Solar plant design taking way too long?
If you’re comparing tools for utility-scale solar and storage projects, chances are you’re tired of manual engineering tasks eating up your schedule and adding risk.
All that repetitive modeling work means you’re stuck waiting on slow designs, which delays everything from site selection to financing approvals.
RatedPower stands out by automating PV, BESS, and hybrid plant design—so you can perform feasibility studies, optimize layouts, and evaluate financial returns in hours instead of weeks. I’ve dug into their tools, reporting, and customization to see exactly where they speed up your process and how they stack up for accuracy.
In this review, I’ll guide you through how RatedPower can actually improve your project workflow and cut down real engineering bottlenecks you’re facing.
You’ll discover, in this RatedPower review, their core features, pricing, platform usability, and direct comparisons against other solar design solutions—so you can weigh every option.
Stick with me to get the hands-on details and the features you need to simplify your evaluation and choose with confidence.
Let’s dive into the analysis.
Quick Summary
- RatedPower is cloud software that automates the design and engineering of utility-scale solar and storage projects to save design time and optimize layouts.
- Best for developers, EPCs, and engineers focused on utility-scale solar and battery storage projects.
- You’ll appreciate its ability to quickly generate detailed engineering documentation and advanced financial metrics within a single platform.
- RatedPower offers enterprise-level annual subscriptions with tiered plans and no public pricing or free trial available.
RatedPower Overview
I’ve been tracking RatedPower, a cloud software solution built specifically for utility-scale solar projects. Based in Madrid, they’ve been on a mission to automate PV design since their 2017 founding.
They specifically target developers, EPCs, and engineering firms, which I find is a smart focus. What sets them apart is their dedication to automating utility-scale solar and BESS design, not the smaller residential market.
You can see their forward momentum in recent updates, like deeper BESS integration and site analysis tools. I’ll explore these important developments later through this RatedPower review.
Unlike siloed tools for niche tasks, RatedPower’s main advantage is how it integrates engineering with financial analysis in a single cloud platform. It really feels like it was built for your daily workflows.
They work with the organizations that need this integrated approach most: large-scale developers and EPC firms trying to standardize and accelerate complex design-to-build project workflows.
From my analysis, their strategy is laser-focused on reducing a project’s Levelized Cost of Energy (LCOE) and boosting its bankability, directly addressing your team’s critical need for more profitable development cycles.
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Now let’s examine their capabilities.
RatedPower Features
Struggling to optimize your solar project designs?
RatedPower features are designed to automate and perfect the entire lifecycle of utility-scale solar and storage projects. Here are the five main RatedPower features that can revolutionize your solar development process.
1. Site Analysis and Prospecting
Still guessing which sites are best for solar?
Without advanced geospatial analysis, you might pick sites that are inefficient or difficult to connect to the grid. This leads to wasted time and resources.
RatedPower identifies ideal locations by leveraging detailed datasets including infrastructure and energy pricing, helping you find optimal grid interconnection points. From my testing, this feature significantly boosts your chances of grid connection by analyzing critical factors. It helps you assess land ownership and maximize project ROI from the start.
This means you can quickly pinpoint the most profitable sites, avoiding costly development missteps and boosting your project’s success rate.
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2. Basic Engineering and Preliminary Design (pvDesign)
Is manual preliminary design slowing you down?
Traditional engineering methods for PV plants are time-consuming and often delay project feasibility studies. This can hinder your ability to quickly evaluate multiple options.
pvDesign automates the study, analysis, and engineering of large-scale PV plants, creating designs up to 90% faster. What I love about this feature is how you can define plant location with exclusion areas and instantly generate optimized layouts. It even performs earthworks calculations to save you time.
The result is your team gets highly accurate preliminary designs in minutes, enabling rapid decision-making and accelerating project timelines significantly.
3. Detailed Engineering and Layout Editability
Need more control over your automated designs?
Automated designs often lack the fine-tuning options required for complex projects, leading to generic layouts that don’t quite fit. This forces manual adjustments that eat into your time.
RatedPower allows you to fine-tune automated designs with real-time data, customizing areas, roads, and electrical systems. This is where RatedPower shines: you can define custom MV cabling trajectories and integrate battery energy storage systems seamlessly. This feature offers the flexibility needed for real-world project requirements.
