“Women have other strengths, which can give another type of leadership. We have more empathy, which is an advantage to build teams. My partners and I are aware of the diversity of gender and race. The more different the experiences, the more value each profile brings and the easier it is to innovate”
-Andrea Barber, CEO and Co-Founder of Rated Power, Spain
Andrea Barber, 2022 WE Empower Finalist, Europe and North America
Prior to founding Rated Power, Andrea Barber worked in a multinational engineering services firm. This field of work had an alignment to a male dominated industry which provided barriers to women progressing to management positions. This motivated Barber to actively pursue closing the gender gap through various outlets to encourage women to follow entrepreneurial paths while they can watch more female role models grow. The creation of Rated Power blossomed with this value in mind having a staff that is 50% female as well as the progression of the SDG’s, and a goal to fight climate change. Rated Powers’ purpose is to “accelerate the energy transition” by growing the use of solar energy with their pvDesign via the culmination of engineering and technology. This process assists in mitigating the negative impact on the environment via contributing to UN SDG 7: Affordable and Clean Energy, UN SDG 11: Sustainable Cities and Communities, and UN SDG 13: Climate Action
Affordable and Clean Energy
Sustainable Cities and Communities
Nowadays, focus is being drawn to a pivotal shift in the types of energy we use due to the rapid effects of climate change severely affecting our surrounding environment and livelihood. Rated Power took this initiative to promote the access to clean energy by honing in on an unlimitedly available renewable resource; solar energy. This accessibility is manufactured through the software pvDesign which allows a 5% reduction in users Levelized Cost of Energy, and overall results in increased profitability. This creates incentive for a switch away from nonrenewables as well as giving greater access to a clean energy source at an affordable price.
In the interests of preserving the natural world and helping communities grow in an efficient and safe manner, pvDesign has contributed to 20,000 project developments all over the world. In doing so, clean energy has been provided to 22 million homes in 150+ countries redefining access to electricity in developing and developed areas.
Climate Action
pvDesign and its impacts are greatly influencing the amount of PV solar projects that are in action and how many new ones are being implemented into companies and organizations all over the world. This increase shows the acclimation towards the renewable energy transition. The completion of the thousands of projects pvDesign has contributed towards an estimation of a 29 million ton reduction of CO2 with an annual decrease in almost 33 million barrels of oil.
“We currently have over 80 active customers for pvDesign, with an average of 12 users per company. This means more than 700 users every day benefit from using the software to optimize their solar energy plants and the work of their engineering teams, shortening times, allowing them to focus on more value-added tasks, and the most important: making their solar plants more efficient.”
-Andrea Barber, CEO and Co-Founder of Rated Power, Spain
By Samantha Studstill, WE Empower Intern