Sunscore

Landing page
Main view
Map view
Heat map view
Advanced settings
Data visualizations

Inspiration

BC Hydro replaced its old net metering program with a new self-generation net billing system for homes with solar panels. This makes it take longer for people to pay off their solar installations on their homes. We were inspired to make an app for people who are thinking about solar but don’t know where to get an estimate for how long it will take to break even on their investment.

What it does

Sunscore tells BC homeowners whether rooftop solar is worth it for their house. Enter an address and you get a clear verdict, the real costs and savings (rebate, net cost, payback, 25-year return) and a recommended system drawn panel by panel on your roof. Built for BC's new post-net-metering rules: power you send to the grid earns you money back. Drag a slider to resize the system and watch the numbers update instantly.

How we built it

Milestones:

Built the UI on made-up roofs while we hooked up the Solar API
Wrote a finance model based on real info from BC Hydro
Drew panels on the real roof, with a slider that updates live
Added a sun heatmap and data visualizations

Frontend: Next.js 16, React 19, TypeScript, Tailwind CSS, shadcn/ui, Google Maps JS API + Places, Recharts.
Backend: Next.js API routes, Google Solar API, Zod, geotiff, Vitest, Playwright, Cloudflare.

Challenges we ran into

Most of the challenges we ran into were centered around UI/UX. It was hard to decide what information would be important to a homeowner and how to display that information. We also did a lot of research into solar prices and the nuances of the applicable rebates.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

Our backend financial calculations make it super easy to get any information we need about someone's solar potential. We are also really proud of the end product of our UI since the average homeowner wants an easy experience when looking at an app such as ours.

What we learned

How to have fun with friends while making something cool.
The intricacies of solar rebates in BC.
The complexity of decoupling calculation logic to dynamically evaluate properties in real-time

What's next for Sunscore

Aggregate more financial data for solar panels and energy prices in other provinces and countries.
Include comparisons with solar panel arrays with battery storage systems.
Detect existing solar arrays to accurately visualize how an existing system could be expanded or improved.