is a key part of the California Solar Initiative.  The legislative analysts correctly understood that there is a potential weak link between the global technology designed to harvest the power of the sun and the installer's skill set.  Says Christian Bendel at ISET:

"In 80 percent of the cases..., the problem is incorrect integration of the individual components into a system." 

Systems over 100kW--and soon dropping to >30kW--are paid on their output through California's Performance Based Incentive [currently $0.26/kWh].  Solar Renewable Energy Credits [SREC's} are created and traded for each MWh [=1000 kWh] produced.  Performance matters.

I want to know:

• how system performance compares with predicted performance taken from onsite irradiation measurements with a sensor.
• how the system performance varies across inverters.
• I want to be informed of any deviations via email or SMS.
• I want to know if any modules are being removed [stolen] from the string, and
• total performance measured on a revenue grade basis [+/- 2%]

From this data, I can generate the following financial information:

• total SREC's generated from the system for WREGIS reporting,
• avoided peak power energy and demand costs obtained from onsite generation.
• avoided fossil fuel use based on utility company fuel split.

Monitoring adds about 5% to the cost of the system, a relatively small price to pay for peace of mind and knowing how my investment is performing.