How to make a solar installer AI-native: a playbook

• 24%Sunrun's sales and marketing as a share of 2025 revenue: $709 million on $2.957 billion (our arithmetic). The $92 million increase over 2024 came mainly from paying lead-generating partners. Its net interest expense, $997 million, was larger still.[30]
• 11% to 33%Share of residential customers who cancel their contracts, across the published studies. The cost of cancelled projects adds about $0.1 per watt to the price of the systems that do get built.[2]
• $0.54/WThe lab's estimate of the full cost of permitting a home system in 2023. Direct costs, the installer's time preparing each application, are about $0.07/W; the rest is indirect, such as learning each AHJ's different requirements.[2]
• 45.8%Small projects (under 30 kW) that reached PTO 31 to 90 days after the interconnection application; 8.8% made it within 30 days and 27.6% took 91 to 180. The clock includes construction and inspection.[37]
• 10% to 30%Dealer fees embedded in solar loans as a share of the cash price, sometimes more than 50%, which can raise the principal by 30% or more.[7]
• 49%How much higher the median residential price was in Illinois than in Arizona in the second half of 2025. EnergySage pointed partly to more complex permitting and inspection (industry figure via a DOE lab).[1]

Adoption

The homeowner credit ended; leases and PPAs took over

Storage is now most of the sale

Where the money went

1. Days 1 to 30

   Pick the territory and its top three AHJs. Connect the CRM or project tracker, project email and the design tool read-only. Write the three AHJ checklists, the utility checklist and the checklists for your two largest financiers. Name the rules owner. Record the baseline: permit days, application-to-PTO days, revisions per project, inspection first-pass rate, install-to-funding days and cancellations with their reasons.

2. Days 31 to 60

   Turn on Stage 1 for the territory: agents read every notice and produce the daily list of what each project needs. Start Stage 2 package building with the cross-check rule, and coordinators filing everything. Review every package the cross-check held, and add what it missed to the checklist.

3. Days 61 to 90

   Compare with the baseline. Decide which homeowner status updates may go out without a person reading them. Add the next AHJs, or Stage 3 install-ready checks. Do not start AI outbound sales yet.

1. 1

   The project coordinator becomes an exception handler

   The coordinator owns a book of projects, reviews packages the agents built, files them under their own name and works the notices agents could not resolve. Nobody publishes how many projects one coordinator can carry; measure it before you change headcount.

2. 2

   A jurisdiction and utility rules owner

   Someone keeps the AHJ and utility checklists, financier document rules, claims list and state sales rules current. When a city changes its setback rule, the checklist changes that week. This is our recommendation, not a survey finding.

3. 3

   The sales manager owns the claims list

   Sales is becoming more regulated: Texas registration for retailers and salespeople from September 2026[15], California's disclosure document and consumer protection guide[17,21], cancellation dates on the contract, AI disclosure. The sales manager signs off every savings method and incentive line agents may use.

4. 4

   Finance owns milestones and counterparty exposure

   With most 2026 sales expected to be leases and PPAs[1], finance decides who may set each milestone, watches funding held by financier, and decides when to slow work for a counterparty under stress.

5. 5

   Service becomes fleet operations

   Where batteries earn grid revenue after the sale, as Sunrun and Base Power show[31,49], service keeps the device inventory by model and firmware, grid program enrollment records, and read-only data paths for agents.

Calls, texts and AI voices

• Since February 2024 the FCC treats AI-generated voices as "artificial" under the TCPA, and telemarketing robocalls need prior express written consent[8]. An AI voice agent that calls a lead needs the same consent as a robocall.
• The Eleventh Circuit vacated the FCC's 2023 "one-to-one" consent rule aimed at lead generators in January 2025[9]. The written-consent requirement stayed. Consent bought from a lead generator is still the installer's risk.
• State laws add their own rules. Florida requires prior express written consent for sales calls made with an automated system for selecting and dialing numbers, gives $500 or actual damages per violation, and for text messages gives the seller 15 days to stop after the recipient replies "STOP"[10]. Oklahoma and other states with their own telemarketing laws: to be confirmed.

Selling in the home

• The federal cooling-off rule lets the buyer cancel until midnight of the third business day, with the notice in the same language as the sales presentation[11].
• California allows cancellation of a home solicitation contract until midnight of the third business day, or the fifth for a senior citizen[19]. AB 1327, effective 1 January 2026, lets the buyer send the cancellation by email and requires the seller to give an email address for it and a phone number for help with the form; a buyer can complain to the Contractors State License Board if the notice is missing from a home improvement contract[20].
• California home improvement contracts must be in writing and signed before work starts; the down payment may not exceed $1,000 or 10% of the price, whichever is less; and the contract names the home improvement salesperson and registration number[18].
• Arizona requires solar agreements to disclose the lifetime cost, components, warranties and tax incentives, and to warn that rates and projected savings may change, with at least three business days to rescind[27]. Nevada and other states with solar-specific sales laws: to be confirmed.

