Solar Data Is Power

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Solar Data Is Power

Maximizing Solar PV Value

through the Entire Lifecycle

with Optimized Solar

Datasets


Today’s Speakers

Sales & Business Development Manager

Clean Power Research

Director of Engineering

Lightsource bp

Mark Grammatico Armando Solis

Clean Power Research & Guest: Lighthouse bp


✓Explore the solar data landscape & what has changed

✓Understand the types & quality levels of solar data available

✓Learn how solar datasets are used commercially & new applications

✓Considerations for selecting commercial-grade solar datasets

✓Real world example of how solar data is leveraged

✓Special factors for real-time solar data

Today’s PresentationMaximizing Solar PV Value through the Entire Lifecycle with Optimized Solar Datasets


Clean Power Research: Leadership & Impact in the Solar Industry

• 20+ years of solar industry leadership

• Proven solar data methodology & validation

• Data & services widely accepted

• Research & development; experienced solar scientists

• Dr. Tom Hoff, Ph.D.

• Dr. Richard Perez, Ph.D. (SUNY-Albany)

• Dr. Marc Perez, Ph.D.

• 20+ researchers, software engineers & SMEs

Solar Industry Focus Experienced Team

SolarAnywhere® services include:

• Data (TGY & Sites)

• SystemCheck®

• Forecast

Software

• 8GW of financed & interconnected solar in 2019

• Monitoring >1 million operational solar systems

Solar Industry Impact


• Focused on developing, building,

and operating PV facilities across

the US and worldwide

• Determined on approaching

projects with quality data instead of

rushing to the highest numbers

• Team of Experienced Professionals

in every field of the Solar Business,

from Legal to Real Estate,

Environmental Policy to Operations

Lightsource bp – Who We Are

A Globally Positioned Independent Power Producer

A b o u t L i g h t s o u r c e b p

14countries

with active

operations

Global Platform

500+staff covering

end-to-end

project

lifecycle

Full Lifecycle Capabilities

50:50bp joint venture

includes investment

into project

development and

funding

bp Strategic Partnership

Global platform

We’re a global leader in the development and management of solar energy projects

3.0GWof projects

developed

around the

world

Track Record

9.9GWtotal

development

pipeline

U.S. Project Portfolio

Local track recordSince 2017, the team has developed a pipeline of 9,900MW of large-scale solar projects at various stages of development in 21 states across America

616MWCurrently

under

construction

Projects in Construction

2,709MWexecuted power

contracts with

clients in 11 states

Contracted Assets

North America Team

90+U.S. solar team with

decades of

experience in U.S.

solar and power

markets

We’re dedicated to a sustainable future

3 projects

8 projects

Under Development

Announced Power Contracts`

US Headquarters

Regional Offices

Under Construction

In Commercial Operation

Under Development with storage option


• Not precise

• Wide uncertainty

• Lacked validation

• Geographic precision

• Irradiance forecasting

• Humidity

• Albedo

• Precipitation

Changing Solar Data Landscape

Early demand for solar datasets were relatively simple

Today’s commercial solar dataset are increasingly complex

Commercial solar datasets have evolved to being increasingly complex

Evolution of the industry has forced solar dataset providers to offer a full suite of meteorological variables to help estimate long term performance, optimize real time performance and even predict future performance.


• Developers

• Independent Engineers (IEs)

• Banks/Financing Institutions

• Universities

• Operations & Maintenance (O&M)

• EPC

• Asset managers

• REITs / “Green” investment funds

• Market Traders

Solar Data Use Is Growing

Traditional Users & Applications More Users & New(er) Applications

Users & applications for solar data have expanded

• Prospecting (all project sizes)

• Research

• Project Financing

• Performance Benchmarks

• Long-term resource & energy assessment

• Ground-tuning analysis

• Variability assessment

• Battery storage

• Energy Trading


Extensive period of

record (20+ years)

including real-time, all-

native data (irradiance

& other meteorological

fields). Various spatial

& time resolutions.

Data concurrent with

plant operations. Can

be used as an indicator

of plant health &

performance when

compared to long-term

estimates such as TMY.

Categories of Solar Datasets

Full Historical Time Series

Real Time

Primary categories & differentiation

8760 also known as

TMY (or TGY) is typically

utilized in energy

modeling software such

as Plant Predict or

Pvsyst for long-term

energy assessment.

