Monalee: Digitizing solar sales and lowering costs with Solar API
About Monalee
Monalee is a solar company that is leveraging software and data science to facilitate the transition to solar energy, significantly drop the costs for solar and storage for homeowners, and help small to midsize installers stay competitive and complete more installs more efficiently.
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Contact usMonalee uses the Solar API to provide homeowners considering a transition to solar energy with accurate, online, and real-time custom price quotes, without salespeople.
Google Maps Platform results
- Generates optimized solar panel roof designs and detailed quotes in 10 seconds
- Reduces solar install price by up to 50% compared with other companies
- Allows customers to personalize solar panel roof designs for custom quote options
- Creates more than 300 customer proposals per day with 30% more accuracy, reducing lost time and reducing project change orders/reworks
- Facilitates expansion into new markets with quality data and imagery offered throughout the US and globally
Creates a frictionless buying and installation experience
Many people want to know what they can do about climate change. If they're homeowners, one solution is to install solar panels on their roofs. But that process can feel overwhelming. Are they getting the best price, how many panels do they need, and will it actually save them money.
The direct-to-consumer solar company Monalee helps solve these challenges. It allows customers to access transparent pricing, an easy way to compare options, and the ability to determine for themselves how much they want to spend based on their homes' solar potential and their individual energy needs.
"Sometimes homeowners have fear or lack of trust about buying solar panels because of negative past experiences," says Walid Halty, CEO at Monalee. "Our customers can buy solar panels online and see for themselves what the price will be, which is much different than your traditional buying experience."
Monalee constructs a comprehensive solar install design and quote instantaneously on its website with just an address and electric bill. Potential customers can then select different options, like adding a battery, and even adjust the number of solar panels to see the price and energy output difference. This empowers customers to easily determine what works best for them, and they can even see a 3D model of their house to visualize how the system will look on their roof.
"We want to do what we think is going to create the most value. We're trying to do what's right, regardless of the rules that are already set. We're redefining the status quo with our online sales model."
—Walid Halty, CEO, MonaleeThis is made possible with the integration of the Solar API from Google Maps Platform, developed to help solar providers access reliable solar data and high resolution imagery to create best-in-class proposals in minutes with extensive coverage available in more than 40 countries.
Redefining the status quo
Traditional solar companies usually have to do expensive and time-consuming in-person roof assessments and then manually design a solar panel array that will supply adequate energy to that household. In their experience, this usually takes more than a week to create, with about a 30% chance of being inaccurate because each roof is different, with varying degrees of sunlight, cloud cover, trees, neighboring buildings, chimneys, and other obstructions that all need to be factored into the calculations.
Conversely, Monalee can instantly make these calculations by applying deep learning on top of their data engine, powered in part by the Solar API. This allows the company to produce proposals at scale, with a great amount of accuracy.
Deviating from the typical solar sales cycle, homeowners are able to confidently complete sales online, without speaking to a salesperson. This increases the amount of prospects Monalee can assist and deals the company can close, while gaining people's trust with transparent quotes and lower prices. With the increased volume of business, the company has been able to subcontract deals to local installers, providing them with optimized installation plans and valuable information that saves them time and money.
"We want to do what we think is going to create the most value. We're trying to do what's right, regardless of the rules that are already set. We're redefining the status quo with our online sales model," Halty says.
A partner in solar innovation
While building its solution, Monalee joined the Solar API pilot program, which evolved from Project Sunroof, a long-standing Google initiative to help people estimate solar savings. This enabled the company to tap into the expansive data, mapping, and computing resources of the Solar API.
"Google has been a great partner, they value collaborative innovation and are clearly dedicated to making the data better and adding more data, which has been great," explains Halty. "Whenever that happens, we're happy, because we're paying less for higher quality imagery."
In particular, the Solar API's measurement of solar irradiance, available as Annual and Monthly Flux, is extremely useful. This crucial data source allows Monalee to understand how a system will actually perform for a specific home. By being able to take shading and average sunlight into consideration for each section of a rooftop, it can be sure to deliver the energy production promised to the homeowner.
"The Solar API has proven time and time again that it is the best source of solar data," says Halty. "Without it, we wouldn't be able to achieve the time efficiency and cost efficiency that we offer, enabling us to make a real impact."
The technology behind creating lightning-fast estimates
With the Solar API, Monalee can process the 3D properties of roofs to create rapid, accurate estimates of how many solar panels will fit. "The Solar API has a wide coverage of data across the U.S. that is crucial for us. It allows us to provide these designs instantly, in seconds, versus traditionally, which takes much longer," Halty shares. That's because most solar companies employ a design technician to manually design the project.
"The Solar API has a wide coverage of data across the U.S. that is crucial for us. It allows us to provide these designs instantly, in seconds, versus traditionally, which takes much longer."
—Walid Halty, CEO, MonaleeThe company currently conducts a deep-learning process on top of the Solar API to analyze the rooftop, do edge detection, apply fire setbacks, measure solar irradiance, avoid obstacles, and arrange panels for optimal energy production. "That's already difficult to accurately do at scale, so it would be magnitudes more difficult without the Solar API," he says. "We would have to iterate so much and have to use many different data sources to do what we're doing now. The Solar API makes it easier for us to do all the other work for the design and accuracy of solar panel installation."
Monalee can generate an interactive solar panel roof proposal in about 10 seconds, complete with a high quality reproduction of the home and its rooftop. Prospective customers can see the recommended setup to cover their current electrical usage and then make adjustments to the system size, type of panels and inverter, and add a battery. This enables them to see the estimated power production and price, including federal and state incentives, for each option. They can also choose between cash and financing to complete their purchase.
Illuminating the path forward
Several factors have contributed to Monalee's success and high 70 NPS customer rating, particularly the ability to take the guessing game out of the sales process and empower people with personalized information. In addition, the accuracy of the proposals alleviates friction and delays often caused by inaccurate quotes, reducing the overall time to install from proposal to their home being powered by solar energy.
"With the Solar API's wide coverage in the United States and other countries, we'll have access to data that is crucial to providing a much better value proposition for our customers in new markets."
—Walid Halty, CEO, MonaleeThe main difference, however, is the price. Being able to offer solar at as much as 50% less than traditional solar companies is definitely compelling for many customers who choose Monalee. The lower price also helps homeowners realize the savings of switching to renewable energy more quickly, making the transition more feasible and attractive.
Because of its success, Monalee is growing steadily and expects to double the amount of customers it serves in 2024. Currently licensed as a general contractor and master electrician in 15 American states, the company plans to expand to 35 states and enter other countries as well by the end of the year.
"With the Solar API's wide coverage in the United States and other countries, we'll have access to data that is crucial to providing a much better value proposition for our customers in new markets," he says. "We're excited to remove the barriers and support customers in doing their part to tackle climate change."
Tell us your challenge. We're here to help.
Contact us
About Monalee
Monalee is a solar company that is leveraging software and data science to facilitate the transition to solar energy, significantly drop the costs for solar and storage for homeowners, and help small to midsize installers stay competitive and complete more installs more efficiently.