Texas SB 1036

• The Residential Solar Retailer Regulatory Act took effect on 1 September 2025; registration of solar retailers and salespeople and its enforcement took effect on 1 September 2026[15,16].
• The contract names the retailer's and salesperson's registration numbers and the electrical contractor's name and license number, and says the retailer or contractor will obtain the permits and the utility's approval[15].
• The buyer has until the fifth business day to cancel, and the contract must state "the last calendar date of the cancellation period". An affiliated or referred lender must cancel the loan when the contract is cancelled[15]. That date is a field an agent can check on every contract.
• Prohibited: false or misleading statements, implying an affiliation with a utility or government agency, selling at a home with a no-soliciting sign, and installation by anyone who is not an electrical contractor. Retailers must also follow Business and Commerce Code chapter 115 on solar disclosures[15]; that chapter's detail is to be confirmed.
• Civil penalties up to $2,500 per violation or $50,000 in total, and $10,000 and $100,000 where a person over 65 was harmed[15]. The commission adopts a code of conduct by rule and may require educational materials developed by the Public Utility Commission; the rules as adopted are to be confirmed.

California disclosures

• A solar disclosure document must be given before the sale, financing or lease is completed, on the front page or cover of every solar contract in bold 16-point type, in the language principally used in the sales presentation[17].
• In PG&E, SCE, SDG&E, Bear Valley, PacifiCorp and Liberty territory, the installer collects the customer's initials and signature on the California Solar Consumer Protection Guide and submits it with the interconnection application. Contracts signed on or after 15 December 2026 need Version 4 of the guide[21]. A rule an agent can enforce: the interconnection package checks the guide version against the contract date.

Financing and the Holder Rule

• The CFPB's 2024 review found hidden dealer fees, tax-credit misstatements, surprise prepayment expectations at month 18 and overstated savings[7]. Federal enforcement has eased since 2025, but the report was still published without a withdrawal notice when we checked, and state attorneys general pursue the same practices to be confirmed.
• The FTC Holder Rule puts a notice in consumer credit contracts that any holder "is subject to all claims and defenses which the debtor could assert against the seller"[12]. What the installer's salesperson said follows the loan.
• Credit decisions belong to the creditor, which must notify the applicant within 30 days of a completed application and give reasons for an adverse action[13]. An installer's agent should not prequalify, quote rates or tell a homeowner they are approved.

Incentives in the pitch

• "The credit is not available for any property placed in service after December 31, 2025"[5]. A 2026 pitch that offers a homeowner a federal credit on a purchased system is likely misleading.
• Lease and PPA prices may reflect the provider's business credit[31], and export compensation rules such as California's Net Billing Tariff change what a proposal can promise[22]. Each belongs on the dated claims list.

Licensing and safety

• Texas requires installation by an electrical contractor[15]. California licenses contractors by class, including C-10 electrical, C-46 solar and B general building[26]; which class may do which solar and battery work is to be confirmed.
• Roof work 6 feet or more above a lower level needs guardrails, nets or personal fall arrest[14].
• Rapid shutdown and storage requirements come from the electrical and fire codes each AHJ adopts (NEC 690.12 and 706, UL 9540, NFPA 855); these standards are paywalled and the adopted editions vary to be confirmed.

Interconnection

AI disclosure, recording and device security

• California makes it unlawful to use a bot online to mislead someone about its artificial identity to encourage a sale; clear disclosure is the defense[24]. Disclose on every channel anyway.
• Recording a sales visit or call in California needs the consent of everyone in the conversation[25].
• Colorado's SB26-189, signed in May 2026, covers automated decisions about "financial or lending services" from 1 January 2027[28]. How it reaches an installer that hands credit to a lender, and how Utah's AI disclosure law applies to solar sales, are to be confirmed.
• We found no mandatory cybersecurity standard for home inverters; the press describes a regulatory gray zone[51]. CISA advisories, such as the 2025 one on EG4, are the practical trigger[29].

1. SunPower, 2024

   In April 2024 SunPower's audit committee said its 2022 and 2023 financial statements "should no longer be relied upon"; the errors included "the classification of certain sales commissions as cost of revenue"[33]. On 5 August 2024 it filed for Chapter 11 and agreed to sell its Blue Raven, New Homes and non-installing dealer businesses to Complete Solaria[34].

   The lesson: Counterparties fail. Know which projects, warranties and milestones depend on each one, and who signed off each milestone.

2. Sunnova, 2025

   Sunnova filed for Chapter 11 on 8 June 2025 in the Southern District of Texas; the commitment under one of its financing facilities was "reduced to $0"[35]. Losses to its dealers are to be confirmed.

   The lesson: Finance should see exposure by TPO provider every week and be able to hold milestone packages to a counterparty under stress.

3. Solar loan complaints to the CFPB

   The CFPB's 2024 review quoted a homeowner: "I was literally e-signing and it was not explained to me". It found hidden dealer fees, tax-credit misstatements, and about a third of solar financing mail ads from 2021 to 2023 aimed at people 60 and over[7].

