Let’s start with this – what sort of data we should use to measure the potential of a farm.
According to the latest standards, the key here is to have qualitative data on irradiance, i.e. the degree of insolation that occurs over our farm at the analyzed moment. Only with reliable, up-to-date, and complete data, obtained for a given location, can we prepare calculations on the energy generation potential. And here we touch on one of the main challenges, which is the use of historical data.
A significant part of investors are not (yet) experts in the photovoltaic industry. Often, they base all their knowledge on information obtained when deciding whether it is worth “entering” this industry. Here I mean the stage of designing and building a farm in a given location. This is when they think about how profitable it is, and how much you can earn on a photovoltaic farm. Companies prepare a design of the PV installation for them and then calculate the return on investment. However, they have no way of estimating how much the sun will shine over the installation for the next 20 or 25 years. Therefore, they use averaged historical data.
In many cases, investors enter the operational phase, accepting this as the only one possible state. They do not think that there are tools available on the market, that can analyze the level of efficiency of PV farms – ongoingly and automatically, based on current data.