Turnkey solar resource assessment available to U.S. market
A new and complete solar resource assessment (SRA) solution has been introduced to the US market via a collaboration between ArcVera Renewables, NRG Systems (NRG), and Harness Energy. This end-to-end offering will provide solar project developers with the design, manufacture, shipping, installation, and operation of their solar measurement systems, including the delivery of independent campaign monitoring and finance-grade resource assessment reports.
Unlike existing solar resource offerings, the ArcVera-NRG-Harness collaboration promotes independence in the three main areas of a solar energy assessment – equipment procurement, installation and maintenance, and data analysis. NRG supplies its highly integrated and standardized solar met stations for a repeatable measurement result; Harness Energy provides the installation and ongoing operations, including the maintenance of mission critical pyranometers; and ArcVera Renewables provides independent technical advisory services, ensuring that the met stations are generating the quality data required to deliver accurate, bankable assessment reports. Each provider focuses on delivering excellence in their respective domains and when these offerings are combined, there are considerable benefits to customers.
Taj Capozzola, Managing Director at Harness Energy, said, “ArcVera Renewables is deeply involved in the methodologies and technical rigor required to conduct high-quality met studies and prepare bankable reports. What’s more, ArcVera directly performs the important work of daily data quality checking and reporting rather than outsourcing it to silent, third-party commercial partners. For all these reasons, we believe that there is a lot of room in the market for a quality, turnkey solar resource assessment solution that removes the main shortcomings of the services currently on offer.”
This new solution comes at a time where an increasing number of solar industry stakeholders recognize the importance of reliable on-site, ground-based measurements to predict power output and inform key plant decisions. Important drivers for this trend include module technology advances (e.g., growth of bifacial PV options) as well as the need to better estimate energy loss factors due to soiling. This solution satisfies the requirements of both project developers and solar investors, who value doing business with companies that aggressively manage all development risks, including resource uncertainty.
“We are proud to have these two great companies as partners in this venture,” commented John Bosche, President and Principal Engineer at ArcVera Renewables. “Harness Energy has a first-hand understanding of the field challenges associated with solar resource assessment campaigns. They possess the responsiveness and attention to detail required to successfully carry through met campaign field services. As for NRG Systems, they are recognized worldwide as a key supplier of proven, accurate instrumentation and high availability sensors that simplify field deployments and ensure that the necessary data is properly acquired.”
