Solar Monitoring as a Service (SolarMaaS)

Solar Monitoring as a Service (SolarMaaS) Part I.

Solar lifecycle solutions for monitoring, evaluation, troubleshooting and control.

Solar Data Systems, Inc. (SDSI) has formed the first ever Solar Monitoring as a Service (SolarMaaS) company. SolarMaaS in general is a combination of multiple tools and applications to monitor a certain aspect of an application, server, system or IT component. When applied to the solar industry, this means combining hardware, software and services to monitor, evaluate, and troubleshoot solar plant issues throughout the lifetime of the solar array.

SolarMaaS: Ensure ideal plant performance throughout the solar plant lifecycle by combining systematic evaluation, troubleshooting, visualization, and control.

Increase Solar Power Production

SDSI has long-term experience with Solar-Log®, a hardware-agnostic monitoring and control solution. For over 10 years we have been helping solar professionals effectively monitor and manage their solar PV plants. Our experience, time and time again, proves that continuous, accurate data collection and analysis are absolutely essential to meeting or exceeding production expectations. This is true in every stage of the solar plant lifecycle.

Fact is, solar is not maintenance free. Performance issues stem from many areas within a solar array (Figure 1) and these issues can have a serious economic impact. Therefore, data loggers need to collect continuous data from all onsite components. This all-encompassing data must deliver clear actionable information. Otherwise, the management of the data might be overwhelming and unhelpful.

This is where SolarMaaS comes in. SDSI solutions make the data work for customers like O&M providers and Asset Managers, so they don’t have to work the data.

Solar plant failures stem from many areas within the array. — Figure 1: Sources of PV System Failures. Internal Solar-Log analysis based on technical support calls received over several months.

SDSI provides a highly streamlined, data-driven solution through a combination of various hardware, software, support and services. Data from different devices is collected, validated and normalized. SolarMaaS tools are used to constantly evaluate a certain aspect of the solar array, display the results in real time, and provide periodic reports. O&M and/or Asset Managers can respond right away or take later action to resolve malfunctions.

We clearly understand customers’ requirements when it comes to evaluating system performance. A neutral, qualified monitoring, control and management system is vital to lowering costs and protecting ROI.

Increase Solar Business and Revenue

For years, the solar industry has been looking for ways to increase revenue while simultaneously decreasing costs. O&M supported by MaaS solves this challenge!

O&M concerns like performance optimization, operational efficiency, and improved performance ratio, all impact costs and revenue. At the same time, O&M is an opportunity to increase revenue through post-installation support and proactive services. These services generate a new source of revenue for solar businesses. Solar MaaS supports O&M teams in this business growth. The solar MaaS advantage adds value and protects the solar investment for all project stakeholders.

SDSI combines premium solar products, technical expertise, and proactive monitoring services.

Visualize Solar Production and Reduce Onsite Troubleshooting

SDSI offers many tools under the SolarMaaS umbrella. These tools can be used cohesively to streamline troubleshooting efforts and increase the effectiveness of the Asset Management and O&M team.

Solar-Log® provides the best inverter-agnostic performance monitoring to identify underperforming solar PV plants quickly. Accurate, remote monitoring and real-time error detection means less downtime and maximized power production.

Superior PV Analyzers from emazys are portable, battery-powered instruments that not only detect plant faults and failures but also pinpoint the exact location of the failure within the array. Traditional PV analyzers provide the first piece of the puzzle. The Z200 helps solve that puzzle by stating exactly where the fault is, in less than 5 minutes. It offers all of the standard tests of a string tester plus much, much more.

Having complete insight into the status of solar assets is a critical piece to long-term project success. Aerial inspections reduce risk and optimize profitability. These drone inspections are essential at all stages, from site construction to the operational phase and site handovers. They allow O&M provider to better understand environmental and site-specific issues to improve physical areas and increase yields.

Solarfox® provides unique and eye-catching public displays for solar PV plants. These displays can be used by plant owners, building owners, and other project stakeholders to show case their contribution to environmental conservation.

Eliminate the Burdens of Managing Solar Power Plants with Superior Support and Services

SDSI also offers subscription-based evaluation services. We compile data from varying sources and determine how well a solar plant is performing. These services indicate where and why malfunctions are occurring and include professional recommendations for reinstating ideal performance.

For example, with a Solar-Log® WEB 4-U Agreement, SDSI professionals pro-actively monitor the performance of a customer’s plant or fleet.

A second example of a subscription-based evaluation service is a proactive configuration check. O&M providers often turn off all alerts to reduce the number of emails. That means when a plant has an issue, notifications are not received. Configuration Checks services eliminate unnecessary alerts but make sure that critical alerts will be received.

Why companies need solar monitoring as a service

Decrease Back-end Inefficiency and Measurably Improve Solar Performance

We understand that you lose money when a solar plant is malfunctioning. The financial impact can be due to lost production or the time it takes to combat that loss.

Solar Data Systems’ evaluation services provide ways to measurably improve solar plant performance. For example, our Performance Analysis is a self-explanatory report of performance issues observed, total estimated kWh loss and the recommendations from our team of experts with clear next steps to eliminate production issues. Plus, the ROI Analysis Report provides an extensive analysis to determine the financial impact of production losses due to malfunctioning solar plant.

SDSI’s SolarMaaS tools will help protect your system ROI through continuous professional plant monitoring and incident reporting. Contact us for all your Solar MaaS needs and let us help reduce the time involved in, and cost of managing your solar fleet!

SolarMaaS is quickly expanding. Stay tuned for much more to come with part II including more information on the comprehensive and convenient mobile app!