Why did Solcast choose DNV?

Solcast has now joined DNV, as announced February 1st 2023.

For our customers, nothing is changing. Solcast is still operating from our Sydney Office. We have the same great team and products - and DNV is investing to support our growth.

For me personally, this decision was a huge change. I was contemplating selling a company I'd poured six years of my sweat and soul into, not to mention the sweat and soul of Kimberly and my family, who have supported me on this whole journey. And, since I love working at Solcast, I was making a choice about where to go to work, too.

If you know DNV, you'll understand why their interest made my decision to sell so much easier. If you don't, I thought you might appreciate learning more about DNV and why me and my fellow Solcast shareholders decided it was such a good home for Solcast.

Longevity and purpose

DNV has been around for 160 years in total, and 90 years in energy. The average lifespan of companies is 20 years, and shrinking. So DNV is a major outlier.

DNV is not owned by private shareholders or some holding company in the Cayman Islands, but by a foundation. Instead of distributing profits to shareholders, the foundation re-invests into the business, and donates to charitable causes. This ownership structure allows DNV to focus on both profit and purpose. To me, this genuine focus on purpose was really important. I'd started Solcast for success, for fun, but also to help drive the energy transition. I also knew that because DNV hadn't promised shareholders short-term financial returns, they would make decisions for the long term.

Global footprint

DNV has 12,000 employees located in 100+ countries. For me, after spending six years bootstrapping a global growth story from Australia, it’s a great feeling to have that kind of network behind you. When we started talks with DNV, we had started scaling our sales operations outside Australia, so we were very aware of the value a larger network would bring. DNV is already helping to host our growing team across its network, so my team can focus on making the best data even better, and on delighting our customers.

Energy expertise

Of DNV's 12,000 staff, 4000 are energy experts. That's a massive number. In every region of the world, DNV has dozens of experts in electricity, renewables, energy storage and other related topics. Since day one at Solcast, our mission has been to "enable those building the solar-powered future". So we appreciated how DNV were not just enabling, they were highly trusted expert advisors.

While we keep tracking the clouds and improving our data, DNV is showing us where the energy transition is going next, and therefore where the data needs to go next. Watch this space!