AI-Driven Audit of PV Plants: Revolutionizing Solar Plant Management with One-Time Diagnostics
1. Challenges of the Status Quo
Recent research conducted by SmartHelio, involving 20 large companies with varied profiles (IPPs, investors, developers, etc.) from Europe, the US, and India, highlights the severity of challenges in the status quo.
Indeed, the current state of managing photovoltaic (PV) plants is fraught with challenges, primarily stemming from inefficiencies in fragmented data and data analysis reporting. Traditional methods rely heavily on manual inspections and fragmented data, resulting in:
📈 Information Asymmetry: Key stakeholders frequently encounter a lack of transparency, particularly in gaining a clear understanding of the plant’s true condition. Decisions about component failures or performance issues are made without complete knowledge. Since decisions are driven by data, precise analytics and reporting are crucial, underscoring the importance of obtaining a comprehensive view from all parties involved.
⏲ Time-Consuming Processes: Negotiating O&M contracts or conducting due diligence for mergers and acquisitions (M&A) often involves lengthy and resource-intensive procedures, typically requiring the involvement of third-party technical advisors, which further extends the timeline. According to interviews, generating a typical report can take 2-3 months, require at least 15 meetings for clarifications, and still leave many companies dissatisfied with the results. It is frequently noted that consulting firms are not always necessary, as the required data often already exists within the company and can be prepared for external use. However, third-party stakeholders are typically involved due to external requirements.
📊 Data Quality Issues: Data rooms during acquisitions are often disorganized, with poor-quality data, making performance analysis cumbersome and inaccurate. Fifteen out of the twenty companies surveyed expressed dissatisfaction with the reports, citing that the challenges include both quality and quantity of data from solar plants, highlighting that small plants with limited sensors particularly vulnerable to data quality issues.
⚠ Risk Management: Inadequate data hampers the ability to foresee potential failures and manage risks effectively, impacting financial and operational performance. Additionally, this lack of accurate and centralized data easy to access often leads to missed warranty claims, as stakeholders are unable to identify and document issues within the warranty period. A comprehensive understanding of maintenance history, equipment replacement records, and supplier information is crucial when assuming responsibility for O&M processes. The challenges of managing the supply chain, particularly without established relationships or knowledge of existing suppliers, further complicate risk management efforts.
These challenges underscore a critical need for faster, more reliable reporting methods. As PV plants grow larger and more complex, the demand for swift, comprehensive diagnostics becomes increasingly urgent. The current landscape is ill-equipped to meet these needs, creating significant inefficiencies and risks for stakeholders, in addition to increasing costs, induced by such time-consuming and complex processes. Investors and lenders, in particular, face considerable challenges; they are not directly involved in plant management yet suffer the financial consequences when issues arise. Quarterly reports often fall short, providing only a high-level view of losses or repairs without detailing the root causes or how to address them. This lack of actionable information leaves investors with little control over mitigating risks.
By addressing these issues, the industry can move towards a more streamlined and effective approach to PV plant management, ultimately driving better performance and profitability.
2. SmartHelio Technology for One-Time Diagnostics
SmartHelio’s One-Time Diagnostics (OTD) tool addresses these challenges by leveraging advanced AI algorithms to perform comprehensive fault analysis and generate detailed health reports for solar plants. What sets SmartHelio apart includes:
🚅 Speed and Efficiency: Our AI-driven approach significantly reduces the time required for data analysis, providing actionable insights swiftly. We not only provide an overview of what happened, but also what failures you might face in the future and how to fix them.
📉 Minimal Data Requirements: Traditional methods struggle with two major data issues: (1) lack of accurate metadata and (2) inconsistency in time series data. Metadata issues include incorrect mapping of equipment such as inverters, trackers, and combiner boxes. Time series data challenges involve inconsistencies in production metrics (current, voltages), temperatures, and weather data. SmartHelio uses AI to map metadata with 95% accuracy and has developed machine learning models to synchronize time series data and AI-based models to sanitize and validate this data at scale. A typical 12 months of data will have an average of 10 million data points per MW, and through AI, these can be cleaned within minutes. With SmartHelio software, a comprehensive report can be generated within three weeks, showcasing the power of AI and automation.
🧐 Comprehensive Fault Analysis: The tool identifies both present and potential future faults, enabling proactive maintenance and informed decision-making. It not only provides insights into what has happened but also automatically offers recommendations for improvement and quantifies their impact. For example, a tracker fault might have caused an energy yearly loss of 4’351 MWh in a 130MWp plant, identified as being due to misalignment issues exacerbated by fast-moving clouds. The report would quantify this loss and suggest corrective actions, making the information much more actionable.
