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PV innovation gets a boost with new SolarAnywhere Public: Current, complete, no-cost solar data for select locations
Solar PV is poised to become the new “king of electricity generation” according to the International Energy Agency (IEA), which predicts solar to lead the surge in renewable power supply over the next decade. Across the U.S. alone, solar is expected to account for 40%...
Clean Power Research offers pvlib models via SolarAnywhere; joins pvlib open-source community
With the rapid growth of solar PV around the world, project developers, owners and operators need efficient and robust solutions to help them develop, operate and maintain PV systems at scale. Programmatic access to solar energy simulations helps stakeholders make...
SunCast podcast: Industry experts discuss the past, present and future of solar project financing
In the SunCast podcast “The Value of Data on Solar Project Finance,” I joined Nico Johnson, the podcast host, Heidi Larson from ICF, and Hoa Shen from kWh Analytics in a discussion about the past, present and future of solar project financing. The conversation focused...
Leveraging utility trusted advisor status to drive EV growth and grid reliability
The electric vehicle (EV) market continues to sizzle across the country, setting a record for quarterly sales in Q1 and Q2 of 2021. Through April 2021, EV sales were up 130 percent over 2020, and exceeded 2019 sales by 75 percent. Utilities have recognized the...
SolarAnywhere® Data coverage goes global with added support for East Asia and Oceania
SolarAnywhere®, the industry’s leading solar data and intelligence service, now offers solar data services in East Asia and Oceania, including Australia and New Zealand. With the addition of this region, SolarAnywhere now provides full global coverage, including...
Reduce PV performance uncertainty with specific, data-driven snow-loss estimates using time-series data
A rapid decline in solar technology costs and ambitious federal and state-level renewable energy targets have accelerated the deployment of solar PV across diverse geographical regions. This has allowed solar generation to become viable even in northern latitudes and...
2021 Solar Risk Assessment Report: Data insights to mitigate financial, operating and natural catastrophe risk
With solar accounting for 43% of new generation capacity in the U.S. in 2020—an industry record—the kWh Analytics’ Solar Risk Assessment report is more important than ever to maintain the collective credibility of the solar industry. The third annual installment of...
Clean Power Research & 8minute Solar Energy Partner on R&D for Probabilistic Forecasts
Renewables have dominated the growth of new bulk power generation sources over the past five years. Driven by favorable policy, rapid declines in cost, improvements in technology, and fast time to market, as of 2019, solar power plants made up 29 GW of the existing...
SolarAnywhere Version 3.5 Available: Improves Accuracy and Enables Bifacial Project Modeling
Clean Power Research is pleased to announce the launch of SolarAnywhere® version 3.5 (v3.5), which incorporates high-resolution aerosol and albedo data to improve accuracy and enable more accurate irradiance modeling, including bifacial project modeling. SolarAnywhere...
Attention DER/PV interconnection teams: Your system planners are relying on you!
Recently I spoke with two very large investor owned utilities (IOUs) that are trying to backfill information for thousands and tens-of-thousands of PV systems located in their service territories. In other words, these system planners do not have equipment...
How Duke Energy sped up payment processing by 90% with ePayments
In late 2016, Clean Power Research announced a new integration between PowerClerk® and Stripe for ePayment processing. Stripe allows applicants to pay fees such as application fees via an online system integrated with PowerClerk’s workflow, rather than physically...
Three reasons not to build your own software
We often talk with utility customers who are considering the classic build versus buy decision for software. Should they use their own utility IT staff, or a subcontractor, to build and maintain custom software? Or should they partner with a vendor with a...
How Orange and Rockland Utilities reduced interconnection application errors by 95%
PowerClerk: The DER interconnection control center In September 2016, we released an important new integration capability that enables utilities to use PowerClerk® to create their own distributed energy resource (DER) interconnection control center. By using web...
PowerClerk: Your 24/7 assistant, not just a front end tool
PowerClerk® as a system In the world of software, the term “front end” refers to elements that users interact with, the user interface (UI). A front end, in turn, may enable access to “back end” databases, other software, etc. Over the years, we’ve often heard...
Destination: Integrated DER interconnection
For utilities, getting to an integrated DER interconnection workflow may seem complicated. Our latest whitepaper - Resolving the Conflict Between Distribution Planning and Interconnection Processes – provides a road map for the journey. In fact, thinking about that...
Are utilities prepared to handle DER administration through their 20-year lifecycle?
Today, utilities are facing pressure from customers and regulatory agencies to approve DER (distributed energy resource) applications for interconnection quickly. However, utilities will need to track and manage interconnected DERs through their lifecycle, which can...
DERs take center stage at DistribuTECH
At the recent DistribuTECH Conference in San Diego, more than 13,000 attendees spent three engaging days discussing the biggest issues facing utilities today. One of the hottest topics, judging by session attendance and exhibit floor conversations, was Distributed...
