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HelioScope Alternative: SolarPlus for Commercial Solar and Storage Design
SolarPlus vs Helioscope
SolarPlus is a commercial and industrial solar design platform used as an alternative to HelioScope by teams who need battery modelling, tariff analysis, quoting and customer management in the same tool as the design engine. The two are licensed on different principles. HelioScope charges per seat and limits each licence to ten projects a month. SolarPlus charges on quoting volume, so its mid-tier plan carries ten designer accounts and no limit on the number of projects or the size of any one of them. For most C&I teams two things decide it. How many people can work in the platform, and whether the energy model, the financial case and the proposal come out of one system or three.
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Choose SolarPlus if
- Your projects involve batteries, demand tariffs, load shifting or EV charging, and the storage case is what wins or loses the job.
- You have interval meter data for the site, and an assumed load profile is not good enough.
- More than one or two people need access, and per-seat licensing is becoming the constraint.
- You would rather not discover that the feature you need sits behind a higher tier.
- You want the design, the financial case, the proposal and the install pack out of one system.
Where HelioScope may suit you better
- You are working above 5 MW on single-axis trackers, where HelioScope’s Enterprise tier reaches 30 MW DC.
- You are working on tracker-based or utility-scale projects beyond the C&I range.
- Your team is already standardised on Aurora for residential and you want a same-vendor C&I tool.
SolarPlus and HelioScope compared
| Feature | SolarPlus | HelioScope |
|---|---|---|
| Licensing model | Priced on quoted system volume, three-month average; users included in the plan | Per licence, one user per licence |
| Feature access | Every feature on every plan. Tiers differ on quoting allowance and number of designer accounts, nothing else. Integrations and premium imagery are optional add-ons on all plans equally | Tiered. LIDAR, independent tilt, AI obstruction detection, financial modelling, sales proposals and P90/P95/P99 require Pro. Single-axis trackers, PVsyst export, API and SSO require Enterprise |
| Entry tier | Starter — US$150/month, or US$135/month on annual pre-pay (US$1,620/year). 900 kW commercial or 300 kW residential a month, averaged over three months. 5 designer accounts | Basic — US$159/month, or US$135/month on annual (US$1,620/year). 1 user, 10 projects a month |
| Mid tier | Pro — US$300/month, or US$260/month on annual pre-pay (US$3,120/year). 2 MW commercial or 700 kW residential a month, averaged over three months. 10 designer accounts plus free installer access | Pro — US$259/month, or US$220/month on annual (US$2,640/year). 1 user, 10 projects a month |
| Upper tier | Complete — US$520/month, or US$450/month on annual pre-pay (US$5,400/year). 3.9 MW commercial or 1.3 MW residential a month, averaged over three months. Unlimited user accounts | Enterprise — custom per-project pricing |
| Above that | Enterprise — unlimited users, priced on enquiry | Enterprise — unlimited users, designs to 30 MW DC |
| Project limits | No limit on the number of projects, and no cap on the size of any single project. Plan tiers set a monthly quoting allowance in kW, averaged over three months to smooth out peaks. Exceed it and you move up a tier | 10 projects per licence per month, 120 per year on annual billing |
| Team size cap | Unlimited users on Complete and Enterprise plans | Maximum 5 licences on Basic and Pro; Enterprise beyond that |
| Design capacity | No licensing cap on project size. Practical limits are set by the designer's hardware: around 3 MW on a laptop, and up to 8 MW on a desktop. Central-inverter designs may reach 15 MW | 1.25 MW DC Basic, 5 MW DC Pro, 30 MW DC Enterprise. A licensing cap that no hardware will lift |
| 3D visualisation | Rendered building and solar panel with 3D automated site tours | Plan view and lidar |
| Shading analysis | Physics-based ray tracing against a 3D scene of roof geometry, panels, trees and terrain. Loss assessed per diode zone, refined for half-cut cell layouts, then coupled to yield with module temperature and degradation. Terrain horizon derating included | LIDAR-based shade modelling and AI obstruction detection on Pro |
| Irradiance data | Meteonorm V9 or BYO | Defaults to NASA data for North America, Meteonorm V8 optional |
| Simulation resolution | Five-minute interval modelling | 8,760-hour production report |
| Interval meter data | Upload of customer interval data in a range of formats, including CSV and the Australian NEM12 and NEM13. Accepted down to one-minute intervals, processed at five minutes | Consumption file upload at 15-minute, 30-minute or hourly increments |
| Wholesale market pricing | Model market-linked plans at settlement resolution, in any market, using your own imported price data. Up to three years of history is retrieved automatically where a market feed is supported, currently the Australian NEM and WEM | Not available |
| Feasibility Analysis | Deep analysis of load, tariff and design priorities to target ideal solar & battery sizing. | Not available |
| Battery dispatch optimisation | Solar-aware lookahead across an editable 24 to 72 hour horizon, with export triggers, stop-price hysteresis, state-of-charge limits and export volume caps | Not available |