This means you can refine every aspect of your design, ensuring precision and compliance, and leading to highly optimized and cost-effective solar installations.
4. Advanced Financial Metrics and Reporting
Are you struggling to prove project profitability?
Without clear financial insights, it’s tough to evaluate if a solar project is truly viable or to secure necessary financing. This can jeopardize project approval.
RatedPower provides advanced financial metrics like NPV, IRR, and ROI, allowing you to set energy sales prices and calculate accurate revenue. What you get instead is over 300 pages of editable engineering documentation, including BoQ and single-line diagrams. This feature ensures you have all the data for critical decisions.
So you can confidently present comprehensive financial reports, making it much easier to secure funding and validate the profitability of your solar ventures.
5. Equipment Library and Customization
Is your design software limiting your equipment choices?
A restricted equipment library can force you to use suboptimal components or spend hours manually importing specifications. This slows down your design process.
RatedPower includes a vast library of PV modules, inverters, and structures, with the flexibility to upload your own equipment files. From my testing, the ability to define custom tracker or fixed structures is incredibly valuable. This feature ensures your designs perfectly match specific project needs and available inventory.
This means you have the freedom to select the best equipment for any project, optimizing performance and cost without being constrained by software limitations.
Pros & Cons
- ✅ Automates complex design and engineering processes with high speed and accuracy.
- ✅ Provides intuitive interface reducing learning curve for basic functionalities.
- ✅ Generates comprehensive documentation crucial for project approvals and financing.
- ⚠️ Some advanced electrical and grid design features may have a steeper learning curve.
- ⚠️ Limited customization for highly specific technical parameters like road placement.
- ⚠️ Occasional inaccuracies reported for complex projects and meteorological data.
You’ll appreciate how these RatedPower features work together, creating a cohesive platform for end-to-end solar project design. The integrated nature of this solution means you can move from site prospecting to detailed engineering with impressive efficiency.
RatedPower Pricing
What’s the real cost going to be?
RatedPower pricing operates on a custom, enterprise-level model, which means you’ll need to contact sales directly to get a quote tailored to your specific project needs.
Cost Breakdown
- Base Platform: Custom quote (annual subscription required)
- User Licenses: Unlimited users included in all tiers
- Implementation: Included with Principal Consultant for Enterprise tier, otherwise self-serve/training
- Integrations: Varies by complexity and specific needs
- Key Factors: Project complexity, scale of work, chosen tier, support level
1. Pricing Model & Cost Factors
Understanding their pricing approach.
RatedPower uses a quote-based, annual subscription model where costs are determined by the complexity and scale of your PV projects. What I found regarding pricing is that all plans include unlimited users, projects, and designs, which simplifies cost planning significantly by removing per-seat concerns.
From my cost analysis, this means your budget gets a predictable annual expense without worrying about adding more team members.
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2. Value Assessment & ROI
Is this an investment that pays off?
RatedPower aims to reduce your Levelized Cost of Energy (LCOE) and maximize profitability, making its pricing a long-term investment rather than just an expense. What stood out about their pricing is how it drives significant time savings in design, potentially boosting your project ROI by 2.5x.
This helps you evaluate the financial gains against the software cost, making the justification for your finance team easier.
3. Budget Planning & Implementation
Consider your total cost of ownership.
While specific figures aren’t public, RatedPower’s enterprise-level pricing model suggests a substantial investment, potentially out of reach for smaller startups. Budget-wise, you should factor in the annual subscription cost as your primary expense, knowing it covers extensive features and support.
So for your business, planning for an enterprise-level budget commitment is essential to leverage its full capabilities.
My Take: RatedPower’s pricing is built for large-scale utility projects, offering comprehensive value that justifies the enterprise cost for serious developers focused on maximizing solar asset profitability.
The overall RatedPower pricing reflects specialized enterprise value for utility-scale solar projects.
RatedPower Reviews
What do real customers actually think?
I’ve analyzed a range of user feedback and experiences to bring you balanced insights into what actual customers think about the software, focusing on common patterns in RatedPower reviews.
1. Overall User Satisfaction
Users seem overwhelmingly satisfied.
