Technical risk found, quantified, and resolved
Engineer-led diagnostics on solar and battery assets: grid compliance, control systems and electrical performance.
Eliminating six-figure grid fines
Renewable asset owner operating two large utility-scale solar farms.
Two sites faced multi-six-figure annual grid fines tied to import capacity and reactive power. The customer needed the root cause, and whether controls or contracted capacity could fix it.
We built an analysis pipeline from SCADA data and power system models, isolating the sustained operating behaviour driving the exposure from short-duration events.
- Revised import capacity based on actual site behaviour
- Control-system changes to reduce overnight reactive load
- Inverter rotation strategy to manage equipment stress
- Fixed capacity costs balanced against avoided fines
Fines during the monitored post-change period, with revised import capacity validated through modelling.
Recovering 3% energy production through Volt-VAR realignment
Utility-scale solar developer and operator, solar sites in Maine, US, 6 MW export limits.
Elevated voltage at the point of interconnection pushed both sites into exporting excess reactive power. The Volt-VAR curve set at commissioning no longer matched actual grid conditions.
We assessed interconnection voltage, reactive power behaviour and inverter response to find the gap between expected and actual conditions.
A revised Volt-VAR curve aligned to actual grid conditions, restoring supportive reactive power behaviour.
Calculated increase in active power production through revised control settings.