PV Lighthouse, a resource for photovoltaic engineers and scientists, has received $1.97 million from the Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) through the Advancing Renewables Program.
This funding will support the continued development of SunSolve Yield, the world’s most advanced simulation engine for improving yield forecasting in utility-scale solar projects.
SunSolve Yield was created in 2019 in partnership with Cypress Creek Renewables through a research project funded by the United States Department of Energy.
It has been instrumental in accurately predicting the performance of solar trackers, as demonstrated in studies led by Array Technologies, CFV Labs, Cypress Creek, PVEL, and FTC Solar.
SunSolve Yield provides a digital twin of the structures and photovoltaic (PV) modules used in utility-scale solar projects.
This tool enables developers to quickly answer design questions that previously took months to investigate and days to compute, thus accelerating the delivery of utility-scale projects.
Developers can create a 3D model that accurately represents the system’s structural components and PV modules, allowing them to determine the annual yield of their solar projects and explore the impact of different weather conditions, locations, or mounting structures.
The high level of detail in the SunSolve Yield model enhances the confidence of developers in their yield forecasts, which is crucial for internal assessments and project financing.
With escalating costs of financing utility-scale solar projects due to higher global interest rates, financiers demand more accurate and sophisticated forecasts to reduce financing costs.
Keith McIntosh, Founder and CEO of PV Lighthouse and SunSolve, stated: “Before SunSolve existed, developers did not have a modelling solution that could accurately represent their structures and modules.
“This meant they had to guesstimate several of the loss factors required for their yield forecasts. Now developers can rapidly calculate these factors with SunSolve, giving them greater confidence in their forecasts — a key advantage when negotiating project financing.”
SunSolve Yield was developed from SunSolve Power, utilising the same physics-based optical engine employed by top module manufacturers like LONGi and Qcells to design and optimise their high-performing solar cells and modules.
It is also used by global solar tracker manufacturers such as Nevados and Nextracker to develop intelligent solar tracking solutions for large-scale utility solar projects.
McIntosh added: “ARENA’s investment in SunSolve Yield is an endorsement of the innovation and value that SunSolve delivers to the global solar industry.
“With the ARENA funding and support from our industry partners, we’ll continue to increase the accuracy of those forecasts which ultimately reduces the cost of financing a solar project.”
The funding from ARENA will enable PV Lighthouse to accelerate the development of SunSolve Yield by hiring additional researchers and programmers.