How asset management software and project finance software work together

The renewable energy boom is officially unstoppable. By the time this year is over, the U.S. is on track to see a more than 25% rise in clean energy installations. Around the world, renewables may account for nearly half of global electricity demand by 2030. And with every single project that switches on comes a tidal wave of information: From energy production to CO2 emissions avoided, to Production Actuals (MWh) vs. Production Forecast (MWh), Weather Adjusted Forecast (MWh), and Insolation (kWh/m^2), renewable energy infrastructure creates a treasure trove of data points that experts across the industry must leverage to succeed.

Ideally, this rise in data spurs an equally large rise in supporting technology. Software services that gather, organize, and analyze this firehose of information can help teams across the project life cycle — from finance to engineering, construction to operations — make sense of the steady stream of data points flowing their way and turn that information into actionable insights. Already, several software services exist to support the renewable energy industry with everything from deal flow tracking to the management of construction, grid enhancement technologies, PV forecasting, and even asset management—a term that means different things depending on whether you’re in operations or the finance department.

Asset management software for renewable energy O&M

In the operations world, asset management refers to the optimization of renewable energy infrastructure’s technical performance—the more optimized a physical asset is, the more efficiently and effectively it is able to produce clean power. Software tools in this area empower O&M teams—including engineers, field service operations professionals, and facility managers—with an advanced ability to track the performance of distributed assets like solar arrays, wind farms, geothermal facilities, and hydrogen production facilities; monitor those assets for issues; and utilize technology to dispatch technicians who can fix problems in the field. These systems benefit owner-operators who are managing multiple projects or projects located in remote areas. Paired with hardware systems, these software tools can accurately gather data from afar, send it to a digital platform, and use intelligence to organize and analyze the information it collects.

Powerfactors, RadianGen, and Powerhub, are just some out-of-the-box examples of these tools, along with larger companies such as SAP, IBM, and Oracle. Some operators opt to develop their own in-house asset management platforms for renewable energy. At the same time, some organizations rely on data aggregators to bring in real-time information from the field as well. 

In all cases, these software tools are designed specifically with renewable energy assets in mind. They collect accurate, detailed data on each asset’s performance to enhance efficiency and energy productivity and save time by automating tasks such as invoicing, dispatching, and work orders. Predictive maintenance and other features can also help to identify any problem areas in an asset’s operation that can improve performance.

Software for renewable energy project finance

However, asset management is a different story in the project finance world. For project financiers, this term refers to managing financial investments related to renewable energy projects. For project finance professionals, portfolio managers, financial analysts, deal teams, compliance and risk professionals, and leaders throughout lending or investment institutions, asset management involves managing the financial performance and productivity of a renewable energy project—say, a solar array or a hydrogen facility—to ensure it is profitable, generating returns, complying with regulations, paying out investors, and appropriately meeting its financial obligations.

While their definitions are different, renewable energy financiers, too, can leverage the power of technology to effectively and profitably manage the world's energy transition and better understand the performance of their investments. This industry has been slower in adopting software solutions outside of certain productivity and office tools, but as deal volumes and portfolios grow, more financiers are seeing the benefit of technology in improving data gathering, organization, analysis, and reporting. Some have even spent thousands of dollars trying to customize software platforms built for other purposes—think Salesforce or Smartsheets—in an effort to streamline their project finance operations.

While these souped-up solutions may help bring more financial and performance data online, they frequently fall short of lender and investor needs—generic software isn’t built for the ever-evolving 21st-century challenges of a growing distributed energy market. As the industry scales up, purpose-built digital tools to help accelerate the deployment of capital and maximize profitability are a must. Banyan Infrastructure is one of only a few software solutions designed for renewable energy project finance. Instead of crafting compliance checklists or origination intake processes from the ground up, its purpose-built software comes with unique project finance processes that are ready to use out of the box and have plenty of customization to suit a fund’s individual needs within an already niche market.

How asset management software and project finance software work together

Though “asset management” means different things to different parts of the renewable energy industry, both physical and financial performance data can work together to give professionals across the industry a full, end-to-end picture of their projects. By integrating operational performance data from a renewable energy project into Banyan Infrastructure’s intelligence platform, financiers can see how their investments are performing compared to forecasts and better understand the financial implications associated with operational performance. Likewise, O&M teams can identify where an operational improvement can optimize energy production and thereby increase a project’s profitability or ensure consistent, long-term financial returns by ensuring consistent performance.

Better still, integrating digital tools can help to streamline workflows throughout a project’s life cycle, from origination to construction to ongoing operation to M&A, empowering professionals across the industry to deploy more renewable energy. These new software solutions create valuable digital infrastructure—a web of data sources that feed into one central location, providing a single source of truth for all project stakeholders who need a big-picture view of a project’s performance. By gathering, organizing, and analyzing information from a variety of sources — Excel, Google, Box, Salesforce, Oracle NetSuite, Solis, HubSpot, and Enphase are just a few examples — project stakeholders can instantly see a holistic portrait of a project and its performance throughout the entire life cycle.

Why you need software solutions for renewable energy project finance

Tech that encompasses all aspects of renewable energy is moving forward, albeit in some areas faster than others. Project finance technology will decide who wins and who falls behind in the energy transition’s next phase of growth. New investment opportunities and funding sources are requiring project finance professionals to innovate. However, without digital solutions to make reporting possible, the renewable energy industry won’t see the full benefit of this growth. Further, still, the need for organized, searchable, and easily accessible data for projects lowers risk for investors and financiers should an audit ever take place.

Wherever your capital comes from, building a centralized data room is critical for maintaining business resilience, scaling up operations, and laying the foundation for future insights pulled from an ever-growing data cache. Contact Banyan Infrastructure today to learn more about how you can set your fund up for success.