The California Solar Initiative Tools
Calculators
A number of online calculators have been developed to help you make a decision about going solar! Click on each calculator to get a description of what they do or to go to their website.
Please note that results may vary between calculators due to differing internal assumptions and calculation methodologies. Not all of them will agree with each other, and some may use generalized assumptions.
These calculators provide estimates of costs, paybacks, and electricity production and may not be a true reflection of the costs or the pay-back period for your new solar electricity system.
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Clean Power Estimator http://gosolarcalifornia.cleanpowerestimator.com/gosolarcalifornia.htm Questions about or problems with the Clean Power Estimator, please contact: http://www.cleanpower.com/Contact. |
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CSI Expected Performance Based Buydown Calculator www.csi-epbb.com |
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CECPV Calculator (for New Solar Homes Partnership) www.gosolarcalifornia.ca.gov/toola/nshpcalculator/ |
| List of Decision-Making Tools from the U.S. Department of Energy www1.eere.energy.gov/solar/decision_tools.html |
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| PV Watts Calculator from National Renewable Energy Laboratory http://www.nrel.gov/rredc/pvwatts/ |
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Berkeley Calculator http://rael.berkeley.edu/berkeley/calculator |
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Solar Advisor Model from NREL https://www.nrel.gov/analysis/sam/ |





