Case Study: Castelfranco Veneto, Italy
The solar system at Castelfranco Veneto was installed four years prior to being outfitted with Tigo’s Impedance Matching technology. The system manager felt that the array was underperforming but had limited insight as to the cause. To increase visibility of the internal processes of his array, the system manager turned to Tigo.
Upon installation of Tigo’s module-level monitoring software, underperforming modules were detected and the Castelfranco Vento array began producing 30% more energy than it had prior to the retrofit. Thanks to Tigo, this system quickly became profitable and even managed to break even two years earlier than planned.
Sunnova Declares Tigo Responsible for 3.4% Energy Boost
Tigo’s ability to increase the value of PV systems was recently validated by one of its partners, Sunnova. Sunnova conducted thorough tests that ultimately concluded that systems using modules optimized by Tigo’s technology produce 3.4% more energy than traditional arrays do.
Sunnova’s announcement means that its network of installers will now be able to take full advantage of Tigo’s technology without bearing the up-front costs themselves. Installers using Tigo will now get credited an additional 3.4% more energy than installers who do not. This credit increases what Sunnova is willing to pay for systems optimized by Tigo, effectively turning the long-term ROI benefit of Tigo into upfront dollar per watt value for its network of partners.
NREL Validates: an Average Energy Recovery of 36%
In 2014, the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) performed an assessment of PV installations with Tigo. The focus of the study was to estimate lost system performance due to partial shade and performance improvement from module-level electronics. Analysis of over 500 systems found an average power loss of 8.3% from partial shading, which would have increased to 13% without optimization. They estimated that module-level optimization can recover on average 36% of power lost to partial shade.
Actual system performance was compared to estimated unshaded performance to determine energy lost and energy recovered.
The complete article is available here.
Conclusion
Whether you are hoping to break even two years earlier than expected or you are looking to receive credit for 3.4% more energy, Tigo’s technology is guaranteed to increase the ROI on any solar array. Make sure you get the most out of your investment and include Tigo in your solar plans.