Introduction

Denowatts offers an Energy Test to report solar asset energy performance over extended periods of time. While a Capacity Test is intended to be a short-term test of power performance, the Energy Test is intended to span weeks, months, or year-long reporting periods. The term "Energy Test" describes the deliverable report, though the data behind the report derives from a process called "Energy Accounting."

Energy Accounting is a service developed by Denowatts to reconcile Predicted and Expected models with Learned performance. It aims to improve solar predictability and reliability through performance reporting based on industry-leading standards. Much like Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP) is the bedrock of Financial Accounting, Denowatts utilizes the IEC 61724-3 (2020) Energy Evaluation Method as the foundation of Energy Accounting methods and definitions.

Energy Accounting reconciles the measured results with three models:

1.  Predicted, defined by IEC 61724-3, is the average weather resource (P50 TMY) customer model.  “How much energy will be produced in a typical year?”

2.  Expected, defined by IEC 61724-3, this is the weather-adjusted customer model, often built with pre-construction assumptions.  “How much energy should be produced given actual conditions?”

3. Learned, defined by Denowatts, is the weather-adjusted “living” model based on analytics from the operating asset.  “How much energy should be produced based on actual conditions and the asset's recent operating history?”.

In the Denowatts portal, Predicted and Expected are benchmarks of the Investor’s Model. The Operator’s Model adds the Forecasted (TMY) and Learned (measured) benchmarks. See Models & Benchmarks.

Users can improve asset predictability by regularly reconciling and evaluating the Learned model and TMY resource enhancements to improve the Expected and Predicted models.