Meet the ex-youth charity manager behind Guru Nanak Gurdwara Smethwick's huge solar rooftop

Harj Malhi, the MD of Oldbury-based renewables design and installation company Green Tech Hub, grew up in Smethwick and studied psychology and computing, at the University of Wolverhampton and then at UCL. He has a background in the third sector, as the former finance and operations manager for ten years of Smethwick Youth & Community Centre running all aspects of the organisation.

But his heart was always on the engineering side, and after leaving the charity in 2014, he teamed up with ex-colleague Gurjit Singh, a former lecturer who had gone on to become lead engineer at a solar company, to launch a new green energy business.

Harj had developed a keen interest in renewables. “It’s everything – the ethics, definitely the technology side,” he says. “I could also see the genuine net financial gain for the client and it helps the UK hit its international obligations. Put them together, it’s a no-brainer for me”. Green Tech Hub was set up at a time when the sector had reached its peak and was entering a rocky patch because of changes to the feed-in tariff.

“Because we could start the company and survive during its most difficult period, it showed it was viable for us,” Harj says. “We started off doing maintenance on solar PV systems that had been poorly installed. Attached to that, we had a single website set up that slowly allowed us to build a brand. The growth has been based on building our reputation from bottom up”.

Today, new business is overwhelmingly on the commercial side. Clients include a security company which builds machines for governments and airports, a manufacturer which had a solar and battery system installed partly using match-funded grants, and a city centre business hub.

The company has a small in-house project management and consultancy team. Harj says that after many years he’s built up a network of contractors who work to Green Tech Hub’s bespoke standards, higher than industry requirements.

Green Tech Hub’s landmark project last year was the installation of a 420 panel, 195kW system on the roof of the Guru Nanak Gurdwara Smethwick – claimed to be the largest solar installation on any Sikh place of worship in the world. The gurdwara was the first major Sikh temple in the West Midlands, the one that Harj’s grandmother used to go to, and which Harj has visited since he was five or six.

Each week, the gurdwara is attended by at least 10,000 worshippers and serves 10,000 free meals through its Langar hall. On some days the solar panel system fulfils the building’s entire electricity needs, and in optimal conditions up to 50% of what’s generated is exported to the Grid. The panels approximately halved the gurdwara’s bills in summer 2025 and are due to pay back on the six-figure investment in two and a half years.

An added benefit, Harj says, is that the gurdwara committee can use real-time system data to look at why the building has been consuming so much power at night, perhaps because of equipment that doesn’t power down, and use that information to make changes. There is enough roof space to make the solar array even bigger in future.

The site’s location in a densely built-up area presented logistical difficulties for getting scaffolding put up. The work was delivered by local contractors, and Harj says that everyone – “the scaffolders, the installers on the roof, the electrical team – all went above and beyond to give something back to the temple. It wasn't just another install for them”. He gives kudos to the gurdwara community for their proactive and positive approach to the project.

A spokesperson for the gurdwara said: “This latest initiative reinforces Guru Nank Gurdwara Smethwick’s longstanding commitment to seva (selfless service), not only through faith and community outreach but also by leading on environmental responsibility”.

Harj thinks projects like the gurdwara installation have helped to normalise solar power – “the psychological block is gone now. Clean living, doing what's right for nature, I think that's built into it as well. Everything is moving in the right direction now”.

For Careers Week, which runs until 7th March, Harj’s message is the pride he takes in and enjoyment he gets from creating high-skilled trades jobs for young people to go into. “Green Tech Hub does consultancy work for Wolverhampton College,” Harj says. “We would be more than happy to be part of any programme”.