Payback on Solar Electric Systems

The OnGrid Solar Financial Analysis Tool
"For the Solar Sales Professional"
Call Screening, PV Sizing, Financial Analysis Calculator, Pricing, Quoting, Closing & Sales Documents

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OVERVIEW

FEATURES

Overview:

The OnGrid Solar Financial Analysis Tool is a complete Solar / PV analysis & selling toolkit. This toolkit helps:

Identify and screen hot leads and guide the salesperson successfully thru the whole sales process to the close
Size the PV system based on numerous factors
Price the system including cost adders
Calculate the benefit from incentives: Rebates, PBIs, Tax Credits, Depreciation, SRECs, Feed-in Tariffs, etc.
Create a Price Quote
Perform several rigorous Solar Financial Analyses instantly
Generate a variety of Proposals to choose from
Fill out the Closing Sales Paperwork with the touch of a button: CSI application form, NEM Documents, and Contract cover page

Who Should Look Closely:
The OnGrid Solar Financial Analysis Tool is designed for use by:

Solar PV Dealers, Installers & Salespeople. The tool will be a significant time saver and productivity booster, helping you develop and close more business.
Contractors, Electricians, and Roofers thinking about getting into the solar PV business. This will significantly ease your entry into the business, and help you avoid costly mistakes via the pricing guidance built in.

Overview In More Detail:
The tool helps screening the leads and manage 'the sales funnel'. It helps the user to:

Do initial over-the-phone rough sizing & ballpark pricing
See satellite photos of the building in question
Gather and record critical initial sales data and info during the intial screen and follow up call

Provide meaningful feedback to customer and generate initial ballpark financial analysis that can be printed into a PDF and emailed to the customer.

The tool also helps guide the salesperson to the next steps in completing and closing the sale.

Preliminarily, it helps size the PV system based on the customer's budget, usage, electric rate & usage patterns, predicted system performance by location based on NREL PV Watts/TMY2 data, and via satellite photos, the system orientation, roof area, slope, and to a limited extent, shading.
After the site visit, detailed shading and other measurements can be entered for extremely accurate system sizing. This tool allows inputing of data (manually) from the Solar Pathfinder for very accurate shading analysis.

Even preliminarily, the tool can do a very accurate price estimation including "Adders". Adders are the costs for unusual project conditions such as tile or other difficult roofing materials, tilt-racking, steep roofs, long wire runs, ground mounting, trenching, and other costs. The user can accept the estimates provided, or set their own adder per kW of system size or length of run.

The tool also allows inclusion of 'Allowances' in the pricing and quoting. Allowances cover variable or unknown/unknowable project conditions that can't easily be included in a fix price bid without excessive padding. The allowance allows the final cost to vary for a specific item based on the final tally of time an materials. Examples include Service Entrance upgrades, ground mounting and trenching in difficult or rocky soil, structural bracing, etc.

After the site visit, any new information can be included to produce the final quote.

With the preliminary or final pricing, the tool performs numerous Solar Financial Analyses. More info on these analyses can be found http://www.ongrid.net/PVPayback.html. These analysis are complete, rigorous and thorough. They are simple to read and use, but are also detailed enough to be validated by a customer or their CPA, and include links to independent sources of verification of the results for maximum credibility.

These analyses are incorporated into a variety of user customizable proposals. The user can add their logo and company information, change any language, and select which pages to include in the final proposal. The proposal can be easily printed from the salesman's vehicle with a laptop and portable printer (or regular printer using a small inverter) to generate a professional propopsal within minutes of the visit with the customer. This can be a huge time saver if the customer is any distance away from the office. The provides an excellent opportunity to present and close the customer while they are still excited about your visit and demonstrated professionalism.

The OnGrid Solar Financial Analysis Tool is completely portable. It is a sophisticated Excel spreadsheet which does not require internet access - a major unique feature, one of many compared to its competitors.

The tool also prepares much of the sales/closing/contracting documents for you. It automatically fills out the CEC R1 or R7 rebate/PBI incentive application. It also fills out two copies of the utility 3rd Party Authorization form - one for the CEC to accelerate rebate payment, and the other for your use with the customer's utility to allow you to process their net metering documents. The tool also fills out the Net Metering agreement. All of these require customer signature and accurate and clear completion. The tool does all of this cleanly, and accurately and makes for a very professional presentation to your customer.