| Battery modelling | Grid-connect, hybrid, backup and off-grid; peak shaving with monthly thresholds; arbitrage and export; dual discharge logic with state-of-charge transition points | Battery layout on all projects; integrated storage sizing added 2026 |
| Battery sizing | Optimiser identifies the best capacity against payback, first-year ROI or minimum annual cost, with sensitivity analysis against larger and smaller sizes | Not a documented feature |
| Storage retrofit on an existing array | Model a battery against an existing system’s generation, the site’s load and its tariff, with no new PV design required. Total consumption can be regenerated from grid import data alone.. | Storage is added within a design, so the existing array is rebuilt in the designer first |
| Tariff modelling | Commercial demand tariffs, time-of-use, and tariff comparison for retailer switching | Utility Rate Editor |
| Load shifting, EV charging, hot water diversion | Included via the Smart Energy Simulator | Not available |
| Diesel generator modelling | On-grid and off-grid. Outage backup, generator-supported peak shaving, start and stop thresholds, minimum efficient loading, runtime and fuel analysis | Not available |
| Design automation | Auto-Design generates and scores multiple candidate electrical configurations on panel utilisation, row-aligned stringing, balanced inverter loading and avoidance of unnecessary string overcurrent protection, then writes the result back to the layout | AI-based obstruction detection on Pro |
| Electrical design | Editable single-line diagram workspace. Topology and protection placement generated from the system configuration, then each connection can be selected to review design current, assign cable specifications and reroute paths to match the installation | Single-line diagram generated automatically from the design and updated in real time. Conductor lengths calculated; combiners and recombiners removable in the Electrical Designer |
| Product Library | Solar panels, inverters, battery, battery all-in-one, generators, EV chargers, EMS | Solar panels, inverters |
| Mounting configurations | Roof, tilt frame, back-to-back east-west, ground mount in 1, 2 and 3-up, reverse tilt, carport and vertical BIPV | Rooftop, carport and ground mount |
| Financial analysis | LCoE, NPV, IRR and year-by-year lifetime cashflow. Energy volume, demand and export charges modelled separately rather than as one blended saving. Accounts for consumption change over time, price escalation, solar and battery degradation, maintenance and finance costs. Battery replacement treated as a lifecycle event, with the cost applied in the chosen year and degradation reset for the new asset. Cash, lease, rental and PPA | Financial modelling on Pro and Enterprise. Cashflow to 25 years, module degradation applied from year two, financial debug view of annual values. Cash, loan, lease and PPA |
| Uncertainty analysis | P50 and P90 based on inter-annual variability, with the option to run the lifetime return calculation at P90 rather than P50 | P90, P95 and P99 on Pro, applied to production |
| Production data import | Import hourly production output from HelioScope or PVsyst via 4-column CSV. Battery sizing, smart energy modelling and the financial case then run on the imported yield, with no solar design required | Not a documented feature |
| PVsyst interoperability | Imports PVsyst production output, so the yield carries into battery, tariff and financial modelling. Layout exports as DXF for use in CAD or conversion to a PVsyst shade scene | Exports the 3D shade scene directly as a DAE file for import into PVsyst as near-shading geometry, though tree keepouts are excluded. Production estimates within 1% of PVsyst |
| CAD export | Export map surfaces and panel data as DXF, usable in CAD or convertible to other 3D formats | Export design and single-line diagram as DXF |
| Single-axis trackers | Not currently supported | Enterprise tier |
| CRM and pipeline | Included on all plans | Not available |
| Proposals | Fully customisable branded proposals, online acceptance with card payment and finance integration | Customisable reports and sales proposals on Pro |
| Side-by-side quote comparison | Customer-facing comparison page presenting multiple quoted options together. The customer reviews them side by side, selects one, and continues to acceptance | Not available |
| Invoicing | Order and invoice with payments, Xero sync | Not available |
| Install management | Job tracking dashboard, site packs, commissioning report and owner handover manual | Not available |
| Aerial imagery | High-resolution aerial imagery configured per market, including Nearmap, MetroMap, Google maps. Free government imagery where a country publishes it. Plus the ability to upload building plans, drone images, or other online map images. | Bing Maps and Street View included; Nearmap a paid add-on |
| Units | Platform-wide metric and imperial toggle | Imperial and metric |
| Support coverage | All time zones, via support teams in South-east Asia, South Africa and Central America | Email and in-app chat, Monday to Friday, hours published in Pacific time. No inbound phone line |
HelioScope pricing and specifications verified from helioscope.aurorasolar.com/pricing on 4 August 2026. SolarPlus pricing from solarplus.co/plans-pricing. Both platforms discount for annual billing; both bases are shown. Prices exclude local taxes where these apply.
