design case study 2: solar monitoring and engagement
Creating a comprehensive web platform for solar monitoring that empowers asset owners and operators through performance analytics and operational tools, while enabling downstream engagement through branded B2B2C experiences
Locus Energy, AlsoEnergy 2015 - 2020
Role: Software Product and Design Lead, Product Manager, Product Designer
Platform: Web application, API, mobile app, public display app, Excel plugin app, hardware product suite
Team: Product/Engineering/Analytics
Framing the Problem
Challenge
As solar adoption accelerated across residential, commercial, and utility-scale markets, asset owners and operators struggled to access reliable data to monitor system performance, ensure operational uptime, and engage customers meaningfully. Most relied on spreadsheets, fragmented tools, or proprietary inverter portals with limited flexibility or insight.
Opportunity
Locus Energy (and later AlsoEnergy) aimed to become the central data and intelligence hub for solar performance. By integrating a wide array of third-party hardware, offering its own plug-and-play data logger, and creating powerful operational and customer-facing interfaces, the platform addressed both portfolio-scale needs and localized customer engagement.
Understanding the Users
Key Users
Fleet managers overseeing thousands of residential rooftop systems
Asset owners and O&M providers managing C&I and utility-scale portfolios
Field technicians troubleshooting and validating system fixes
Homeowners seeking transparency into their rooftop systems
Marketing and sustainability teams showcasing solar through public displays
Research & Discovery Approach
Maintained close collaboration with active customers through recurring discovery sessions and structured beta programs and webinars. This enabled continuous iteration and validation across diverse use cases—from power users to general audiences.
Strategy and Prioritization
Balancing Priorities
Strategically balanced the needs of high-volume, low-revenue residential portfolios with the fewer but higher-value utility-scale projects. Commonalities in core needs (performance monitoring, alerts, and analytics) enabled platform-wide improvements while still tailoring features to each segment.
Business Alignment
Roadmaps were shaped by customer feedback, internal goals, and technical feasibility. Locus’ foundational strength—integrating diverse hardware, scalable data ingestion, and custom analytics—enabled expansion into new markets and positioned the company for acquisition.
Key Shifts
2015–2018: Expanding from residential into utility-scale; developing scalable modular interfaces and engagement tools
2018–2020: Post-acquisition by AlsoEnergy, leading a product convergence initiative (PowerTrack 3.0) to unify strengths of both platforms under a new UX
Design and Development
Major Product Initiatives
LocusNOC: Flagship solar monitoring web app for fleet managers and O&M teams
Locus v3 API: Developer-centric API powering internal tools, customer apps, and integrations
Locus Kiosk: Real-time public display for C&I sites to educate and engage building occupants
MyLocusEnergy: Mobile app built with fleet managers and hardware partners to serve residential solar customers
PowerTrack 3.0: A full redesign integrating UX wins from LocusNOC with the PowerTrack platform post-acquisition
Design Approach
Personally led design across all major interfaces, creating a cohesive visual and functional identity. Emphasis was placed on ease-of-use for power users and clarity for broader audiences. The platform was engineered to balance real-time diagnostics with user-friendly summaries.
Collaboration
Directed product development, coordinated closely with engineering, QA, and hardware partners, and mentored a fellow PM. Dual role in product and design ensured tight alignment across UX, data architecture, and strategic goals.
Outcomes and Iteration
Customer Outcomes
Real-time access to site-level and fleet-wide insights
Reduced time to issue resolution via alert management and live validation
Increased operational efficiency across large O&M teams
Improved homeowner satisfaction through branded mobile apps
Broader public engagement via solar kiosk installations
Feedback Loops
A disciplined beta program enabled early validation and rapid iteration. Our team cultivated feedback-rich relationships with key customers, ensuring each feature launch delivered clear value.
Business Impact
Catalyzed entry into the utility-scale market
Contributed directly to two successful acquisitions (by Genscape and then AlsoEnergy)
Supported long-term customer retention via a high-quality UX and trusted data platform
Reflection and Impact
Personal Growth
This work was foundational in my development as a product leader and designer. I learned to drive iterative development, align cross-functional teams, manage stakeholder priorities, and scale platforms across evolving customer segments.