✅ Transparency and Accuracy: OTD reports offer a clear and precise understanding of the plant’s condition, facilitating better negotiations and strategic planning. The reports are designed to be understandable to all stakeholders, from O&M teams to asset management, CXOs, and investors. This often requires extensive customization, leading to time losses. However, with SmartHelio’s tool, the process is streamlined, ensuring simplicity and clarity.
🗺 Action Plan: We go beyond simply reporting what has gone wrong or what might go wrong in the future. Our approach includes actionable next steps and tailored suggestions for optimizing plant health. In fact, 9 out of 20 interviewees noted that external consultants often fail to offer concrete advice on how to proceed after identifying issues. As Solar Doctors, we don’t just diagnose the health of your solar plants; we provide a detailed prescription on how to treat and improve them. Our team of highly experienced O&M Managers and Asset Owners will thoroughly analyze your plant’s condition and help craft a comprehensive roadmap to address the issues identified.
3. Use Cases and Case Studies
Use Case 1: O&M Contract Negotiation
Scenario
An Independent Power Producer (IPP) faced challenges in negotiating an O&M contract due to information asymmetry and hidden component failures. The existing O&M vendor provided insufficient data on the plant’s performance, leading to risks and inefficiencies.
Solution
SmartHelio’s OTD tool was deployed to perform a thorough analysis of the plant’s health, revealing critical issues such as impending inverter failures, tracker failures, disconnected strings, and module degradation. The detailed report enabled the IPP to renegotiate the O&M contract, ensuring that the vendor remained responsible for high-risk components and optimizing O&M costs by aligning services with actual needs.
This report also aims to set up the benchmark of production estimates given the existing non-recoverable losses in the plant.
Impact
- Risk Reduction: Identified potential inverter failures, and provided a list of 6 other categories of losses which, if fixed, will lead to a 1.06% increase in the plant’s production, ensuring proactive management and risk mitigation.
- Cost Optimization: Adjusted O&M services, reducing unnecessary expenditures (e.g., reducing the frequency of cleaning operations).
- O&M Contract Revision: Identification of non-recoverable losses within the system led to a reduction of 2.12% reduction in the production benchmark, resulting in more realistic performance targets for the O&M service provider.
Use Case 2: M&A of PV Plants
Scenario
A leading oil company was considering acquiring a portfolio of underperforming PV plants. The initial review of the data room was chaotic, with limited data quality, hindering a thorough performance analysis.
Solution
SmartHelio’s OTD tool streamlined the technical due diligence process by quickly analyzing available data and generating comprehensive health reports. This facilitated a clearer understanding of hidden losses and performance issues, aiding in an informed acquisition decision.
Impact
– Efficiency: Reduced the initial data review time to 10 days, with a final decision within 1-1.5 months.
– Financial Insights: Correlated technical findings with financial KPIs, supporting warranty claims and strategic investment decisions.
Use Case 3: Repowering Existing Plants
Scenario
An older PV plant showed signs of decreased efficiency and performance. The plant operators were considering repowering but needed a clear assessment of the current condition and potential improvements.
Solution
SmartHelio’s OTD tool provided an in-depth analysis of the plant’s historical data and current performance metrics. The report identified specific components that were underperforming and recommended targeted upgrades and replacements.
Impact
- Performance Enhancement: Pinpointed underperforming components (degraded modules and derated inverters), guiding effective repowering efforts.
- Cost-Effective Upgrades: Helped prioritize upgrades that offered the highest return on investment, avoiding unnecessary expenditures.
Conclusion
The integration of AI-driven diagnostics in the management of PV plants represents a significant leap forward in addressing the prevalent challenges of traditional methods. SmartHelio’s One-Time Diagnostics (OTD) tool offers a robust solution that enhances transparency, reduces time-consuming processes, and ensures data-driven decision-making. By providing comprehensive fault analysis and detailed health reports, OTD empowers stakeholders to negotiate better O&M contracts, make informed acquisition decisions, and optimize plant performance effectively.
The case studies of IPP’s O&M contract negotiation, M&A of underperforming PV plants, and repowering existing plants underscore the transformative impact of SmartHelio’s technology. These real-world examples highlight the tangible benefits of adopting OTD, such as risk reduction, cost optimization, and improved financial insights.
As the solar industry continues to grow and evolve, the need for advanced diagnostic tools becomes increasingly critical. SmartHelio’s OTD offering stands out as a pioneering solution, helping stakeholders navigate the complexities of PV plant management with confidence and precision.
Invest in SmartHelio’s One-Time Diagnostics today to unlock the full potential of your solar assets and drive sustainable growth. Contact us to discover how our AI-driven technology can revolutionize your PV plant operations.
