Aurora Solar raises $20 million to automate solar panel installation

Despite recent setbacks, solar remains a bright spot in the often wobbly renewable energy sector. In the U.S., the solar market is projected to top $22.90 billion by 2025, driven by falling materials costs and growing interest in offsite and rooftop installations. Moreover, in China -- the world's leading installer of solar panels and the largest producer of photovoltaic power -- 1.84 percent of the total electricity generated in the country two years ago came from solar. There's clearly growth -- which San Francisco startup Aurora Solar seeks to capitalize on with a novel solution combining lidar data, computer-assisted design, and computer vision. The company, which develops a suite of software that streamlines the solar panel installation process, today announced it has secured $20 million in a Series A round of financing from Energize Ventures, with contributions from S28 Capital and existing investor Pear.