How the two are licensed
HelioScope licenses per seat, and each seat is limited to ten projects a month. Add a designer and you add a licence. Basic and Pro are capped at five licences, after which a team moves to Enterprise.
SolarPlus licenses on quoting volume. Designer accounts come with the plan rather than being bought individually, there is no cap on the number of projects, and no cap on the size of any one of them. The plan tier reflects how much quoting the business does over a quarter, so it grows with you. Outgrow a tier and you move up.
For a five-person design team the difference compounds. Five HelioScope Pro licences run to roughly four times the annual cost of a SolarPlus Pro plan, and that plan carries ten designer accounts with free installer access on top.
A second difference matters more than the monthly figure. Every SolarPlus feature is on every plan. The battery optimiser, feasibility analysis, market pricing, the editable single-line diagram, the financial model, the CRM and the install workflow are all there on the entry plan, exactly as they are on the top one. What you pay for is quoting capacity and designer accounts.
HelioScope tiers its capability instead. Financial modelling, LIDAR, independent tilt, AI obstruction detection, sales proposals and P90/P95/P99 all sit behind Pro; single-axis trackers, PVsyst export, the API and SSO sit behind Enterprise. A commercial designer is therefore not really choosing between Basic and Pro, because Basic will not produce a financial case.
Which works out cheaper depends on the shape of your pipeline rather than the headline rate. A team quoting a steady flow of commercial jobs will meet the ten-project monthly ceiling long before it approaches the SolarPlus quoting allowance. A team quoting a small number of very large systems may reach the kW allowance first. Current figures for both platforms are in the table above, and the full plan and pricing detail is on our pricing page.
What SolarPlus does that HelioScope does not
The model starts from the site's actual consumption
SolarPlus takes the customer’s interval meter data directly, in the formats used in your market, and builds the model on it. Intervals are accepted down to one minute and processed at five. That matters most on commercial sites, where the load shape drives the entire storage case and an assumed profile can move payback by years. HelioScope models generation; the consumption side is something you bring from elsewhere.
Feasibility analysis for optimal sizing
Starting with tariff and load data, and optional rooftop areas, run a deep analysis of solar and battery sizing including peak shaving to compare hundreds of possible solutions. Provides a fast drilldown to the best business case to cut down design time and optimise return on investment.
Shading modelled at diode level
SolarPlus builds a 3D scene from roof geometry, panels, trees, terrain and obstructions, then casts simulated sun rays hourly against sample points across every panel. Losses are assessed per diode zone and refined further for half-cut cell layouts, before being coupled into the yield calculation alongside module temperature and degradation. Terrain horizon derating handles sites where the surrounding landscape cuts into the solar window. Irradiance comes from Meteonorm V9. More on how the performance engine works, from irradiance data through to modelled yield.
Commercial tariffs are built into the design
Commercial demand charges, time-of-use rates and retailer comparison are all handled inside the design. You can show a building owner what the demand charge reduction is worth alongside the energy saving, in the same document as the array layout.
Market-linked electricity plans
A market-linked plan cannot be assessed with a single average rate, because its value depends entirely on when energy moves. SolarPlus models wholesale prices at settlement resolution, from five minutes through hourly, and keeps wholesale energy, network and fixed charges separate so you can show a customer exactly what changes when they move off a conventional tariff. Price data can be imported and labelled for any market in the world. Where a market feed is supported, up to three years of history is retrieved automatically instead, which currently covers the Australian NEM and WEM. Forecast scenarios are built from that history using direct pass-through, scaling, monthly trends, weekday shaping or historical variability, with source and modelled prices charted side by side so every assumption stays visible and reviewable.
