Aaron Nichols talks with Dhanur Grandhi, CEO of Wattbot and a 15-year veteran of working with national residential solar companies. They cover why Dhanur believes the future of solar is local and how he’s building a product (Wattbot) that will make it easier for homeowners to choose the best local solar companies.

Expect to Learn:

* Why 70–75% of U.S. rooftop solar is installed by local contractors, not corporate installers.

* The two decisions every homeowner must make (Is solar good for my home, and who should I hire to install it?) And how Wattbott can guide them through both.

* Why state-level solar permitting reform is about to become hugely important.

Quotes from the Episode:

“People don’t decide to go solar because they were sold, they decide because they understand.”

– Dhanur Grandhi

“Start with this belief: subsidy-free solar is possible.”

– Dhanur Grandhi

You can listen to this episode here, or on:

* YouTube

* Apple Podcasts

* Spotify

Transcript:

Aaron Nichols: Hello everyone and welcome back to This Week in Solar. I’m your host, Aaron Nichols, the Research and Policy Specialist here at Exact Solar in Newtown, Pennsylvania, and this episode is part of our short interview series connecting with folks who’ve been in renewable energy a long time—to assure anyone in the industry or thinking about going solar that, even if Inflation Reduction Act incentives are temporarily gone, renewable energy isn’t going anywhere. Today’s guest has been in solar and renewables for quite a while and is now building an exciting product to help solar companies as we go forward. Let me introduce Dhanur Grandhi.

Dhanur Grandhi: Howdy… howdy. So excited—yeah, we need more shows like this, don’t we? We definitely do. There are real conversations that need to happen, and I appreciate what you do. And yes, I’m the CEO of Wattbot. Quick intro: I’ve been in what we call residential solar / distributed energy / consumer electrification for about 15 years. My story started in China helping solar panel manufacturers ship globally; it hit me that a new energy economy was coming. I quit, moved to the U.S., studied energy, started one of the industry’s first software-enabled solar concierge companies, sold that, then spent 10 years building at Sunrun and Mosaic. Over the last decade I’ve spoken to ~1,000 homeowners, worked with hundreds of great businesses, shadowed installs and ride-alongs, sat in call centers—trying to understand why people buy or don’t, and how to help them decide better and faster. I needed a break but couldn’t leave the space, so I started Wattbot with my co-founder/CTO. Our goal: drive adoption of solar and electrification. The honest insight: on one hand we have amazing innovation in hardware/software/services/financing/orchestration; on the other hand, the typical consumer is unaware, apathetic, irrational, and the topic is too complicated—so decisions are slow and infrequent. We asked: is there room for a curiosity-led engagement layer anyone can use—type an address and explore options? That’s what we’re building to help everyone solarize and electrify.

Aaron Nichols: That’s amazing. At Exact we’ve realized there’s a huge education burden before a homeowner or business even wants to go solar—learning incentives, local rules, how the project flows, feeling comfortable with roof work, trusting the company. Some companies have abused that trust and made it harder for the rest; there are good actors too. I’ve heard you talk about enabling the “strong tail” EPCs—can you elaborate on that and how Wattbot helps them?

Dhanur Grandhi: Of the ~5 million U.S. solar homes, about 70–75% were installed by local businesses. Big names are on the leaderboard, but they didn’t do all the jobs. Solar and storage are home-improvement projects—and home improvement is local. There’s a reason we don’t have national roofers or plumbers; it’s a trades game. If we want recovery and exponential growth, we must be serious about local trades—they’re indispensable. “Strong tail” refers to them. Before the budget bill news, we defined strong tail as the most rapid local installers; still true. Now it’s any business still in it to win it—budget bill or not. If you’re committed because solar is a good value, you’re part of the strong tail. This segment is critical, and we focus on enabling it.

Aaron Nichols: How did working for the biggest names lead you to want to enable the local contractor?