   The lesson: Savings and tax statements come only from a dated list, and a person explains the contract. An agent that speeds up tablet signing makes this worse.

4. TCPA suits against the largest installer

   A search of federal court records found at least eight dockets from 2021 to 2025 naming Sunrun with Telephone Consumer Protection Act claims[36], and Sunrun's annual report names the TCPA as a risk[30]. These are allegations; we did not review the outcomes.

   The lesson: Record consent per number and channel before any automated or AI-voice contact, including for bought leads.

5. An install-day accident and the license holder

   Sunrun's 10-K reports a California Contractors State License Board proceeding, opened in December 2020, over "an accident that occurred during an installation by one of our affiliate channel partners", Horizon Solar Power, which held its own license. It settled in November 2021 with citations[30].

   The lesson: The partner held its own CSLB license, and the board still pursued the company whose name was on the job. Crew assignment checks licensing and safety training; agents never mark a job ready.

6. EG4 inverter advisory, 2025

   CISA warned that EG4 inverters sent commands in plaintext, accepted firmware without integrity checks and did not limit PIN attempts; exploitation could let an attacker "gain unauthorized control over the system"[29]. TechCrunch reported about 55,000 affected customers[51].

   The lesson: An installer needs to know which homes have which model and firmware, and no agent should hold device write access.

7. Air Canada's chatbot, 2024 (another sector)

   A British Columbia tribunal held the airline to a refund policy its chatbot invented (secondary summary)[52].

   The lesson: An agent that tells a homeowner a savings figure, a PTO date or a cancellation deadline has made the installer's statement.

Agent failures to design against (scenarios)

One package, three approvers

The mechanisms

Approvals

The action waits for a named person, who sees exactly what will go out: the package with its cross-check result, the change order beside the contract price. It runs once, as approved.

Rules

Checked at the moment of action, the same way in every territory: no text without recorded consent, no claim off the dated list, no filing until the cross-check passes. A rule allows, holds or denies, and says why.

Acting on a named person's authority

A permit goes out under the coordinator who approved it, a purchase order under the operations manager's limit. The agent has no more access than that person, and loses it when they leave.

Data access by role and field

Utility account numbers, ID, loan and lease documents, and lockbox codes reach only the roles and models cleared for them. Monitoring access is read-only for every agent.

Tamper-evident audit log

Every request, rule result, approval and outcome, chained so an edited or deleted entry shows. For actions sent through OrchKernel, it keeps what a TCPA suit, a TDLR or CSLB complaint or a financier's audit asks for: that consent was on record before the call, who filed what, who set each milestone on what evidence.

Human queue

Cancellations, complaints, price and date questions, failed inspections and unresolved corrections land with a named owner and a response time.

Connections to your systems

The firm connects its CRM or project tracker (Salesforce, HubSpot, Enerflo, Sunbase or similar), design tools (Aurora, OpenSolar, Scanifly), utility portals such as PowerClerk, AHJ portals and SolarAPP+, financier and TPO portals (GoodLeap, Palmetto LightReach and others), distributors, monitoring platforms (Enphase, SolarEdge, Tesla) as read-only, e-signature, email and phones. OrchKernel holds the credentials so agents never do.

Eighteen control points

What belongs elsewhere

• Credit decisions, loan disclosures and adverse-action notices. Those belong to the lender.
• Contract and disclosure templates and state registration filings. Counsel and the registered retailer own them.
• Engineering stamps, electrical work, inspections and site safety. Licensed people and the AHJ.
• Interconnection decisions and the utility's own AI review. The utility.
• Device firmware security and grid program dispatch. The manufacturer and the program operator.
• Recording and consent capture inside the phone or sales-recording tool. OrchKernel can require that consent was captured and record that it was.
• The accuracy of production estimates from the design tool. The design vendor and your designer.

• Installer office benchmarks: coordinator hours per project, first-pass acceptance and days from install to funding. None are public; paid market data could not be opened.
• Any independent survey of AI use by solar installers. The only government figure covers all construction.
• Financier milestone structures: which milestones, what evidence, what holdbacks. They vary by financier and are not published.
• Mosaic's and PosiGen's 2025 failures and what they meant for installers.
• State attorney general actions on solar lenders and installers, including Minnesota's 2024 suit over dealer fees and North Carolina's action involving Power Home Solar (Pink Energy).
• The outcomes of the TCPA suits naming Sunrun.
• Rules Texas adopts under SB 1036 for a code of conduct and educational materials, and the detail of Business and Commerce Code chapter 115.
• Nevada's solar sales rules and other states' solar-specific laws beyond Texas, California and Arizona.
• How Utah's AI disclosure law and Colorado's SB26-189 apply to solar sales and to the installer's side of financing.
• Whether LBNL's 16% to 26% price premium on loan-financed systems reflects dealer fees or something else; the paper says it is only partly explained by fees.