Battery dispatch weighs the alternatives
Charge and discharge behaviour is modelled at five-minute intervals. Hourly averages smooth away the exact events a peak-shaving or arbitrage battery exists to catch. The simulator also makes no assumption that every available kilowatt-hour should be exported. Solar-aware lookahead runs across an editable 24 to 72 hour horizon, weighing forecast solar availability, expected site demand, reserve requirements and whether stored energy is likely to be worth more later. Export triggers, stop-price hysteresis, state-of-charge limits, export power and daily, weekly and monthly volume caps let you model how a battery will actually be allowed to operate, so the result is not a perfect-trading fantasy.
The battery optimiser sizes the system for you
You do not have to nominate a capacity and see how it performs. The optimiser finds the size that does best against simple payback, first-year return or minimum annual cost, then runs a sensitivity analysis against larger and smaller options so you can see how tightly the economics depend on getting it right. Dispatch is simulated step by step, with PV serving load first and a realistic round-trip efficiency applied. Here is a fuller account of battery modelling in SolarPlus, covering dispatch, peak shaving and backup.
Auto-Design tests several configurations before it picks one
Auto-Design reads the placed layout, including roof faces, C&I rows, table groups, walkways, separated array blocks, azimuths and tilt angles. It calculates allowable string lengths from module and inverter specifications, voltage limits, MPPT windows and the oversizing target, then generates several candidate configurations and scores them on complete panel utilisation, clean row-aligned stringing, balanced inverter loading, sensible final-inverter fill and avoidance of unnecessary string overcurrent protection. The chosen result is written back to the map with each string linked to its panels. Change the module, inverter or layout and the electrical design rebuilds. Here is more on how automated design and stringing handles multiple roof planes and orientations.
Adding storage to a site that already has solar
A growing share of commercial storage goes onto roofs that already have an array on them, and those projects rarely need the solar redesigned. SolarPlus models the battery against the existing system’s generation, the site’s actual load and its current tariff. Optionally bring the generation in as interval data or as a production export from whatever tool built the original design, add the consumption and the tariff, and the sizing, dispatch and financial case run from there. Option to regenerate full load from grid import data only.
It is the same import path used for a HelioScope or PVsyst yield, applied to a system that is already on the roof rather than one still being designed.
Electrical design follows from the layout
SolarPlus turns the completed solar, battery and generator layout into a connected electrical model. Equipment topology, AC and DC connections, protection devices and cable pathways are generated from the actual system configuration, then presented in an editable single-line diagram. You can select any connection, review design current and cable sizing guidance, assign specifications and reroute paths to match the installation. AC, DC, earth and communications links are differentiated, and multi-port equipment, charge controllers, generators and complex battery architectures all sit in the same workspace. The cable design happens inside the diagram, with no separate CAD step afterwards.
Generators, on grid as well as off
Generator modelling covers outage backup, generator-supported peak shaving and full hybrid operation alongside solar, storage and the grid. You can compare generator-only, solar-generator, battery-generator and integrated configurations, set start and stop thresholds and minimum efficient loading, and report served load, unmet load, runtime and fuel consumption. For industrial and remote sites this is often the whole question. Here is more detail on off-grid and hybrid system design.
Keep the yield you already modelled
SolarPlus imports hourly production output from HelioScope or PVsyst through a four-column CSV. The imported data replaces the solar production in the model, and battery sizing, smart energy modelling and the full financial case run on top of it without you redrawing the array. If you have a HelioScope project already finished, you can run the storage and tariff analysis on it directly. If a financier has asked for a PVsyst yield report, run PVsyst for the yield and SolarPlus for everything that follows. Going the other way, map surfaces and panel data export as DXF for CAD handover, and that geometry can be converted onward if another tool needs it.
The commercial case and the design come from the same file
LCoE, NPV, IRR and year-by-year cashflow, plus PPA structures, are generated from the design itself, so there is no spreadsheet to rebuild afterwards. Change the array and the financial case follows.
What the lifetime model does underneath matters more on a commercial project than the headline payback figure. Energy volume, demand and export charges are carried separately rather than collapsed into one blended saving, so you can show which part of the bill the system actually moves. Consumption change over time, price escalation, solar and battery degradation, maintenance and finance costs all sit in the projection rather than being assumed away.
