Solar Energy Analytics Platform

Researching and testing at the Energy Department’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory allows bigger quantities of solar energy on the country’s electric network. When customers install solar, their solar panels don’t harvest electricity immediately. A utility must assess the panels impact on grid before it permits the panels to turn on.

These interconnection stalls are a sore for customers who must wait for systems to be connected. Because of this, some utilities conduct impact studies prior to approving a solar project. This act in itself causes expensive delays to project developers and customers.

Cloud-Connected Tool Introduction

GridUnity has changed the interconnection process with a cloud-connected tool that assesses a renewable energy project’s influence on the network. The energy analytics platform evaluates the network impact of a distributed energy resource at the distribution level.

The platform allows utilities to change their attention and resources to connecting bigger, high-impact projects helping to speed up connection for everyone. When a customer sends an online interconnection application, the platform assesses the project’s location and finds the circuit that the assignment will join.

It determines the circuit’s hosting capacity and provides the utility with an immediate response about the suitability of the circuit for the project. If additional screening is required, the platform conducts automated studies that leverage advanced power flow algorithms, cloud computing, and machine learning.

It allows utility engineers and support personnel to concentrate on the results rather than creating expensive, time-consuming simulations. The platform can quicken the impact study step from 55 days to 60 minutes. This decreases the total interconnection process from 81 days to hours which is 98% faster than processes used by most utilities as of date.

Once an installation is connected to the platform, the data aides the utility explore network, market, and program optimization strategies. By leveraging the analysis capabilities, utilities can assess their network hosting capacity to discover and share locations where distributed clean energy resources will give network perks, further accelerating the interconnection system.

Analysis and Reporting

The platform’s analysis and real-time reporting guides utilities to save tens of millions of dollars in operational costs. This allows everyone to see the returns on their solar investment much quicker. With more solar, storage, and other clean energy included to the grid daily, utilities across the country have an opportunity to rethink outdated processes and adopt new solutions to improve the needs of their customers.

The GridUnity platform aides both utilities and customers by providing transparency throughout the interconnection process, enabling customers to connect to the network and start realizing their solar savings faster than they can watch a television show.

Solar power is here to stay, and the sooner you explore how much you can save, the sooner you can enjoy the benefits of residential solar power. Go to HahaSmart.com and try our price checker tool. It tells you how much solar power you need, and how much you can save. Please visit our solar blog to find out more about the benefits of going solar.

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