IAA: Farseer - Forecasting Asser Reliability and Repairability for Solar Energy Resilience

Solar energy plays a significant role in the growing clean-energy industry globally, and is a key part of the
UK’s carbon zero strategy. Figures from the National Energy System Operator show that over the last decade
there has been a 260% increase in power output in the UK, and that this is projected to continue to increase.
This has led to a growth in the economic output of the solar energy industry, with this projected to grow
to £5.1bn by 2035.

Given the increasing importance of solar for meeting consumer energy demand, and to sustain the growth in
this economic area, there is a critical need for energy providers to be able to rely upon their solar assets. To
this end providers such as Equans need to ensure that they procure and deliver assets that are as reliable as
possible, and repairable so that their lifespan can be extended. Furthermore, they will need to identify assets
that are about to fail so that they can proactively maintain them. FARSEER will investigate how data analysis
and monitoring techniques can be used to determine the assets that are most reliable and repairable, and
demonstrate how predictive monitoring can support their proactive maintenance.

FARSEER has three objectives:
1. To perform data analysis to model the reliability and repairability of solar assets.
2. To successfully demonstrate that failures can be forecast using available data.
3. To measure the resilience of different solar farms, based on the reliability and performance of assets
aggregated at site level.