Battery replacement is handled as a lifecycle event rather than a line in a spreadsheet. Set the year, and the replacement cost lands in that year with degradation resetting for the new asset, which is the difference between a twenty-year projection that reflects the asset and one that quietly assumes the first battery lasts forever. Cash, lease, rental and PPA structures are all supported.
Let the customer choose between options, side by side
Commercial buyers rarely accept the first number they are given. SolarPlus lets you quote several configurations for the same site and present them on a single customer-facing comparison page, so the decision-maker can weigh a larger array against a smaller one, or solar-only against solar with storage, without reading three separate documents. They pick a preferred option and continue straight to the acceptance and payment page.
It changes the conversation from whether to proceed to which one to take, and it means the sensitivity work you have already done in the model reaches the person signing. Here is more on proposal and quote generation, including branding, online acceptance and payment.
The workflow continues past the design
Proposals, online acceptance with payment and finance integration, invoicing with Xero sync, install job tracking, commissioning reports and handover manuals are all in the same platform. HelioScope stops at the design and report. The built-in CRM and pipeline is included on every SolarPlus plan.
What SolarPlus does not do
No platform covers everything, and it is quicker for both of us if you know the boundaries before a demonstration. Three things sit outside what SolarPlus currently does.
- Single-axis trackers. SolarPlus does not currently model tracking systems. Fixed-tilt ground mount is well covered, including reverse tilt and 1, 2 and 3-up configurations, but if your work is tracker-based this is not the tool.
- Very large arrays on modest hardware. SolarPlus renders arrays locally, so a capable machine matters at the top of the range. A laptop handles up to around 3 MW and a well-specified desktop up to 8 MW, which covers C&I comfortably, but utility-scale work on a low-specification machine is not what it is designed for.
- P95 and P99 exceedance. SolarPlus reports P50 and P90 derived from inter-annual variability, and carries P90 through into the lifetime return calculation. If a financier has specified P95 or P99 on the production figure, that sits outside what SolarPlus currently reports.
Markets and coverage
SolarPlus is used by installers, engineers and developers worldwide, across North America, Latin America, Europe, Africa, Asia and Australasia. Tariff structures, compliance guidance and imagery sources are configured per market, the platform carries a metric and imperial units toggle throughout, and net metering and net billing are supported alongside time-of-use and demand tariffs. Wholesale market modelling runs on retrieved price history where it is available and on your own imported price data anywhere else. Support teams in South-east Asia, South Africa and Central America cover every time zone. “Support teams in South-east Asia, South Africa and Central America cover every time zone.” Nothing replaces the deleted sentence.
Switching from HelioScope
You do not have to rebuild a HelioScope design to try SolarPlus against it. Export the hourly production data from HelioScope and upload it through the four-column CSV import alongside the site’s consumption and export data. SolarPlus uses the imported production in place of a modelled array, and battery sizing, tariff modelling, smart energy analysis and the full financial case then run on top of it. No solar design is required. It is the same import path used for PVsyst output.
Imported data keeps the resolution it arrives with, so an 8,760-hour export stays hourly. Five-minute interval modelling applies to designs built in SolarPlus.
For new work designed from scratch, the array is drawn in SolarPlus. Redrawing one roof is rarely what costs you time when you change platforms. The work is populating your equipment list, setting up pricing and building the system packages you quote from, and SolarPlus does that part with you.
QuickStart covers 90 minutes of one-to-one online training, your inventory populated with up to 60 components and quoting items including wholesale pricing and mark-up, up to eight priced system packages, and your branding applied. KickStart runs to three hours across two sessions, 150 components, 20 priced system packages, and one proposal template customised to your business. Custom onboarding adds separate sessions for design, install and sales teams, with in-depth training in solar and storage sizing, delivered online by the SolarPlus support team.
There is also a self-guided path at no cost if you would rather set the account up yourself, though the timeline is less predictable. With QuickStart, designers coming from another modelling platform are ready to build their first system straight after the 90-minute session.
Training and support are delivered across all time zones, so onboarding is scheduled around your working hours rather than ours.
| QuickStart | KickStart | |
|---|---|---|
| Training | 90 minutes, one-to-one online | Three hours across two sessions |
| Inventory built for you | Up to 60 components and quoting items, with wholesale pricing and mark-up | Up to 150 components and quoting items, with wholesale pricing and mark-up |
| Priced system packages | Up to 8 | Up to 20 |
| Branding | Logo and company profile applied | Logo and company profile applied |
| Proposal template | Standard templates | One template customised |
| Also included | Onboarding video series | Priority support in the first month |
Frequently asked questions
What is the best alternative to HelioScope?