Utilities speed up interconnection with ePayments
There is a growing expectation among utility customers that interactions with their energy providers will take place digitally, online. This “digital transformation” is unlocking opportunities for utilities to streamline business processes and increase customer...
Residential rates: Can utilities increase customer satisfaction while decreasing peak load?
Recently, utilities have been turning to residential time-of-use and demand rates to send customers better pricing signals. But the question remains: Will these new residential rates succeed in changing customer behavior? What happens to customer satisfaction?...
Utilities with industry-leading customer satisfaction use WattPlan
The 2017 J.D. Power Electric Utility Residential Customer Satisfaction StudySM results are in, and utilities that rank highest not only provide excellent reliability and rate options, many of them are also taking advantage of online engagement tools to improve the...
Why EV strategy is important for utilities: SMUD’s story
Electric vehicle (EV) adoption is increasing, and utilities are taking notice. In a May 25, 2017 webinar, “Shifting Utility EV Strategy into Drive: Best Practices and Lessons Learned1,” Thor Hinkley, EV senior program consultant at CLEAResult, pointed out that nearly...
MN Solar Pathways: Illuminating pathways to 10% solar
On March 30, 2017, the Minnesota Department of Commerce along with its core team, kicked off its Department of Energy-funded MN Solar Pathways project aimed at finding the least-risk, best-value solutions for MN to achieve its solar energy goals. Clean Power Research...
Can a simple model predict future PV adoption? (Yes—if done right)
Utilities across the U.S. are eager to know how much PV their customers will adopt, as this adoption can impact both revenues (from reduction in energy purchases) and costs (linked to distribution operation and intermittency mitigation). Having seen the explosive...
Can Hawaiian Electric convince customers to invest in solar and battery storage without pushing them off the grid?
As of September 2016, all three Hawaiian Electric Companies (HECO, MECO and HELCO) had reached the Public Utility Commission’s (PUC) Customer Grid-Supply program limit. Now, Hawaiians interested in installing rooftop solar will want to consider installing battery...
2017: The year of the long range EV
In 2016, electric vehicle (EV) sales grew 37% and utilities initiated strategies for dealing with that growth. Six utilities and state energy agencies now use WattPlan® to provide customers with personalized and objective guidance to their EV related questions....
NARUC aims to level the playing field for cloud software
In November 2016, the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners (NARUC) approved a resolution encouraging State regulators to level the playing field for cloud software and on-premise software. Why is this resolution critically important for utilities?...
Tesla-SolarCity merger: a utility’s worst nightmare or sweetest dream?
On November 17, 2016, shareholders will vote on whether to approve the merger of Tesla and SolarCity. If approved, this merger would bundle together a triangle of disruptive distributed energy resources (DERs): rooftop solar, electric vehicles and battery storage. The...
2020 regional solar deviation summary and North American wildfire smoke impact report
Wildfires diminished total sunlight in September 2020 by up to 20%, driving potential PV plant production risk Disaster preparedness—understanding and mitigating losses due to wind, hail and fire—is now a mainstream topic in the solar industry. In the United States...
SolarAnywhere® now available for Africa and West Asia
SolarAnywhere®, the industry’s leading solar data and intelligence service, now covers Africa and West Asia. With solar resource data available from 1999 through present and forecast, SolarAnywhere customers can access the accurate, consistent data they need for...
Purchase SolarAnywhere online, anytime: bankable solar data, on demand
When you have an important solar project deadline looming, you need reliable data—fast. Now you can purchase SolarAnywhere online anytime, ensuring you have access to the bankable solar data resources you need, when you need them. Our team is here to help, but for...
Solar performance monitoring in Europe and South America just got easier with SolarAnywhere real-time data
As renewables in Europe and South America continue to surge—with Europe generating more electricity from renewables than from fossil fuels for the first time in 2020—the ability to efficiently scale management of solar assets is critical. Whether ensuring long-term...
Record climate disasters, moderate solar deviations through Q3 2020
We’re introducing a major upgrade to our SolarAnywhere® solar deviation maps! The new maps expand coverage to three continents and increase resolution to ~50 km. The maps give asset managers and owners high-level insights into the weather trends affecting the...
What’s the value of your solar data? (And why the median approach to solar resource data selection falls short)
Are the solar industry’s pre-construction production estimates too optimistic? Yes, according to several contributions to the “Solar Risk Assessment: 2020” paper published by kWh Analytics. kWh found evidence of “an industry wide bias towards aggressive predictions,”...
Solar resource trends: Changing cloud-cover and AOD, and implications for PV yield
In recent years, we reported on lower-than-expected solar energy production in the Eastern U.S., corroborating PV plant owner observations using SolarAnywhere® insolation data. This prompted us to ask the questions: How does this recent weather activity compare to...
New Solar Risk Assessment report provides data-based insights for the solar industry
The latest kWh Analytics “Solar Risk Assessment” report provides solar investors with the latest insights on the evolution of solar photovoltaic (PV) generation risk—and the importance of allowing data-based insights to inform the deployment of capital. This report...
