SPI 2011: Locus Energy releases irradiance modeling software service

•  
  Virtual Irradiance is fully integrated with the Locus Energy monitoring platform

Locus Energy is preparing to launch ‘Virtual Irradiance’ a patent pending software service providing highly accurate estimates of historical and real-time solar irradiance across North America. The service will be offered as an add-on for all users of the company's web-based residential and commercial monitoring platform.

Problem

The methodology produces solar irradiance estimates that are claimed to provide greater accuracy than previously published academic models and it iteratively improves as Locus Energy's network grows. The Virtual Irradiance model produces solar irradiance data that enables the PV industry to mitigate risk by improving project location selection and more accurately modeling and analyzing system production at an individual site or across an entire fleet.

Solution

Using patent pending algorithms, Locus Energy has developed an affordable high-quality model capable of estimating solar irradiance in real-time or historically without a physical sensor. The model establishes baseline irradiance levels derived from government satellite imagery and weather feeds and then iteratively refines the estimates by cross-referencing performance data collected by Locus Energy's network of several thousand monitoring sites across the U.S.

Applications

Continental North America Coverage (some limitations in Canada and Mexico). Individual site or fleet wide data capability and includes real time and historical estimates.

Platform

Locus Energy develops web-based asset management software for renewable energy systems that includes monitoring, analytics and data services for deployments of solar photovoltaic and solar thermal technology. Virtual Irradiance is fully integrated with the Locus Energy monitoring platform, improving existing analytics like automated system acceptance and system performance yield. Additionally, the model will be leveraged throughout Locus Energy's future products, such as the ‘SolarNOC’ planned for release in Q1 2012.

Availability

Virtual Irradiance will be released in beta along with an accompanying white paper on October 17 at booth 735 during Solar Power International 2011 in Dallas, TX.