Table of Contents
Overview
Sales Mode proposal templates are fully customizable to help ensure your proposals featuring third-party owner (TPO) financing accurately reflect the dynamics of going solar with a lease or PPA. Since TPO providers may also provide specific content to include in your proposals, Aurora’s flexibility enables you to implement any TPO requirements while still maintaining your proposal templates and/or proposal sections for projects with other sources of financing.
Pre-built TPO proposal templates
Aurora and several of our partners have created out-of-the-box templates to support your TPO sales efforts. Admins can enable these templates as they’re built, or use them as a starting point for further customization. Navigate to Database > Proposal templates to see TPO-specific templates.
NOTE: TPO providers may have minimum requirements that your proposals must meet in order to be approved for use. After making any customizations, Aurora recommends sharing an example of your proposal with your TPO partner(s) for their visibility.
Toggle ON a template to enable it for Sales Mode users, and click the ellipses ⋯ to either Set as default or Duplicate the template and make your desired customizations.
Proposal customizations for TPO
Tenant Admins can create a TPO proposal from scratch, duplicate an existing template and customize it, or create TPO-specific sections within a proposal template and guide reps to activate/deactivate sections when needed (see Enabling sales reps for details).
There are two key considerations when customizing a Proposal template for TPO:
- TPO providers may have minimum requirements that your proposals must meet in order to be approved for use. After making any customizations, Aurora recommends sharing an example of your proposal with your TPO partner(s) for visibility.
- Not all Blocks and Variables in the Aurora proposal editor are compatible with leases and PPAs, and thus should not be used in proposals that leverage TPO integrations.
The table below indicates which blocks and variables SHOULD NOT BE USED IN TPO PROPOSAL TEMPLATES, and why.
Proposal Blocks and Variables NOT compatible proposals for leases and PPAs (TPO)
| Type | Name | Do Not Use Explanation |
| Block | Cashflow table | Calculation includes O&M costs, such as inverter replacement, that are typically not paid for by the homeowner for a TPO project |
| Block | Cumulative cashflow | Calculation includes O&M costs, such as inverter replacement, that are typically not paid for by the homeowner for a TPO project |
| Block | Post-solar card | When used, turn off “total rate” within this block because it shows levelized cost of energy (LCOE) calculation, which uses the total lifetime cost of the system, including base costs and O&M, which are typically not paid for by the homeowner for a TPO project |
| Block | System | Toggle off “show totals” because component prices are not paid for by the homeowner for a TPO project |
| Block | Storage | Toggle off “show totals” because component prices are not paid for by the homeowner for a TPO project |
| Variable | Lifetime savings (nominal) | Calculation uses the total lifetime cost of the system, including base costs and O&M, which are typically not paid for by the homeowner for a TPO project |
| Variable | Lifetime savings (NPV) | Calculation uses the total lifetime cost of the system, including base costs and O&M, which are typically not paid for by the homeowner for a TPO project |
| Variable | Estimated value of ITC | Homeowners don’t receive the Federal ITC for a TPO project |
| Variable | Incentive name | Homeowners don’t receive the Federal ITC for a TPO project |
| Variable | Incentive name and amount | Homeowners don’t receive the Federal ITC for a TPO project |
| Variable | Incentive name and value | Homeowners don’t receive the Federal ITC for a TPO project |
| Variable | Total value of incentives | Homeowners don’t receive the Federal ITC for a TPO project |
| Variable | Finance payback period | This loan variable will display a null (“-”) when a lease or PPA is added |
| Variable | Interest rate | This loan variable will display a null (“-”) when a lease or PPA is added |
| Variable | IRR | This loan variable will be null (“-”) when a lease or PPA is added |
| Variable | LCOE | Levelized cost of energy (LCOE) calculation uses the total lifetime cost of the system, including base costs and O&M, which are typically not paid for by the homeowner for a TPO project |
| Variable | Loan principal | This loan variable will be null (“-”) when a lease or PPA is added |
| Variable | Loan down payment | This loan variable will be null (“-”) when a lease or PPA is added |
| Variable | Loan duration | This loan variable will be null (“-”) when a lease or PPA is added |
| Variable | Net cost | Calculation uses loan principal and incentive values, which are not relevant for a TPO project |
| Variable | PPW (all variations) | Price per-watt (PPW) is not relevant to calculating the homeowner’s monthly payment for a lease or PPA |
| Variable | Gross price with/without storage | Calculation uses the base cost of the system (PPW, component pricing, etc.) which is not relevant to calculating the homeowner’s monthly payment for a lease or PPA |
| Variable | System price with/without storage | Calculation uses the base cost of the system (PPW, component pricing, etc.) which is not relevant to calculating the homeowner’s monthly payment for a lease or PPA |
| Variable | Post-solar cost per kWh | Calculation uses the total lifetime cost of the system, including base costs and O&M, which are typically not paid for by the homeowner for a TPO project |
Enabling sales reps to access TPO proposals
Admins have several options for how Sales Mode users gain access to TPO-specific proposal templates you’ve enabled in Aurora:
Make a TPO template your default
To make your TPO-specific proposal template the default starting point for any project opened in Sales Mode: navigate to Database > Proposal templates and click the ellipses ⋯ in that template’s row, then click Set as default.
Show Sales Mode users how to switch to a TPO proposal
If another proposal template will be the default, Admins should guide Sales Mode users on how to switch proposal templates:
First click the menu button ☰ in the upper-right of any Sales Mode page.
Next, click Edit in the lower-right to open the template modal.
Finally, use the dropdown menu to select a new proposal template. Click Submit to confirm the selection and the proposal shown in Sales Mode will update to the new template.
Show Sales Mode users how to activate/deactivate TPO proposal sections
As an alternative to creating an entirely new proposal template for TPO projects, Admins can create TPO-specific sections and guide Sales Mode users on how and when to incorporate these sections.
First, navigate to Database > Proposal templates and begin editing a template. After selecting a given section within the template, the left-hand panel will show editing options. Under Visibility, Admins use check boxes to set whether a section will be included in presentation mode and in the web & PDF proposals by default, and also whether the visibility options set here are locked or editable by reps.
When ‘Visibility locked’ is left unchecked, a Sales Mode user who follows the steps above will see something similar to the image below. Sections that an admin has locked will be grayed out, while Sales Mode users can check or uncheck any other sections to add or remove them from the proposal for that project and design.