GeoCF LLC, the pioneer of geospatial software solutions for utility-scale solar, has been awarded a $750,000 cooperative award from the U.S. Department of Energy SunShot Initiative to expand development and commercialization of Smart Power Maps, a software solution that drastically reduces time and costs to develop and finance large-scale solar projects.

Smart Power Maps helps global solar developers, financiers and utilities build solar projects faster and more efficiently through rapid analysis of the multiple data sets involved in siting and evaluating solar projects 1MW and larger. As a part of SunShot’s Incubator program, GeoCF will use the funding to expand the data sets used in Smart Power Maps and automate the transmission capacity analysis in order to help clients accelerate the interconnection process.

“Smart Power Maps enables users to comprehensively evaluate tens of thousands of potential projects simultaneously and supports project management for the best sites through all stages of development,” said Clay Butler, president and CEO of GeoCF LLC. “With the SunShot award, we will accelerate software development and support the SunShot program goals to increase community solar and utility-scale solar projects. We are proud to be part of this initiative.”

The Sunshot award will also help GeoCF build a mapping and report portal for project investors and financiers, allowing them to instantaneously run cash flow models and full constraint feasibility analysis on potential projects. The portal will include information on property tax liabilities, geotech, hydrology, and transmission constraints, wholesale clearing price backcasts and forecasts, endangered species, topographic restraints, and more.

This ability to automate and optimize the full lifecycle of a utility-scale project from siting, development, design, and finance to interconnection is critical to developers and financiers and supports the Energy Department’s goal to accelerate the adoption of solar through cost reduction throughout the solar value chain, including balance of system (BOS) costs.