From my review analysis, RatedPower consistently achieves high satisfaction scores on platforms like G2, with 98% of users giving it 4 or 5 stars. What stood out in customer feedback is how most users would readily recommend this software, indicating strong overall approval and confidence in its capabilities based on their experience.
This suggests you can expect a highly positive experience with the software.
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2. Common Praise Points
Users consistently love its efficiency.
Customers frequently highlight RatedPower’s ease of use and its remarkable ability to save time. What I found in user feedback is how the intuitive interface makes complex tasks simple, allowing users to generate designs and analyses in minutes that previously took days, significantly boosting project timelines.
This means you can accelerate your solar and storage design processes dramatically.
3. Frequent Complaints
Some users note customization limits.
While largely positive, some RatedPower reviews point to limitations in customization options, particularly for advanced electrical configurations or specific local regulations. Review-wise, the reliance on a stable internet connection can be a drawback in areas with poor service, occasionally leading to performance issues for cloud-based functions.
These issues appear to be minor inconveniences rather than significant deal-breakers for most users.
What Customers Say
- Positive: “It’s very easy to learn. With a few clicks you can generate layouts, single line diagrams and financial plans for utility scale PV plants.” (G2 Review)
- Constructive: “Customization options for certain technical parameters… can be limited.” (User Feedback)
- Bottom Line: “User-friendly, easy to get familiar with, and a very powerful tool that will allow the solar developers to quickly define the potential of your prospects!” (G2 Review)
The overall RatedPower reviews reflect genuine user satisfaction with minimal concerns about specific technical customizability.
Best RatedPower Alternatives
Seeking the perfect solar design solution?
The best RatedPower alternatives include several strong options, each better suited for different business situations, project scales, and specific design requirements.
1. PVsyst
Need highly detailed energy yield assessments?
PVsyst excels if your primary focus is granular energy yield simulation and a single, comprehensive report for final validation. What I found comparing options is that PVsyst offers deep simulation and economic analysis, making it a strong alternative for detailed, measured results.
Choose PVsyst when your project demands extensive, desktop-based energy yield and economic analysis.
2. HelioScope (by Aurora Solar)
Prioritizing rapid, high-level project iteration?
HelioScope is your go-to for quickly generating layouts and performance estimates, especially for a high volume of projects. From my competitive analysis, HelioScope focuses on user-friendliness and speed for initial design iterations, although it offers less in-depth engineering documentation.
Consider this alternative when rapid design and quick turnarounds are more critical than detailed engineering reports.
3. PVcase Ground Mount
Heavily reliant on AutoCAD for detailed engineering?
PVcase Ground Mount makes sense if your team prefers designing within a familiar CAD environment for highly precise, terrain-based layouts. Alternative-wise, PVcase offers unparalleled AutoCAD integration for precision, reducing errors through its detailed control within a familiar interface.
Choose PVcase Ground Mount when your workflow demands extensive CAD control and precise terrain-based design.
4. PV*SOL
Managing diverse project scales and component libraries?
PVSOL is ideal if you handle both small and large-scale PV projects, needing a vast component database and detailed simulations. What I found comparing options is that PVSOL provides versatility across system sizes with a focus on extensive component options and EV integration, offering broader application than RatedPower.
Consider this alternative when you need a versatile tool for varied project sizes and a comprehensive equipment library.
Quick Decision Guide
- Choose RatedPower: Utility-scale solar/storage automation and financial analysis
- Choose PVsyst: Granular energy yield simulation and desktop preference
- Choose HelioScope: Rapid design iteration and ease of use
- Choose PVcase Ground Mount: Detailed AutoCAD-based design for ground mounts
- Choose PV*SOL: Versatile design for various project sizes and component databases
The best RatedPower alternatives depend on your project scale and specific design needs, not just feature checklists.
RatedPower Setup
What does RatedPower implementation actually involve?
This RatedPower review dives into the practicalities of getting the software up and running. Expect an honest look at the deployment process, from initial setup to long-term adoption, setting realistic expectations.
1. Setup Complexity & Timeline
Is RatedPower setup straightforward?
RatedPower is a cloud-based SaaS, simplifying deployment since there’s no software to install; you only need a web browser. What I found about deployment is that users with utility-scale design experience ramp up within days, but less technical teams might face a steeper learning curve with advanced tools.
