Planno’s geospatial AI platform accelerates C&I rooftop solar development with new automation features

Planno, a software company based in the United Arab Emirates, has recently introduced a new subscription-based prospecting tool designed specifically for commercial and industrial (C&I) solar developers and planners. As reported by pv magazine, this platform automates several steps in the prospecting process , making it easier for developers to find and qualify promising rooftops across an ever-growing list of countries.

The company claims the product leverages geospatial artificial intelligence, mainly by analyzing satellite data, imagery, and machine learning models, to pinpoint rooftops suitable for solar installations. Daniel Domingues, who is both the founder and CEO of Planno, told pv magazine that this software “makes the process faster and more data-driven.” He also mentioned it “offers a good alternative to manual methods, as well as a platform where opportunities can be organized, managed, and shared among different team members,” which makes sense, right?

What’s pretty neat is that Planno doesn’t just stop at rooftop detection. They also incorporate generation estimates and include business contact details to help move projects forward. The platform features a quality-control step, done by humans, to make sure the sites flagged actually match the characteristics typical of C&I rooftops and to weed out structures that aren’t relevant. Domingues explained that this manual review is meant to cut down on false positives, a common hiccup with automated scans.

Interestingly enough, this launch hits at a time when finding rooftops for solar can still be quite laborious. Planno points out that traditional prospecting usually involves a patchwork of activities, scrolling through Google Maps and Google Earth, digging into land registries and municipal databases, pulling from business directories, and making cold calls for each new market. The software aims to streamline all those steps, helping developers grow their lead pipelines more efficiently and scale faster.

The company is already up and running in several regions. According to pv magazine, early users include firms in the UAE, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Belgium, the Netherlands, France, Cyprus, and the United States. Planno mentioned that they’ve seen the most significant traction in the Middle East and South Africa but are expecting European markets to take off in 2026 as they open up more territories.

On their website, Planno states they have a database of over 1.5 million C&I rooftops, capturing more than 320 gigawatts (GW) of potential market opportunities in their platform. The platform’s features include rooftop analytics, solar generation estimates, and integration with Google Street View, all designed to enhance customer profiles and project insights.

Coinciding with the new launch is a commercial partnership in Portugal. Planno recently announced Spark Wave Energy, a joint venture between Octopus Energy Generation and local Portuguese partners, as one of its customers. Based on Planno’s analysis, Portugal has approximately 79,000 rooftops suitable for C&I solar, with a potential capacity of 15.4 GW, yet only about 15% of this has been developed so far. Industry sources, including PortugalStartups, noted that the partnership with Spark Wave was announced in December 2025 to promote nationwide rooftop solar deployment.

Spark Wave, backed and managed locally by Octopus Energy Generation, has ambitions to roll out considerable distributed solar capacity in Portugal. They’ve publicly shared plans to install 150 MWp (megawatts peak) by 2027, with fully financed projects relating to solar power, energy storage, and electric vehicle charging stations. Industry commentary suggests that this partnership will merge Planno’s geospatial intelligence with Spark Wave’s development pipeline to prioritize sites and accelerate customer engagement.

Experts and solar developers following distributed generation agree that enhanced prospecting tools are crucial in breaking down a long-standing obstacle, finding, qualifying, and converting rooftop leads efficiently. According to NovoBrief, Portugal’s distributed generation market is poised to grow by over 500 MW each year in the near future. Tools that cut down the time from spotting a site to making a proposal can really make a difference in a developer’s pipeline and overall sales efficiency.

Right now, Planno is functioning as a standalone product, but they aim for longer-term integration with existing developer workflows. Domingues told pv magazine that they plan to develop connectors for popular CRM (Customer Relationship Management) systems, so those leads identified on the platform can be fed directly into their pipelines or management tools, making everything more seamless, I suppose.

Of course, relying on third-party satellite imagery and machine learning models comes with its set of trade-offs. Automation allows for quick scaling, but accuracy depends heavily on how current the imagery is, how well the models have been trained to recognize different roof types, and the quality of the business data involved. To address these issues, Planno emphasizes that human reviews and customizing their system for specific markets help minimize errors, which is heartening.

For C&I developers, speed and data accuracy are pretty much non-negotiable. The company markets this software as a way to cut down on cold outreach time while bolstering proposals with satellite-based generation estimates. With a global footprint and the partnership with Spark Wave in Portugal, it’s clear that the model is appealing to developers eager to build sizable rooftop portfolios.

Looking ahead, industry watchers say the real challenge will be conversion rates, how many of these automated leads actually turn into signed deals and installed capacity. Planno’s claims about the size of the market and the number of rooftops are promising, but the true test lies in how effectively the software can grow developer pipelines, speed up deals, and get rooftops turned into active projects.

All in all, Planno’s launch reflects a broader shift, geospatial AI tools are moving from experimental pilots to practical, commercial solutions powering the energy transition. As pv magazine and other sources have pointed out, combining automated detection with human validation and CRM integration is key to transforming scattered rooftop opportunities into real, actionable project pipelines for C&I solar developers.

Source: Noah Wire Services