Availability
Availability (or "time-based availability") expresses the proportion of time that a system is actively producing energy at or above its minimum operational threshold, compared to the expected production time.
Availability is a crucial KPI to analyze the performance of PV assets, as a minimum value is usually required to comply with regulatory authorities, grid operators, and contractual obligations.
Availability calculation
GPM Plus calculates the capacity factor using the following formula:
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Uptime (in minutes): time when the device is producing and meets the following conditions:
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Power is higher than the minimum threshold configured in the system.
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Irradiance is higher than the minimum threshold configured in the system.
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(Optional) Device is communicating
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Irradiance uptime (in minutes): time when the device is expected to be producing and meets the following conditions:
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Irradiance is higher than the minimum threshold configured in the system.
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(Optional) Device is communicating.
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Aggregation methods
You can configure the system to aggregate availability metrics.
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Time when a device is producing.
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Total time when the device is expected to be producing.
- Peak Power of each device (when aggregating multiple devices).
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Single device:
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Multiple periods:
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Multiple devices:
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Daily aggregation:
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Multiple periods:
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Exceptions
You can correct the Availability by manually entering exceptions. This allows you to retrospectively exclude a period from the Availability calculations when you need to account for production downtimes caused by an external event (for example, curtailment requests from the grid operator).