Local-first by default.
Solar Plan Lab is designed so the core calculators, project storage, bill scanning, and PDF generation can operate without an account.
Browser-local project data
Calculator inputs, confirmed bill values, saved Wiki cards, and interface preferences are stored in the browser using local storage. They remain on the current device unless the user exports a project file, copies a share link, or later chooses a hosted synchronisation feature.
Electricity-bill scanning
Bill images and PDFs are processed in the browser. Solar Plan Lab does not require the customer name, account number, service address, meter number, barcode, QR code, phone number, or email address to estimate electricity consumption.
The original bill file and OCR text are not written to Solar Plan Lab project storage. Only values explicitly reviewed and confirmed by the user can be saved:
- Billing period or user-entered label
- Monthly electricity consumption in kWh
- Bill amount
- Calculated effective rate per kWh
The OCR engine and PDF renderer may need to download their application assets during the first use. The bill itself is still processed locally in the browser.
Clearing data
Confirmed bill records can be removed from the Bill Scanner. The complete Solar Plan Lab project can also be reset from the project panel or cleared through the browser’s site-data controls.
Community Beta feedback
When the hosted Community Beta feedback service is enabled, Solar Plan Lab stores the rating, feedback category, written message, page path, application version, and submission time. The application database is intentionally not designed to store a name, email address, utility account number, bill image, or precise home address with ordinary feedback.
If the feedback service is unavailable, the feedback form falls back to browser-local storage and tells the user that it was not submitted.
Privacy-safe beta telemetry
The hosted beta can record a page-view event and short client-error category so broken pages can be found during testing. The Solar Plan Lab event table stores the event type, page path, short error message when applicable, application version, and time. Solar Plan Lab does not intentionally write IP addresses, advertising identifiers, bill contents, or account identifiers into this event table.
Advertising and Google AdSense
Solar Plan Lab uses Google AdSense to verify the site for advertising and, after Google approves the site, may display ads on selected content pages. The shared site layout loads Google's AdSense script so Google can verify publisher ownership and support approved ad delivery.
Google and its advertising partners may use cookies, local storage, device information, approximate location derived from network information, and advertising-related identifiers to deliver, measure, limit, and report advertising where permitted. Solar Plan Lab does not send electricity-bill images, OCR text, utility account numbers, precise home addresses, or saved calculator project data to AdSense through its own application telemetry.
Advertising consent controls will be configured for jurisdictions where consent is required before personalized advertising. Visitors can also use browser and Google advertising/privacy controls to manage applicable advertising preferences.
No required account
Solar Plan Lab v1.24 does not provide cloud accounts or mandatory sign-in. A future hosted version may offer optional synchronisation, collaboration, and installer workflows. Those services would require updated retention, export, deletion, and account-security controls before launch.
Future integrations
Live irradiance, marketplace feeds, optional account synchronisation, remote OCR, and installer-lead services are not part of the current local-first core. Any future provider that receives user data must be identified in an updated privacy notice before that feature is enabled.