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Three keys to unlocking DER program management excellence
A question we often hear from utilities is: “What makes an effective distributed energy resource (DER) program management solution over the long-term?” The question is often rooted in concern for making the best choice between developing an in-house solution or...
PowerClerk Dashboards deliver key data visualization capabilities to energy program managers
Advancements in data visualization reporting tools are helping companies make sense of ever-increasing data volumes and complexity. The right tools help increase efficiency and make data visualization more approachable for all users. Improved application design has...
Demand for firm power driving innovation in solar forecasting
Since 2014, compelling economics have made renewable energy the preferred source of new power generation capacity in the United States. Energy cost parity with traditional sources has been well-established by the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) and other...
As community solar grows, scaling customer engagement is critical
Solar energy production is booming in the United States. According to the EIA (U.S. Energy Information Administration), “U.S. solar generation has increased from 2 million MWh in 2008 to 96 million MWh in 2018.” The growth of solar has coincided with the proliferation...
What U.S. PV plant owners have seen in 2018/2019 is real: sunshine has been scarce
What it means to PV plant owners and developers For many solar PV plant owners in the U.S., solar energy production in the last year or two has fallen well below expectations. We’ve heard this again and again recently. Maybe you’ve heard the same thing. What’s causing...
Move beyond worst-case distribution planning with DER adoption forecasts and probabilistic planning
Distribution engineers today are responsible for designing the future of a critical infrastructure system, yet uncertainty pervades the process. Traditional methods of load forecasting and system planning are becoming less tenable due to the growth of distributed...
Strategies for managing multiple DER programs
In spite of the industry definition of distributed energy resources (DERs) continuing to evolve, consumers are increasingly adopting DERs—often more than one. This means that for utilities, DER program management such as interconnection doesn’t end at “permission to...
New SolarAnywhere® bankable data, expanded geographic coverage, model validation and more
Clean Power Research has officially released SolarAnywhere® Data version 3.3, making it our most up-to-date bankable dataset for resource assessment, operational monitoring and forecasting solar PV. In the new version, 21 years of data are represented in the new...
PowerClerk®: The proven solution for more than one million DER applications
The past two years have seen key milestones for distributed energy resource (DER) adoption in the U.S., including: Passing one million total residential solar installations in 2017. All solar generation (including residential, commercial and utility scale) in 2018...
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Top 2013 trends part 2: the NEM debate
Last week we identified the first of three big trends for the solar industry in 2013: soft cost reduction. This week, we look at the next big trend: a re-evaluation of net energy metering (NEM). While discussions about NEM aren’t new, they’ll be accelerating in 2013....
3 steps to reducing solar customer acquisition costs
In anticipation of the soon-to-be released NREL report that benchmarks solar soft costs in 2010, plenty of media attention is being given to soft-cost reduction strategies. According to NREL’s data, customer acquisition and system design make up 11 percent of the cost...
20-million solar calculations served
This week, the engine that powers Clean Power Estimator® calculated its 20-millionth solar estimation (at least since we started counting). This marks a milestone for Clean Power Research and is a bellwether of industry growth. Since it launched in 1998, the rate of...
WSJ analysis reveals a truth about the economics of solar: sunlight is just one factor
Would you believe that Denver and Los Angeles have a similar return on a solar investment? Or that Brooklyn has better returns than either of those locations? Or that installing a solar system in Minneapolis or Portland, Oregon, could pay-off? These are the questions...
Gearing up for Solar Power International (SPI) 2012 in Orlando
SPI is next week in Orlando! Six of us will be there from our Kirkland, WA and Napa, CA offices. If you’re attending, please stop by Clean Power Research at booth #4058, right next to the “Energy Networking Station” in Hall B. Areas of emphasis for Clean...
The Ford Electric looks like a car and drives like a car…because it is a car
Recently Ford hosted an electric vehicle (EV) demonstration in Seattle that a colleague and I were fortunate to attend. At the demonstration, we were able to test drive the 2012 Ford Focus Electric. Not only was it very fast off the line, but we were impressed with...
Solar forecasting goes “EPIC”
Itron and Clean Power Research are embarking on the next phase of research that will lead to high-fidelity distributed solar photovoltaic (PV) forecasts, and integration of those forecasts into net load forecasts for the California Independent System Operator (ISO)....
Understanding PV variability: Affects of the 2014 California monsoon
While we all know that the energy production of solar PV systems can vary temporally on the short term (e.g., hourly and daily basis), monthly to annual variability can significantly affect the ongoing status of a developed PV solar asset. For developers and owners of...
