Have you checked out Generaytor? The online community helps people go solar, using real-time solar performance data.We spoke with the site’s co-founder Amit Rosner to learn more.
SPW: Tell us a little about how Generaytor was founded and the philosophy behind its development.
AR: We started Generaytor to help people go solar. The sun is such an amazing resource – it’s predictable, pollution-free, will never run out (at least not for billions of years), and best of all, sunlight is free. There are millions of rooftops all over the world just waiting to tap this resource. But despite significant growth in solar installations in recent years, most people are barely aware of it. The concept behind Generaytor is to make it simpler than people could ever have imagined to decide to get a solar installation for their home.
SPW: Tell us more about how Generaytor works.
AR: Generaytor is an online community, with members in 20 countries (and counting…), that helps people go solar, using real-time solar performance data. Our worldwide membership includes people considering solar, solar homeowners, installers and manufacturers. Our technology is also designed to accommodate small commercial rooftop systems or ground-mounted systems – for example, one of our members runs a solar-powered winery.
Generaytor’s most popular feature is Virtual Solar. We like to think of it as the first “try before you buy” experience for solar. Among the most pressing needs of the residential solar market are an easier buying process for roof owners and lowering “soft costs” of an installation. Generaytor fulfills the roof owner’s need with “Virtual Solar,” providing simple, personalized forecasts.
We go further by enabling people to easily compare their own roof with existing solar homeowners, and share interesting solar charts and achievements. It’s a new social layer that complements existing monitoring technologies. This helps people validate their decisions and build confidence in the value of solar. Installers invite their existing customers to join Generaytor, creating a live portfolio that demonstrates actual production in real time. These customers also increases word of mouth and provide advice and recommendations that people considering solar can rely on. Generaytor helps reduce soft costs by setting the stage for expanded word of mouth, increasing awareness and connecting roof owners and installers.
Our latest feature addition is financials, which we are currently rolling out. Users will have a complete financial breakdown, including system cost, annual and lifetime forecasts, payback period and return on investment
SPW: How does it work? How much does it cost?
AR: Generaytor is free for users. Solar homeowners connect their monitoring data to Generaytor in just a few mouse-clicks. People considering solar create a Virtual Solar system by identifying their roof on a map and outlining the area for solar panels. Our website then crunches the numbers from nearby connected solar systems in the community, personalized for the size of the array and the roof’s azimuth, tilt, shading, etc. Because our simulation uses real solar performance data, we do not need to rely on solar irradiance and weather databases, which are difficult and expensive to maintain and often outdated. At the moment a user’s Virtual Solar system is created, we provide a retroactive year of system performance and continuously update the data in real-time from that day forward.
SPW: What motivates you and your team to push for solar?
AR: It keeps us up at night that so many sunny rooftops are sitting there waiting for a solar installation that can produce clean energy and save money at the same time. We hope to be a source of knowledge and inspiration that leads to positive change.
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