Irish solar PV installers spend 45+ minutes per job filling NC6, DOW and ITC forms manually. This guide compares three approaches to automation and explains how Circaidian's AI extraction reduces it to seconds.
You finish a day's installation. The system is commissioned, the homeowner is happy, the panels are on the roof. Then you sit down to do the paperwork.
The NC6 Microgeneration Notification for ESB Networks. The Declaration of Works Part 1 for SEAI. The Inspection, Test & Commissioning certificate. Three forms, two regulatory bodies, dozens of fields that mostly repeat the same data — customer name, address, MPRN, panel model, inverter model, system size — typed out by hand from a Scoops report or OpenSolar export.
On a good day, with all the data in front of you and no errors, this takes 40–50 minutes per installation. On a bad day — wrong MPRN from memory, mistyped panel model, wrong system size — you're adding another 20 minutes for corrections and re-prints.
Multiply that by 10 installations a week, and you're spending 8–10 hours every week on compliance paperwork alone. At €30/hr admin cost, that's €300/week or €15,000/year — before you count the risk cost of a rejected SEAI grant claim.
This guide examines the three approaches Irish installers use to manage this, and explains why AI-powered extraction is becoming the standard.
What it is: Opening the NC6, DOW, and ITC PDFs in Adobe Acrobat (or printing and handwriting) and typing in all fields from your post-installation report.
Time per installation: 40–60 minutes
Cost: ~€30–35 in admin time, plus ~€30/month Adobe Acrobat subscription
Error rate: High — transcription errors on MPRN, model numbers, system size
The problem: This is entirely manual. Every field is an opportunity for a typo. The panel model on a Jinko datasheet might be JKM460N-48HL4-MDB — try typing that correctly 20 times a week. One wrong character and either the ITC doesn't match the actual panel, or ESB Networks queries the NC6.
There is no systematic way to catch errors before submission. You only find out something was wrong when SEAI rejects the grant claim 4 months later.
Verdict: Fast to start (no setup), slow in practice, high error risk.
What it is: Paying an in-house administrator or a virtual assistant (VA) to handle form completion. The installer sends across the Scoops report; the admin fills the forms.
Time per installation (installer's time): 5–10 minutes (reviewing and checking)
Cost: €20–35/hr for admin or VA time; typically €15–25 per installation
Error rate: Still present — the VA is still manually transcribing data
The problem: You are paying someone to do a repetitive data entry task that is entirely prone to the same transcription errors as doing it yourself. The VA doesn't know what an MPPT window is or why the kVA figure needs to match the inverter model — they're copying from one document to another.
You still need to review every form before it goes out, which eats into the time savings. And if the VA is unavailable (sick, on holiday, leaving), you have no fallback.
Verdict: Reduces installer time, but not error rate. Doesn't scale with volume.
What it is: Software that reads your post-installation report (from Scoops, OpenSolar, Pylon, or any other platform), extracts the relevant data using AI, matches hardware against manufacturer datasheets, and generates completed NC6, DOW, and ITC PDFs automatically.
Time per installation (installer's time): Under 5 minutes — upload the report, review the extracted data, download the PDFs
Cost: Flat subscription; no per-form charges
Error rate: Near zero — data is extracted and verified against hardware datasheets, not transcribed by hand
| Approach | Time/install | Cost/install | Error Risk | Scales? |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Manual PDF entry | 45–60 min | €25–35 | High | No |
| Outsourced admin | 5–10 min (review) | €15–25 | Medium | Somewhat |
| AI extraction (Circaidian) | Under 5 min | Flat subscription | Near zero | Yes |
Why AI extraction works: The AI doesn't just read text — it understands context. When your Scoops report says "12 × Jinko JKM460N-48HL4-MDB panels", the AI doesn't just copy that string — it extracts the panel count, model number, and looks it up in the hardware datasheet database to retrieve the correct Voc STC, Isc STC, and rated power for the ITC.
This is fundamentally different from what a VA does. The VA copies text; the AI extracts meaning and verifies it.
Circaidian is built specifically for Irish solar PV installers. Here's the exact workflow:
Most installers use Scoops for post-installation surveys — Circaidian integrates directly with Scoops reports. But we also handle OpenSolar exports, Pylon reports, and PDFs from any other survey platform. Read more about how we handle different survey platforms →
Forward the PDF to your Circaidian ingest email address, or upload it directly through the dashboard.
Within seconds, our AI engine:
If anything looks wrong — MPRN format invalid, string voltage outside inverter MPPT range, unrecognised panel model — it's flagged on the review screen before you see the form.
One review screen shows the extracted data alongside the generated form content. You can edit any field before generating. Once you're satisfied, download the completed PDFs:
Electronic signatures on SEAI forms mean the homeowner can sign the DOW remotely from their phone, without printing or scanning. Your installer signature is stored in your profile and applied automatically to the NC6 and ITC.
Let's put numbers on it. For an installer doing 40 jobs a month:
Circaidian's subscription is a fraction of that. The ROI is clear, and it compounds as your volume grows.
Circaidian works with any PDF post-installation report, not just Scoops. Our AI extraction is platform-agnostic — it reads the content of the document, not a specific format. Whether you use OpenSolar, Pylon, or a custom Excel-to-PDF template, the extraction process is the same.
Read more about how Circaidian handles different survey platforms →
Circaidian is available now for Irish solar PV installers. You can sign up, upload your first report, and see the completed NC6, DOW, and ITC PDFs generated in under a minute.
No commitment. No credit card to start. Just less paperwork.
Circaidian automatically generates your NC6 Microgeneration Notification, Declaration of Works Part 1, and Inspection, Test & Commissioning Part 2 from your Scoops report. One upload, three compliant forms, seconds not hours.
Try the Demo →