Solar AI Technologies is launching a free online solar assessment tool that allows homeowners and building occupants in Singapore to instantly estimate the solar potential of their roof. They will also be provided with other information, including how much they can save along with a free solar quote. All a user needs to do is to enter their building address and electricity bill.
The Problem
“Most Singaporeans are unaware of the benefits of solar, nor realise that they can actually make money from installing solar. Apart from reducing their electricity bills, solar owners can also sell excess energy back into the grid. By building this tool, we hope to help Singaporeans learn about how their homes or companies can benefit from solar in a personalised way.” said Bolong Chew, founder and CEO of Solar AI.
The cost of solar has fallen by more than 80% in the last 10 years and continues to decline. Getting solar is no longer just for the environmentally conscious. It has also become a way to save on utility fees in the long run.
Customers currently have to approach solar energy companies in Singapore to conduct manually rooftop assessments to estimate the solar potential of a house or building. The assessment process is often complicated. It can take anywhere from an hour to 2 full days for each roof, based on the roof complexity and the level of accuracy required. With Solar AI’s solar assessment tool, customers will only need to input their address and electricity billing information to receive an estimate of their rooftop’s solar potential.
Solar AI’s Solar Assessment Tool
The assessment tool is a first of its kind in the region. It draws from a database of more than 20,000 (and growing) pre-calculated with solar potential estimates for commercial and industrial buildings. Solar AI has also discovered a total of 3.6 gigawatts (GW) of untapped rooftop solar potential in Singapore.
The tool evaluates numerous data points. These include the amount of sun over the roof location, the usable roof space and the user’s electricity bills. Such data points are used to recommend an estimated ideal rooftop solar system size, the cost-saving potential and environmental impact.
Solar AI has used artificial intelligence to build computer vision models on satellite imagery. This allows for proper rooftop detection to assess their available roof space and characteristics to automate the solar assessment process. By deploying these models at scale, Solar AI aims to drastically reduce the cost of the assessment process. Ultimately, Solar AI hopes strives to encourage more people to switch solar by making solar potential information easily available.
The Singapore-based startup has plans to expand the solar assessment tool regionally to Southeast Asia and Australia from 2021.
This article was first published on 14 October 2020 and last updated on 5 May 2021 to include additional details.
Get an Instant Solar Estimate for your Home Now!
Whether you’re ready to install solar panels on your rooftop, or just wondering how you can benefit from solar, use our instant solar assessment tool to get an estimate of the solar potential of your property and find out how much you can save. At Solar AI, we combine geospatial analysis of satellite imagery with big data and artificial intelligence to provide you with reliable and accurate solar information so that you can make a better solar choice!