Dhanur Grandhi: Two steps. First, consumers are skeptical, unaware, irrational, short attention spans. The products are technical, complex, with benefits that aren’t perfectly predictable—hard to sell. I learned hundreds of thousands of companies are reinventing the wheel, selling the same stuff to the same people their own way—inefficient sales/marketing. We need a layer that puts the customer first: What is this? Can it work for my home? Will it help? Is now a good time? A couple cool companies with slick sales pages won’t drive adoption; we need something fundamentally consumer-first. Step two: distribution. Instead of going direct and spending on ads, we put the tool in sellers’ hands. Local businesses already engage customers, have reputation and ground game, know home improvement. So: build an agnostic consumer engagement layer, then give it to the trades to help them market and sell better.

Aaron Nichols: How does Wattbot help the consumer get to a decision?

Dhanur Grandhi: We’re focused on solar to start. Two big things. First, we lean hard into an installer’s reputation—that instantly differentiates the best from the rest. When a homeowner goes solar, they’re making two decisions: is solar good for me, and who should I go with? We help answer both. On “who,” we showcase reputation so you can flex that muscle. On “is it good for my home,” we use public data to answer basics non-pushily: is the roof good enough, grid reliability/outage exposure, risk from extreme events, exposure to electric-bill inflation, neighborhood adoption as a proxy, etc. Consumers deserve that—and companies love leads who’ve educated themselves.

Aaron Nichols: What changes over your 10 years led you to build Wattbot?

Dhanur Grandhi: Honestly, not much has evolved in how companies engage consumers. Tons of hardware innovation, tons of sales-software innovation (proposals/quoting at the transaction), but little that truly inspires at the engagement layer. People decide when they intuitively understand the need, urgency, and benefits—hyper-personalized to property, preferences, local climate, and finances. That doesn’t happen at one kitchen-table meeting; it happens over a consideration journey. I haven’t seen tools that serve that journey—so we’re building one.

Aaron Nichols: Now that the IRA is effectively repealed for now: for those who’ll stay—the strong tail—what moves should they make to weather a hard time?

Dhanur Grandhi: Start with belief: subsidy-free solar is possible. The substitute (grid power) is costly, and bills aren’t coming down—structural reasons prevent it. Severe weather makes resilience viscerally valuable. New flex markets pay people for participation. Hardware/software/services are excellent. Next, get leaner and smarter on sales/marketing. We just launched referrals; our challenge: shift everything toward referrals/word of mouth if you have reputation—stop burning budget elsewhere. New financing models are emerging; states will reform permitting. Side note: many locals have been quoting competitive prices (20–40% margins) even with ITC—some are already cost-competitive. The mindset is key; then systematically attack the sales/marketing cost stack. My friend Ravi has a blueprint to get to $2/W by 2026; we need plans like that, across CAC, ops, interconnection, design, permitting—reconfigure business models and partnerships. We have the pieces; we need to rethink how they fit.

Aaron Nichols: To close, a moonshot. My grandma’s 80th reminds me: she was born into a world where “renewables” didn’t exist; PV arrived in 1954; Carter put solar on the White House in 1979. So much in 80 years. No one will hold us to it—what does clean energy look like 80 years from now?

Dhanur Grandhi: I hope there’s no “clean energy”—just energy, and it’s all clean. I hope we power everything with electricity, not fire. Civilization’s long-term trajectory hinges on one decision: how we make our energy. Imagine a futuristic world still shoveling coal into furnaces—it doesn’t compute. I hope heat and energy are synonymous and truly electric. I also hope for true wireless electricity—fewer wires from generation to use and inside the home. Make the landscape prettier, the experience simpler. And culturally, I hope we choose the smarter way to power our lives over clinging to pollution for profit.

Aaron Nichols: We can end there. Dhanur, thanks so much for coming on—looking forward to what we build together.

Dhanur Grandhi: Likewise—pleasure. Thank you.

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