As the uptake of rooftop solar accelerates in Australia, a growing band of solar software companies are delivering the latest simulation technology solutions to help consumers and installers find the perfect rooftop photovoltaic fit, writes EcoGeneration editor Gavin Dennett.
SunSPOT
Households, small businesses and councils all across Australia can access free, tailored and independent solar and battery savings estimates with the upgraded SunSPOT Version 3 solar calculator from the Australian PV Institute (APVI).
Built by engineers at the University of NSW’s School of Photovoltaic and Renewable Energy Engineering, the third instalment of the SunSPOT tool boasts significant upgrades on previous versions, with more accurate estimates and an improved user-friendly interface.
SunSPOT’s mapping tool allows users to drag, drop and arrange groups of panels on their roof to see how many will fit and where they can be positioned. Information about electricity use and prices are used to calculate the savings from solar and batteries for the site.
“Finding out what size PV system will fit on your roof, how much you can save with a battery, or obtaining estimates on the best system size for your electricity usage has never been easier,” says Dr Anna Bruce, SunSPOT project leader and associate professor of renewable energy engineering at UNSW.
“SunSPOT Version 3 has been built specifically to help people understand what solar can do for them, not to actually sell solar to them. It is the only independent tool tailored to your circumstances that is publicly available in Australia.”
Previous versions of SunSPOT were only available in areas where councils had subscribed to the service and where suitable data was available. But the latest version covers all of Australia, with the user-friendly interface vastly improved.
“We have done a lot of work with user testing, ensuring the tool is easy to use,” Dr Bruce tells EcoGeneration. “Unpacking the complexity around purchasing solar and batteries is important. With the tool, users can get a quick initial estimate without putting in much effort. Although there is a version of the tool with the ability to do a tailored assessment of a specific rooftop in more detail.
“We envisage people at different points along the solar-purchasing journey will want to come back to put in more of their own data to get a personalised estimate from the tool over time.
“SunSPOT is part of the APVI suite of data and tools. The APVI’s mission is to support the uptake of solar with good quality data and information. As a non-government organisation, we want to get the tool out there as widely as possible.”
The development of SunSPOT has been funded by the Federal Government – in addition to backing from APVI, ARENA, NSW Government and ACT Government – with ongoing support for another six months to enable further improvements to be made to the tool based on user feedback.
“I think there was a review of the solar industry in 2020 and there was concern about confusion in the residential solar market,” says Dr Bruce.
“Part of the value of this tool is it is independent and allows consumers to get results from SunSPOT to check against what they are being told by installers.
“It gives a benchmark price range of what people can expect to pay as well as how a system may perform based on information we have about their electricity consumption and characteristics of their roof. Without that information, they are at the mercy of whatever installers are telling them. It is independent information informing their solar investment decision.”
There are significant differences between SunSPOT and commercial software tools in the market, such as Pylon and OpenSolar.
“Those other tools are either trying to sell something or advertise products – or they are not free,” says Dr Bruce. “However, those other tools have more detail around the PV modelling system itself. We are not trying to replace that level of detail; we are more giving consumers info to make investment decisions.
“With more technical [competitor] tools, there is enhanced detail in terms of string layout and specific products that are installed.”
With the accelerated uptake of residential solar as consumers scramble to avoid skyrocketing energy bills, there can be confusion for some first-time solar adopters, but with SunSPOT they are not dependent on salespeople to educate them.
“Many people don’t have a good understanding about their electricity bills and electricity consumption,” says Dr Bruce. “But once people invest in solar they tend to have a much more detailed knowledge of tariffs, and they understand how to save money with solar.”
Pylon
A small company comprising less than 10 people, Pylon is making some big waves in the solar software space. Founded in early 2017 by Daniel Buckmaster and Nelson Zheng, the impetus for the formation of the Sydney company was to vastly improve on existing solar design software in the market at the time.
“We were driven to improve it mainly because we were using such bad software for solar design at university, where I studied finance and photovoltaic and solar energy” Zheng tells EcoGeneration.
