Solar forecasting empowered by on-site data

The increasing share of intermittent energies complicates the grid balance management. Grid managers must arbitrate energy sources depending on supply and demand of electrical energy. Thus, they require from photovoltaic actors to provide electricity production forecasts. Unlike controllable energies such as hydroelectric or gas, or predictable ones like nuclear, solar energy requires tools to anticipate production levels at various time horizons. Anticipating these fluctuations in advance is mandatory to maximize integration of PV energy into the electrical grid.

For all solar energy stackholder, having a reliable forecast provider is crucial:

• PV plant operators: Anticipate production on all time horizons for their production commitments and avoid penalties. Manage storage/load shedding while minimizing losses.

• Aggregators, traders: Anticipate market developments (supply/demand) to maximize the profitability of energy buying/selling.

• Grid managers: Avoid grid overload or supply failure at a local, regional, or national scale.

The API (Application Programming Interface) is an interface that allows access to the functions or data of an application remotely with a personal user account. CalibSun hosts its SaaS (Software as a Service) solutions on the AWS platform, allowing secure access via the cloud, without the need to download software to PC. All data transfers and storage are executed through secure protocols. 
For isolated sites, CalibSun also offers solutions in Edge computing (hosted on your local servers).

Regulations vary by country/region and the share of renewable energy in the energy mix. When intermittent energy represents a substantial part of the grid, especially for islands, managing it to ensure grid balance between supply and demand requires regulation. Operators or aggregators are required to provide production forecasts, one day in advance (day ahead), and at regular intervals during the day (intraday), to the grid manager to which they are connected. The grid manager can financially penalize the PV operator in case of deviation between the announced quantity and the quantity actually injected into the grid. Thus, it is relevant for photovoltaic plant operators to equip themselves with a reliable forecasting solution, such as NEXT, to avoid any financial penalty and to maximize the amount of electricity injected into the grid.