Intro
Sanza is a digital platform that aims to revolutionize the renewable energy sector by democratizing access to renewable energy at competitive prices. It features an innovative marketplace based on digital contracts, enabling buyers of large energy volumes to contact directly with renewable energy projects.
Challenge
Our primary challenge is to create a versatile tool that serves to buyers, sellers, managers, and advisors. This requires adjusting different roles, permissions, and unique user journeys for each participant involved in contract projects. Additionally, we needed to develop a marketplace where Power Purchase Agreements (PPAs) can be offered to buyers through auctions.
Success criteria
Together with the Product Manager and stakeholders we defined a series of elements that should be implementedto keep the project focused and aligned with business objectives:
- Sanza managers or super admins should have full access to the platform, including reviewing seller and buyer profiles, activating or deactivating users, and verifying information. They also needed access to all project details, with the ability to edit or remove content, change project’s status and validate or reject projects.
- Sellers should be able to create renewable energy projects, submit, edit, and delete project information. They also need access to visualize buyers information.
- Buyers should have access to Sanza Market to browse projects and purchase energy from selected sellers.
- Advisers should have the ability to review auction process details for both buyers and sellers, as well as users information.
Definition
Working closely with the Product Manager, we collaborated with stakeholders to define and refine the project’s requirements, scope, and key features. This process involved prioritizing functionalities, establishing a clear roadmap, and setting deadlines to ensure alignment with business goals. Additionally, we held multiple sessions with developers to assess feasibility and ensure a seamless integration of technical and design considerations.
Journey mapping
Aligned with user stories defined by product managers I created journey for each user involved in each feature we included.
Based on the user stories defined by Product Managers, I mapped out user journeys for each role, Advisors, Managers, Buyers, and Sellers, considering their specific access levels and the features available to them.
Ideation
During the ideation phase, I translated initial concepts into tangible designs, starting with low-fidelity wireframes and progressively refining them into high-fidelity prototypes for user testing. This iterative process allowed us to validate assumptions and improve usability based on feedback.
To ensure design consistency and scalability, I established foundational design system elements following the Atomic Design methodology. This included defining foundations (colors, typography, spacing), atoms (buttons, inputs, icons), molecules (form fields, cards), and more complex components.
Throughout this phase, I collaborated closely again with developers to align on feasibility, component behavior, and technical constraints. These discussions helped refine interactions, ensure smooth implementation, and establish reusable UI components that fit within the system’s architecture.
Hand-off
Last step was creating detailed screens for multiple breakpoints, including mobile, tablet, and desktop, ensuring a responsive and seamless experience across devices. Each screen was documented with specifications, annotations, and interaction details to provide clarity for the development team.
To simplify implementation, I collaborated with developers to review components, address any technical constraints, and ensure alignment with the design system. This phase also included continuous feedback loops to refine details and maintain consistency throughout the final product.
Conclusion
We successfully developed a digital platform that facilitates seamless interaction among different user roles in the PPA buying and selling process. This solution empowers buyers to purchase renewable energy through PPA contracts with ease while providing sellers with a robust tool to manage PPAs, track contracts, and monitor projects efficiently.
