Photovoltaic system installation

1. A method, comprising:

performing a site survey at a location including a structure to generate site survey information including customer information, electrical information for the structure, illustrations of a roof of the structure, measurements of the roof, roof obstruction information, tilt information for the roof, photos of the structure, photos of the sky from one or locations on the roof, a utility bill for the structure, and structure utility usage information;

determining a method of interconnection to couple a photovoltaic system to an electrical system of the structure based on at least one photo from the site survey information;

determining, via an electronic device, an ideal usage offset ratio for the photovoltaic system based on at least some of the site survey information;

estimating, via the electronic device, a number of modules required to meet the determined ideal usage offset ratio;

generating a roof plan based on at least a portion of the site survey information, the roof plan including an illustration of each roof section of the roof, each roof section illustration depicting one or more modules of the number of modules and at least one of a trunk cable, hatching, and a conduit;

comparing estimated production levels for the photovoltaic system including the number of modules at the location to required production levels;

one of approving and rejecting the photovoltaic system based on the comparison of the estimated production levels and the required production levels;

generating, via the electronic device, installation information including the determined method of interconnection, the ideal usage offset ratio, the number of modules required to meet the determined ideal usage offset ratio, the roof plan, required installation materials, estimated costs, point-load, an estimated production report, and electrical information for the photovoltaic system; and

providing the installation information to a customer for approval.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising providing an application program of the electronic device with information related to the photovoltaic system including the estimated number of modules.

3. The method of claim 2 , wherein providing an application program with information comprises providing at least one of customer account information, location-specific information, and electrical codes to the application program.

4. The method of claim 2 , wherein determining an ideal usage offset ratio for the photovoltaic system comprises determining the ideal usage offset ratio for the photovoltaic system with the application program.

5. The method of claim 2 , wherein estimating a number of modules comprises estimating a number of modules with the application program.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein generating installation information comprises generating a data document including information related to the required installation materials and estimated costs and an engineering document including point-load information and electrical information.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein determining an ideal usage offset ratio comprises determining the ideal usage offset ratio for the photovoltaic system based on a known utility rate and one or more utility discounts associated with the structure.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein performing the site survey further comprises generating the site survey information including attic information for the structure.

9. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

obtaining an aerial photo of the structure;

calculating an azimuth of a roof of the structure from the aerial photo; and

scaling the aerial photo into a computer-aided design (CAD) file.

10. The method of claim 9 , wherein generating a roof plan comprises illustrating one or more roof sections on the CAD file in order of approximated production efficiency in the roof plan based on roof measurements and tilt information.

11. The method of claim 10 , further comprising applying required offsets to each roof section illustration of the CAD file.

12. The method of claim 10 , further comprising adding at least one module to the CAD file to at least one of fill each roof section and meet the number of modules required for the determined ideal usage offset ratio.

13. The method of claim 10 , further comprising calculating estimated production levels for each module, each roof section, and the photovoltaic system.

14. The method of claim 10 , further comprising:

calculating sun hours for each roof section; and

comparing the calculated sun hours with required sun hour levels.

15. The method of claim 10 , further comprising adding trunk cable, hatching, and conduit to each roof section of the CAD file.

16. The method of claim 1 , further comprising determining one or more constraints for the photovoltaic system.

17. The method of claim 1 , further comprising determining point-loads, mounting foot placement, and bill of materials for the photovoltaic system.

18. The method of claim 1 , further comprising creating a site plan of the structure including estimated property lines and required roof offsets based on an aerial photo.

19. The method of claim 18 , further comprising adding the estimated number of modules and a conduit to the site plan.

20. The method of claim 1 , further comprising installing the photovoltaic system.

21. A system, comprising:

an electronic device including a processor;

a computer-readable medium coupled to the processor; and

an application program stored in the computer-readable medium, wherein the application program, when executed by the processor, is configured to:

receive site survey information from a site survey performed at location including a structure, the site survey information including customer information, electrical information for the structure, illustrations of a roof of the structure, measurements of the roof, roof obstruction information, tilt information for the roof, photos of the structure, photos of the sky from one or locations on the roof, a utility bill for the structure, and structure utility usage information;

determine an ideal usage offset ratio for a photovoltaic system based on one or more parameters associated with the structure determined via at least some of the site survey information;

estimate a number of modules required to meet the determined ideal usage offset ratio;

generate a roof plan based on at least a portion of the site survey information, the roof plan including an illustration of each roof section of the roof, each roof section illustration depicting one or more modules of the number of modules and at least one of a trunk cable, hatching, and a conduit;

compare estimated production levels for the photovoltaic system including the number of modules at the location to required production levels;

one of approve and reject the photovoltaic system based on the comparison of the estimated production levels and the required production levels; and

generate installation information for the photovoltaic system based at least partially on location-specific information and the estimated number of modules.

22. The system of claim 21 , wherein the installation information comprises information related to required installation parts, estimated costs, point-load, and electrical requirements for the photovoltaic system.

23. The system of claim 21 , wherein the application program is further configured to receive at least one of customer account information, location-specific information, and electrical codes.

24. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing instructions that when executed by a processor cause the processor to perform instructions, the instructions comprising:

receiving site survey information from a site survey performed at location including a structure, the site survey information including customer information, electrical information for the structure, illustrations of a roof of the structure, measurements of the roof, roof obstruction information, tilt information for the roof, photos of the structure, photos of the sky from one or locations on the roof, a utility bill for the structure, and structure utility usage information;

determining an ideal usage offset ratio for a photovoltaic system based on one or more parameters associated with the structure determined via at least some of the site survey information;

estimating a number of modules required to meet the determined ideal usage offset ratio;

generating a roof plan based on at least a portion of the site survey information, the roof plan including an illustration of each roof section of the roof, each roof section illustration depicting one or more modules of the number of modules and at least one of a trunk cable, hatching, and a conduit;

comparing estimated production levels for the photovoltaic system including the number of modules at the location to required production levels;

one of approving and rejecting the photovoltaic system based on the comparison of the estimated production levels and the required production levels; and

generating installation information for the photovoltaic system based at least partially on location-specific information and the estimated number of modules.

25. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 24 , wherein generating installation information comprises generating installation information comprising required installation materials, estimated costs, point-load, and electrical information for the photovoltaic system.