Welcome to the second installation of our cleantech blog series, where we shine the spotlight on Deep Chakraborty, co-founder and CEO of enACT Systems. EnACT is a first-of-its-kind, software-as-a-service (SaaS) platform that increases customer engagement and workflow automation for solar energy and energy efficiency sales.

Take a peek at Deep’s thoughts on what it takes to start a cleantech business as well as what he sees for the future of the industry. (Hint: It’s looking good).

City of Fremont: As the founder of a cleantech company, what factors do you find pivotal for success?

Deep Chakraborty: Availability of early- and mid-stage growth capital is undoubtedly a key driver for success. I’ve seen many startups with unique and successful business models that struggle for early-stage capital.

Fremont: Seems like a big challenge. Can you pinpoint any other challenges that cleantech companies have to overcome?

DC: Financing and transaction costs are big as well. Residential solar or energy efficiency transaction costs are as high as 30 percent of revenue—that’s more than three times higher than other categories!

But this is where enACT Systems can help. Cleantech companies can leverage our end-to-end SaaS platform to ultimately shorten the sales cycle and reduce some of these transaction costs.

Government support also used to represent a significant challenge for many cleantech segments, especially ones in solar and energy efficiency. Because these technologies are now providing excellent return for customers in high-energy cost markets like California and New York, we have reached a turning point in how we partner with government agencies.

Fremont: Speaking of markets, do you think that any other states will join California in the U.S. solar power rankings?

DC: Definitely. While California still accounts for 50 percent of all new solar installations, new markets continue to open up. New Mexico, Missouri, and Indiana all made the top-10 list of U.S. markets in Q2 2014 for the first time, marking a clear trend that consumers can now benefit from the lower costs of distributed power.

Fremont: Wow! Do you see any other developing trends in the cleantech industry?

DC: Energy storage and energy efficiency driven by high-growth segments such as LED lighting are clearly evolving. As consumers become increasingly sophisticated in how they view their energy use, they begin to ask the right questions that drive change in their overall energy footprint. One great example is the increased use of electric vehicles, like in Fremont.

Fremont: And what about the energy distribution market?

DC: I think the next decade will represent a shift away from centralized to distributed energy and resource markets. Our decades-old power structure is built around large, centralized plants that send power through one-way transmission and distribution lines to uninformed customers. Now, however, power generation is becoming more efficient and distributed, occurring anywhere and everywhere—on rooftops or via mini power plants co-located at a customer’s site.

Fremont: Very interesting. Anything else you’d like to share?

DC: In this increasingly decentralized world, customers and energy providers drive better solutions. We can see this in how we track energy usage, manage storage systems, and use software to interact with the grid and analyze data.

And as the power sector continues to move in this direction, new utility business models need to emerge as the power sector adapts to survive or die. In many ways, the telecom industry’s landscape saw the same shift when wireless solutions and distributed networks emerged.

So hold tight for a sea-change in one of the largest, most significant industries that is driving the global economy.