Field-tested site survey and installation templates, built from years of real project data, now free through the OB Alliance Checklist Registry.
BERKELEY, CA, UNITED STATES, February 25, 2026 /EINPresswire.com/ —
Blu Banyan, developer of the multi-award winning SolarSuccess platform built on Oracle NetSuite, has contributed residential solar checklist templates to the Orange Button Alliance’s new open-source Checklist Registry. The templates draw on years of real project data from Blu Banyan’s SolarSuccess client base and are available to any residential solar installer at no cost.
Most solar companies know what a good site survey or installation process should look like. Getting that knowledge into a repeatable format that every crew follows, every time, is the hard part. Without a structured checklist, details get missed. Roof conditions go unrecorded. Electrical panel capacity gets noted on paper and misplaced before the designer sees it. Each gap leads to a phone call back to the site, a delayed design, or a change order that cuts into the margin.
Larger installers have built detailed internal checklists over years of trial and correction. Smaller companies often haven’t had that runway. They end up learning the same lessons one missed detail at a time.
Blu Banyan’s contribution changes that. The company released detailed downloadable templates for residential site surveys and residential installations. Each template lays out the specific fields a crew should capture, the type of answer expected for each field, and pre-set options where consistent answers matter.
The installation template is organized into four sections — Ground, Roof, Electrical Ground, and Electrical Roof — and covers permit verification, module placement, conduit painting, wire runs, inverter serial numbers, monitoring setup, and much more.
“Blu Banyan is excited to bring the best residential installation and site survey processes to the industry as a whole, so that even smaller installers can benefit from the years of experience that larger installers have accumulated and shared with Blu Banyan,” said Jan Rippingale, CEO of Blu Banyan.
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What This Means for Solar Installers:
Any installer can download these templates from the OB Alliance Checklist Registry at https://checklistregistry.oballiance.org and use them to build customized internal checklists that reflect what high-performing companies actually check in the field. When crews capture the right information up front, designers and permitting staff can move forward without sending someone back for a second look. Companies scaling from 5 jobs a month to 30 don’t have to build their operational playbook from scratch.
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Why Open Source:
Soft costs now represent 55 to 64 percent of residential solar installation costs, according to NREL’s 2024 benchmarks. A meaningful share of that comes from rework, miscommunication between field and office teams, and projects stalling because the right data wasn’t collected in the right format at the right time.
The Orange Button Alliance, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit that grew out of the U.S. Department of Energy’s Orange Button Initiative, asked industry contributors to share operational knowledge through an open-source registry. Blu Banyan responded with residential templates. EcoSuite contributed utility-scale checklists. With more than 10,000 solar companies in the U.S. and a record 50 GW installed in 2024 (SEIA), the industry needs shared best-practice resources that help companies operate faster and better, without each having to reinvent the process wheel.
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How It Works:
The templates are downloadable as JSON files from the Checklist Registry at https://checklistregistry.oballiance.org. They define the fields and structure for a checklist, not a fillable form. An installer’s technical team can use them to build checklists in whatever system they already run.
For SolarSuccess clients, the workflow goes further. When a crew completes a checklist inside SolarSuccess, the data loads directly into the project record in NetSuite. Site survey data reaches designers and permitting staff. Installation data reaches financiers and closeout teams. No re-entry. No handoffs.
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The Checklist Registry templates are available now at https://checklistregistry.oballiance.org. To learn more about SolarSuccess, visit blubanyan.com.
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About Blu Banyan Inc.
Blu Banyan’s experience and particular commitment to the solar industry drives its SolarSuccess app as the leading cloud-based business management suite designed specifically for residential, commercial, and utility-scale solar installers. Built on Oracle NetSuite, SolarSuccess helps installers, developers, and construction companies maximize their business, reduce soft costs, run projects, manage finances, and see how their business is performing in real time. Learn more at blubanyan.com.
About OB Alliance Inc.
OB Alliance Inc. is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit dedicated to accelerating clean energy deployment through data standardization. Originally launched through the U.S. Department of Energy’s Orange Button Initiative, the Alliance develops open standards, datasets, and tools for the solar and clean energy industry. Learn more at oballiance.org.
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Oracle NetSuite is a registered trademark of Oracle and/or its affiliates.
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For more information, contact:
Jan Rippingale
Blu Banyan Inc.
+1 707-234-5395
email us here
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