How big data analytics is transforming the future of solar power plants
While the world is fighting with adverse climate-change conditions and other environmental crises, renewable energy resources are considered the lifeline for the planet today. Therefore, renewable energy industries are gearing up to invent better ways to build robust solutions, all with the help of inventive technology genius.
According to IEA, the world’s renewable power capacity is set to expand by 50% between 2019 and 2024, led by solar PV. Solar PV alone accounts for 60% almost of the expected growth, with the onshore wind representing one-quarter.
In India alone, the capacity for Solar energy has rapidly increased in recent years.
At the end of 2019, the renewable industry accounted for over 22% of the energy capacity mix. India was the 2nd largest photovoltaic power plant in 2019, with an overall installed power capacity of almost 360 GWs in 2019 and the renewable industry amounting to 80 gigawatts of that capacity.
While the renewable energy industry hopes for a better future, technology is cementing and enhancing it further to curate a more sustainable business model.
Advanced technologies like big data analytics are here to change the way renewable energy sectors can operate more efficiently and optimize them for maximum advantage. Driven by the sheer power of data, solar plants can be fully optimized and function better if the data is stored in a smart way.
In this article, we’ll make discussion around the importance of Big Data and Analytics in optimizing the power of solar plants.
Impact of Big Data and Analytics in Solar Plants
Unpredictable readings and intermittent data coming through the sunlight can make the overall solution undependable. Big Data and Analytics provide an edge to the solar businesses by terminating the unpredictability factor.
Therefore, as for any other renewable energy plant, to work consistently well, solar plants also need technology that can predict variations in climate or weather conditions to optimize their capacity. Shortly, Big Data and Analytics can add the necessary method to the chaos of data usage and management to help optimize it.
Making Data Structured and Predictable
Big Data has a great advantage in offering helo to the solar sector and solar assets owners. Utilizing Big Data and Analytics, solar asset owners can categorize data by analyzing generating valuable insights and data patterns. With these immense valuable insights, the utilities can then manage the variations in radiations and solar winds while accurately predicting the amount of energy redirected into the power grid. The data is then utilized and converted for the optimized performance of the solar assets. This technology helps create a sense of the massive data available for better outcomes.
Enhanced Operational Efficiency
Generally, a solar plant needs humongous amounts of solar panel sensors and installations along with a challenging ground-level infrastructure. Typically, such vast installation of plants requires a vast terrain that brings a lot of operational and maintenance challenges. Big data and analytics can help plant operators get timely updates about the plant’s overall performance.
Effective Maintenance
The huge solar plant installations have very complex infrastructure comprising panels, sensitive equipment, sensors, wires, etc. The ground-level maintenance of these assets is highly complex and time-consuming. Utilizing Big Data and Analytics, companies can predict maintenance needs via historical data analysis and streamline their maintenance ops. Through predictive and preventive maintenance, companies can reduce downtime.
Measurable ROI
Solar organizations can better understand their customer needs and demands using Big Data Analytics. They use this data to implement strategies to cultivate different revenue models and enhance business opportunities. It offers organizations with incredible data insights and analytics to help them make the right decisions at the right time. This adds to the ROI and directly positively impacts the business.
The renewable energy industry is also attracting more investors presently. With the surging demands and the government’s ambitious green energy targets across countries, it is attracting both domestic and foreign investors. The country is expecting to attract investments for up to USD 80 billion in the next four years.
Predicting Productive Weather Conditions
About 80% of rooftops analyzed in Google’s rooftop solar survey are viable for solar installations. Knowing this number helps dispel the misconception that residential and commercial solar projects are practical investments only in a narrow swath of climates. Nevertheless, predicting weather conditions is essential for solar power and other renewables to work at peak efficiency. Predictive analytics also helps energy companies seamlessly balance renewables with traditional power generation facilities to keep supplies in line with peaks and troughs in demand. IBM says it can use predictive models to inform smart infrastructure design with historical satellite data and real-time weather and environmental data. The result is a 10% increase in the renewable power generated at a site, even without adding new panels or turbines.
Supporting Proactive Maintenance
One of the best things about renewable power is supporting a less centralized energy grid. An energy supplier on one coast can contribute clean power to the grid that a company on the opposite coast can purchase — even if a local utility physically delivers the energy they use. Solar panels and wind turbines are geographically dispersed and often installed by the dozens or hundreds at the most productive sites. Maintaining this amount of physical infrastructure effectively is a challenge compared to a relatively compact coal-fired power plant. Big data provides the means to engage in widespread condition monitoring for individual parts, panels, and turbines. A fairly small crew can oversee maintenance operations even for large energy generation sites thanks to sensors and data loggers deployed in the field. These tools indicate when solar panels are performing sub-optimally (when they’re dirty or obscured by a shadow, for instance) or when an important part, like a sun-tracking motor, shows signs of wear or impending failure.
Final Thoughts
Data Analytics is here to transform the future of solar plants as these technological advancements are indeed revolutionizing the renewable energy industry.
From bringing down the installation costs to making operations swift, Big Data and Analytics can be counted upon as a robust solution that creates the sustainable business model that the world needs in the current scenario. If you are looking for a solar renewable analytics solution, contact us today.
