Data Science, advanced analytics, and digital tools
As part of our firm commitment to R&D and innovation and our mission of providing the best service for our clients, we have developed a series of innovative Data Science and Machine Learning tools that provide an efficient analysis and data management for our clients’ solar PV projects.
There is an increasing amount of data available from PV assets. Data science and advanced analytics tools are essential to provide a correct interpretation of this information. The input drawn from these analyses constitutes a powerful strategic tool to guide our clients’ decision-making processes and maximize their return on investment.
Our tools
Advanced Performance Analytics Application (A-PAA)
Our Advanced Performance Analytics Application (A-PAA) tool enables our technical experts to perform a faster, more detailed analysis of the long-term performance of PV assets.
A-PAA provides unique insight using Machine Learning and Data Science techniques and supports our consultants’ analysis to detect underperformance and to protect the present and future value of the assets. To accomplish this A-PAA provides:
- Identification of recoverable unavailability and systemic underperformance
- Detection of periods of Point of Interconnection (POI)/ Point of Common Coupling (PCC)-level and inverter-level downtime and quantify the lost energy
- Calculation of long-term average annual degradation
- Calculation of a site-specific daily soiling rate
- Calculation of realistic soiling losses based on the production data of the asset
- Calculation of actual AC losses between the inverter and Point of Interconnection (POI)/ Point of Common Coupling (PCC)
- Detection of tracker failures and estimation of its impact in the asset production
- Calculation of curtailment losses
- Interactive visualizations that can show performance from a high-level annual view down to the highest granularity available
- Direct comparisons to P50, and Weather-Adjusted P50 from both an energy and performance ratio perspective
A-PAA dashboard
Plot describing the outlier and downtime entries detected in the production data of a meter.
Plot of the dry periods detected in the period and the daily soiling rates calculated for each of them.
The Enertis Applus+ Soiling and Snow Application (TESSA)
This web-based soiling calculator follows the Kimber and Townsend models and provides accurate estimation of the annual power loss due to dirt, snow, and/or other particle accumulation on the surface of PV modules.
Accurate estimation of a PV project’s soiling rate allows for practical decision making – such as when and how often to schedule cleanings – to maximize the investment rate of return (IRR).
TESSA’s features include:
- Parameters for both snow and dirt
- Annual, monthly, and daily soiling rates
- Calculation of the optimal washing days to optimize the asset´s production or minimize the financial losses
- Weather datasets up to 20 years pulled from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association (NOAA) and the Spanish State Meteorological Agency (AEMet)
- Precipitation effects
- Map view to compare projects with nearby NOAA stations
- Multi-project viewing to compare portfolios at a glance
- Template files are available so clients can upload their own weather information to the tool
TESSA allows the user to easily compare different soiling rate and losses calculations (both dirt and snow) for different locations.
Values and plots showing the soiling results (both dirt and snow) calculated by the TESSA tool
Smart PV Inspection Tool
With increased efficiency, our Smart PV Inspection Tool combines drones and artificial intelligence (AI) models to develop precision diagnostics of PV modules installed in a PV plant. These data provide our technical experts more information to assess the health of this critical equipment.
The Smart PV Inspection Tool includes interactive images of the PV plant, enabling our experts to analyze specific areas of the project at different level of detail to identify defects that may cause underperformance.