How do I use Portfolio Insight?

Guide to using the Portfolio Insight tools for making data-driven decisions.

Portfolio Overview

This is the "forest" view of your portfolio. Review this every month.

This view shows aggregate portfolio:

Size
Cumulative energy benchmarks
Monthly energy benchmarks

Measured Energy (Net Generated Energy) from your Site is reported by your monitoring company.

Denowatts utilizes IEC 61724-1 definitions for Predicted and Expected Energy. In summary, "Predicted" Energy is the amount of energy estimated by your Energy Model using historic weather data. "Expected" Energy is the amount of energy estimated by your Energy Model using measured weather conditions and adjusted for age.

Comparative Energy is a performance benchmark developed by Denowatts. Comparative Energy is analogous to Expected Energy, however using Denowatts defined electrical characteristics to model energy output. The Comparative Energy defined electrical characteristics include your Site's actual DC and AC system capacities along with a Denowatts standardized derating formula and temperature coefficient. This standardization enables a common benchmark across all Denowatts Sites for measuring comparative performance.

How many sites are included in our portfolio? What is the aggregate capacity?

How much energy did we generate compared to three benchmarks: 1) Predicted; 2) Expected, and 3) Compared?

Portfolio Generation and Losses

This view begins the descent into the forest. This monthly view shows:

Key Performance Indices (KPIs)
Monthly generation and losses

Key Performance Indices (KPIs) are summarized below or see Quick Reference. Potential Generation is calculated as the sum of Measured Energy plus energy losses due to shading, snow, and outages, as computed by Denowatts Learned Energy algorithms.

KPI Summary

Energy Performance Index (EPI): The Measured Generation divided by the Expected Energy. Expected Energy includes outage losses but excludes shade and snow losses.

In-Service EPI: The Measured Generation divided by the In Service Expected Energy (fully available).

Energy Availability: The EPI divided by In Service EPI.

Capacity Factor: Measured Energy divided by DC capacity and hours in the reporting period.

Performance Ratio: The ratio of Effective Plane of Array (POA) Irradiation that is converted to Grid Energy.

What are the KPIs of our portfolio?

How much potential energy did we lose and why?

Portfolio Losses Detail

We're now in the forest hunting for the missing photons. This tree chart view shows detailed losses by type:

Outages
Shade
Snow

Denowatts utilizes algorithms and human review to detect and verify periods of under performance. These periods are grouped by Array as "Outages" and "Losses". Outages are defined by system non-availability, while Losses are due to external factors such as shade and snow. Denowatts initially flags Outages as "Undetermined" and awaits user characterization of the root cause of the event.

The value of energy lost during the outage is derived from Denowatts Learned Energy. Learned Energy is a Denowatts benchmark of the Site's typical operating profile from a defined baseline period. Simply put, Learned Energy answer's the question: "Is the array working as normal?"

What sites had recorded outages?

How much energy was lost and why?

Site Triage

This view shows the sites that need the most attention.

You may select either a Losses view or an In-Service Energy Performance Index view (the corollary). Toggles on this view can help isolate certain categories of losses or switch to normalized values. You may also change the number of sites shown to see a broader look at your portfolio. Try toggling from $ to kWH to better understand the impact of losses.

What is the cost of losses by site?

Which sites need the most attention?