Solenery: Harnessing Google Map APIs for a Greener Future

Powering a sustainable future with smart tech, real savings, and sustainable choices , Solenery makes clean energy simple, seamless, and accessible for every home and project.

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Inspiration

Solenery was founded on a core belief: clean energy should be clear, accessible, and effortless. The inspiration emerged from our founder’s repeated experience with the fragmented and confusing process of renewable energy adoption. Despite public interest in saving money and going green, people often didn’t know where to start or whom to trust. After relocating to Canada and building multiple startups, this challenge continued to surface. Solenery was born to bridge this gap, combining technology, transparency, and trust. Today, Solenery empowers homeowners, builders, and energy providers with smart tools, instant insights, and a vetted network of professionals. We map out energy savings, incentive eligibility, and net-zero upgrades, all within minutes and completely free.

What it does

At a time when clean energy solutions are crucial for sustainability, we set out to answer a simple question for homeowners and communities: “What can the sun do for my roof?”

The result is Solenery, a smart web platform that uses Google Maps Platform’s Solar API, Geolocation API, and building insights to deliver personalized solar reports for any given address or postal code. But we didn’t stop at showing the potential—we visualized it, personalized it, and made it actionable.

Each time a user enters a postal code or address, Solenery generates a dynamic, shareable personalized solar report. This report provides clear, actionable insights designed to help Canadians make informed energy decisions—without requiring any prior technical knowledge. Key features include: Estimated annual cost savings from going solar

Projected AC energy production based on rooftop irradiance data Sunny days per year and localized solar irradiance levels Environmental impact equivalencies, including: Number of trees saved Number of cars taken off the road Tailored solar incentives, matched to the user's postal code, including federal and provincial rebate A quote request form that connects users with vetted local solar providers

All reports are stored securely and linked via unique permalinks, allowing users to revisit or share their results anytime. The system is optimized to detect duplicate entries and reuse cached data, ensuring efficient use of APIs and reducing unnecessary costs.

How we built it

The backend is written in PHP, integrating: Google Maps: Converts the data layers to a heat map and assign heat map on top of google maps Geocoding API for location resolution: user enters the postal code and we get the location Solar API’s buildingInsights and dataLayers to fetch solar panel output and rooftop coverage

Other APIs we use: PVWatts API from NREL for detailed energy production modeling

Each user’s journey begins with an address. We geocode it, locate the nearest building, and extract the bounding box, solar coverage, and detailed GeoTIFF layers. We then cross-reference it with PVWatts to estimate annual AC output, using parameters tailored to a typical residential rooftop (e.g., 4kW system, 180° azimuth). The system fetches rooftop data using buildingInsights:findClosest, retrieves solar irradiance and shadow masking via dataLayers:get, and combines it with national PV production datasets (NREL’s PVWatts). All API calls are dynamically triggered via a secure PHP back-end pipeline. The insights are then stored and surfaced as a custom web page the user can bookmark, revisit, or share. The frontend is built in React, where we went further by processing GeoTIFF solar data layers directly in the browser. Using libraries like geotiff, proj4, and our custom canvas rendering logic, we visualize irradiance and mask data on the client side—turning raw solar maps into beautiful, interactive overlays.

Challenges we ran into

One of the main challenges we faced while building Solenery with Google APIs was ensuring data precision and reliability when combining multiple sources, such as Solar API outputs, GeoTIFF rooftop datasets, and address-level geolocation. Aligning these layers to produce accurate, property-specific insights required extensive testing and fine-tuning. We also encountered performance bottlenecks when processing high-resolution geospatial data in real time without slowing the user experience. Another hurdle was translating complex technical data from the APIs into clear, actionable insights for homeowners — making it understandable while preserving accuracy. Overcoming these challenges involved building custom data pipelines, optimizing API calls, and designing a user interface that makes solar potential both visual and easy to grasp.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

Launch Date: July 1, 2025 Solenery launched as a Minimum Viable Product (MVP) with a bold goal: combine education, visualization, and automation to simplify the clean energy transition for every Canadian. In LESS than two months, we achieved the following: 83 total sign-ups, with over 83 users acquired organically through word-of-mouth, SEO, and educational content Less than $700 spent on test advertising campaigns for the initial awareness

Google Analytics Report: Users explored reports from coast to coast, showing early product-market fit across multiple provinces 1.4K sessions 702 new users Paid Ad Campaign Report: Less than $350CAD spent on this campaign. 3.57X more conversion rate compared to industry average Google Search Console Report 325 Pages indexed within the 2 months Beyond technical deployment, Solenery now includes: An educational hub with over 200+ articles, covering solar, heat pumps, EVs, and net-zero retrofits A growing podcast series (12+ episodes) educating Canadian clean energy experts and homeowners

Competitive Differentiation

Unlike many platforms that rely solely on static forms to collect lead data, Solenery provides: A visual and educational interface grounded in real GIS and solar potential data Localized incentive matching per province and municipality A curated educational hub demystifying solar, heat pumps, and net-zero upgrades

Instant insights and interactive maps that empower—not pressure—the user Using social media platforms to create easy to understand educational materials. Witnessing 100% growth on our instagram in less than 2 months.

Current competitors struggle with low ROI due to user confusion and lack of context. Solenery flips that narrative by delivering knowledge-first solar adoption at scale.

What we learned

We learned that clarity builds trust. Homeowners are far more likely to engage when solar data is personalized, visual, and free from jargon. Simply offering a quote isn’t enough — people need to understand their potential savings, environmental impact, and available incentives in a way that feels transparent and empowering. This insight is shaping how we design every feature of Solenery moving forward.

What's next for Solenery: Harnessing Google Map APIs for a Greener Future

In our next sprint, we’re adding the ability for users to secure and compare multiple solar quotes directly within Solenery, giving them more confidence in choosing the right provider. At the same time, we’re launching creative campaigns to educate more people about clean energy, sustainability, and social responsibility, helping build broader awareness and accelerating the shift toward a net-zero future.

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