Company Impact
Locus became known for delivering one of the most intuitive and powerful solar monitoring platforms on the market. My design principles shaped both the original LocusNOC and the rebirth of PowerTrack 3.0, reinforcing the company’s leadership in clean energy software.
Looking Back
I'm proud of the focused and sticky platform we built–the core suite of tools I helped design and launch remains a lasting foundation in the solar software landscape.
Over my seven years at the company, I played an integral role in the development and evolution of LocusNOC and the surrounding products. I began in Quality Assurance, which gave me a strong foundation in the product’s technical underpinnings, before transitioning into Product Management and eventually leading both product management and design. During that time, I drove all aspects of the product lifecycle—conducting user discovery, supporting sales, defining and prioritizing features, designing user experiences, managing development, and coordinating launches—while the company was releasing major technical growth and evolution of its platform. I collaborated closely with a talented team of engineers to build a robust, data-driven platform capable of serving a wide array of user needs. I also worked with sales and marketing to ensure smooth go-to-market efforts. I’m particularly proud of the design work I led during this time—building intuitive tools for complex workflows—and the experience was foundational in shaping my approach to developing scalable, user-centric software solutions for the energy sector.
LocusNOC is a comprehensive web application designed to track and manage fleets of distributed energy assets, particularly solar-powered systems. It serves a diverse range of users, including portfolio owners, operations and maintenance providers, asset managers, technicians, performance engineers, and site owners. With features like portfolio performance management, real-time data registers, data-driven alarms and notifications, interactive charting, and customizable dashboards and reports, LocusNOC provides an intuitive and efficient solution. Its user-friendly interface and quick ramp-up time have made it a highly acclaimed tool in the industry, empowering teams to effectively manage and optimize energy assets.
Shaping a developer-friendly API to support internal tools, customer applications, and partner integrations—collaborating closely with engineers and end users to ensure the API empowers seamless access to high-resolution data and enables rapid development of new interfaces and integrations
Locus Energy 2015 - 2018
LocusNOC is a comprehensive web application designed to track and manage fleets of distributed energy assets, particularly solar-powered systems. It serves a diverse range of users, including portfolio owners, operations and maintenance providers, asset managers, technicians, performance engineers, and site owners. With features like portfolio performance management, real-time data registers, data-driven alarms and notifications, interactive charting, and customizable dashboards and reports, LocusNOC provides an intuitive and efficient solution. Its user-friendly interface and quick ramp-up time have made it a highly acclaimed tool in the industry, empowering teams to effectively manage and optimize energy assets.
Designing and launching a plug-and-play public kiosk display to engage customers and tenants at solar-powered facilities with real-time energy insights
Locus Energy 2016
The Locus Kiosk, part of the Locus Energy platform and suite of products, offers a simplified interface for the public display of energy, weather, and other related system data for a specific location. Powered by the same API as LocusNOC, the kiosk features a slideshow mode that cycles through relevant energy data, project and company information, as well as educational content on solar energy generation. I helped source and validate the computer hardware package for the Locus Kiosk, ensuring a seamless, quick plug-and-play setup for users. I contributed the full design package and product management for this product.
Designing a mobile experience to engage homeowners with rooftop solar, in partnership with residential solar hardware manufacturers
Locus Energy 2017-2018
The MyLocusEnergy mobile app, available for both Apple and Android devices, provides homeowners with a convenient display of their solar energy data. I contributed the design and product management for this app, which allows users to view instantaneous data, charted historical data, and environmental benefit equivalencies. Additionally, I partnered with inverter manufacturers to offer joint product offerings.
Although the Locus Partner App was never officially released, I was involved in designing and managing the product, which aimed to provide site technicians with an easy way to access live data from systems while on-site for installation or troubleshooting.
Reimagining a mature product to significantly improve usability, reduce configuration and training demands, and integrate the strengths of acquired competitor platforms into a unified, modern solution
AlsoEnergy 2018-2020
PowerTrack 3.0 is a comprehensive platform designed to streamline the management and tracking of renewable energy projects. I played a key role in modernizing the Powertrack Web product, focusing on enhancing its user experience and functionality. Through thoughtful design and product management, I helped transform the platform into a more intuitive, efficient, and modern web application for users.
