Sungevity Launches Plan to Cut Paper Work in Solar Rebates

It can take 10 to 20 hours to fill out all the paperwork to qualify for a solar rebate, according to Sungevity founder Danny Kennedy.

It’s enough to make a grown electrical contractor cry.

It is also problem the company – which has created a software application that lets it conduct a residential solar estimate over the Web – hopes to cure. Sungevity is trying to get public utility commissions and utilties to approve e-signatures for the forms involved in solar installations, tax credits and rebates. Right now, solar contractors have to send in various forms, get original signatures and conduct all sorts of annoying clerical work. Sometimes, a developer might have to send and receive several overnight letters via Federal Express or UPS on a single job.

“It is kind of unsexy stuff, but it is one of the biggest concerns for contractors,” Kennedy said, adding that he believes California will go along.

Sungevity will discuss its plans more at Solar Power International, the all-star solar cavalcade taking place this week in San Diego.

E-signatures, of course, would also complement Sungevity’s business strategy. The company’s application crunches satellite data, your utility bill and other data to provide a fairly accurate quote online with 24 hours. A traditional solar estimate requires that someone climb up on your roof and measure stuff. Sungevity now uses the tool for its own solar projects, but has talked about working with other solar contractors. (RoofRay, which emerged a little after Sungevity, also offers a remote estimate service.)

Conducting the estimate online can cut the cost of the solar installation by around 10 percent and cut out 80 percent of the on-site estimates.