Smart Grid: Plan, Deploy, Operate

Green Power Labs provides decision support for grid development planning to connect the untapped and in-development solar energy potential with the existing and emerging electricity consumption hubs.

Solar Resource Mapping

Prospecting for Profitable Solar Generation

Smart energy choices must flow from smart business planning. To better plan solar power generation deployment within the constraints of an electricity grid an accurate calculation of the available solar resources is required.
We maintain and update every half hour a global data set of horizontal, diffuse and direct normal irradiance. Developed using in-house, proprietary satellite data processing technologies, our datasets have supported successful development of solar projects in Canada, United States, Australia and the Middle East. Developed in interactive GIS format, our comprehensive decision support systems incorporate all relevant data layers such as topography and shading, electricity grid proximity, roads and waterways, soil type, and environmental issues such as migratory paths or protected areas. This allows for easy comparison of potential sites and gives the right detail needed for sound business planning.

Solar Generation Potential Assessment

Decision Support for Solar Generation Integration

Accurate assessment of the solar generation potential within a utility service territory is critically important for electricity grid planning and extension. Green Power Labs’ knowledge of solar technologies merged with the unparalleled precision of its solar resource maps enables an advanced decision support for utility-scale solar power generation planning. Green Power Labs GIS-based decision support systems consider the footprint and efficiency of solar power plants, load distribution and electricity consumption hubs, electricity grid constraints, economic factors relevant to solar generation deployment and potential use of energy storage technologies. As a result, we help define an optimal path for significant incremental solar energy generation development and recommend the best solar generation asset configurations.

Solar Asset Rating

Advancing Integrated Resource Planning

Utilities’ integrated resource planning requires definition of possible generation asset development scenarios including all feasible solar generation options. Green Power Labs’ decision support systems rate potential solar generation assets based on their expected performance and support their planning and integration in the generation mix.

Design

Embracing Virtual Power Plant Concept

A broad deployment of distributed solar power generation is changing the utility paradigm. Rapid global growth of distributed generating systems, by-directional power flow, limitations of the existing distribution grids is changing the daily patterns and routines of power supply. With evolving business models in the power industry, virtualization of power plants, ability to manage ever growing fleets of distributed generators while optimizing the work of conventional generating assets is becoming a mainstream task. Green Power Labs, with its advanced distributed solar power generation management tools, assists its clients to maintain the reliability of electricity supply and better market electricity through virtual solar power plant design and management.

Commissioning

Setting Standard for Performance

Based on our deep knowledge of distributed solar power generation, we provide a baseline for the performance of a virtual solar power plant to allow future performance comparisons. This creates the opportunity to optimize the performance of utilities generation mix as a whole for maximum return.

Monitoring

Maximizing Performance over Time

We realize continued evolution of electricity generation mix and growth of its distributed component requires that virtual solar power plants deliver on expected energy generation, ROI and GHG reductions. Ongoing monitoring of a plant’s available solar resource and energy output is required to minimize operational losses, optimize the overall generation mix performance and maximize ROI.

Quality Assurance

Focusing on Risk Management and Performance Guarantees

As technology solutions for solar power generation continue to dynamically change, our expertise in risk management and quality management assures our clients of a successful deployment of solar power assets. We support this deployment with long-term series of high resolution climatology data enabling performance guaranties for solar assets.

Solar Yield Forecasting

SolarSatData™ for Utilities: Forecasting Utility-Scale and Distributed Generation

Our solar power forecasting technology and software-as-a-service delivers energy generation forecasts for utility-scale distributed and aggregate generation, eliminating barriers for solar power integration, improving control of the distribution grid and enhancing utility market operations. Our integrated predictive power platform delivers forecasts to support all standard and custom forecast horizons.
The technology platform developed by our multi-disciplinary research and technical team includes specialized modules to reflect client site specific concerns such as the coastal marine layer and other weather phenomena that impact the available solar resource and allow for improved forecast accuracy for operational processes.