Typical Year

Combination of satellite

& NWP used to indicate

what the future

performance of an asset

might yield at various

time horizons.

Forecast


Five factors you need to consider when selecting a solar dataset

Not All Datasets Are Created Equal

Is the solar data

validated and

widely accepted?

Validation

1

Uncertainty

2

Are the solar data’s

uncertainty rates

known and

acceptable?

Built for Solar

5

Was the solar data

built specifically for

solar applications?

Extensive History

3

Does the solar data

have both an

extensive historical

record and current

data?

Spatial Precision

4

Is the solar data

spatially precise?


• What’s the source?

• Has it been accepted or used before?

• Is it a derivative data source?

• Are the values known & acceptable?

• Does it vary?

• Appetite for risk?

Data Considerations: Validation & Uncertainty

Validation Uncertainty


• What is the available period of record?

• Is it current?

• Is it consistent?

• Does this data represent my project?

• Is it a single source or average of sources?

• What does it mean for my project uncertainty?

Data Considerations: History & Spatial Precision

History Spatial Precision

<

Weather Station ~45km Target Project Site 1km SolarAnywhere Data



Scrutiny of the data

Data Considerations: Made for Solar

Lower Quality Data Source High Quality Data: Made for Solar

Maintenance

Instrumentation & Calibration

Siting


• Competitive tenders and RFPs require rapid

responses without waiting on slow solar data

delivery

• Companies are becoming more distributed and

require workflow collaboration

• Comprehensive data needed to model solar, solar

+ storage, or hybrid projects

• Data accessibility 24/7 is critical to meet business

needs

+ Solar Data Accessibility & SupportNot a factor of solar data quality, but data accessibility

matters for business


Averaging Data Sources: Risks & Limitations

Prospective

Development

Location


1. Lightsource bp engineers review project sites for local ground

measured data sources and available satellite MET stations

2. Plot of TMY to identify data trends and any potential

deviations or outliers

3. If available, correlation of satellite and ground-measured data

to determine validity with independent resources

1. Quantity of years of data collected at the given

resource

2. Quality of sensors and accuracy/class, if ground

measured

3. Validity of spatial accuracy if satellite-based data.

4. Acceptance by Independent Engineers as a valid

resource

Lightsource bp – Our View of Meteorological Data

The data evaluation process at Lightsource bp Key indicators of quality data for Lightsource bp

1. Baseline for energy modelling, via PVsyst software, which

establish project level valuations and IRRs

2. Data Uncertainty related to project model level uncertainty

affecting PXX values, thus influencing risk appetite by potential

financial parties

3. Off-take agreement confidence for real annual energy

commitments with contracted parties; mitigating or removing

any potential damage risk

What data means to Lightsource BP and real impacts


• Partnership with Clean Power Research and Groundwork

Renewables to conduct ground-correlation studies of

measured and satellite data

• Generate site specific “Tuned TMY” files. Regardless of

improvement or reduction from baseline; uncertainty

factors are improved

• Gained Confidence by Independent Engineers in

Resource Selection and Data used in Financial Modelling

• Positive impact of uncertainty reduction as a result

of “Tuned TMY” to P50 and P99 values

• Increase of 0.23% in P50

• Increase of 1.02% in P99

Lightsource bp – The Positive Impacts of Quality Data

Ability to conduct correlation studies Case study result – Lightsource bp Project in Texas

• Quality data, both measured and modelled, allows for

better projects for utility modelling, targeting of Capacity

Markets, as well as availability damage forecasting

Confidence in utility forecasting


Unique considerations that apply to sourcing & leveraging real-time solar data

Real-time Solar Data Considerations

Ground-based instrumentation &

satellite data

High-quality Input Data

Clear & comparable across all projects

for swift, important O&M decisions

Useful Metrics

Create a scalable solution that leverages

digital technology that can alert users

when intervention is needed.

Performance Thresholds

Enables asset owners to identify which

projects are under-performing over the

long term.

Consistent Analysis

Real-time

Solar Data


SolarAnywhere: Next Steps

Learn

Read the Whitepaper &

Case Study

Link will come via a

PV Magazine E-mail

Contact

[email protected]

Visit

www.solaranywhere.com

The information contained in this presentation is confidential.

Thank You

Mark Grammatico

[email protected]

mailto:[email protected]

Solar Data Is Power

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