The challenge
1. Teething troubles for newer plants
In the first year of operation, it is common to find wrongly installed components, manufacturing defects or early equipment failures such as inverter issues. To detect those issues proactively, SCADA data aren’t good enough.
2. Ageing issues for older plants
Our older plants suffer from problems such as module degradation, insufficient insulation resistance or performance degradation from environmental factors like plant overgrowth. A regular monitoring system can’t identify what is exactly the issue.
3. The scale of our operations
We have a high number of solar PV sites. It isn’t efficient to monitor each plant individually without some level of automation. At this scale of operation, it is also key to have centralised operation data and central oversight of maintenance activities.
4. Financial impact
Failure to identify and address issues early not only leads to immediate financial losses due to underperformance, but also to higher repair costs and falling KPIs. This can impact our revenue and our ability to meet our contractual obligations.
The solution
SynaptiQ is our solution of choice because we can use it to track the performance of our whole solar portfolio without losing oversight.
1. Automated data analysis
SynaptiQ’s algorithms automatically conductin-depth analysis, showing us patterns and providing insights for decisions. Given the volume of data to analyse, this saves us time and makes our operations more efficient.
2. Data-driven interventions
SynaptiQ Solar Analytics doesn’t just tell us that something is wrong. It tells us exactly what the cause is and guides us towards the right action. This means a quicker response on defects.
3. Future-proofing
The data we get from SynaptiQ lets us plan for the future and spot patterns. This makes it easier to create a long-term strategy and carry out preventive maintenance to avoid future downtime.
4. Portfolio-wide monitoring
SynaptiQ gives an overview of our entire portfolio on a singleplatform. We can access data up to 15’ granularity, from component to sitelevel.
“Staying on top of potential issues is crucial for us, and that’s why we use SynaptiQ.”
— Ivo Stroeken, Business Unit Manager at Solora
“SynaptiQ’s automated alarm system gives us the tools we need to react fast to defects and keep output as high as possible.”
— Mahgdi Ossaili, Technical Asset Manager at Solora
Why SynaptiQ?
- Its automated alarms reduce the human workload required for monitoring and flagging issues.
- SynaptiQ precisely identifies the root cause of any energy losses by classifying them into 23 categories.
- Its smart alarm system distinguishes false alarms and offers ROI-based recommendations on which recoverable losses can be tackled with priority.
- Early detection of performance losses allows speedy fixes and proactive maintenance.
- SynaptiQ’s reporting engine allows any stakeholders to access to the data they need and presents it in a pre-defined or customizable way according their own KPIs.
“SynaptiQ Solar Analytics identifies and analyses the root causes of energy losses, allowing us to easily fix avoidable issues and ensure high performance.”
— Mahgdi Ossaili, Technical Asset Manager at Solora