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Features:

The OnGrid Solar Financial Analysis Tool has an enormous number of features. They are grouped here by subject area:

Sales screening, filling and processing "the funnel":

Easily gathers customer data and profile information
Can select customer type from Residential, Commercial, Municipal, Non-Profit, and Affordable Housing which affect the tool defaults for assumed tax rates, usage profiles, and incentive levels
Select professional or self installed (affects incentive level)

Allows user in 1-3 clicks to see 4 different maps or aerial views of the customer site
Can be exported to external database
Eventually will be able to import data from other sources

PV system sizing, factoring in:

Usage including usage pattern with Peak, Part-Peak and Off-Peak usage, summer and winter
Demand charges
PV array orientation (azimuth and slope)
Location (near one of the NREL WBAN stations)
Solmetric SunEye and Solar Pathfinder Assistant shading data via 1-touch upload
System loss factors including dust, wiring loss, module mismatch, and manufacturer tolerance (each of which is under user control).
Module and Inverter choice from up-to-date CEC lists
Current and future electric rate schedule, which factors in tiered rates and time-of-use pricing

Area available on the customer's roof (note satellite photos mentioned above)

Cost/Price estimating, factoring in:
System size from above. The base system price is estimated via 3 pricing components: fixed job costs, per inverter costs, and per module costs.
Adders (referred to above) including all different roof types, ground mounting, roof slope, tilt racking, long wire runs, multiple sub arrays, etc.

Includes the entire CEC Module & Inverter databases, and is kept up to date.

Includes up-to-date electric rate schedules and incentives in 15 states:

Western US: CA, AZ, CO, HI
Eastern US: MA, CT, NY, NJ, PA, MD, DE, OH, NC, GA, FL

Specifically for the following utilities and rate schedules & incentives:
Arizona:

APS
SRP
TEP

California:

Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E): Residential: E-1,6,7,8,9; Commercial: A-1,6,10S,E-19,20; Ag: AG-1,4,5

(includes all the baseline territories for all the residential rates)

Southern California Edison (SCE): Residential: D,TOU-D-1,2,EV-1; Commercial: GS-1,2,3 and TOU-8 all options (non-TOU, A, B, R); Ag: PA-1&2

(includes all the baseline territories for all the residential rates)

San Diego Gas & Electric (SDG&E): Residential: DR, DR-SES, DR-TOU, DR-TOU-DER, DM, EV-TOU,2,3; Commercial: DG-R, A, AD, A-TOU, A6-TOU, AL-TOU, AL-TOU-DER; Ag: PA

(includes all the baseline territories for all the residential rates)

Alameda Power & Telecom
City of Palo Alto Utilities (CPAU): E-1, E-1-G (Palo Alto Green), E-2, E-4

Sacramento Municipal Utility District (SMUD): RSG, GSN, GSS
Silicon Valley Power (SVP - City of Santa Clara, CA): D-1, C-1, CB-1
Turlock Irrigation District

Anaheim
Burbank
Glendale
Imperial Irrigation District (IID)
LADWP
Pasadena
Riverside

Colorado:

Xcel
Aquila/Black Hills Energy

Connecticut:

Connecticut Light & Power
United Illuminating

Deleware:

Delmarva

Florida

FPL
Gulf Power
JEA
Progress
TECO

Georgia:

Georgia Power

Hawaii:

HECO
HELCO
MECO
KAUAI: D, G, J, L, P rates for Hawaii, Oahu, Kauai, Molokai, Lanai, and Maui

Massachussetts:

National Grid
NSTAR

Maryland:

BGE
PEPCO
Potomac Edison

New Jersey:

PSE&G
ACE
JCP&L

North Carolina:

Dominion
Duke
NC - Green Power
Progress

New York:

Central Hudson
ConEd
LIPA
National Grid
NYSEG

Ohio:

AEP Columbus
AEP Ohio Power
Cleveland
Duke
Ohio Edison

Pennsylvania:

Allegheny Power
MetEd
PECO
Penelec
PPL

User Defined Rates:

The tool user can enter up to 8 different user defined rate schedules if none of the above apply. The user has control over up to 5 tiers of rates, but summer and winter, and can specify a time-of-use rate (TOU) with control over Peak, Part-Peak, and Off-Peak rates and hours for weekday and weekend rates, both summer and winter (user controls the months), demand charges, etc.

Incentives:
Federal:

30% Investment Tax Credit for Residential & Commercial (ITC)
5 year MACRS Depreciation for Commercial
Tax Year 2008 & 2009 "50% Bonus Depreciation" calculation
Automatic correct defaults for how to apply the Federal ITC in conjunction with rebates (and the corresponding effects on rebate taxation and on depreciation).

State & Utility incentives (rebates, PBIs, SRECs, tax credits, depreciation, etc) for all listed above

User Defined Incentives:

The tool user can define any incentives available: Rebates, State & Local Tax Credits, PBIs, RECs, Feed-in Tariffs, City/Local Grants etc.

