtra: Can you talk to us about your podcast, Current Talks?
Mark: On Current Talks, we speak to industry leaders about the (sector’s) challenges, key benefits, what Dale needs to do as a business, and what they (the podcast guest) need to do as a business.
Overall, it’s about creating a knowledge base of people in the sector who provide their views and experience and help the audience to get some good ideas.
Storage is very much in its infancy as a sector, so there are a lot of challenges and questions that businesses are coming up against. It’s good to help other businesses get to grips with them.
Xtra: What products has Dale brought with them to Solar & Storage Live?
Mark: Product-wise, we’re selling ourselves as an Engineering, Procurement, and Construction (EPC) partner.
We’ve partnered with a company based in Germany called EFT, which stands for Energy For Tomorrow, and we work with them on projects under 50MW where there’s a full EPC requirement.
We’ve got our system called the Top 100. This includes the Towers of Power for the smaller applications up to 100 KW units with multiple units on site. We also have EFT’s MCQ product, which can have a storage capacity of up to 5 MW in a 20ft skid solution.
We can take and install this solution, commission it, and also service and maintain it for our customers.
Xtra: What topical issues in the industry is Dale tackling?
Mark: First and foremost, the industry needs to reach acceptance of the technology. It’s in its infancy phase at the moment, and we’re finding that sometimes customers are coming to us without all of the knowledge they could have.
This can make them risk-averse, so as a business, we’re trying to provide them with answers to all of their questions about the technology, the funding options, and the payback.
We’ve got to make sure that we educate the customer and the industry that, while the issues are there, genuine solutions exist that will help you reduce your CO2 emissions and get your energy cost down.
Acceptance is the first topic, and understanding is after that. (Customers) need to fully understand their costs, and their current energy tariffs, and then they need to understand what they can save by using the battery.
There’s education from that side, which we also do as a business. Anybody coming to Dale is not just coming to us for the technology, they’re joining up with a partner that will take them on the journey all the way through.
Xtra: What are the benefits of attending Solar & Storage Live?
Mark: As with any trade show, of course, it’s focused on a certain sector. If an attendee is in that sector, they’re going to meet key customers and key people. They’ll see different suppliers, understand different technologies, socialise, educate themselves and help to educate others.
It’s just good to just to be in the thick of it; in a mix of everybody sharing experiences in the same in the same industry.
Missed out on Solar & Storage Live, or want to come back for more? Don’t miss the Barcelona edition from 13-14 November.
