Solar Tool to Help Residential Solar PV Customers

SolarTech, a non-profit solar industry consortium, has created a system for reporting and comparing solar energy quotes for customers. It is called the SolarTech’s Solar Energy Estimate Report (SEE Report) and is available on SolarHub.com (go straight to it on the link above).

The site notes: “Solar contractors employ a variety of tools to size systems and provide detailed quotations for prospective customers. Differences in the methodologies, assumptions, and output presentations of these individual tools can make consumer comparisons difficult. The SEE Report’s standardized performance calculations and simplified report format designed to provide a ‘good faith estimation’ that solar contractors or consumers can use to present and compare solar system proposals.”

Of course, what’s critical for the “report” to be useful is broad use by commercial solar sales professionals and proposal tool providers.

The folks behind the report compare it to the Federal government’s new-car MPG rating system. “Just like the EPA’s new vehicle MPG rating system, the SEE report isn’t an absolute prediction (or guarantee) of forecasted performance. Its real value is as a relative comparison across multiple system proposals in an easily understood consumer friendly report format.”

Rooftop solar panels via shutterstock