SYDNEY AND SAN FRANCISCO–(BUSINESS WIRE)–OpenSolar, Inc., a solar SaaS company with a strong focus on empowering solar installers with the world’s most accurate and completely free solar design and sales platform, today announced the results of independent third-party reviews that validate the unparalleled accuracy of its solar design tool. Therefore, by using OpenSolar’s industry-leading design tool, solar installers will have complete confidence that they are providing customers with the most accurate photovoltaic (PV) designs that meet their solar energy needs. Combined with other key features of OpenSolar’s free platform, including access to a range of state-of-the-art hardware, a portfolio of competitive solar financing options, and on-demand custom permit proposals, the company enables solar installers to convert more leads into recorded sales while saving time and eliminating costly licensing fees attached to other solar design and sales platforms.
As part of OpenSolar’s validation process, the company engaged with PV Evolution Labs (PVEL) and the U.S. National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), two of the solar industry’s most trusted expert resources. , to provide independent and third-party assessments of the accuracy of its design tool. Evaluations include the following processes and findings.
Shadows
OpenSolar asked the US National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), which has been evaluating the shading accuracy of solar design tools for years, to evaluate the company’s 3D design tool. NREL compared shading estimates provided by OpenSolar’s remote 3D tool with assessments made on the same roof using a SunEye, the world’s first handheld electronic shading measurement tool for solar energy. on-site assessment. NREL has found OpenSolar’s estimation accuracy to be best in class.
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OpenSolar’s assessment of Sun Access values was accurate to within +/- 3%
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The current US market leader has only been shown to be accurate to +/- 5%
Site assessment
OpenSolar engaged PVEL, the global downstream solar industry’s leading independent laboratory, to evaluate the accuracy of its system-generated site models. PVEL took measurements both in the field and in OpenSolar on a wide range of roofs of different shapes and sizes. PVEL found the accuracy of OpenSolar’s models to be best in class.
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OpenSolar’s scale rating was accurate within 1 ⅓ feet 100% of the time (no other tool provides such a tight tolerance)
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OpenSolar’s tilt assessment was accurate to within 4 degrees 97% of the time (no other tool provides such tight tolerance OR such high compliance)
Energy modeling
OpenSolar’s energy modeling (the conversion of key inputs including height azimuth and shading to key output: output) is based on NREL’s most advanced System Advisor Model (SAM). The company has engaged with PVEL to validate the integrity of OpenSolar’s SAM implementation, comparing it to industry standard energy modeling tools like PVsyst or NREL’s standalone SAM implementations. PVEL found:
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OpenSolar’s energy modeling conforms to standard engineering practices
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OpenSolar production figures are between 0.0% and 0.2% of standalone SAM estimates
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OpenSolar production figures are between 0.1% and 1.9% of PVsyst estimates
To view and download the full reports, visit opensolar.com/accuracy.
“Our evaluation of OpenSolar’s software confirms that its implementation of the SAM power generation model engine is accurate and industry-standard for residential and commercial projects and that its 3D ray tracing calculations of beam shading are as good or better than other products available,” said Ryan Desharnais, CTO of PV Evolution Labs (PVEL). “We also dispatched measurement teams to a wide range of residential rooftops and verified the accuracy of OpenSolar’s physical site assessments. Taken together, these results demonstrate that OpenSolar can produce high-quality energy production estimates for solar projects.
“OpenSolar’s superior design accuracy has been verified thousands of times by installers around the world since our launch in 2019,” said Andrew Birch, co-founder of OpenSolar. “Now, following assessments by two of the solar industry’s most trusted expert resources, we can arguably claim to provide the industry’s most accurate and comprehensive PV designs for free through our platform.” Birch continued, “I ask the question of solar installers around the world, ‘Why pay for a PV design tool that’s less accurate when you can use the most accurate tool in the industry completely free of charge?’
About PV Evolution Labs (PVEL)
PVEL is the leading independent laboratory for the downstream solar and energy storage market and a member of the Kiwa group. As a pioneer in bankability testing, PVEL has accumulated over a decade of measured reliability and performance data for photovoltaic and storage equipment. Today, PVEL provides developers, investors and asset owners with a suite of technical services to mitigate risk, optimize financing and improve system performance throughout the project lifecycle. PVEL’s flagship product qualification programs for photovoltaic modules, inverters and energy storage systems connect manufacturers to a global network of more than 400 downstream partners representing more than 30 gigawatts of annual purchasing power. Find out how PVEL makes data matter at pvel.com.
About the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL)
NREL is the US Department of Energy’s primary national laboratory for renewable energy and energy efficiency research and development. NREL is operated for the Department of Energy by the Alliance for Sustainable Energy LLC.
About OpenSolar
OpenSolar was launched in 2019 with a mission to scale solar power globally by providing installers with innovative software technology and an equally innovative business offering – the world’s first completely free design and sales platform. Solar installers can use OpenSolar’s end-to-end platform to create comprehensive customer proposals, including the most precisely engineered systems in the industry, a range of state-of-the-art hardware, custom on-demand permit proposals and a competitive financing portfolio. options. Instead of charging license fees to use its software, OpenSolar provides its software for free and instead derives revenue from its affiliate hardware and finance partners. By using OpenSolar, installers can avoid costly software license fees and invest more money in other areas of their business, knowing they are using the best design and sales tools available on the market, the all for free. OpenSolar is based in Sydney, Australia with remote offices in the United States. For more information, visit www.opensolar.com.