Basepoint vs the spreadsheet stack
Spreadsheets built this industry. They just were not built for thirty projects, seven ISOs, and a diligence deadline.
Updated October 2026
Most development teams run on a stack of spreadsheets: the queue tracker, the pipeline tracker, the permit matrix, the pro forma, each with a version history living in email.
Basepoint keeps the spreadsheet where it is strong, as live workbooks with real formulas, and replaces the parts spreadsheets are bad at: shared state, fresh data, screening at scale, and recurring monitoring.
What Spreadsheets is known for
Spreadsheets are flexible, universally understood, and free of vendor lock-in. Every counterparty accepts them.
Where Basepoint differs
Basepoint imports your existing workbooks with formulas intact, connects them to live project and market data, and puts agents on the recurring work: queue checks, regulatory scans, document intake, and status reporting.
Capability comparison
| Capability | Basepoint15 of 15 | Spreadsheets2 of 15 |
|---|---|---|
| Data | ||
| Data refreshes itself | queue, hosting capacity, pricing, and ordinances | Manual re-pulls |
| 118 map layers and ~155 live feeds in one place | Yes | Scattered downloads |
| Documents feed the record automatically | extraction with citations | Manual re-keying |
| Screening | ||
| Screen 500 sites the same way | ranked screens at scale | Copy-paste per site |
| Fatal-flaw gates applied consistently | one scorecard for the whole portfolio | Depends on who built the sheet |
| Power flow and interconnection analysis | headroom and N-1 at a POI | Not possible |
| Engineering | ||
| Layouts, single-line diagrams, and 8760 yield | in the browser on the real boundary | Not possible |
| Finance | ||
| Financial models with real formulas | live workbooks with Excel round-trip | Yes |
| One current version across the team | Yes | Version chaos |
| Assumptions tied to the live site and grid data | one record feeds the model | Pasted values go stale |
| Team | ||
| Project management, Gantt, and checklists next to the numbers | Yes | Separate tools |
| Permissioned sharing with counterparties | views and data rooms | Email attachments |
| Automation | ||
| Recurring monitoring without a human | standing agents | No |
| Ask a question and get a cited answer | grounded in the project record | No |
| Counterparty-ready exports | Excel, Word, and PowerPoint | Yes |
Based on publicly available information as of October 2026. Capabilities change; verify details with each vendor.
Frequently asked questions
Do we have to abandon Excel?
No. Excel models import with formulas intact, stay editable as living workbooks, and export back to Excel for any counterparty.
How long does migration take?
Most teams are fully onboarded within a week. Basepoint imports projects and models from Excel, CSV, shapefiles, and common energy tools.
What breaks first when a team scales on spreadsheets?
Usually version control and data freshness: queue positions, hosting capacity, and ordinances change weekly, and manual trackers quietly go stale.