It depends on what HelioScope is not doing for you. If the gap is battery and tariff modelling, or the quoting and customer workflow around the design, SolarPlus covers all three in one platform. If the gap is project scale or PVsyst alignment, HelioScope's own Enterprise tier or PVsyst itself is the better move. Aurora Solar, SolarPlus and PVsyst are the platforms most often evaluated alongside HelioScope.
Do I need a higher plan to get the full feature set?
Not with SolarPlus. Every feature is available on every plan, including battery and market modelling, the editable single-line diagram, financial analysis, CRM, proposals and install management. Plans differ only in monthly quoting allowance and the number of designer accounts. HelioScope tiers its capability instead: financial modelling, LIDAR, independent tilt and P90/P95/P99 require Pro, while single-axis trackers, PVsyst export, the API and SSO require Enterprise.
How much does HelioScope cost?
HelioScope Basic is US$159 per licence per month, or US$1,620 a year on annual billing. Pro is US$259 per licence per month, or US$2,640 a year. Both include one user and ten projects per month. Enterprise is custom priced. Basic and Pro are capped at five licences per team. Verified 4 August 2026.
Is there a HelioScope alternative that includes battery modelling?
Yes. SolarPlus models grid-connect, hybrid, backup and off-grid storage, including peak shaving with grid charging, time-of-use demand savings, and energy arbitrage with export revenue. HelioScope added integrated storage sizing in 2026, though its focus remains generation modelling.
Can I model a battery retrofit on a site that already has solar?
Yes. SolarPlus models storage against an existing array without you redesigning the solar. Supply the existing system's generation as interval data or a production export, add the site's consumption and tariff, and the battery sizing, dispatch modelling and lifetime financial case run on that. In HelioScope, storage is added inside a design, so the existing array has to be rebuilt in the designer before a battery can be modelled against it.
What is the largest system I can design in SolarPlus?
There is no licensing cap on project size, so the practical limit is your hardware. As a guide, a capable laptop handles systems up to around 3 MW, and a higher-specification desktop with 32 GB of RAM and a dedicated graphics card up to 8 MW. Central-inverter designs may reach 15 MW, since single-MPPT central inverters process faster than multi-MPPT inverters or module-level electronics. HelioScope caps project size by plan tier instead, at 1.25 MW on Basic and 5 MW on Pro.
Can SolarPlus model wholesale market prices and battery trading?
Yes. Market-linked plans are modelled at settlement resolution from five minutes through hourly, with wholesale energy, network and fixed charges reported separately. You can import your own price data for any market. Where a market feed is supported, up to three years of history is retrieved automatically, currently for the Australian NEM and WEM. Battery dispatch is optimised across an editable 24 to 72 hour lookahead using forecast solar, expected demand and reserve requirements, with configurable export triggers and limits. HelioScope does not model market pricing.
How detailed is the lifetime financial model?
It runs year by year across the life of the system and keeps the charge components separate: wholesale energy, network, retail and fixed charges are each modelled rather than combined into a single blended saving. The projection accounts for consumption changing over time, price escalation, solar and battery degradation, maintenance and finance costs. Battery replacement is treated as a lifecycle event, with the replacement cost applied in the year you nominate and degradation resetting for the new asset.
Cash, lease, rental and PPA structures are all supported, and the outputs are LCoE, NPV, IRR and full cashflow.
Does either platform produce single-line diagrams?
Both do, and the difference is what you can do with the drawing afterwards. HelioScope generates a single-line diagram from the design and updates it in real time as the design changes, with conductor lengths calculated and DXF export for CAD. SolarPlus generates topology and protection placement the same way, then opens it as an editable workspace: you can select any connection, review its design current, assign cable specifications and reroute paths to match the installation, with AC, DC, earth and communications links differentiated. If you want cable design and installation-specific routing inside the diagram itself, that is where the two part company.
Can I present several quote options to a customer at once?
In SolarPlus, yes. Quote multiple configurations for the same site and present them on a single customer-facing comparison page. The customer reviews the options side by side, selects one, and continues to acceptance and payment. HelioScope produces reports and sales proposals for a single design; comparing options means sending separate documents.
