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The rising complexity of solar projects requires a new approach to data and modeling

Published in: Exclusive Articles, Solar, Think Tank

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The solar industry is evolving at an unprecedented pace, bringing new challenges that traditional modeling methods can no longer address. As technology advances, climate variability intensifies and financial requirements grow stricter, relying on outdated assumptions and low-resolution data is no longer viable. To ensure the resilience and bankability of solar projects, the industry must adopt higher-resolution datasets, physics-based modeling and standardized PV component verification

The solar industry has never been more complex. The rapid advancement of solar technology and storage, increasingly unpredictable weather patterns and stricter financial requirements have made many traditional PV system modeling and evaluation methodologies outdated.

We can no longer rely on the same assumptions and legacy approaches that have been used over the last 20 years. The industry must embrace new data standards and modeling techniques to ensure solar projects remain resilient, financially viable and technically sound.

In ensuring projects’ bankability and resilience, we must move away from simplified empirical models based on low-granularity data towards sophisticated, real-world simulations using high resolution data.

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