Description
Analyze, monitor, and optimize the performance of residential, commercial, industrial, and utility-scale solar energy systems. Conduct site- and fleet-level assessments, modeling, and testing to verify energy yield for PV and solar thermal (domestic hot water and space heating) systems, diagnose losses, and implement improvements using knowledge of structural and energy requirements, local climates, solar technology, controls, and thermodynamics.
- • Monitor SCADA and data acquisition systems to track KPIs such as performance ratio, availability, and energy yield, and detect anomalies.
- • Perform computer simulations and energy yield modeling to benchmark expected performance and validate designs.
- • Conduct root-cause analyses of underperformance, including soiling, shading, inverter clipping, thermal losses, or sensor error.
- • Validate and calibrate meteorological and irradiance sensors; implement data quality checks and gap filling.
- • Plan and execute acceptance, capacity, and performance tests during commissioning and after upgrades.
- • Build loss trees and variance analyses comparing measured versus expected production.
- • Develop dashboards, reports, and alerts for site and fleet performance.
- • Recommend control, design, or O&M changes to improve efficiency, reliability, and safety.
- • Support field diagnostics using I-V curve tracing, thermography, and power quality measurements.
- • Forecast short- and long-term generation and support energy budgeting, PPA, and guarantee compliance.
- • Define performance requirements, test procedures, and KPIs for new and existing projects.
- • Coordinate with installation and O&M teams to implement corrective actions and verify results.
- • Conduct periodic site audits focused on performance risks, component health, and code and safety compliance.
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O*NET occupational data (work activities, skills, knowledge).
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This site includes information from O*NET by the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (USDOL/ETA), used under the CC BY 4.0 license. Career Clutch has modified some of this information for student readability. USDOL/ETA has not approved, endorsed, or tested these modifications. O*NET® is a trademark of USDOL/ETA.
Last reviewed: Jan 2026