Using ground plus satellite solar irradiance data to reduce risk, increase project profitability
If you stopped by the Clean Power Research booth (#118) at the most recent Solar Power International (SPI) Conference in Las Vegas, you would have noticed a tall metal frame supporting some measurement equipment. While this structure could have passed for a new-age...
Solar fleet modeling part 3: Balancing the variability of PV
In our previous two posts, we described how to incorporate PV diversity (diversity in both design configuration and geography) in fleet-level modeling, and how to generate high frequency fleet power data with 60-second temporal resolution. In this post, we will show...
Planning for solar part 2: High frequency data
Our previous post discussed how to produce solar PV production profiles for fleets of PV systems. In it we highlighted the importance of including both system diversity (tilt, orientation, shading, etc.), and geographical diversity (system locations and relative...
Planning for solar part 1: Solar fleet modeling
With the proliferation of grid-connected solar—whether from a few large, utility-scale systems, or from thousands of small, behind-the-meter systems—utilities are grappling with integration of these distributed, variable power generation resources. Over the next three...
When it comes to understanding solar resource risk, not all datasets are created equal
When it comes to ensuring that solar investments live up to power-production expectations, one important element is understanding the uncertainty of the solar resource. The lower the uncertainty of the background solar resource, the higher the likelihood a solar...
Intersolar North America 2014: The year of O&M and bankability
I often hear complaints that solar tradeshows aren’t offering much that is new and exciting—but I beg to differ. Every year I see trends emerging—trends that are often overlooked until months after the show. Intersolar North America was no exception. This year I was...
CSI RD&D project results: Forecasting behind-the-meter PV for the California ISO
In a recent NREL report, interviews of 13 operating entities in the Western Interconnection found that “Variable generation (VG) forecasting is widely considered to be a key means of integrating wind and solar power efficiently and reliably as these resources become...
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Should I wait for Tesla’s Model 3?
Tesla announced the release of the Model 3 on March 31, 2016, and several hundred thousand reservations have been made. This has demonstrated a strong market demand for an electric vehicle (EV) that has three attributes: It’s attractive, has a decent range, and is...
Build trust with your customers by facing electric rate changes head-on
By now it’s old news that the utility business model needs to change. According to Utility Dive’s 2016 State of the Electric Utility Survey, only 3% of utility respondents feel the utility business model does not need to evolve. Unsurprisingly, utilities are investing...
Three ways utilities can prepare for high solar growth in the wake of the ITC extension
While extension of the Investment Tax Credit (ITC) is expected to relieve some of the pressure for new solar photovoltaic (PV) interconnections in 2016, the long-term outlook is for overall stronger growth for all types of projects, including residential PV. As a...
Prescription for avoiding angry customers as net energy metering caps approach
As recently reported by GTM Research, the volume of distributed solar photovoltaic (PV) systems on American homes and businesses is continuing its rapid climb—with the residential solar market growing 66% in 2015 over 2014. This growth can be attributed to a variety...
Are utilities the key to kick-starting electric vehicle sales in 2016?
After three years of strong growth, plug-in electric vehicle (PEV or ‘EV’) growth fell in 2015. Lower gas prices and consumers waiting for the new 2016 Nissan Leaf (and its longer range) were part of the reason for the decrease in sales, but likely these factors don’t...
2016: The year of enhanced energy price competition
You can’t go anywhere these days without hearing about the price of oil. While in past years that often meant oil prices were skyrocketing, today, oil is threatening to hit 20-year lows (in inflation adjusted dollars). Right now, oil demand is so low, and supply is so...
The proof is in: Integrating PV into the grid is better with behind-the-meter solar forecasts
In recent years, Clean Power Research created a solar forecast method to accurately predict power production of “invisible,” behind-the-meter PV systems—typically those found on homes and commercial buildings. In our approach, forecasts are generated by simulating the...
With electric vehicles and solar, the ‘whole is greater than the sum of its parts’
Is it possible to save more money by combining an electric vehicle (EV) with a home solar PV system rather than considering each individually? Often the answer is yes, and the additional savings can be substantial. To help energy consumers answer that question,...
U.S Department of Energy SunShot Initiative Award Helping Commercial Buildings Get the Most from their Solar Investments
The U.S. Department of Energy SunShot Initiative has awarded funding to EdgePower and Clean Power Research to develop technology that will help commercial buildings maximize the financial return of their solar PV investments. By integrating solar forecast technology...