When Versant Power, the principal electric utility serving large parts of Maine, recognized the growing demand for residential solar photovoltaic (PV) installations, the company faced a critical challenge: how to provide homeowners, developers, and solar contractors with accurate, accessible grid capacity information. Their internal systems held all the needed data, in GIS and CYME engineering tools, but it was locked behind internal firewalls and not usable by non-technical audiences. This gap slowed permit approvals, frustrated customers, and limited Maine’s momentum toward renewable energy adoption.

The Challenge

Versant needed a public-facing hosting capacity map that would:

• Combine spatial GIS data with technical circuit capacity from CYME, giving reliable indicators of how much additional PV could be safely connected at any point on the grid.
• Be accessible to homeowners, solar installers, and municipal planners, with intuitive visualization and interactive queries, without technical jargon.
• Be responsive on both mobile and desktop browsers, easy to use in offices, homes, or in the field.

Speed was essential. With solar adoption growing rapidly, Versant Power had to go from concept to public-facing tool in a matter of weeks, not months. The utility’s IT staff lacked the in-house capability to build a secure, map-integrated platform linking CYME results, spatial network structure, and interactive user interfaces.

The Atlas Solution

Cliffhanger Solutions brought forward Atlas, their hybrid mobile/web geospatial platform, as the ideal solution. Built from the ground up for complex enterprise map applications, Atlas delivered:

• Seamless integration of GIS and engineering analytics, Atlas ingested spatial network data and CYME capacity outputs, merging the two into a single interactive map.
• Hosted interactive outputs calibrated visually, users could hover or click on feeders or substations to view hosting capacity bands in kW (e.g. 200–499 kW, 500–999 kW, 1,000–4,999 kW, 5,000–9,999 kW, >10,000 kW), based on circuit loading thresholds and dynamic margin calculations vpcapmap.cliffhanger-solutions.com.
• Cross-device compatibility, the map worked across modern browsers and mobile devices, built with responsive design and touch-friendly interactions.
• Secure, role-based access, general public could access hosting info, while internal users had deeper interactive tools and editing capabilities.

Cliffhanger’s geospatial and engineering expertise meant rapid results. In just a few weeks, far faster than typical utility IT timelines, the Versant Power hosting capacity map was launched. The public now had access to interactive, accurate solar hosting potential at the parcel or feeder level.

Technical Innovation

Atlas’s technical foundation includes:

• A modern microservices architecture, separating map rendering, data aggregation, engineering model ingestion, and user interface layers.
• Scalable back-end able to serve thousands of users interacting simultaneously.
• CI/CD pipelines enabling fast deployment cycles and continuous quality assurance.
• Comprehensive testing strategy ensuring accuracy in calculation layers, map rendering, and usability across platforms.

Each version release was subjected to unit tests (logic and data validation), integration tests (CYME–GIS–Atlas data flow checks), and UI/UX testing across devices.

Client Impact & Success Metrics

While Versant has not published internal staffing numbers, the scale of public utility service coverage suggests significant reach. The hosting capacity map enabled:

• Dramatic reduction in customer inquiries and manual permit reviews, property owners and installers no longer had to call or email back-office teams for grid capacity info.
• Faster solar project approvals, users gained instant clarity on system size limits, reducing uncertainty in early project planning.
• Improved transparency and customer experience, a clean, interactive map increased trust and confidence in Versant’s support for renewable energy.

Early metrics (collected anonymously via Atlas analytics) showed thousands of unique visitors within the first month, demonstrating community demand. Versant staff reported measurable reductions in incoming permit-related inquiries and a marked improvement in solar contractor satisfaction.

Cultural & Company Alignment

Cliffhanger Solutions’ user-centric approach, rooted in empathy for field and public users, perfectly aligned with Versant’s goals. The design team worked closely with Versant’s internal communications, planning, and engineering departments to ensure the map’s messaging, legend, and interface were intuitive and accessible.

Because Atlas already supported enterprise-grade security and role-based access control, Versant could safely deploy the tool to external users while maintaining stricter permissions for internal power planners and analysts. This capability gave Versant confidence to share planning data publicly without compromising integrity.

Cliffhanger’s culture of rapid delivery, technical excellence, and serving non-technical audiences was critical to the launch success. In a few weeks, the team went from kickoff to public deployment, without sacrificing accuracy or user experience.

Wider Value & Growth Path

The hosting capacity map now serves a foundational role in Versant’s renewable planning strategy. It’s allowed higher adoption of distributed solar while maintaining grid reliability. Contractors use it to pre-plan proposals, and towns use it for integrated energy planning. Internally, the platform is on track to support future enhancements, such as adding storage hosting capacity, time-of-day dynamic modeling, or integration with customer portal tools, all facilitated by Atlas’s microservices-based, extensible architecture.

Conclusion

The partnership between Versant Power and Cliffhanger Solutions via Atlas demonstrates how modern geospatial technology can be deployed quickly, reliably, and at scale, making complex science usable for the public. By integrating GIS, engineering analytics, and intuitive design, Atlas accelerated Maine’s shift to distributed solar, improved transparency, and reduced administrative friction. The result: a cleaner grid, happier customers, streamlined operations, and a replicable model for utilities nationwide seeking to enable clean energy with clarity and speed.