The era of cookie cutter solar has come to a close. Did it ever start?

Once shorthand for fast, uniform installs, “cookie-cutter solar” is giving way to site-specific, storage-integrated systems.

October 1, 2025 Phoebe Skok

Image: Aurora Solar

System design has long been a critical point of differentiation for many solar installers, though some prioritize quicker, cheaper installs by relying on more standardized designs. By now, many solar experts agree that the industry has moved beyond that type of one-size-fits-all approach to a more individualized one.

But according to Fox Swim, a senior solar industry researcher at solar design and sales software company Aurora Solar, its popularity never existed in the first place.

“Frankly, there hasn’t been a true cookie-cutter era in solar and storage,” Swim told pv magazine USA. She explained that system design has been a major area for innovation since the industry’s early days, and the complexity of the design process is only growing.

Rising tariffs, time-of-use rates, demand charges and export limits are pushing designers to think beyond simple panel counts and standard inverters and instead tailor systems to each customer’s unique usage profile.

Swim explained that energy storage has become a more integral part of residential systems, meaning that designers must now incorporate considerations about charge/discharge cycles, system size and how a customer envisions using their battery.

An energy storage system primarily used for backup power might look different than one for arbitrage, or one for cost-savings. A recent report from Aurora Solar found that while 56% of homeowners want storage to provide resiliency during outages, nearly 70% are interested in how it can help slash energy bills.

Still, it’s crucial to think about storage from the get-go, even if a customer (whether a homeowner or a corporation) might not opt to include a system right away. Retrofitting batteries to solar systems can, in certain markets, boost the plant’s overall revenues by up to 81%, though this can vary widely.

Recent research out of the Rochester Institute of Technology found that the U.S. storage market has entered a sweet spot where the net present value (NPV) of adding batteries is climbing sharply; their modeling expects the NPV to reach strong returns in 2027 and hit its peak in the early 2030s due to falling costs and the 30% ITC.

Swim pointed out that specialized system design also supports grid operations, especially in areas with aging infrastructure or rapidly growing demand.

“The most important and often overlooked feature of solar and storage is location flexibility,” she said, though she noted that there’s not always a direct one-to-one relationship between a project’s system design features and its impact on grid stability. “These systems can be deployed anywhere on the grid, which unlocks several operational advantages.”

“Solar and storage reduces reliance on long-distance transmission, enables communities or critical facilities to maintain power during grid disruptions and can help flatten demand spikes through intelligent storage dispatch,” Swim added.

She also noted that integrated smart inverters and energy management systems can provide frequency regulation and voltage support that provides the grid with a finer-grained control over its operations than traditional power plants.

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