Saving the world one solar panel at a time

Anyone who’s had to take over a family business knows that the generational handover can be a prickly affair. Armed with a degree in materials engineering from NTU, Frank Phuan joined his father’s solar panel manufacturing firm in 2001. He quickly realised that things needed to change.

“Instead of selling a product, I wanted to sell the energy that our product could generate and get recurring revenue this way,” he says. “I had wondered why we weren’t using our own products, but my dad said it was because Singapore didn’t have enough space and there weren’t any government incentives to justify the high investment costs at the time.”

While those were cogent arguments, Frank held fast to his business idea and together with fellow NTU graduate Lawrence Wu, they set up Sunseap Leasing in 2011 to sell solar energy as a service. “My father became my vendor. Imagine having to negotiate prices with a family member – it led to many interesting discussions at the dinner table,” he says wryly. “So I tried to keep Sunseap as independent as possible, and didn’t see us as a subsidiary of the family business.”

This way, Frank could focus all his energies on dealing with the many challenges that came with selling solar energy in a time when eco-consciousness was barely known let alone talked about. “Ten years ago we were just a startup with no license to sell energy in Singapore, so we found a workaround: we would ‘lease’ our equipment to the customer and collect revenue based on the energy they use every month. We called it solar leasing, and it’s a term that is still being used today.”

Financing was another issue. In addition to securing hefty bank loans to pay for the installation of all the solar equipment, Frank had to convince investors that the return on their investment that would take years, was worth it. “There were times when even I wondered if this was all worth it, since the nature of this business model meant that the more successful we become, the less of the company we own. But my passion for this industry and my family’s legacy more than compensated for the struggles.”

His patience and perseverance paid off, as Sunseap Leasing grew into Sunseap Group. Now in its 10th year, Sunseap Group is present in 12 markets around the region, from China to Australia. It also has more than 400 MWp of installed solar capacity, with clients that include HDB, Apple, Microsoft, Facebook and Amazon.

These days, Frank isn’t just providing clean energy; he’s providing opportunities, too. “We are trying to create an alternate, non-academic path to (becoming a chartered engineer in Singapore) by offering the equivalent work experience by training with us. We are working with government agencies now to make that happen.”

Thanks to green companies like Sunseap, the future of solar energy looks bright, but Frank says it is because people’s mindsets are changing and shifting to sustainability. “It’s about decarbonisation. It’s about saving the world. You can’t put a price on that.”

Click here to read about other Nanyang Alumni Award recipients.

This article first appeared in the first issue of U, the NTU alumni magazine.