Short answer: A solar panel business is not equipment sales but project management: a budget for every site, panel and inverter procurement, installation crews, grid-connection paperwork and a service contract that runs for years. When project, inventory, purchasing, installation and service live in one ERP such as Odoo, the real profit of each plant and every service deadline stay under control.
Uzbekistan's solar market is growing fast. According to IRENA, installed solar capacity reached 2,275 MW at the end of 2024, up from 475 MW a year earlier (pv magazine, 2025). The government targets 27 GW of renewable capacity and a 40% share of power generation by 2030 (Enerdata, 2024). The number of solar installers has grown with the market, yet many still run projects in Excel and Telegram groups. This article shows how to systematize a solar panel business from project budget to after-sales service.
How does a solar panel business work?
A solar panel business is project work: designing a solar power plant for a client, supplying the equipment, installing it, connecting it to the grid and maintaining it afterwards.
Installers usually serve three kinds of clients:
- Households. Rooftop systems of 3–15 kW. Under the Solar Home program, surplus power exported to the grid earns a subsidy of UZS 1,000 per kWh; more than 35,000 households received subsidies in January–September 2025 (pv magazine, 2025).
- Businesses. Plants of tens or hundreds of kW for workshops, warehouses and shopping centers.
- Large projects. Work as contractor or subcontractor.
Small installations are multiplying too: according to the Ministry of Energy, in the first quarter of 2025 alone small solar plants totaling 197.9 MW were installed at 10,117 sites (Kun.uz, 2025). Every site is a separate project: estimate, procurement, installation, paperwork and service.
Where does a solar installation company lose money?
Patterns we often see in projects:
- Stale estimates. Panel and inverter prices move with the exchange rate and supplier, but the estimate still uses last month's prices.
- Equipment goes to another site. An inverter bought for one project is urgently taken to another, and the first project stalls.
- Unknown installation cost. Crew days and the cable, rails and fasteners used are never booked to the project.
- Lost serial numbers. Nobody knows which inverter serial sits at which site, so warranty claims are hard to trace.
- Forgotten service. Paid service contracts (panel cleaning, inverter checks, monitoring) lapse unnoticed.
These are typical for project businesses. PMI's (Project Management Institute) 2018 study found that 43% of projects go over budget and 52% experience scope creep (PMI, 2018).
How do you control a solar project budget?
Each plant is a separate project with its own analytic account in the ERP. The budget is made of:
- Equipment. Panels, inverter, batteries (if any), mounting structure, cable and protection devices. Prices come from the last purchase or are recalculated at the current exchange rate.
- Installation. Crew days, transport, crane or aerial lift if needed.
- Design and paperwork. Drawings, grid-connection documents and related costs.
- Contingency. A percentage for the unexpected.
For example, with assumed figures: in the estimate for a 50 kW business plant, equipment is 75%, installation 15%, design and paperwork 5% and contingency 5%. If equipment is bought in dollars and the client contract is in so'm, a 5% exchange-rate move can wipe out a large part of the project margin. The figures are illustrative, but when the system shows plan and actual side by side for every project, the risk is visible early.
Basics of client management: what is a CRM system.
How should equipment purchasing and inventory be managed?
Equipment is the largest cost, so purchasing and stock need special attention:
- Project reservation. When the contract is signed, the required panels and inverters are reserved in stock for that project and cannot go elsewhere.
- Automatic purchase requests. Missing equipment triggers a purchase request, and suppliers and prices are compared.
- Import costs. Freight, customs and other charges are allocated to product cost. Since August 2023, imported solar panel components have been exempt from customs duty and VAT (Kun.uz, 2025), but logistics and other costs still need to be captured.
- Serial numbers. Every inverter and panel batch is received with a serial or lot number, and the site where it is installed is recorded.
More on purchasing and stock: Odoo Sales and Purchase and how to run warehouse accounting.
How does after-sales service become revenue?
The relationship does not end once the plant is installed. Panels get dusty, inverters throw errors and connections loosen. That makes a service contract a potential source of recurring revenue.
A service contract is a recurring paid agreement under which the plant is inspected, cleaned and repaired on an agreed schedule.
In an ERP it works like this:
- Every installed plant, with its equipment and serial numbers, is linked to the client record.
- The service contract runs as a subscription, and invoices are issued automatically.
- Planned visits (for example seasonal cleaning and inspection) are created as tasks automatically.
- The client gets a reminder before the warranty ends.
The value of planned maintenance shows in numbers too. According to the US Department of Energy's FEMP program materials, preventive maintenance can save as much as 12–18% on average compared with a reactive, fix-it-when-it-breaks approach (PNNL/FEMP).
What changes after automation: in numbers
- Project budget: 43% of projects exceed budget; comparing plan and actual per plant reveals deviations during installation (PMI, 2018).
- Service cost: preventive maintenance can save up to 12–18% versus reactive repair, and predictive maintenance saves a further 8–12% over preventive alone (PNNL/FEMP).
- Market volume: installed solar capacity grew from 475 MW to 2,275 MW in one year; at that pace, running projects by hand soon stops working (pv magazine, 2025).
- Technology cost: IRENA reports that the average levelized cost of solar electricity (LCOE) fell 90% since 2010 to $0.044/kWh in 2023; with tighter price competition, margin control matters more (pv magazine, 2024).
- ERP payback: an average of $7.23 returned for every dollar spent (Nucleus Research, 2014).
How does Deep Vision approach this?
Deep Vision is an official Odoo Gold Partner. Our Odoo partner page lists 7 certified experts, 24 client references and 89% customer retention. Our clients include trading, manufacturing, construction and logistics companies, so tying together projects, inventory and installation is familiar work.
In the experience of Deep Vision founder Amon Olimov's team, project-based companies should first set up equipment reservation per project and serial-number tracking: then both budget control and service rest on correct data. A typical plan:
- Diagnostics: client types, estimating method, purchasing and installation flow.
- Foundation: CRM, sales, purchasing and inventory (usually 6–8 weeks).
- Projects and installation: project budgets, crews, analytic accounting.
- Service: subscription contracts, planned visits, warranty tracking; full rollout takes 2–6 months.
- A ready Didox integration for e-invoices and an Uzbek interface (our team did Odoo's Uzbek translation).
Service: Odoo implementation. To discuss your business, leave a brief.
Frequently asked questions
Does a small installer need an ERP?
Yes, if you handle a few dozen sites a month. CRM, sales, inventory and projects are enough to start; service can be added later.
How do you handle exchange-rate swings?
Purchases are kept in foreign currency and sales in so'm, and the exchange difference is calculated automatically. Re-pricing an estimate at a new rate is one click.
Are serial numbers really necessary?
Yes, especially for inverters. When a warranty claim arrives you see at once which serial is at which site and when it was installed.
How can service contracts be automated?
Enter the contract as a subscription; invoices and planned-visit tasks are generated on schedule.
How much does Odoo cost?
It depends on users and apps: Odoo ERP pricing in Uzbekistan.
Sources
- pv magazine: Uzbekistan expands solar home subsidy uptake, 2025
- Enerdata: Uzbekistan targets 27 GW renewable capacity, 2024
- Kun.uz: household solar energy production, 2025
- pv magazine: IRENA solar LCOE 2023
- PNNL/FEMP: O&M best practices, maintenance approaches
- PMI Pulse of the Profession 2018, press release
- Nucleus Research: ERP returns $7.23 for every dollar spent
- Deep Vision, Odoo partner page
Want to bring order to your solar projects? Leave a brief or call +998 77 093 00 07.