The operator of a 199MWdc site was notified by internal monitoring systems that the site was significantly underperforming. Facing difficulties in locating the causes of underperformance and the 1000+ acre site size making IV curve tracing or site walks too costly, the operator leveraged Raptor Maps’ solutions, including inspections, analytics, and Raptor Mobile to easily locate and navigate to identified issues, to restore power five times faster than if they had used older and more labor-intensive methods of field investigation.
The Challenge
The operator of a 199MWdc PV system faced significant underperformance issues across various blocks in its vast site, spanning over 1000 acres. Given the size of the site, conducting field walks and IV-Curve tracing would have required extensive labor resources and valuable time. The client needed a solution to quickly and accurately identify major anomalies impacting performance and their locations without the need for exhaustive manual inspection methods.
The Solution
To address the challenge of identifying performance issues in the large utility-scale PV system efficiently, the client consulted with Raptor Maps. They opted for a comprehensive inspection to understand the biggest drivers of underperformance for remediation and identify lower priority defect for tracking or proactive remediation.
The Results
The inspection revealed performance issues through both system and module-level equipment anomalies, ultimately resulting in a 3.7% decrease in site production and almost $300,000 in annual revenue losses. Among these, two major anomalies related to string and tracker issues significantly impacted the PV system's performance. Specifically, the string faults had the most substantial effect, accounting for over 2,700 individual anomalies, resulting in a 3.48% decrease in total site production and an annual loss of about $280,000 in PV system revenue. Additionally, tracker faults led to an $8,000 annual revenue loss.
Each anomaly detected was localized to precise locations that the on-site teams could navigate to using the interactive map on the Raptor Mobile App. This allowed the team to create an effective resolution plan and the site manager to efficiently deploy their team to address the anomalies based on their impact on performance. As a result, all major issues were resolved within a few weeks, and the site's production levels were restored to optimum conditions. Notably, the use of aerial inspection and Raptor Maps' platform enabled the team to achieve this five times faster than if they had relied on older, more labor-intensive methods of field investigation, navigation, and remediation.
Other Case Studies
Contact us
Raptor Maps is building the digital foundation for a more resilient and scalable solar. From construction to end-of-life, we are your long-term software partners to ensure your sites are operating as expected and producing reliable energy to support the energy transition.