Fragmented Operational Data Threatens Solar Portfolio Performance and Returns

As solar portfolios grow in size and complexity - driven by rapid solar deployment, the expansion of distributed energy resources and industry consolidation - operational data is becoming increasingly fragmented and siloed, making it difficult for operators to accurately assess portfolio performance that investors are increasingly demanding. 

According to enSights, a provider of operational intelligence and Energy Business Management software for distributed clean energy infrastructure, this challenge is being compounded by different data access points across manufacturers, DER asset generations, and operational platforms.

A new Sandia report, “PV Operations Software Transparency: A PVMAC Industry Snapshot”, the first structured, industry-wide assessment of PV operations software providers, including participation from enSights alongside 23 other software providers representing more than 1.1 TW of solar assets across over 115,000 sites, reinforces this concern. The report found that differing data access policies, inconsistent KPI methodologies, and varying levels of transparency continue to impact trust in portfolio-wide performance reporting and decision-making.

The research found that while 70% of platforms offer public APIs, 30% still place restrictions and costs on data export, demonstrating that interoperability and data accessibility challenges still persist across the industry. The report also found that only 17% of providers publicly document their KPI performance methodologies and only about half claim KPI reproducibility, making it difficult for operators to consistently evaluate performance across assets and platforms. 

These challenges extend beyond interoperability. Without consistent access to data and transparent performance methodologies, operators can struggle to validate results, compare performance across assets, and confidently act on portfolio-wide insights.

While these findings highlight the industry’s operational challenges, enSights believes they are also directly impacting portfolio performance returns. Based on enSights’ analysis of distributed solar portfolios, up to 25% of portfolio losses can be driven by operational and data fragmentation, while as much as 15% of portfolio value remains uncaptured, meaning that solar operators are not fully realising the entire value of their portfolios. 

“The solar industry has scaled at an unprecedented rate, leading to operators managing more assets, systems and data than ever before,” said Alon Mashkovich, CEO & Co-Founder of enSights. “All of this has led to a fragmented data landscape that makes it increasingly difficult for operators to gain a clear understanding of portfolio performance, ultimately limiting their ability to maximise returns and realise the full value of their assets."

To enable operators to be able to gain a unified, trusted view of the solar portfolio performance, enSights believes that the industry must take the following steps: 

• Improve data accessibility and portability: The industry needs to move beyond simply collecting data towards ensuring it can move freely across systems. This can be achieved by expanding API availability, removing barriers to data export, adopting common data models and reducing vendor lock-in. 
• Establish standardised performance KPI definitions: Variation between expected yield calculations, digital twin definitions, performance methodologies and KPI calculations is making it difficult to accurately predict portfolio performance. Moving towards transparent, repeatable, and auditable performance metrics will therefore be essential to creating accurate, trusted insights.  

“The data accessibility issue and array of different performance KPI definitions are only compounding the data fragmentation challenge, at a time when operators are under increasing pressure to optimise portfolio performance and returns,” added  Mashkovich. “By removing these barriers, we will be able to enable operators to obtain a clear, transparent view of their portfolios that will enable better decisions, stronger performance and greater confidence in the data that drives them.”

For enSights, the findings reinforce a broader industry shift. As solar portfolios continue to scale across multiple assets, vendors, and operational systems, operators increasingly need a single, trusted view of portfolio performance that connects operational data, performance KPIs, and business outcomes. Moving beyond fragmented monitoring environments toward transparent, interoperable, and auditable operational intelligence will be critical to enabling more informed decision-making and maximizing portfolio value.

enSights | ensights.ai