We hype solar technology innovation often as the path forward to a renewable energy future, but the technology we have is already pretty awesome. The bigger opportunity to grow solar is now in small-scale local progress — cutting permitting red tape and normalizing solar systems within the zeitgeist. We arguedRead More

Historically, understanding a home’s solar potential required talking to a sales consultant or compromising with one-size-fits-all online calculators. With a new web application called Design Studio, SunPower is looking to give U.S. homeowners the power to create their own solar system design automatically in seconds. In less than 30 seconds,Read More

WattzOn, a provider of utility bill data solutions, launched a new AI-powered product called SNAP to enable energy and cleantech companies to quickly capture data from utility bills. SNAP supports field sales teams by providing key data in seconds, enabling customized quotes and pricing. SNAP supports the consumer’s online on-boardingRead More

Industry figures show the global rate of solar energy installations grew by 30 percent in one recent year, and the average cost of installing solar has fallen from $7 per watt to $2.8 per watt, making rooftop solar attractive to many more homeowners. But the progress of rooftop installations isRead More

After two and half years R&D, privately-funded solar tech startup HahaSmart launched its solar O2O (online-to-offline) platform that gives homeowners the ability to design a home solar system, receive an accurate detailed price list within 2-3 minutes, and purchase a home solar system at a lower price. Unlike most solarRead More

Solar installation soft costs are real drivers of project economics, so the more streamlined permitting process become, the better outcome for prospective solar customers. Down in Georgia, Don Moreland, chair of the Georgia Solar Energy Association (GA Solar), says the City of Atlanta is doing its part by adopting a new,Read More

Discussions on further large reductions in solar installation prices start with soft costs. Knowing this, the Energy Department is pumping $21.4 million in funding for 17 new projects to help reduce these soft costs, such as installation, permitting and connecting to the grid. “Soft costs have been a pervasive barrier to widespreadRead More