Customer testimony Générale du Solaire

Since 2008, Générale du Solaire has established itself as a key player in the solar sector in France. The group is committed to developing sustainable energy solutions and manages a large portfolio of photovoltaic power plants. It has been using Energysoft to monitor its installations since 2011.

Lucas Lhopital, Operations Engineer in the Asset Management division at Générale du Solaire, tells us more about this long-standing partnership.

Why and how do you use Energysoft?

Energysoft enables us to monitor the performance of our solar power plants in real time. The platform provides a centralised, global view of energy production, facilitating computer assisted maintenance management and enabling precise monitoring of financial performance indicators.

We can quickly identify problems and take corrective action to minimise production downtime. This real-time control is the key to the long-term profitability of our projects, while guaranteeing optimal operation of the plants.

Have you been involved in developments within the solution?

• Managing negative prices

   

In the context of national contracts which can give rise to negative prices on the SPOT electricity market, we sometimes have to shut down our plants to avoid unprofitable production.

S4E SOFTWARE has developed a tailor-made solution, WebdynSunPM, which has been integrated to manage shutdown orders issued by Energysoft. This enables us to react in real time to market fluctuations and prevent significant losses. We can also monitor the communication status between the plants and Energysoft, enabling us to take corrective action where necessary.

In addition, at our request, S4E SOFTWARE has developed alarms to indicate any anomalies, such as non-reception of a stop order or production continuing during a period of negative prices. These alerts enable us to intervene quickly and remotely to solve any problems, guaranteeing efficient, uninterrupted management.

• Managing the risk of positive deviations

   

During the test phase of our new plants, production is valued in relation to positive production imbalance pricing, which can sometimes lead to significant losses. To limit this risk, S4E SOFTWARE has developed an automatic function that stops production when the SPOT price crosses a defined threshold.

This feature has considerably reduced the risk of loss-making sales for our plants during testing, giving us better cost control and greater security during this crucial phase.

The innovations developed by S4E SOFTWARE for Générale du Solaire now benefit all customers using the Energysoft platform. This partnership reflects S4E SOFTWARE’s commitment to providing flexible and scalable solutions capable of meeting the specific challenges of the renewable energy sector.

At S4E SOFTWARE, we continue to work hand in hand with our clients to anticipate their needs and develop tools that optimise the performance of their installations. Thanks to Energysoft, Générale du Solaire and our other customers can look to the future with confidence, knowing that they have a management solution that is constantly being improved.