DNV'S SolarFarmer Offers Affordable, Scalable Solution for Solar Project Bankability

DNV, the independent energy expert and assurance provider, announced the completion of six comprehensive solar project financing due diligence projects in the United States totalling 1,195 MW. These projects mark the first time, SolarFarmer, DNV's proprietary solar PV design and assessment software that provides customers with the speed and precision essential for the fast-paced development of solar energy, has been used in the region.

SolarFarmer is currently the only product on the market capable of keeping pace with the anticipated 22-fold growth in solar project installations by 2050, as projected in DNV’s 2023 Energy Transition Outlook.  Crucially, SolarFarmer offers a scalable solution compared to competing products, addressing the need for a reliable platform that can manage increased throughput while delivering precise data, particularly for developers and financiers.

“SolarFarmer is a crucial accelerant for the solar industry,” said Richard S. Barnes, region president for Energy Systems North America at DNV. “The rapid scaling of solar in the U.S., spurred in part by the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), means that lenders and project developers need to act with speed and accuracy to move projects forward. SolarFarmer is the only tool that can be utilized in all project development stages, reducing surprises and decreasing risk.”

SolarFarmer is designed to meet today’s project challenges, with a highly scalable API, that evaluates energy yields and enables users to quickly and accurately select project sites and design solar PV projects.   Its robust and finance-ready results enable solar developers to make faster decisions and decrease overall levelized cost of electricity (LCOE) for their projects. The evolution of this tool reflects DNV’s overall digitalization strategy which, along with Solar Resource Compass and Solcast, aims to rapidly equip financiers and renewable project developers with the most accurate information when designing, financing, and operating their projects. 

As the pace of solar project installation growth increases, projects will inevitably be developed on sites with greater terrain complexity, The reality is that alternative products available today cannot provide the scalability needed to keep up with this growth. Only SolarFarmer can account for these terrain complexities and provide fast and accurate analysis for financial transactions. 

DNV’s recent validation, showing only a 0.4% discrepancy between SolarFarmer’s projections and actual generation, coupled with a 30% reduction in data spread compared to previous methods, underscores the platform’s reliability. This confidence has led DNV to adopt SolarFarmer for all future solar financing due diligence engagements. With DNV having facilitated over $10 billion in transactions and supported 800+ GW of energy projects across North America in the last year alone, SolarFarmer is set to play a critical role in delivering faster, more accurate analyses for the next generation of solar financing projects.

DNV | https://www.dnv.com/