You’ll want to plan for a quick initial rollout, with a few extra days for teams new to substation and grid design.
2. Technical Requirements & Integration
How demanding are the technical prerequisites?
As a cloud platform, your primary technical requirement is a stable internet connection. RatedPower runs on AWS, so you don’t need to worry about server infrastructure or complex integrations with your existing systems. From my implementation analysis, this minimal technical footprint significantly reduces IT overhead.
Your team will primarily focus on user access and ensuring reliable network connectivity, not complex hardware or software installations.
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3. Training & Change Management
Will your team quickly adopt the software?
RatedPower offers interactive video tutorials, webinars, and a comprehensive help center to aid learning. For Enterprise plans, you get on-demand technical training and a Principal Consultant. From my analysis, most teams are productive within days, even for complex multi-megawatt layouts, thanks to these resources.
Invest in the available training to accelerate user proficiency and ensure your team fully leverages the software’s automation capabilities.
4. Support & Success Factors
What support can you expect during setup?
RatedPower’s customer success team is highly praised for being responsive and knowledgeable. Most subscriptions include a 24-working-hour response time, with priority support for Enterprise plans. From my implementation analysis, responsive customer support is a critical success factor for smooth adoption and issue resolution.
Your team can rely on timely assistance, ensuring that any setup or operational questions are addressed quickly, minimizing disruption.
Implementation Checklist
- Timeline: A few days to a week for core team proficiency
- Team Size: Design engineers, a project lead, and minimal IT support
- Budget: Primarily software subscription and internal team time
- Technical: Stable internet connection and modern web browser
- Success Factor: Leveraging RatedPower’s training and customer support
Overall, the RatedPower setup is quite straightforward, making it an accessible solution for most businesses seeking efficient solar design automation.
Bottom Line
Is RatedPower the right choice for your projects?
This RatedPower review provides a clear final assessment, guiding you on who benefits most from its advanced automation and optimization capabilities for solar and storage projects.
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1. Who This Works Best For
Developers, EPCs, and engineering firms focused on utility-scale.
RatedPower is ideally suited for mid-market and enterprise companies in the renewable energy sector, specifically those involved in utility-scale solar PV plants, standalone BESS, and hybrid systems. From my user analysis, organizations prioritizing rapid design iteration and LCOE optimization will find this software indispensable for their project development.
You’ll see significant success if your business requires automating complex engineering and generating bankable reports quickly.
2. Overall Strengths
Unmatched automation and design optimization capabilities.
The software succeeds by automating complex design processes, significantly reducing time from weeks to minutes, and optimizing plant configurations for maximum energy output and minimal LCOE. From my comprehensive analysis, its ability to generate comprehensive documentation automatically is a huge advantage for permitting and financing.
These strengths translate directly into faster project timelines, reduced costs, and enhanced profitability for your large-scale renewable ventures.
3. Key Limitations
Enterprise-level pricing and advanced feature learning curves.
While generally user-friendly, its enterprise-level pricing can be a barrier for smaller companies, and some advanced electrical design features can present a steeper learning curve. Based on this review, customization options for very specific technical parameters and local regulations can be somewhat limited.
These limitations are manageable trade-offs for the comprehensive capabilities you gain, rather than fundamental deal-breakers for the right users.
4. Final Recommendation
RatedPower earns a strong recommendation for its niche.
You should choose this software if your core business involves utility-scale solar and storage projects and you prioritize automation, speed, and integrated engineering with financial analysis. From my analysis, your success hinges on embracing cloud-based project management and its robust design optimization.
My confidence level is high for large-scale operations seeking efficiency and accuracy in renewable energy project development.
Bottom Line
- Verdict: Recommended for utility-scale solar and storage project development
- Best For: Project developers, EPC firms, and engineering companies
- Business Size: Mid-market and enterprise-level companies (>1MW projects)
- Biggest Strength: Automated design, optimization, and comprehensive documentation
- Main Concern: Enterprise pricing and learning curve for advanced electrical features
- Next Step: Request a demo to see if it aligns with your project scale
This RatedPower review demonstrates significant value for specific high-volume users, ensuring confidence in your decision for utility-scale renewable energy projects.