Less coal, sunnier skies increasing solar project value
In many regions around the world, the skies are getting cleaner thanks to controls on air pollution designed to benefit public health. The Eastern U.S. and Europe have seen dramatic improvements in air quality since the 1980s. Coal plant retirements and stricter...
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The page you requested could not be found. Try refining your search, or use the navigation above to locate the post.
Net metering changes: An opportunity to improve customer satisfaction
Electric utilities are introducing new rate designs for mass-market (residential and small commercial) customers to better align with costs to serve and to encourage energy use habits that benefit the grid. However, with innovative rate designs utilities can achieve...
PowerClerk as the DER interconnection control center
Modern utilities are collecting and storing more data about their customers and the grid than ever before. This data is captured for many different business purposes and is stored in a multitude of systems “owned” by separate utility organizations. These local or...
Southern California Edison’s journey to same-day interconnection
Winning Smart Electric Power Alliance’s top award for connecting the most solar in 2015—1,258 new MW of capacity—didn’t come without challenges for Southern California Edison. Adding that much capacity meant that the utility connected a new solar customer to the grid...
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,...
Tucson Electric Power innovation makes utility-owned solar accessible for all
As solar has gained popularity, some utilities are getting into the business by offering residential customers utility-owned solar. This is often a good option for homeowners who want to save money on their utility bills with minimal out-of-pocket costs and freedom...
Tapping the win-win-win of rate reform
Utilities nationwide are adding variety to residential electric rate plans and reconsidering how to value rooftop solar. Rate changes being considered include demand charges and net metering “2.0” policies that provide customers less than full retail credit. These...
NV Energy cuts interconnection costs by 63% while application volumes swell
NV Energy’s incentive and interconnection application volumes have grown tremendously in the past 12 months—by 15 times. As many program administrators know, this type of rapid growth can overwhelm the administrative staff, leading to processing delays and unhappy...
Valuation of solar plus storage in Hawaii
Clean Power Research recently took on the challenge of developing a new methodology for performing a hybrid solar plus storage (solar + storage) valuation study for systems in Hawaii. The methodology was commissioned by the Interstate Renewable Energy Council, Inc....
SolarAnywhere Version 3.5 Available: Improves Accuracy and Enables Bifacial Project Modeling
Clean Power Research is pleased to announce the launch of SolarAnywhere® version 3.5 (v3.5), which incorporates high-resolution aerosol and albedo data to improve accuracy and enable more accurate irradiance modeling, including bifacial project modeling. SolarAnywhere...
2020 regional solar deviation summary and North American wildfire smoke impact report
Wildfires diminished total sunlight in September 2020 by up to 20%, driving potential PV plant production risk Disaster preparedness—understanding and mitigating losses due to wind, hail and fire—is now a mainstream topic in the solar industry. In the United States...
SolarAnywhere® now available for Africa and West Asia
SolarAnywhere®, the industry’s leading solar data and intelligence service, now covers Africa and West Asia. With solar resource data available from 1999 through present and forecast, SolarAnywhere customers can access the accurate, consistent data they need for...
Purchase SolarAnywhere online, anytime: bankable solar data, on demand
When you have an important solar project deadline looming, you need reliable data—fast. Now you can purchase SolarAnywhere online anytime, ensuring you have access to the bankable solar data resources you need, when you need them. Our team is here to help, but for...
Solar performance monitoring in Europe and South America just got easier with SolarAnywhere real-time data
As renewables in Europe and South America continue to surge—with Europe generating more electricity from renewables than from fossil fuels for the first time in 2020—the ability to efficiently scale management of solar assets is critical. Whether ensuring long-term...
Record climate disasters, moderate solar deviations through Q3 2020
We’re introducing a major upgrade to our SolarAnywhere® solar deviation maps! The new maps expand coverage to three continents and increase resolution to ~50 km. The maps give asset managers and owners high-level insights into the weather trends affecting the...
What’s the value of your solar data? (And why the median approach to solar resource data selection falls short)
Are the solar industry’s pre-construction production estimates too optimistic? Yes, according to several contributions to the “Solar Risk Assessment: 2020” paper published by kWh Analytics. kWh found evidence of “an industry wide bias towards aggressive predictions,”...
Solar resource trends: Changing cloud-cover and AOD, and implications for PV yield
In recent years, we reported on lower-than-expected solar energy production in the Eastern U.S., corroborating PV plant owner observations using SolarAnywhere® insolation data. This prompted us to ask the questions: How does this recent weather activity compare to...
New Solar Risk Assessment report provides data-based insights for the solar industry
The latest kWh Analytics “Solar Risk Assessment” report provides solar investors with the latest insights on the evolution of solar photovoltaic (PV) generation risk—and the importance of allowing data-based insights to inform the deployment of capital. This report...