Fat Spaniel can't control the weather but now its solar monitor system can keep better track of it
I'll explain the name in a moment, but the real point of this post is to make you aware of an interesting relationship between Fat Spaniel, which provides technologies for monitoring and managing renewable systems, and Meteotest, which provides meteorological information. The jist of the relationship is that of the relationship is that Meteotest's information will be integrated with Fat Spaniel Insight Platform, providing information about sunlight availability in various locations so that even small solar photovoltaic plant operators can have access to this information at a lower cost than would otherwise be possible.
The technology will be available first in Europe in countries including Spain, Germany, Italy, France and Greece. The companies don't say when the data will be available in North America.
I first heard about Fat Spaniel a couple of months ago, when I interviewed the company about its roots. This is one of those necessity is the mother of invention things: The original software that is the foundation of the company's renewable energy management platform was actually written to run the solar systems at a vineyard owned by one of the co-founders. The "Fat Spaniel" refers to one of the dogs that used to hang out and nap. Here's a blurb that tells you more.
Six years hence, something like 2,000 renewable power plants in 17 different countries are using the company's monitoring systems. This technology isn't meant for your personal solar installation, it's meant for systems that are 50 kilowatts and up, systems that are considered revenue-generating assets. It software products are all built on the Fat Spaniel Insight Platform, which incorporates everything from performance monitoring to billing metrics. They are delivered as a service.
Aside from the new Meteotest relationship, Fat Spaniel is allied REGEN Energy, a Canadian company that develops a wireless energy management system called EnviroGrid. The alliance is intended to help Fat Spaniel incorporate relevant data from sensors across smart grids.