Iberdrola rolls out Solargis Analyst software to support global solar operations

Iberdrola Group (Iberdrola) is a leading Spanish multinational electric utility business based in Bilbao, Spain. Iberdrola engages in the generation, distribution, trading, and marketing of electricity and is made up of many different subsidiary businesses across the globe.

Iberdrola Renewables is responsible for the growth and development of Iberdrola’s global renewable energy business. Now a world leader in renewable energy, Iberdrola plans to reach an installed renewable capacity of 95 GW by 2030 and is uniquely positioned with a renewables pipeline of 81.5 GW, 36.6 GW of which is planned Solar PV.

Before a solar project is developed, it must undergo a thorough technical and financial analysis so that developers and investors can understand the amount of energy the project will produce over its lifespan, and its subsequent profitability. The information that is generated during this pre-construction planning phase must be highly accurate. For organisations operating globally, it is also desirable to have a harmonised process across projects for the purposes of data comparison and analysis.

Effective and efficient software tools used for data generation and analysis have historically been non-existent in the marketplace. Solar developers and investors have traditionally relied upon disjointed technical procedures, including spreadsheets and visualisation tools not intended for use in the solar energy space. Such procedures create errors and information gaps, and complicate sharing and comparing data across global business units.

According to Elena Rodriguez Herrero, Senior Engineer at Iberdrola, “to make effective investment and financial decisions, we required a software tool that could easily be scaled across our global team, with minimal time spent on training and adaptation. It was important for us to find a tool that was both highly accurate at conducting technical analyses and that could validate the quality of data from a range of different sources from across the globe.”

Iberdrola engaged Solargis to provide its specialised, state-of-the-art solar analysis tool – Solargis Analyst – a tool designed by solar data analysts for solar data analysts.

Solargis Analyst offers the industry a quicker, more efficient way to visualise key data streams, identify errors in solar measurements and run solar resource analysis, all in one place. Selected for their experience, not only in satellite data provision but also model validation, Solargis were an obvious choice of partner.

The technical analysis function of Solargis Analyst is of great value for Iberdrola to use in its pre-construction planning phase. Solargis Analyst’s easy-to-use, highly accurate technical analysis function, with correct time references and granular information on site conditions, provided Iberdrola’s team with quality assurance when processing the solar data generated from new sites.

“User-friendly and designed for data analysts, Solargis Analyst was easily scalable across our global team, requiring minimal training and adaptation. Data could be stored in a central database that our diverse teams could access, allowing us to clearly exchange information about different projects, in real-time”, according to Elena.

After an initial, successful small-scale implementation with Iberdrola’s Spanish team, Solargis Analyst is now being rolled out across the company’s global solar development teams. Solargis Analyst is helping Iberdrola make more informed investment and financial decisions, which are bolstered by secure and granular data.

Elena said, “as a result of our successful adoption of Solargis Analyst, we’re now seeking to phase out the use of spreadsheets and other visualisation tools, harmonising our methods through the wider-scale implementation and use of the Analyst software”.

Confidence as solar rollout is ramped up worldwide

Accurate solar data analysis tools that provide the industry with a quicker, more efficient way to visualise key data streams, identify errors in solar measurements and run solar resource analysis are becoming more vital as new projects are rolled out across the globe.

Using Solargis Analyst to analyse technical project data ultimately helps companies reduce resource risk while decreasing the cost of solar power. User-friendly tools, such as Solargis Analyst, support pioneering companies, such as Iberdrola, in the rollout of their planned portfolios, allowing for greater return on investment in the process.