Aurora Solar updates services, expands to UK

Aurora Solar, a company that helps solar installers design and price home solar systems, is updating its tools and expanding into the United Kingdom. The changes mostly affect how installers put together solar proposals, but they touch on a few things that matter if you're considering solar or related upgrades for your home.

Proposals from Aurora-using installers can now include other electrification options alongside solar, such as heat pumps or other HVAC equipment, EV chargers, and battery storage. So if you're shopping for solar, you may see these bundled into quotes more often. On the money side, Aurora is adding prepaid leases and power purchase agreements (arrangements where you pay for the power a system produces rather than owning it outright) as financing options for homeowners, in addition to whatever financing your installer already offers.

The company also runs a Solar Marketplace, where homeowners can get estimates for solar and battery storage projects from local installers. That marketplace remains available as a way to compare options in your area.

None of this is a new incentive or rebate program — it's a company updating its software and services, which mainly affects the tools installers use to design and quote systems. If you're already exploring solar or storage, it may be worth asking your installer whether they use Aurora and what financing options, including the new prepaid lease or power purchase agreement choices, are available to you.