Infiswift swiftPV to modernize solar performance management
In conjunction with Solar Power International, infiswift, an enterprise Internet of Things (IoT) platform leader, announces the launch of swiftPV, which leverages IoT technology to change how the solar industry uses data to optimize the performance of photovoltaic (PV) systems. The suite of products and services allows PV power plant owners and operators to connect diverse PV assets and distill insights from the data, ultimately increasing solar plant performance.
"Solar owners and operators currently rely on third party monitoring and SCADA systems to provide data on the operation and performance of plants, but these systems are very costly, inflexible and limit data access," said Arup Barat, Co-CEO and Chief Commercial Officer at infiswift. "With over 85 years of team experience in the industry, we understand these pain points and the need to modernize PV management solutions with storage, frequency regulation, edge analytics and more in mind. In swiftPV, we have built a cutting-edge, customizable and cost-effective data solution for the future of PV."
The swiftPV suite of products and services includes 'blocks' that can be used to build a solution -- each customer selects what's right for them. The current swiftPV blocks include:
"¢Data ingest: This core block is built on the infiswift IoT platform, which connects and manages all field devices and cloud feeds regardless of vendor. This highly scalable platform ensures your data is properly routed from origination to destination in near real-time.
"¢Apps: SwiftPV apps use custom mobile and web visual interfaces for each stakeholder on the team.
"¢Cloud Historian: This is a private database with open data access and flexible setup to cover all data needs.
"¢Reports: SwiftPV produces reports with tailored recommendations and data that can be updated and customized for delivery when needed.
"¢PV Performance Services (PVPS): Professional engineering support is available to monitor, analyze and interpret complex data.
"Connecting several different inverter brands, a weather forecast feed and grid pricing in one place and presenting it in an accessible, usable way is a challenge that hasn't been properly solved until now," said Sarva Thulasingam, Co-CEO and CTO at infiswift. "Our hybrid IoT architecture makes this approach to performance solutions unique and ensures we're delivering a truly interoperable infrastructure that will serve OEMs, operators and other stakeholders into the future. SwiftPV can connect any device from any manufacturer, bring in third party data feeds and perform analyses before ever reaching the cloud, allowing customers to centralize data for a full PV portfolio."
Infiswift is currently working with several customers to roll out full scale implementations. One way swiftPV will be implemented is with an owner-operator of a portfolio of utility-scale PV systems who may want to bring data from each site together with data from a Financial Asset Management suite and WOMS system. SCADA systems can't support this very cost-effectively, so there's generally a more fragmented approach to gathering data for each plant. By using the data ingest, apps, reports and historian blocks from swiftPV, the owner-operator can visualize and access data in a central location from multiple inverter vendors, streamline analysis and make significant operational improvements.
For another plant, the swiftPV team was engaged for a PVPS project to validate and analyze inverter and other plant data for a multi-MW site. Without any site visits, the team identified misaligned sensors and underperforming strings. With more accurate data, the customer was able to improve system performance without hiring several additional analysts.
