Remotely Managing a Solar Site
Denowatts Solar, LLC is a solar performance testing and analytics company with a mission to utilize advanced Digital Twin Benchmarking technology to deliver faster, more accurate, and more efficient business intelligence to the solar industry. Denowatts was founded by industry veteran Dan Leary to streamline performance management by replacing outdated methods and pave the way for the solar industry to scale to new levels using advanced digital technology.
Denowatts’ solution is a valuable tool for any solar portfolio. Their platform is especially useful for solar developers, asset owners, and financiers as the need for intelligent monitoring technologies only continues to increase. Since most solar sites are in remote locations, Denowatts needed a reliable router that also had the speed necessary to run a site of solar equipment. After vetting out a number of solutions for dependable connectivity, Denowatts selected OptConnect for its simplicity, high reliability, and top-tier support. They selected the neo2 to suit their need for high speeds and self-healing network technology.
About Denowatts
Solar performance management teams relying on a dated hodgepodge of modeling methods, data processing, and analytics struggle to meet the demands of rapidly scaling portfolios. That’s why Denowatts developed a new, integrated performance management model based on advanced benchmarking technology using Digital Twin processing, AI, and IoT interoperability.
Their service delivers ISO/IEC 17025:2017 accredited capacity testing and sensor calibration for real-time performance assessment. Faster access to more accurate data and analyses means problems and opportunities can be addressed with a new level of efficiency and confidence. It’s a powerful and cost-effective approach that represents a new standard in performance management for the solar industry.
Their Need
Denowatts developed technology to more accurately, efficiently, and quickly measure the performance of solar arrays. They use IoT architecture to remotely manage streamlined hardware that is deployed in remote solar farms across the United States.
In need of a reliable modem with speed that could reach their remote locations and still provide top tier connectivity, Denowatts partnered with OptConnect in February of 2022. Since then they have been utilizing the neo2, a compact LTE Category 4 multi-carrier cellular router perfectly suited for applications that require high-speed connectivity and the peace of mind of redundant carrier connections
The Solution
Using OptConnect’s neo2 routers for connectivity and having access to OptConnect’s robust monitoring platform, Summit, has given Denowatts the ability to manage and monitor their solar site. With nearly twice the speed, twice the carrier coverage, and twice the connectivity power, neo2 is the next evolution in OptConnect’s fully managed cellular connectivity for the Internet of Things. neo2 is a compact LTE CAT 4 multi-carrier cellular router perfectly suited for clean energy, industrial, predictive maintenance, agriculture, and wind, along with other applications that require high-speed connectivity and the peace of mind of redundant carrier connections.
OptConnect Summit
Specifically, Denowatts notes that Summit has been has been helpful in checking the connection statuses to confirm reliability and data accuracy of solar sites. Each OptConnect device includes free lifetime access to Summit, OptConnect’s robust, monitoring platform that enables customers to have an in-depth view of your wireless portfolio.
Through the Summit dashboard, customers can get an in-depth view of details about each of their router’s cellular connections. A few of the important pieces of information customers have access to with Summit are:
- Access to signal strength
- Device check-in history
- Unique and editable device identifiers specific to the customer's business
- Approximate physical location
- Notifications about devices
-17.png?width=500&height=265&name=Summit%203.0%20(features)-17.png "Summit 3.0 (features)-17")
A Strategic Partnership
“We're thrilled to be a strategic partner in the Denowatts solution,” said TJ Carter, Director of Channel Sales. “Critical performance data that the Denowatts hardware provides enables huge upside in the market and creates a differentiating advantage to solar O&M providers and performance management teams. Their industry leading solution bundled with OptConnect's managed wireless connectivity makes the perfect combination for reliable, accurate, and efficient data transmission.”
TJ Carter
Director of Channel Sales at OptConnect
Working with Denowatts
As Denowatts continues to grow and scale across the U.S, they are also evaluating OptConnect’s embedded solution, ema, for future connectivity. OptConnect ema™ is the world’s first smart embedded modem solution for M2M/IoT applications. OptConnect ema™ eliminates the delays, complexities, and frustrations of typical cellular deployments providing a complete connectivity solution.
"We want to be able to make our connectivity even simpler with an embedded solution,” said Leary. “Having a reliable cellular connection gives us an entry point into the market and we see OptConnect being the one to provide that connection.”
Additionally, Hannah Flowers, Energy Sales Executive at OptConnect, said Denowatts has been great to work with and is well on their way to scaling their solar portfolio. "Denowatts is an innovator in the solar industry,” said Flowers. “I enjoy working with Dan and his team to help deliver fast, accurate, and efficient business intelligence to its customers. Denowatts’ passion is evident in both their quality of engineering and service."
"I would recommend OptConnect because it’s simple, cost-effective, and reliable. The customer service is also incredible, I know if I make a call I can have a product shipped to me quickly. OptConnect is just a totally different cellular experience than we’ve ever had.”
Dan Leary
Founder and CEO at Denowatts
Solar Connectivity
As the premier wireless data provider for the solar monitoring space, OptConnect has the hardware, the network connections, the software, and the monitoring and support to make your solar deployment simple and secure. Additionally, our managed, end-to-end service allows solar operators to add OptConnect to solar monitoring systems without introducing a complicated, time-consuming new step in the process.