By Matthew Robare

It takes more to make a solar farm pay than a lot of PV modules and sunny days. One of the biggest challenges is managing an installation to get the most out of the significant capital costs involved in building the asset. And the balance sheet bears this out: According to Raycatch, solar asset management can increase output by up to 5 percent and reduce costs by as much as 30 percent.

On the flip side, not having effective solar asset management in place can be very costly: For instance, Raptor Maps’ 2023 Global Solar Report found that asset underperformance costs the industry $2.5 billion in lost revenue per year, so better management could be as valuable as adding an entire extra revenue stream.

Good management can also translate into lower capital costs down the road, as the assets’ performance and longevity over time can be tracked, so better components can be purchased over the installation’s life span. According to Renewable Energy World, solar asset management is also key to reducing risk for refinancing, as banks will avoid investing in poorly managed assets to ensure that debt service is paid.

Data for Effective Solar Asset Management

Accurate and copious data is the foundation of effective solar asset management. Not only is data needed from one’s own assets, but data from other installations can help improve management, due to the increased sample size. Robust data on electricity production, power output, efficiency, and operating temperatures can be collected with sensors, drones, and visual inspections.

Tools For Effective Solar Asset Management

Data is no good if you lack the tools to use it, and analytics stored in a geo-located digital twin provide a simulation of the entire asset – PV modules, inverters, trackers, junction boxes, the whole nine yards – on a very deep level. A digital twin can simulate how the different parts behave together and how they respond to various conditions, like weather, excessive loads or just age.

Using data and analytics piped into a digital twin, asset managers can virtually monitor the asset’s performance, predicting where problems are likely to occur before they happen. This is a robust and powerful tool that delivers important savings – if analytics can identify a module that failed after the last time the asset was inspected, that could mean days with reduced production and lost revenue, but a digital twin that can predict when the module is going to fail means that downtime is minimized and the warranty on the part can be claimed earlier.

The ROI of Effective Solar Asset Management

But the real test of a solar asset management strategy is its return on investment. As SolarBuilderMag stated all the way back in 2016, “The largest hidden cost to underappreciating O&M [operations and management] is failed power production expectations. Customers plan, forecast, and budget based on the expected power that is estimated during design and construction.”

When the power produced by the asset is less than expected, owners have two choices: they can either make up for the shortfall by adding more modules and power capacity, even though it means more things will eventually go wrong, or they can invest in a solid solar asset management system and address the problem.

Effective solar asset management must be a key part of any asset owner’s strategy at utility scale. It is vital to maximize revenue, reduce costs, and maintain value over the asset’s lifetime. Analytics and digital twins are the key tools needed to best use the data generated by the asset to optimize monitoring and managing it.

Find out how Raptor Maps can support your solar asset management program: https://raptormaps.com/request-demo