“I was learning the software and would go home to play StarCraft or World of Warcraft and always think, ‘Why is solar software so bad?’
“That was the original angle, that it could be so much better. Some of Pylon’s early customers will say it is a lot better now than when we first started – it was very basic back then – but it was useful enough to get some early adopters.”
The company’s mission is to deliver user-friendly design software that is fast, accurate and efficient.
“Our main goal is to be a one-stop shop and help people handle design and new regulations so they can get out there to install more solar and not be stuffing around on the computer,” says Zheng.
“Every minute saved on the computer is an extra minute they could be on a roof.
“When we first started, it was just about getting panels on a roof – the core of what people were coming to us for. Nobody wanted to open Photoshop, download an image from an image supplier and manually be doing maths, and scaling panels to the right size.
“Since then, we have added all the levels of complexity you could want in solar design: string inverter advice, inverters, battery simulation and shading simulation. We have just come out with a voltage rise calculator which is useful for rural jobs where a property is far from the street.”
Pylon’s calculator tools are very visual to ensure minimal typing in of numbers into the system. The software also factors in the sun’s position at any given time or day of the year.
“For every hour of the year, we calculate the sun’s position and simulate the solar production in that hour,” says Zheng.
“We have 3D simulation as well, and pop in a roof and a tree and how the shadows will be cast onto the roof at any minute of the year.”
OpenSolar
Launched in 2019, Australian company OpenSolar was founded by Andrew Birch and Adam Pryor, who boast two decades of experience in the digital solar design and sales space. The company is based in Sydney, but has a worldwide presence in the US, Europe and Asia.
OpenSolar is a mission-driven company dedicated to enhancing the success of solar installers through the accelerated adoption of solar energy. The company provides solar professionals with end-to-end digital design, sales and management software free of charge.
“OpenSolar is best-in-class solar design software that is free of charge with no lock-in contracts and no subscriptions,” says Maaike Gobel, OpenSolar’s head of global partnerships.
“It enables solar professionals and people who are transitioning into solar – from the roofing industry or plumbers, for example – to help them grow their business without having big overheads for the software they use.
“OpenSolar is free for solar businesses, and we work together with partners [manufacturers] whose interest it is to serve the solar community and help installers sell more of their products. We have thousands of partner products with embedded brochures, videos, logos and information to help customers make the best solar choice.”
OpenSolar claims to be the world’s fastest, most accurate solar design technology, where users can create build-ready proposals in under two minutes using the company’s 3D design technology. The software can deliver automated, fully rendered 3D designs, with users able to enter a site address and immediately design rooftop solar panels to scale. Variables such as a roof’s pitch, azimuth – compass bearing relative to north – and shading is calculated automatically with no input from the user.
All 2D and 3D high-resolution imagery on OpenSolar is free. For users wanting greater resolution and flexibility, they can choose to layer in premium imagery on a per-project basis with Nearmap data.
“Within the platform there is finance integration and premium imagery available – all types of things designed to make the life of a solar business more efficient and help the end customer on the journey to make sure they understand what they are getting,” says Gobel.
“We have had our design accuracy validated by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) in the US, and we have class-leading accuracy where people can do designs in less than two minutes.
“OpenSolar is available globally and we have accounts in 130-plus countries. Our head office is in Sydney, but we have a lot of staff in the US, Europe, Brazil and the Philippines.
“We have a premium integration for solar businesses in Australia and New Zealand with Nearmap, a company based in Sydney that flies planes for up-to-date and detailed imagery. Users can buy Nearmap imagery per project when needed or integrate their Nearmap subscription into OpenSolar.”
Because the platform is free for users, one question that often arises is whether OpenSolar sells its customers’ data. However, the company takes privacy very seriously and the sale of data is not in its business model.
“People often ask, ‘Is OpenSolar really free?’” says Gobel. “Because of our partner business model, user data on OpenSolar is fiercely protected. We absolutely do not – never have and never will – sell user data. We adhere to the strictest privacy policies in the world. We believe the data is the solar businesses’ property, not ours.”