Navigating Solar Data Analytics: A Comprehensive Guide
In the midst of a solar energy boom projected to significantly increase global capacity, the imperative for digitalization and automation within the industry has never been more apparent. With forecasts suggesting a tripling of renewable energy capacity in the US and a doubling of solar capacity in Europe over the next decade (IEA, 2023), efficient management of solar installations at unprecedented scales demands powerful analytical tools.
As the solar industry becomes increasingly digitized, stakeholders are turning to various forms of data analysis to optimize performance and ensure reliable operation of solar assets. Amidst this landscape, it’s crucial to understand the nuances between monitoring, analytics, and predictive analytics, and discern their respective applications at different stages of solar asset management.
Selecting the Right Approach at Each Stage
- Early Detection and Prevention:
- Diagnostic Analytics: Offers historical and real-time data analysis, aiding in understanding current and past performance.
- Predictive Analytics: Leverages historical data and external insights to anticipate future issues, enabling proactive measures to prevent downtime and optimize efficiency.
- Comprehensive System Optimization:
- Advanced Analytics: Provides a spectrum of insights, from hindsight and descriptive analytics to foresight-driven predictive and prescriptive analytics.
SmartHelio’s Positioning: Our expertise in solar asset management and predictive analytics enables us to offer groundbreaking solutions. By leveraging vast real-world data and advanced AI algorithms, we empower solar operators with actionable intelligence, focusing on early symptom detection and preemptive maintenance.
Solar Data Companies Comparison - click to see bigger.
Comparison derived from web searches and customer interviews.
Bring speed to your O&M operations
Impact validated by SmartHelio’s clients using predictive analytics:
Using our solution, clients have experienced on average:
- Portfolio level increase in performance: 6.39%
- Plant with Max performance increase: 8.77%
- Plant with least performance increase: 3.98%
- Revenue gain: EUR 4644 per MW per Year
- Response time improvement (within one month): 1.86 times faster
What makes SmartHelio different?
- Vertical integration: After 10+ years of R&D as an EPFL spin off, we specifically focus on automation of fault detection, classification and prediction. Our system has an easy and seamless integration via API to the rest of the client’s value chain.
- Failure prediction: Based on early signatures (“symptoms”), our algorithms enable the prediction of component failures with accuracy over 90%.
- Automatic prescription: Depending on identified faults and priorities, the system automatically prescribes timely actions. This can be further personalized based on client’s O&M strategy, know-how and habits using feedback loop.
- Faults from day 1: Our physics-informed AI algorithms were developed based on pattern recognition (IV fault signatures) over 5bn data points from PV plants across the globe. No long-term data training required, you get results on faults classification from day 1 of onboarding.
- Data privacy: While we start with the open, expansive foundation model, we customize it to suit specific datasets. The data remains the sole property of the client and remains confined within the client’s server.
- Environmentally conscious: ESG certifications to testify the positive impact on the planet and its people. SmartHelio is B-Corp certified and was announced as “Best for the World” environmental category in 2022.
Curious to know more?
Contact SmartHelio’s team of solar data experts. Let’s bring speed and automation to your operations, to maximize your PV performance.
