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Getting Started: Your First Project

Updated 24 July 2026·7 min read

An Analysis project moves through five stages: project details, bill data, consumption upload, solar & battery sizing, and the recommendation. Enter the tariff from a real bill (or let the AI extract it from a PDF), upload interval meter data as a CSV, and Amperage models every viable system size against your actual load, then ends in scenario cards and a PPTX deck you can export.

Amperage sizes solar from the bill, not the roof: you give it what the site actually pays and consumes, and it models every viable system against that. A project walks through five stages in a fixed order, and each one unlocks the next. The in-app guided tour covers the same ground interactively the first time you open each page; this is the reference version.

1. Project details

Name the project (usually the customer's business name or site address), link it to a client, and set the location. The state and address matter more than they look: they select the weather data the production model uses and the incentive schemes the project is eligible for.

2. Bill data

Enter the tariff from a real electricity bill: flat rate or time-of-use, plus demand charges and daily supply charges where they apply. Two ways to do it:

Unsure what a line on the bill means? The glossary covers TOU windows, demand charges, and daily charges.

3. Consumption

Upload interval meter data as a CSV. Column detection and cleaning are automatic. You verify the mapping, and the page charts the consumption profile. Look at the shape: daytime load is what solar can offset directly, and evening peaks are what a battery would need to cover.

4. Solar & battery

Pick a system size from the recommendations or dial in your own, and toggle battery analysis on if storage is on the table. Behind the scenes this builds the sizing matrix: every solar size crossed with every battery size, each modelled hour-by-hour (how the modelling works).

5. Recommendation

The verdict page: four scenario cards picked from the matrix with fixed rules (how the recommendations are picked), the sizing matrix itself, a Design Your Own section, and the trade-off table. Choose the scenario you want to lead with, then export the PPTX presentation deck, branded with your company details. A branded proposal (an editable A4 PowerPoint) comes from a Proposal project's Output stage, once the sizing is settled.

Want the interactive version? The first time you open each stage, the guided tour walks the page with you. On the Recommendation page you can replay it any time with the "How to read this page" link in the Sizing Matrix header.

Related docs

Uploading Consumption Interval DataEvery file format the Amperage consumption upload accepts — vertical and horizontal CSV, Excel, raw NEM12 — with working examples, the rules applied on upload, and a Claude prompt for converting messy interval exports.Analysis vs Proposal ProjectsThe difference between Analysis and Proposal projects in Amperage: which stages each one has, which to start in, how to switch between them, and what carries over.How to Read the Pricing Build SheetHow the Amperage pricing build sheet totals itself: the order money accrues, upfront credits vs annual LGC revenue, margin vs markup, the $/W and $/kWh meters, and the section model.

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