Energie 56 solar outreach

Small commercial PV in Switzerland kept stalling at kickoff for three reasons: money, paperwork, and who benefits. Early business cases leaned on feed-in revenues that were slow or uncertain, local utilities paid very little for exports, and banks were cautious. Permitting was a cantonal patchwork that added weeks of friction before anyone could order gear. On rented buildings the landlord paid for the roof but the tenant saved on the bill, so no one moved first.

Operators unblocked this by flipping the model to upfront support and on-site use, then simplifying the path to yes. They sized systems for self-consumption, took the one-time federal rebate to de-risk capex, and treated any export as secondary income. They shifted from permits to simple notifications where allowed and worked from standard checklists to compress lead time. Most importantly, they used ZEV self-consumption groups so owners could legally allocate solar to tenants, and brought in third-party financing or PPAs so no one had to write a big check on day one. The result was faster starts, clearer cash flow, and previously stuck multi-tenant roofs turning into bankable projects.

Approach

1. 1

   Qualify roofs for self-consumption first, exports second

2. 2

   Apply one-time federal rebate to de-risk upfront capex

3. 3

   Use notification paths where allowed to reduce friction

4. 4

   Standardise checklists to compress the lead time

5. 5

   Form ZEV groups to allocate solar to tenants legally

6. 6

   Offer PPAs or third-party financing to avoid upfront checks