Q: How would you describe your role at Greenlight Planet?

Martin: As Vice President of Research and Procurement, I lead product development from idea to mass delivery. This role involves working with a number of internal and external parties to design, produce and ship our Sun King products around the world while maintaining a high level of quality.

Q: What sparked the idea of developing a Sun King Home system with a television?

Martin: As customers move up the energy ladder, we see an increased demand for more advanced solar home systems and appliances. The challenge, until now, has been around designing a system that meets customers’ interests, for example, the ideal daily runtime of a television, with an affordable price point. The biggest barrier has been balancing energy efficiency with battery and solar panel costs. After our tremendous efforts, we can now proudly say that Sun King’s televisions are amongst the best, most cost-efficient products in the market.

Q: Did you ever think that you would innovate and customize a solar TV?

Martin: Absolutely, innovation was not just required for the solar television, but for all the other appliances as well. Since our industry is still nascent compared with other consumer electronics, there are limited resources available. We don’t yet have an evolved ‘solar appliance’ sector with broad availability of efficient, DC powered products that you can just pick up and pair with an existing solar home system. Customization of these appliances is routine in our industry.

Q: What is your favourite feature of the Sun King Home 400?

Martin: The energy conservation that works on cloudy days. This helps customers to enjoy continued performance throughout the year regardless of weather conditions.

Q: How have customers responded to the Sun King Home 400 so far??

Martin: The initial response from customers has been highly encouraging and overwhelming. They are very happy with the television and the complete, packaged offering.

Q: Who do you think the Sun King Home 400 serves most? How do you incorporate that in your design process?

Martin: The Sun King Home 400 serves households in areas that are either unelectrified or experience frequent power cuts.

This product is an interesting step up from our other off-grid services that offer basic lighting and phone charging, as the television also offers information, entertainment and more.

The TV is the first major appliance we have bundled with our solar home systems. With this addition, customers can gain access to education and entertainment through free-to-air programs available domestically. We also have another version in the pipeline; a CI TV to enable paid TV programs without requiring any additional costs from set-top boxes.

We’ve put a lot of effort into ensuring the efficiency of our television systems, making sure they can operate for enough time while consuming minimum energy. Our 19", 24" and 32" televisions are some of the most efficient in the market.

Q: More broadly, what are some of the challenges you face while developing solar powered products for rural populations?

Martin: I would say there are three main challenges that we often face:

• Efficiency: Our products are designed for the underserved population, so they need to be affordable and meet practical needs. We constantly seek for the most cost-efficient and timely approach to deliver products to end customers. Efficiency here does not simply refer to speed, but also to cost structure and process design.
• Quality: It’s hard for our consumers in rural locations to gain access to customer service and support. This is why we focus so intently on making nearly ‘unbreakable’ products. Our product development teams work diligently to deliver reliable and long-lasting products.
• Resource constraints: The off-grid industry is still very young, and even though it is growing, it currently exists on a small scale. Finding multiple suppliers of components and competitive pricing during product development, manufacturing and logistics are not always easy.

Q: How has your experience working with Greenlight Planet been?

Martin: It’s been a tough journey with all kinds of challenges. However, each time I see or hear about the improvements our products bring to our customers’ work and life, I’m reminded that it’s worth all of the effort. And I’m very proud of what our product development teams and I are doing and how far we’ve come.

Q: Having met our customers a number of times now, do you have any vivid memories you can share?

Martin: Yes, one that stands out occurred just this past November. We visited a college in Kenya, and we were greeted by the headmaster. He had introduced ten of our Sun King Home systems to the school, installed in offices, classrooms, dorms, and even toilets. I was so happy and proud to see how directly our innovations impact lives. Sun King products do more than bring light to families at home, they are helping to support a promising journey for younger generation invested in gaining more knowledge and education.