Introduction
Having the Site Properties filled out and keeping them up-to-date will help you to get accurate analysis results and enable more features in the platform.
Sitemark will ask you to fill out the solar site properties when you create a new site. However you can always change any property from the site overview page by clicking on the edit button highlighted in the screenshot below.
What are the Solar Site Properties?
A solar site has the following properties:
Currency - Your local monetary unit, such as the dollar, euro or pound. This property can also be extracted from the Feed in tariff property, when this one is filled out.
Peak Power - The total rated direct current (DC) capacity of your entire solar site in MegaWatt peak (MWp).
Number of Panels - The total number of solar modules on your solar site.
Panel inclination - The inclination or angle of the solar panel related to the horizontal plane to maximise its exposure to direct sunlight. Sometimes also referred to as panel tilt. The unit is degrees. A zero degree panel tilt means that the face of the panel is aimed directly overhead. A positive tilt angle means that the panel faces more towards the equator. In the northern hemisphere that would mean tilting so it faces towards the South. For more information about panel tilt, please visit this website.
Panel orientation - The direction of the solar panel where the convention is 0° = facing North. In the northern hemisphere, the general rule for solar panel orientation is south, which means an orientation of 180°.
Panel Brands & Models - The brand and model of the solar panel used on site. If you have 2 types of panels, you can add a secondary type.
Inverter Brands & Models - The brand and model of the inverter used on the site. If you have 2 types of inverters on the site you can add a secondary type.
Feed in tariff - The money that is paid by the government for renewable energy. This is a fee your receive as a power producer for 1 kWh of solar energy that goes back into the grid.
Commissioning Date - The day on which the site was commissioned and became operational.
Photovoltaic power potential (PVOUT) - Yearly average of potential photovoltaic electricity production. If you don't have access to this information for your site, please have a look at this website. On this website, you can click on any place on the map and you'll get the PVOUT in kWh/kWp in the table on the right hand side.
Panel Maximum Power (Pmax) - The maximum electrical power of a solar panel under these conditions: temperature = 20 degrees Celsius, irradiance received = 1000 W / m². Sometimes also referred to as peak power and is shown in Watt (W). Typically the Pmax is between 200 and 350 Watt.
Technician Hourly Rate: The hourly cost of a technician to work on your solar site.
Gardening/Cleaning Hourly Rate: The hourly cost of a gardening or cleaning crew.
Replacement Panel Cost: The cost for the replacement of the solar panel in €/W, excluding the technician cost.
Use Cases
The properties affect different use cases on the platform.
Billing
Useful properties: Peak Power
As the prices of our products are usually based on the size of the plant in terms of peak power, this property is required when creating a site.
Loss Estimation
Useful properties: Currency, Feed in Tariff, Photovoltaic Power Potential (PVOUT), Panel Maximum Power (Pmax)
The platform calculates a loss estimation for each module affected by an anomaly. To translate these losses per module to a global loss for the site, the site properties are used. The global loss is represented as energy loss, monetary loss and CO2 impact.
These losses are available in Charts Mode.
Remedial Cost Estimation
Useful properties: Currency, Panel Maximum Power (Pmax), Technician Hourly Rate, Gardening/Cleaning Hourly Rate, Replacement Panel Cost
When the properties above are filled, the platform can augment each anomaly with a remedial cost estimation, based on the recommended remedial action for that problem.
Reference
Useful properties: Peak Power, Number of Panels, Panel Brands & Models, Inverter Brands & Models, Commissioning Date, Panel Maximum Power (Pmax)
As some of the properties can help to analyse the results of an inspection, it's useful to have them close at hand.