Software Tools Simplify Community Solar Programs

In today’s digital era, software is transforming the way businesses operate—and community solar is no exception. Interest in shared solar is piquing due to favorable state legislation and utilities that see it as a way to keep customers on the grid, while satisfying their demand for renewables.

Creating a community solar program from scratch, however, is no easy feat. Developers may be skilled at generating proposals while utilities have experience with production reporting—but the diverse expertise needed to implement an effective program has been seemingly impossible for a single company. Until now.

Just as software simplifies our daily lives, it can also be used to uncomplicate community solar programs.

Software-as-a-Service Tools

Offering high scalability as well as compatibility across various devices, software-as-a-service (SaaS) is streamlining the solar industry. Across the globe, solar companies are using this software distribution model to screen sales leads, measure sites virtually and automate utility rebates. Now SaaS is being applied to the community solar realm.

In June of 2015, Colorado-based Clean Energy Collective (CEC) developed the nation’s first SaaS platform for community solar. The software tools allow utilities, developers and solar asset owners to manage community solar programs by facilitating customer acquisition, program management, and customer engagement. The platform also offers consulting services such as sales and marketing.

Not only is CEC a software company, it’s a community solar company. This combined expertise makes the nation’s first SaaS platform for shared solar a fully integrated solution—not just a front-end customer management or production tracking system. The result? Utilities, developers and solar asset owners can operate successful community solar programs.

Service: Customer Acquisition

Acquiring community solar customers can be daunting for any company unfamiliar with the process. The community solar model is relatively intuitive, but it is still a new product for many people. Thus, education is essential. By offering a branded website, embedded videos, a customized savings calculator and answers to common questions, CEC helps companies explain how the program works while capturing a prospect’s contact information through quote forms. 

Service: Program Management

Accurate bill crediting and production reports are essential, yet highly complex. Built in 2009, CEC’s propriety software, called RemoteMeter, provides real-time monitoring and automatically applies credits to a customer’s electric bill. CEC’s software and solutions services are fully integrated with all the different pieces, from the customer side to the ecommerce side; from the program management side to the generation of reports. With a single SaaS system performing all the calculations, customers are never required to go back and forth. The integration, therefore, is truly what makes this innovative platform tick.

Service: Customer Engagement

Since community solar lacks a tangible asset—no panels are installed on an individual rooftop—continual customer engagement is crucial. Designed to interact with customers, MyOwnCleanEnergy (MOCE) generates proposals, creates real-time production graphs, tracks bill credits and payment history, and stores contracts for easy access. In today’s solar marketplace, customers want and need to be able to see what’s going on with their solar power. Interactive tools allow developers, utilities and asset owners to streamline all customer communications.

Service: Sales and Marketing Consulting

From digital advertising and designing brochures to providing the sales pitch and closing solar customers, sales and marketing is an art form. These are often foreign skills for more technical companies and businesses focused on commercial transactions. Having sold more community solar systems than any other U.S. developer, CEC offers sales and marketing consulting to maximize profitability and ensure a successful program. These services allow an array of customers to tap into CEC’s knowledge and expertise—spreading the impact of clean energy deployment across the nation.

Community Solar Outlook

Over the next five years, community solar is expected to grow about 59 percent annually. That growth, say experts, will be largely driven by solar developers and utilities. By the end of this year, GTM Research predicts the U.S. community solar market will reach 465 megawatts—seven times the amount installed at the end of 2014.

Creating a bridge between utilities and customers, while taking developers and asset owners to the next level, community solar is undeniably the future of solar power.

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For more information on CEC’s software and service offerings, visit: www.communitysolarplatform.com.

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