This is your SolarWakeup for July 20th, 2020

John Lewis And Environmental Justice. I read the news of John Lewis’s passing with sadness. He’s been an example of leading by action while also working within the congressional process. As it pertains to work we participate in, Lewis often included references to environmental justice, clean air and water in his speeches. Our industry is more than just generating electricity fueled by the son, we have a greater responsibility to cast benefits far and wide.

SolarAPP Moves Forward. Rocky Mountain Institute is deeply involved in the SolarAPP launch and is updating their view of the endeavor. For those of you unfamiliar with SolarAPP, it is a project led by NREL and others to create fast track and instant permitting for solar. As installers and users of permitting systems, your involvement is starting to be more crucial. First you will want to educate yourself on the project. Second, installers will be asked to identify and lobby AHJs to get involved as pilot participants or adopters of the system. Instant permitting is one of the best tools we can use to move the industry forward, cutting the speed from contract to install in half and savings thousands of dollars in the process.

Virtual World Designs!  Here’s the latest from our friends at OpenSolar, the free sales software we discussed in the interview with Birchy, it’s co-founder.  We talked then about the digital toolkit and how it supports inside sales and customer management online – now, today they launched their next generation design tool, OpenSolar 3D – the short video clip here has a nice overview (excuse the pun).  Pretty cool technology flying around your customers roof live with them online, placing panels with pitch, azimuth and shading all automated in what they describe as an “immersive customer facing experience”.  I know Birchy’s answer to yesterday’s question of “how do we scale 100% by 2035”: design and close your leads efficiently in a virtual, online customer experience with no site visit (COVID or not), then click a button to auto-populate SolarAPP to receive your digital permit, then and only then do you invest your money in driving a truck – and that’s to complete the install!  Seems OpenSolar’s mission is to make that a reality for all installers, no matter the size (interesting given the Sunrun-Vivint news) – and deliver that for free.  Good to see bold moves and innovation across the space. What else do you think changes the game on 100% by 2035?

Opinion

Best, Yann