Market Analysis of Gove Green

Gove Green is going to introduce a more cost efficient solar panel to the world. The company will start from Massachusetts and expand to the whole country after. The reason why the company wants to start from Massachusetts is that one Massachusetts has a fast growing solar market, two Massachusetts has several programs that rewards solar energy users and three the company has many good connections and resources here. Massachusetts’ final goal is to have 400MW of solar capacity and 270MW by the year 2017. In the last two year, Massachusetts has built 143.1MW. The available market is still big.

We have been through many discussions about which market we should go after, residential, commercial or utility. In residential solar panel market, Massachusetts has witnessed an explosive growth in last few years. The support from government is the strongest motivation in the market. There are more than 400 solar panel installation companies in MA. The real fierce competition comes from the third-party owned residential installations. These companies adopt Power Purchase Agreement to lease a solar system with the aim of making solar a more affordable option for consumers. Gove Green didn’t go after the residential market because we see the nearly saturation of the market and unfulfilled needs non-residential market.  

As long as we decided that Gove Green is going after the non-residential market, we started to look at a specific target market to go in. We analyzed some existing companies in the market. One kind of the existing companies is the big energy companies that control large solar project in the country, such as Nexamp, the largest privately owned solar power plant. Gove Green as a start-up energy can’t compete with these large company at the starting phase. We realize the opportunities in Rutland, MA because that Brendan Gove, the founder of the company, has many connections in the field. After analyzing the market there, we summarized a couple of target market. One major market that we are going to pursue is the business plazas in the area with several small businesses in each of them. There is one plaza named Rutland Plaza is going to be our first target. Another target market is going to be industrial parks in the area. Gove Green is going to be competitive in getting these markets because not only the innovative cost-efficient solar panel but also existing networks with some of the targets. We are also going to expand our market to other area in MA based on the same strategy. Along we are opening the market; we are also open to pivot the market strategy. For example, we may find out in the future that certain area has already installed solar panel; we may want to go to the property management companies that own buildings and rent to small business. Another pivot point I foresee may be the expanding to utility market. According to GTM Research and SEIA, the growth of utility market will be the next big thing besides the residential market and commercial market.