Back from the Solarplaza Summit Asset Management North America conference in San Diego Apr 22-25, and let me tell you… it was buzzing! Still trying to figure out if the conference is referred to as “AMNA” or “SAMNA”. 

I don’t know how many attendees were there, but it was a far more intimate conference than Infocast last month, and certainly of RE+ last year. This show was much more focused and brought together very specific roles making the conference feel more connected and personal.

Walking the floor and sitting in on whatever sessions I could join, I had some real "aha!" moments about where the C&I solar (& BESS) space is heading. It felt like O&M is really having its moment, much like customer success did in tech a while back–something I’ve written about in the past. That is, everyone's realizing it's crucial for long-term value. We're past the initial rush to just get panels in the ground; now, it's all about making them perform and last.

Here are my top 5 trends and takeaways from the conference, framed by what I was hearing and my own experience in the software and asset-intensive industries:

My 5 Takeaways

1. Data Overload and the Urgent Need for Context

One thing that kept popping up in conversations and presentations was the sheer volume of data the industry is collecting from C&I solar assets. But, and this is a big but, it often feels like we're drowning in data but starved for real, actionable insights. As one of the speakers pointed out, whether it's a legacy asset changing hands or a new build being handed off from the EPC to O&M, the crucial details often get lost in translation, leading to missing data points. It's like trying to assemble a puzzle with half the pieces missing! 

What really hit home was the statistic that a staggering 85% of the asset designs ingested for digital models are inaccurate. Think about that–almost 9 out of 10 times, we're starting with a flawed blueprint! This reinforces my belief that just having data isn't enough; contextualizing that data to get a unified view of asset performance is absolutely critical–for reporting and making smart decisions. It’s about turning raw data into a coherent story that helps us prioritize what truly matters. This is especially important for the DG (distributed generation) space where geography and scale are critical for leverage.

2. Scaling in a Fragmented World: Data as the Linchpin

The C&I market is so diverse, so fragmented. You've got different project sizes, geographies, ownership structures–it's a real patchwork with highly varied complexities. This fragmentation makes achieving operational scalability a significant hurdle. However, the conference hammered home the idea that leveraging data effectively is the key to overcoming this challenge. By centralizing data management and standardizing reporting processes, asset managers can fully understand how individual projects are doing, but also take a higher view to applying project-level knowledge to a growing portfolio.

For O&M providers, they can gain a much clearer picture of their entire fleet, even if those assets are spread far and wide. As someone mentioned, for smaller sites below that 30 MW threshold, geographic location and clustering sites for efficient servicing become paramount. The goal isn't necessarily to replace people with software, but rather to concentrate information in one intelligence layer, allowing teams with the right expertise to share knowledge and drive efficiency across a larger number of assets. This resonates deeply with my experience–a unified view of data is essential for scaling any operation, especially in a complex environment. 

Also, this helps address the often maligned siloed nature of organizational functions where I’ve heard time and time again of the disconnect and lack of communication between development and engineering with O&M and asset management. 

3. The Maturing Market's Mantra: Show Me the Transparency (and the Data!)

The conversations at Solarplaza made it clear: the C&I solar market is growing up. Asset owners are becoming more sophisticated, and they're rightly demanding greater transparency and accountability from their asset management / operators and O&M partners. Gone are the days of vague reports and black-box analytics. What owners are looking for now is clear, accessible, and even customizable reporting that allows them to truly understand how their assets are performing. 

As one speaker emphasized, there needs to be more transparency and a willingness to share data–whether it's third-party or internal–to set realistic expectations. Regular communication and open dialogue about performance, including potential issues and excludable events, are no longer a nice-to-have; they're a fundamental requirement for building trust and strong, long-term partnerships. This push for transparency aligns perfectly with the broader trend we're seeing in other industries where data-driven accountability is becoming the norm.

This may also help resolve the question if sites are actually underperforming or if budgeted models are too optimistic to attract financing (and leaving asset managers and O&M to fight and answer the questions for why sites are seemingly underperforming). 

4. Focus on What Matters: ROI-Driven Prioritization is King

With so many potential issues that can impact C&I solar assets, knowing where to focus your attention and resources is critical. The conference underscored the importance of efficiently prioritizing activities and focus based on maximizing ROI (return on investment). It's not about chasing every single anomaly or potential truck roll. Instead, it's about understanding the key drivers of underperformance and quantifying the potential revenue losses associated with them. This allows asset managers and O&M teams to concentrate their efforts on the actions that will deliver the greatest bang for their buck in terms of energy production and cost savings. As someone stated, "the prioritization of your actions should take place based on your revenue losses" (from Challenges in C&I Space panel), and you need to be able to differentiate between various loss factors to make informed decisions. 

Furthermore, having systems in place to plan around the unexpected and quickly shift focus to high-priority issues without derailing longer-term projects is absolutely crucial. In uncertain times, this laser focus on ROI is what separates those who survive from those who truly thrive.

5. The Digital Imperative: But Let's Be Real About It

There was a lot of talk about digitalization (in my old world we may lump this into “digital transformation”) at the summit, and rightly so. Automation, AI-powered analytics, and digital twins hold immense potential for optimizing asset management and O&M practices in the C&I DG space. Integrating these technologies can help cut through a lot of manual fluff work and reporting work. How to use these technologies to enable the implementation of more proactive and efficient asset management strategies. As one panelist put it, "everything you can think of, everything that you've seen in other industries that you would consider highly automated. That is what's going to happen in solar" (from Challenges in the C&I Space panel). Again, this is where my years in other industries and much more mature industries have shown, technology waits for no one. This solar industry is maturing fast and though can lag other more mature industries, it won’t be long.

Some Caution, From Experience

My experience tells me we need to be cautious about getting carried away by the hype. I heard the familiar refrain about manufacturers trying to become software companies, often leading to a frustrating customer experience when both hardware and software fail. (I won’t point to any legacy organizations here, but you know who they are.) 

Building robust, user-friendly software with effective customer support is a completely different ballgame. Organizations should really consider their core competencies and focus on what they do best, looking for specialized partners to help them scale and innovate in areas outside their own expertise.

Similarly, while there was a lot of buzz around using AI for everything, including predictive analytics, I still believe our industry has significant ground to cover in mastering the basics. Jumping headfirst into AI without a solid data foundation and clearly defined use cases isn't the smartest move. Yes, we should dabble and explore, but chasing AI or predictive capabilities just for the sake of it or because it sounds cool because the whole world is gossiping about it… isn't sustainable or valuable. AI is not magic. It requires a clear understanding of the problems we're trying to solve and reliable data to train the models. Predictive maintenance, too, is a great aspiration, but many companies simply aren't there yet in terms of data maturity and more importantly, neither are their people.

Looking Ahead

Overall, the AMNA (SAMNA?) conference provided a valuable snapshot of the key trends shaping the C&I solar landscape–and really, the solar and BESS landscape at large. The focus is clearly shifting towards optimizing performance, leveraging data intelligently, and embracing digitalization strategically and tactically. However, amidst all the excitement around innovation, it's crucial to maintain a pragmatic perspective, focusing on core strengths and building a strong foundation before chasing every shiny new technology.

Speaking of a structured approach to leveraging data and analytics, we've been doing a lot of thinking about how companies in this space can mature their capabilities. In a future post, we'll be diving deeper into how we think about Gartner's Analytics Maturity Model and how it applies to the C&I solar industry. Stay tuned!