The solar partnership between E.ON and Google are bringing their ‘Sunroof’ solar mapping tool to Britain and Italy after great success in Germany and America last year. How long until Google’s Project Sunroof comes to Australia?
Sunroof Solar Mapping Tool
We wrote last year about the American rollout of the Project Sunroof which estimated that 79% of all rooftops in America were viable for solar. It resulted in partnerships with SunPower, SunEdison, and Sungevity.
Karsten Wildberger, COO of E.ON spoke about the project: “With Sunroof, we are able to digitise sales of solar systems more intensively and thereby increase the appeal of photovoltaics,” he said.
“It clearly demonstrates the potential benefits of digitalisation for the ongoing shift in energy production. Along with Sunroof and E.ON SolarCloud, we will be developing additional digital products in order to offer our customers the highest degree of independence and security through E.ON solar systems.”
The Project Sunroof solar mapping tools determines the solar potential of millions of buildings (all you need to do is enter your address into the tool) and it will work out using Google’s technology. EON in Germany are reporting that ‘well over’ 10,000 people used the tool to see how viable their rooftop is for solar panel installation. Of course, with the advent of ground solar, it’ll be interesting to see if the tool gets updated to included ground mounted solar.
After crunching the data, customers in Germany are able to order a solar system consisting of a photovoltaic module and the E.ON SolarCloud, (and Aura battery storage if you want). According to SteelGuru, E.ON also offer what they call a ‘sunshine guarantee’ which says if the solar system doesn’t achieve the amount it projected the company will make up for the shortfall financially. Good old Germans. Remains to be seen how this rollout goes for other countries but we’ll keep you posted.
Google Sunroof Solar Mapping Tool in Australia?
Sadly those in the land down under aren’t able to use the tool – those who do are greeted with “Aw, snap! It looks like we haven’t reached your country yet, but we’re working on it!”
No word from Google if it will come here but we assume it will sooner or later – in the meantime there are a myriad of solar mapping tools already available. These are mostly aimed at solar companies in Australia rather than the end-user.