Does HelioScope have a CRM?
No. HelioScope is a design and simulation platform. Customer management, quoting, invoicing and install tracking need a separate system. SolarPlus includes all four.
Can I model demand charges and time-of-use tariffs in HelioScope?
HelioScope includes a Utility Rate Editor for building tariff structures. SolarPlus models commercial demand tariffs, time-of-use rates and retailer tariff comparison natively, and calculates the demand charge reduction attributable to the system.
Can I use SolarPlus alongside PVsyst?
Yes, and the two work well together. SolarPlus imports PVsyst production output through a four-column CSV upload. The imported production replaces the modelled solar output, and battery sizing, smart energy modelling and financial analysis then run on it without any solar design being built in SolarPlus. This suits teams who need a PVsyst yield report for a financier and want the storage, tariff and proposal work done in one place afterwards. There is more on how SolarPlus compares with PVsyst on our PVsyst alternative page.
Is SolarPlus more accurate than HelioScope?
Neither platform has been independently benchmarked against the other. HelioScope publishes production estimates within 1% of PVsyst. SolarPlus runs physics-based ray-traced shade analysis with losses assessed per diode zone, against Meteonorm V9 irradiance data, at five-minute resolution. The two engines answer different questions: HelioScope is built around generation yield, SolarPlus around the combined generation, storage and tariff outcome. Where a yield figure has to come from PVsyst, SolarPlus will take that figure directly.
How many users do I get with HelioScope?
One per licence. Basic and Pro are single-user licences with a maximum of five per team, so a five-person team needs five licences. SolarPlus includes five designer accounts on its entry plan, ten plus free installer access on the mid tier, and unlimited on the top tier, because it meters quoting volume instead of seats.
What support does SolarPlus offer across time zones?
Support teams based in South-east Asia, South Africa and Central America cover all time zones, and onboarding training is scheduled to suit your working hours, wherever you are. Premium phone support is included in the first month on the KickStart onboarding package. HelioScope publishes weekday support hours in Pacific time and does not offer an inbound phone line.
Where in the world can I use SolarPlus?
Just about anywhere. SolarPlus has users across North America, Latin America, Europe, Africa, Asia and Australasia, with tariff structures and compliance guidance configured per market and a metric and imperial units toggle throughout.
What is the difference between HelioScope and PVsyst?
PVsyst is desktop software that is the long-standing reference for yield modelling in financed projects. HelioScope is browser-based, faster to run, and publishes estimates within 1% of PVsyst. Teams often use PVsyst where a financier requires it and something faster for everything else.
Can I move my HelioScope projects to SolarPlus?
Yes, in the sense that matters. Export the hourly production data from your HelioScope project and upload it through the four-column CSV import alongside the site's consumption and export data. SolarPlus uses that production in place of a modelled array, so battery sizing, tariff modelling and the financial case run on your existing HelioScope yield without any design being redrawn. The array itself is not transferred, and imported data keeps its original hourly resolution.
How long does it take to get up and running coming from HelioScope?
Not long. You already know how to design a solar system; what you are learning is an interface. Designers arriving from another modelling platform are ready to build their first system straight after a single 90-minute QuickStart session, commercial work with battery modelling included.
Self-guided setup varies much more. Some people are designing after reading a couple of help centre articles; others take considerably longer to get through a complete design. If you want a predictable answer, take the onboarding package.
MOVE FROM HELIOSCOPE
It's easy to make the switch from Helioscope to SolarPlus
Everyday, we help C&I design engineers like you make the move over to SolarPlus. Just reach out to our experienced team of solar industry professionals to get started.
Why energy professionals love SolarPlus
"By using SolarPlus to design complex renewable solutions, our company has more than tripled its turnover in the past 12 months".
Dave Gregor
Union Power, South Africa
"SolarPlus helps us create impressive, professional proposals that build customer trust and convert more sales".
Tinus Lotz
Astra Energy, South Africa
"Knowing that my designs are valid, compliant and look professional makes SolarPlus a no-brainer."
Andrew Lindsay
Signature Solar, Australia
"I always recommend SolarPlus to anyone coming into the industry. It’s the best solution on the market, hands down"!
Steven Zilm
EnergyPlex, Australia
"SolarPlus has provided design accuracy and reliability and an easy-to-use workflow that has saved me a lot of time".
Quentin Bligh
The Natural Grid, Australia
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