What energy and solar teams do
Sales teams sell rooftop systems to homes, factories and institutions or bid for utility-scale tenders, with pre-sales engineers who survey sites and estimate generation. Design engineers prepare layouts, structural and electrical drawings, single-line diagrams and bills of material. Project teams procure modules, inverters and structures, run installation with site engineers, supervisors and technician crews, and commission the plant with the distribution company's approval for net metering or grid connection. O&M teams clean modules, monitor generation, fix inverter and string faults and keep the plant at its guaranteed performance. Liaison executives handle DISCOM paperwork, subsidies and inspections, and safety officers manage work at height and electrical isolation.
- Sales and pre-sales: site surveys, proposals, tenders and customer handover
- Engineering: plant layout, electrical design, structural checks and BOQs
- Projects: procurement, installation, commissioning and DISCOM liaison
- O&M: module cleaning, monitoring, fault repair and performance reports
Team size at 50, 500 and 5,000 employees
A 50-person rooftop solar installer usually has the founder selling, a design engineer, a liaison executive, two or three project engineers and several installation crews of technicians and helpers, with O&M handled by the same crews. A solar EPC company of about 500 employees has a head of projects with project managers for each large plant, a design team, a procurement team, site engineers and supervisors across states, a separate O&M team with plant in-charges, and business development for commercial and industrial clients.
An independent power producer or large EPC company with 5,000 employees runs utility-scale plants in states such as Rajasthan, Gujarat and Karnataka, with project directors, construction managers, and quality and safety teams on each site, a central engineering office, an O&M organization with regional heads and plant managers, and a remote monitoring team that watches every plant's generation through the day. Corporate teams handle tenders, land, regulatory affairs and finance.
How project, O&M and support teams work together
Sales makes promises on generation and timelines that projects and O&M must keep, so pre-sales engineers bring design in before quoting large plants. Procurement times module and inverter deliveries to the site schedule, and stores at site track every panel. Finance manages project billing milestones and customer collections. O&M feeds defects and design problems back to engineering so the next plant is better. HR handles crews spread across remote sites: site attendance, travel and site allowances, accommodation, safety training records and fast hiring when a new project starts. At remote plants, crews often mark attendance on a shared kiosk tablet at the site office.
Design approvals, site sign-offs and reporting lines
Technicians and helpers report to site supervisors, who report to site engineers, then the project manager and the head of projects, who reports to the CEO or COO; O&M technicians report to plant in-charges and the O&M head. Designs are checked by a senior engineer and approved by the head of engineering before material is ordered. Each stage on site, such as structure erection, module mounting and electrical work, is signed off by the site engineer and QA before the next begins. Work at height and live electrical work need a permit signed by the safety officer, and any deviation from the approved design goes back to engineering.
Typical energy and solar team structure
Energy and Solar designation hierarchy
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Book a free demoSee pricingFrequently asked questions
What is the hierarchy in a solar EPC company?
On the execution side, helpers and solar technicians report to installation supervisors, then site engineers, project managers and the head of projects, while design engineers work under a design lead and O&M technicians under plant in-charges and an O&M head. Sales, liaison, procurement and safety teams support the project line.
What does a solar site engineer do?
A solar site engineer runs installation at a project site. They mark out the layout, supervise structure erection, module mounting and cabling by the crews, check work against drawings, maintain daily progress and material reports, coordinate inspections, and support testing and commissioning. They report to the project manager and work closely with the safety officer.
What is the difference between EPC and O&M in solar?
EPC covers engineering, procurement and construction: designing the plant, buying equipment and building it until commissioning. O&M covers operation and maintenance after commissioning: cleaning modules, monitoring generation, repairing faults and keeping the plant at its expected output for years. Many companies run the two as separate teams with separate heads and targets.
How are site crews managed across remote solar projects?
Crews are managed through site supervisors who plan daily work, track attendance and approve leave with the site engineer. Companies arrange accommodation and travel, pay site allowances as per policy, and record attendance at the site itself. Safety induction, permits for work at height and electrical work, and toolbox talks happen every day before work starts.