We already have the ability to move through whole countries via Google Street View. Video games like Grand Theft Auto let you walk the streets of complex cities and their surroundings. Maybe a solar land analysis tool will do the same one day?
While you can’t do it on a PlayStation, Glint Solar does have a goal of giving you the ability to explore whole states at once, but in a locally precise, and responsible solar manner. Glint Solar CEO Simen Fure Jørgensen told pv magazine USA, “With interconnection queue withdrawal rates approaching 80%, developers need to move from quantity to quality.”
The company says, one reason developers must be more disciplined is that with interconnection queues growing unabated, utilities and system operators have begun to clamp down on applications requiring big down payments, or other requirements. For instance, system operator PJM, which only recently opened their grid for new power generation resources, now requires 100% site control to get into the queue. Glint Solar notes that MISO increases the fee it charges for withdrawing from its interconnection queue the longer you wait – making queue squatting increasingly expensive.
Jørgensen noted that with grid operators are now looking at projects that are “first ready” instead of “first in line.”
In practice, “first ready” means land and deposits to grid operators like PJM and MISO. Technically, zoning is not on the checklist, but the penalties for failing it later are now large enough that some developers treat it as if it were. This means, developers are going to include these variables in their funding requirements.
This is where the ultra-local land screening process becomes most valuable, because local zoning is where the hard decisions happen.
The company, so far, has made their tool available in Illinois, New York, Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Texas. Other states are coming soon.
Glint Solar’s workflow starts with choosing the state. Then you go through the list of variables to screen the state’s parcels. Some of the screening variables include proximity to grid infrastructure and hosting capacity, buildable solar area, protection zones, wetlands, zoning, distance to key infrastructure, and detailed topography. To help with consistency, you can save your screening profile.
The company jokes that you should get a coffee once you set their computers to begin your customized search.
Source: Glint Solar
As the tool finds parcels that fit your highest-level requirement, it also solves for the amount of space available. The Buildable Area tool will make sure to bring back parcels that meet your minimum sizing needs.
Jørgensen said of the Buildable Area tool:
BLOCKQUOTE INDENT: The buildable area logic is core. We start using it in the land survey process. The land survey picks out the parcels based on the buildable area inside of each. It is already marked out at the beginning of the survey process, and you can do a design right away. So you can quickly go from searching the state to maybe ten minutes then a couple of minutes are already a preliminary design.
A second complementary tool, called Area Insights, gives the developer a heads up on items that may endanger a project. Combined, these should offer the developer support in either choosing the specific, individualized parcels to go after, or going after the whole list in a broad direct mail campaign.
Another tool aimed explicitly at the zoning process is called “Beautify”. Essentially, it gives the developer an opportunity, early in the development process, to show what the finished site might look like from the perspective of neighbors. Specifically, one function is that trees can be added in between a residence and a project to manage viewshed concerns.
Source: Glint Solar
A key item regarding batteries that the tool offers is noise analysis. Glint Solar showed how its tool can nearly instantaneously come up with a noise map for a battery, and then show how the noise can be mitigated by a tactically placed wall.
The company also has additional tools in development. Glint Grid will give greater insight into the headroom at local substations, as well the connection interconnection queue that is in line at that substation.
Jørgensen notes, ““Basically, we’re giving developers the ability to do their own powerflow analysis, with their own covert information, maybe even helping their analysis that they can put into the machine.”
A second tool coming soon will be Glint Radar, which will focus on the local temperature by analyzing things such as town meeting notes. In particular, the Glint Solar says this tool will be actively following the areas you’re working in. If something negative happens after you pick the site, but before you finish construction, it will let you know.
Glint Solar noted a developer that had bought a project, but in the interim, the local town had put a moratorium in place.
Last, and possibly being launched this week, is an upgraded Beautify feature that allows for better tree placement.
This content is protected by copyright and may not be reused. If you want to cooperate with us and would like to reuse some of our content, please contact: [email protected].
Comments
Please login to comment
The new issue of pv magazine Global is out now!
Available in print and digital – get your copy today!
Monday, October 26, 2026
10:30 am – 11:30 am CEST, Berlin, Paris, Madrid
Thursday, October 7, 2026
11:00 am – 12:30 pm CEST, Berlin, Paris, Madrid
pv magazine USA hosts its multi-day virtual event on U.S. solar and energy storage, covering domestic manufacturing, distributed energy and the growing role of solar-plus-storage in meeting AI-driven power demand.
You have no items in your basket.
