727: A Simple Logistics Improvement Worth Billions To The Solar Industry, Philip Schwarz of PVpallet

Have you ever considered the environmental impact of the non-solar components we deploy in the solar industry? It’s good that we generate clean energy, and even better that we quantify the embodied energy of things like the solar panels we use.  But, it takes a relatively “dirty” and old-fashioned industry to actually deliver those solar modules - logistics.  And, one of the lowest-common-denominator, least-thought-about products in the logistics toolkit is a century-old ‘technology’ made of wood…the pallet. 

While essential for transporting solar panels (among millions of other products), these pallets contribute to significant waste (over 6,000 pounds of wood waste per megawatt); they also emit on average about 8kg of CO2 per unit! Millions of wooden pallets end up in landfills each year.  Worse still, the breakage of solar panels during transport costs the industry billions. This overlooked issue impacts both profitability and sustainability, reducing the overall positive impact of the clean energy sector's green footprint.

During his 15 years in the solar industry, Philip Schwarz has witnessed the waste, costs, inefficiencies, and safety issues associated with using wooden pallets. Inspired by a napkin sketch from his original co-founder, Philip went all-in on the potential for reusable packaging in the solar industry. The resulting company, PVpallet, has grown to become the industry’s leading provider of reusable packaging solutions.

There are numerous lessons to be learned throughout this conversation:

• The novel engineering behind their reusable pallet design
• How PVpallet uses reverse logistics and recycled materials to improve customers’ ESG scores
• Why product innovation is a costly endeavor, and how they almost lost it all
• The underlying economics that make this product make sense (and why people are still resistant to change)

Queue up this innovator’s story if you’re looking for inspiration to help you build your dream.  By the way, Philip has also built a great culture and is Always looking for good people. ;-)

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CPS July 2024 V2