Lithuanian solar software developer PVCase has closed its latest funding round, raising US$100 million from investors Highland Europe, Energize and Elephant.
The close of the latest funding round brings total external investment in the company to US$123 million. While PVCase did not specify how the funds would be used, it is likely a portion will go towards tackling what it calls the “data risk” of the solar industry, where the rapid growth of solar projects and installations is faster than the rate of software innovations to effectively manage these projects.
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In response, PVCase works to standardise data sets collected by would-be solar developers during the planning stages of their projects, so that data can be shared and managed more efficiently between the various stakeholders of a project. The company also offers modelling and predictive software, to assess the effectiveness of various configurations of solar panels across ground- and rooftop-mounted projects.
The potential impacts of the sector’s inability to collect data, and use it to effectively manage solar projects, have been evident in recent weeks as heatwaves and wildfires swept across North America. More accurate and accessible data on changing climatic conditions, for instance, would enable solar power managers to better operate their facilities during such extreme conditions, and improving access to data across the solar sector could enable managers to deliver more consistent and reliable operations.
“Good, streamlined data across the design and construction lifecycle is the fuel we need to keep the renewable energy transition moving toward a cleaner future,” said Irena Goldenberg, a partner at London-based investor Highland Europe, discussing the group’s investment into PVCase. “We need to advance solar operations fully into the digital age by reducing data risk.”
The news follows PVCase’s acquisition of US-based siting company Anderson Optimization, which manages a number of databases on potential solar sites in the US, to allow would-be solar developers to select the best sites for their proposed projects.
PVCase plans to bring this system to Europe, rapidly accelerating the design and permitting process for developers, claiming that companies would be able to reduce their project design process from weeks to “roughly 20 minutes”.
As is often the case with new technological innovations, much of the success of PVCase will be dependent on the extent to which its services are adopted by the wider solar industry. For PVCase in particular, it remains to be seen how effectively the company will be able to deploy a system designed for use in the US within Europe.