Operational Performance Assessment For Solar Assets

Analytics and expertise to assess, optimize and report on operational performance

The installed base of operating solar plants continue to grow at a record pace. With this growth comes the opportunity to improve plant performance, the return on investment in operations and maintenance, and the accuracy and uncertainty of future operating energy estimates. Industry data reports that solar assets are underperforming relative to pre-construction estimates, and a recent study found that solar projects underperformed their target production on average by 6.3%.¹ 

The good news is that a meaningful portion of this underperformance is attributable to addressable issues. UL Solutions can help our customers assess, optimize and manage solar performance by drawing on sophisticated analytical software tools and a team of experts to provide recommendations, including remediation actions and operational improvements.

Working with UL Solutions means you benefit from our knowledge, experience and proprietary performance analysis software. We can help you:

• Confirm weather-adjusted underperformance
• Provide actionable insights based on detailed loss attribution
• Identify recoverable losses and recommended remediation measures
• Monitor and validate remediation with ongoing reporting

What explains underperformance?

In solar projects, UL Solutions estimates 3-4% of energy is lost to addressable issues. We can comprehensively uncover losses and attribute them to different categories that allow for an appropriate response. These key loss categories include:

Prepare your asset for sale and validate gains from remediation for higher energy estimates

If you are selling or refinancing a solar asset and want to validate remediation efforts, or are interested in gaining a better understanding of how to improve your solar asset, UL Solutions can perform an operational energy assessment that leverages our capability to analyze operational SCADA data. Financial stakeholders, asset owners or potential investors will come to an informed valuation of the asset when considering merger and acquisition transactions or refinancing events. UL Solutions’ team of experts uses the detailed findings from the analysis of operational data to produce operational energy production estimates with higher accuracy and lower uncertainty.

Gain insight into sources of solar underperformance to improve financial performance

Due to large amounts of noise in the tracking metrics, it can be challenging for owners to make data-driven decisions when it comes to understanding plant underperformance. Operational focus and resources can get allocated to the most impactful issues. The comprehensive and quantitative accounting of losses enabled by UL Solutions' proprietary analysis tools can help owners and operators better understand and prioritize the issues responsible for underperformance.

Sustain confidence in your solar asset with ongoing monitoring 

For asset owners and operators looking to sustain optimal performance of their solar plants or portfolios, UL Solutions provides ongoing monitoring, production KPIs, analytics and reporting. UL Solutions’ customized reporting lets you specify which data streams and computed metrics you want to receive, providing flexibility and confidence in your reporting.