Customer Story
Resonant Energy cuts project timelines by 3 months with Scanifly
Resonant Energy was founded with a mission to bring solar to under-invested communities, including low-income housing developments and community nonprofits, throughout the Northeast. A key part of the team’s success is building trust with multiple stakeholders and offering unique financing options that take full advantage of government rebates, grants, and other programs.
“We have installed over 250 projects totaling 9.4MW, with 60% serving environmental justice communities,” said Isaac Baker, Co-CEO and Co-Founder of Resonant Energy.
Company Overview
Resonant Energy was founded with a mission to help under-invested communities build wealth with solar.
As the company’s projects got larger, drones were a no-brainer.
The team ultimately chose Scanifly because of its accurate and efficient design tools.
Story Snapshot
The Challenge
Project delays caused by an over-reliance on EPCs and external partners
Before Scanifly, a typical project’s timeline and end-to-end process were too dependent upon the Engineering, Procurement, and Construction firms (EPCs). Several years ago, the Resonant team subbed out most of the work following a signed LOI (Letter of Intent) with a client, using a basic remote PV layout to bid out the project to various EPCs.
Like any solar developer, Resonant Energy wanted to minimize revisions and move through the project as quickly, accurately, and safely as possible.
As Resonant expanded, the team recognized the need for better efficiency, particularly as they worked with nearly a third of all privately owned affordable housing providers in Massachusetts. Their original manual surveying and design processes became a bottleneck as project sizes grew. This realization led to the decision to bring surveying and design in-house and the search for a solution to help facilitate and optimize the change.
“We had the complexity of information getting lost in translation by working with external partners who oversee design… to continue scaling across the Northeast and delivering solar to under-invested communities, we needed better technology to improve the speed and accuracy of our efforts. Scanifly was that essential solution,” said Co-CEO and Co-founder, Isaac Baker.
The Solution
Resonant Energy eliminates project delays by centralizing survey and design workflows
Resonant Energy turned to Scanifly’s drone-based survey and PV design platform. But new technology wasn’t the only hero. The team also brought on Senior Solar Design Manager, Pavel Saman, who led the adoption of Scanifly and ushered in this new era of operational excellence at Resonant.
”Having someone like Pavel, who’s so knowledgeable about the engineering and installation logistics, has been a game-changer for us. And because the drone flights and Scanifly are so easy to learn and use, we save 2 - 3 months and have more independence and control throughout the project,” said Greg Coppola, Senior Project Manager.
Building stakeholder trust through accurate data
No longer needing to sub out the survey and design work, the team uses Scanifly to quickly capture accurate site data and design the solar array precisely within the strict guidelines required. The ability for all stakeholders to visualize the project in a photorealistic 3D environment plays an integral role in building trust and buy-in while eliminating any potential change orders on install day.
Improving team efficiency and safety
With Scanifly and drones, their team can remain safely on the ground without compromising accuracy. From there, Pavel customizes the layouts in Scanifly to create plan sets that are ready for engineer stamping. Given the size and complexity of their projects, this resulted in enormous time savings almost immediately.
One such project was a townhome development—22 roofs, 650 KW. Before Scanifly, scheduling the site survey would have taken weeks, and the manual measurements would have taken the subcontractor days to complete, but with Scanifly, the entire process took just a couple of hours.
“It's incredibly important for us to have access to accurate drawings as early as possible in our design process, and Scanifly enables us to do that much more quickly,” said Isaac.
Streamlining government rebates and subsidies
A key part of Resonant Energy’s business is helping project owners get the government rebates and subsidies they are entitled to. While a lot of this process is paperwork-related, a key part is having a consistent, accurate plan set that can be used when filing.
“Having an accurate design and having it stay right from start to finish is incredibly important for this segment,” said Isaac. Since integrating Scanifly, Resonant has halved its ability to go from an initial meeting to final design specifications.
Project Showcase
Bishop Stang High School
The Resonant team faced strict structural requirements for a recent project on a critical infrastructure site near the coast. The project needed to balance system size, roof load capacity, and high wind uplift standards without expensive roof penetrations. They needed a solution to speed up design customization and minimize costly delays, all while providing perfect accuracy.
Scanifly enabled Greg and Pavel to navigate the complex structural requirements through rapid design iterations and powerful 3D visualizations. With precise models, Pavel reduced design turnaround time and ensured code compliance at every stage. Leveraging Scanifly and their newly optimized process reduced the design-to-contract timeline by 3 months.
The Impact
Continuing to build trust with communities at scale
As Resonant Energy grows, they’re looking to expand their team and take on even larger solar projects. To achieve that, they must continue building trust with the communities they serve.
Isaac explained that under-invested communities are often wary of being taken advantage of, so Resonant uses a grassroots approach—building partnerships, educating stakeholders, and working directly with community organizers. Streamlining operations with Scanifly has been crucial in freeing up the team’s time to focus on these efforts.
“Scanifly has become an essential part of our toolkit. It helps us deliver solar to communities faster, more efficiently, and with complete confidence,” said Isaac.