Produces the following forms:

Contract front page specifying product, payment terms, special conditions, etc.
In CA for CA Investor Owned Utility territories (PG&E, SCE & SDG&E):

CSI 2- & 3-step applications (both EPBB & PBI)
3rd Party Authorizations for CCSE/SDG&E
NEM (Net Metering for <10kW) for SCE, PG&E, and SDG&E

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Examples of the Tool's Output:

The OnGrid Solar Financial Analysis Tool produces a variety of proposals:

Residential Full Length Proposal Example (386KB PDF)

Residential Medium Length Proposal Example (330KB PDF)

Commercial Short Length Proposal Example (68KB PDF)

Commercial Medium Length Proposal Example (280KB PDF)

Commercial Medium Length Proposal Example with RECs and PBIs (1,074KB PDF)

It also fills out documentation for California & Colorado systems:

Example Documentation: Contract, CEC R1 & R7, 3rd Party Authorization, & Net Metering Agreement (117KB PDF)

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Demo:

A FREE Demo of the tool is available to check out all the features of the tool. It has all the features: You can use all the available electric rates and incentives, or define your own. Limitations to the Demo: You can't upload your own logo, and can't customize the output or make the reports look like they come from your company - otherwise, all features are active. The Demo is time stamped to work for approximately a month.

Click here to try the FREE Demo

The signup for the Demo is the same as the Full Version, except you don't start paying until you're ready to get full access and want to start producing customizable proposals with your name on them. Upgrade to the Full Version for complete functionality.

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Testimonials:

What are users saying about the tool?

"We have found the OnGrid Sales and Analysis Tool to be very useful in closing sales. In addition, it saves a large amount of time in preparing documents." - Richard Devlin, Sun Star Energy, Inc.

"The OnGrid tool is a great way to market solar by expressing the actual savings to customers in a concise manner." - Samara Levine, NPCP

"The OnGrid Solar Financial Analysis tool has made me a better solar sales person and changed my accuracy in gauging what is financially in the customers best interests." - Chad Griffith, Harmony Farms Supply

"As a CFO, this is one of the best financial presentations I've ever seen." - SLI Student

We now have well over 250 companies and 450 users all across the US subscribing to the full version

CONCERN: "The competition has it - Won't my proposals then look just like theirs?" - No - you can customize your proposals to make them look the way you want them to, or create your own, but still be able to take advantage of the accuracy & calculations OnGrid provides.

It's actually a good thing if you and your competitors all are using what is rapidly becoming the standard tool, because your results will be consistent and comparable, helping the customer understand that the industry has matured. The worst case alternative is that the customer is presented with 3 "unique" quotes. Unless all three are from tools that have been thoroughily checked and are based on data that is 100% up-to-date, the resutls will vary and the customer may worry about the differences and may not buy from anyone.

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Why Buy:

Because this tool does almost everything to solar salesman needs it to:

From "Soup to Nuts" it helps you efficiently size, price, quote, present and close the sale.

It will save you time, allowing you to make more sales and money.

It's cost is a tiny fraction of the money it will help you make.

It's cost is a tiny fraction of what it would cost you to make your own tool. Think of the amount of time you'll need to invest in just keeping it up to date with all the changes in the tax code, module and inverter specs, rebates, utility rates, etc, much less creating a solid, comprehensive tool in the first place.

There's no risk - it comes with a 100% satisfaction, money-back guarantee (see next section).

Everyone else loves it. We think you will too.

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Pricing:

The tool costs $100/month for up to two users in a company, and $50/user/month for each additional user.

An annual discount is available - pay for 11 months, and get the 12th month free:

$1100/year for up to two users, and $550/user/year for each additional user.

No Risk Money Back Guarantee: If at any time you aren't satisfied, you'll receive a refund for any unused and partly used months (ie. if you've paid for January to March, and you cancel on February 27th, you get a refund for February and March). We want you to be satisfied, and if you're not, we don't want you to pay. You've already invested your time in trying it, you shouldn't have to feel you've wasted money too.

Unlike one competitor, there are no hidden tricks in our pricing. To get pricing from them that matches OnGrid, you'd have to agree to buy leads from them at $30/non-exclusive lead, plus agree to put their logo on your website, plus be forced to give them your customer's names, to let them offer their financing. Even if they gave you their tool for free, at two leads a months, it would still cost more. And their leads are low-probability, because they also give them to 3 other companies.

Unlike both competitors, there are no non-refundable fees - everything is fully refundable if you aren't satisfied.

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Buy/Sign-Up:

If you would like to sign up for full use of the tool, click:

Thank you for your interest, and welcome aboard!

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Support:

There are several ways to get assistance using the tool:

1. The tool has an Interactive User Manual, and is full of helpful hints, comment boxes, and other intuitive clues about how to use it. It was designed for salespeople by a salesperson and user, so it works logically for conducting your interview, doing system sizing, creating estimates and quotes, creating the proposals and closing paperwork.

2. A User Manual to help you understand and use the tool.

3. Web Conference calls are held Tuesday and Friday mornings. Ask your question, or listen in to other's questions to learn more about maximizing your benefit from using the tool. You'll be given the details of these when you sign up for a FREE Demo or Full Version

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User Manual:

A User Manual is now available. Please click here to download the 1.0MB PDF file.

Solar Financial Analysis & Purchasing Consultation
www.ongrid.net	.	OnGrid Solar	.	4175 Renaissance Dr #4, San Jose, CA 95134	.	(408) 428-0808	.	andy@ongrid.net
©Copyright 2009 OnGrid Solar Energy Systems