How Czech entrepreneur Vaclav Polanka grew solar firm Sunus

A 29-year-old entrepreneur from Plzeň, Václav Polanka founded the company Sunus six years ago and steered it through a solar boom, the market crash that followed, and a return to steady double-digit growth. Today his firm, which installs photovoltaic power plants and heat pumps, keeps growing against the tide of the entire sector.

Polanka's path into solar energy began at 21, when he took a job at the ČEZ group's call centre, handling corporate clients for photovoltaics and heat pumps in western Bohemia. Sensing the industry's potential, in August 2020 he and a partner founded Sunus in Plzeň, with the slogan “We'll connect you to the Sun.”

The start was tough: Polanka personally walked the city handing out flyers to find his first customers. But gradual growth let the company fine-tune its processes and prepare for the boom that followed. In 2022, amid the energy crisis and state subsidies, revenue reached 136 million crowns — a jump that surprised even the founder himself. “If we'd known in advance, we'd have prepared even better. With the team we have now, we'd be at three-quarters of a billion,” the entrepreneur admits.

But the surge in demand for home solar plants and heat pumps — Sunus's core customer base — didn't last long. For the past three years the residential installation market has been steadily shrinking: in the first half of this year alone, according to the Solar Association, the number of installations halved. Hundreds of companies in the industry have run into serious trouble or shut down.

Sunus, however, keeps growing: cumulative turnover over six years has approached 370 million crowns, last year revenue grew by 12%, and this year the company is planning 20% growth, aiming to reach a stable annual turnover of one hundred million crowns within two years.

“What helped us was not giving in to megalomaniac ambitions,” Polanka explains, noting that many competitors got burned by inflated expectations. He admits he himself is prone to grand ideas, but is “kept grounded” by his wife Karolína, who works at the company as projects director — today Sunus is effectively a family business, and Polanka became its sole owner after buying out his former partner's stake.

Flexibility and a readiness to adapt quickly have saved the company more than once. When the State Environmental Fund suspended applications for subsidies under the “New Green Savings” programme last November, Sunus almost ran out of new orders. Polanka then launched an air-conditioning division — this year alone the company has installed more than 250 units. Meanwhile, the conflict in the Strait of Hormuz and rising energy prices have reignited demand for photovoltaics, while an updated state-support programme for low-income families has also resumed since September.

By the Around Prague newsroom