Working smarter with Solargis Analyst

Hi Harsh, thanks for speaking to us. To understand more about your role, could you outline your typical daily responsibilities?

I work in business development, so I sell Solargis’ data, software and consultancy services and act as a touch point for customers, helping them resolve any concerns. I spend time liaising with clients and our support and consultancy teams, while supporting wider marketing and sales strategy.

Working for a leading solar data services business means that I frequently handle large volumes of data from a variety of sources – and I need to understand it to help resolve issues and deliver results for our customers.

In my role, I may be asked by our customers to help resolve discrepancies between their on-site solar measurements and Solargis’ own data models. For example, a customer might find a systematic deviation (bias) of 6-7% when comparing their measurements with Solargis, whereas Solargis data is known to have an uncertainty of 3-4%, which may indicate that the remaining difference could be attributed to measurement insufficiencies.

What challenges do you face in your day-to-day role?

As my day-to-day role doesn’t include solar data analysis, I send customer data straight to our customer support or consultancy teams for a detailed analysis. However, due to the team having their own workflows and projects to manage, sometimes a quick turnaround is not feasible.

Customers tend to require a rapid response, as they need to understand how to handle datasets when making important, time-bound project decisions. When approached by a customer, I might perform the preliminary data analysis myself. Previously, there was no specialist solar data software, so I had to use spreadsheet software, such as Microsoft Excel. The problem here is that it is not easy to compare two large datasets in Excel!

Comparing datasets can be laborious without the right tools. For example, dates and times are often formatted differently between datasets, making comparison using data filters difficult and laborious. Data time stamps may be recorded in different time zones. This means aligning large datasets into a harmonized structure can take hours – and that is before considering any gaps or inconsistencies in the data. Ultimately, Solargis Analyst provides me with the tools that are needed to compare datasets efficiently and effectively.

What do you need from a solar data platform?

Since harmonising data formats may require significant amounts of time, being able to do this automatically at the touch of a button is key. Before analysing the data, it is important to isolate any quality issues. Doing this manually takes time, so automatic quality control functions are useful.

Understanding the data fully requires powerful visualisation tools. Spreadsheet software only has limited functionality to visualise extensive time series data, and it is not interactive. Using Solargis Analyst software, which is designed for solar industry users, I can easily see trends in the time series, fix errors, and ultimately help customers to better understand the data, and make the right decisions.

What functionalities of Solargis Analyst do you use?

The first is importing data. Solargis Analyst enables stakeholders to import data sets – for example on-site measurements and Solargis model data – and compare them, while automatically harmonising them, minimising preparation time.

Secondly, I use it to visualise the data in an interactive way. This enables me to survey time patterns and trends and focus on issues that need resolving quickly and efficiently.

Thirdly, I use the automatic quality assessment of customer measurement data to clean it up for further analysis.

Finally, I perform a comparative analysis of the measured and modelled data sets, creating scatterplots and charts, and producing printed reports based on pre-defined templates. This enables straightforward and clear communication with other stakeholders to ensure full transparency around data-led decisions.

What is the typical level of expertise of users such as yourself?

I myself am not an analyst. I work in sales, although I do have an engineering background. Solargis Analyst enables me to be responsive and make a first-level assessment of customer data, allowing me to quickly manage customer queries, communicate with our support and consultancy teams and assist in resolving issues fast.

The Solargis Analyst platform has a wide range of applications for the solar industry. At Solargis, we recently polled the audience at one of our technical webinars, asking which software tool they use to analyse solar data. Strikingly, although the audience mainly had titles such as Data Analyst, 60% used Excel, 20% used Python, and 20% used other tools.

Clearly many data analysts, although experts at manipulating data, lack the programming skills to automate key processes themselves. We believe that Solargis Analyst will become the go-to tool for the easy management and analysis of complex solar data, whether measured or from models, across the solar industry.

Can you think of other examples of users not analytically trained who would benefit?

Another case might be a Project Manager at a project developer with a centrally based Data Analyst team. Typically, in large-scale solar projects, this involves playing the role of facilitator between many stakeholders both internally and externally.

If the project experiences performance issues, or an EPC contract is up for renewal, relying on the data team could slow down business negotiations as they may be tied up with ongoing analytical processes. To understand the technical context and manage the process from a contractual, technical and legal perspective, a tool like Solargis Analyst empowers the Project Manager to play a more active role in the data analysis alongside the wider team. The use of the Solargis Analyst streamlines the process and allows the Project Manager to rapidly communicate analysis outcomes to colleagues and other stakeholders using standardised software reports.

What is your favourite part of using Solargis Analyst?

It makes expert-level analysis accessible. I love problem solving. When faced with a challenge, I want to get to that ‘aha’ moment and solve the problem. Solargis Analyst means I can reduce the time before I reach that moment!

The Solargis Analyst software tool is now available to help people who work with solar data do it more efficiently, enabling those without coding expertise to confidently extract value and troubleshoot datasets.

Secure your Solargis Analyst free trial now at https://solargis.com/products/analyst/overview