About The initiative Model and benchmark The survey

A common language for how solar assets are run.

The Solar Operations Maturity Institute (SOM Institute) is an industry initiative with two parts: a standardised maturity model for the solar PV industry, and a benchmark of the South African industry built on it.

One scale for how well solar assets are monitored, measured, optimised, financed and reported on, so that everyone with a stake in a solar asset can describe it in the same terms.

Initiative
Solar Operations Maturity Institute (SOM Institute)
Model
7 areas on one 0–5 spine, developed by SolrBoost
Benchmark partners
University of Cape Town · TruePoint South Africa · Partnerships for Growth (P4G)
Instrument 01
Solar O&M Maturity Survey
Cohort
South Africa

01 Partners

The model, and the benchmark.

The SOM Institute maturity model was developed by SolrBoost. The SOM Institute benchmark — this survey, the South African cohort it builds and the industry insights it produces — is run in partnership with the University of Cape Town, TruePoint South Africa and Partnerships for Growth (P4G).

  • University of Cape Town
  • TruePoint South Africa
  • Partnerships for Growth (P4G)
  • SolrBoost

Individual answers

SolrBoost operates the survey and is the only party that processes individual responses. The benchmark partners receive aggregated, anonymised results only.

Note Where the model comes from, and what SolrBoost kept and changed from the Capability Maturity Model: read the model history

02 Why a standard model

A level only helps if it means the same thing to everyone reading it.

Asset owners, O&M providers and EPCs, PPA providers, PPA customers, funders and boards all look at the same solar assets, but from different seats. A shared maturity model gives them one vocabulary for how those assets are run.

So every area of the Institute’s model uses the same spine, and each level is defined concretely within its area. “Weather-adjusted” is level 3 in Performance; “Gap detection” is level 3 in Data Quality. Both are the same step: systematic. With one scale, each stakeholder can see three things.

  1. 01

    Where they stand

    Their own level in each of the seven areas.

  2. 02

    Where their peers stand

    The same areas, across the anonymised South African cohort.

  3. 03

    What the next level looks like

    Concretely, in each area, one step at a time.

  1. 0 Blind
  2. 1 Manual
  3. 2 Reactive tooling
  4. 3 Systematic
  5. 4 Automated & integrated
  6. 5 Optimised & quantified

03 Who it helps

Some answer the survey. Others read what it shows.

Answer the survey

Four paths

  1. Path A: Owner-user

    “We own solar assets and use the power ourselves”

  2. Path B: Owner-PPA provider

    “We own solar assets and sell the power under a PPA”

  3. Path C: Provider

    “We build, operate or manage solar for other businesses”

    EPCs, O&M providers, asset managers

  4. Path D: PPA customer

    “We buy power under a PPA, someone else owns the plant”

Read the reports

Readers of the model

  • Reader

    Funders

  • Reader

    Boards

  • Reader

    Landlords

Their role

Funders, boards and landlords read the reports rather than answer the survey.

04 How the survey works

Under ten minutes, start to finish.

  1. 01

    Choose your path

    Owner-user, owner-PPA provider, provider or PPA customer.

  2. 02

    Rate seven areas

    For each: how important it is (Not applicable, Low, Medium or High), the level you want to reach (0–5), then where you are today (0–5) on each of its questions. Thirteen rated questions in all; any can be marked as unfamiliar.

  3. 03

    One yes/no question

    Whether the expected-generation figure is independently verified.

  4. 04

    Add context

    Approximate site count and installed capacity (ranges), where production is lost, and an approximate monthly budget range for monitoring and analytics per site.

  5. 05

    Receive your report

    Emailed within about two weeks of the survey closing: your benchmark, your gap analysis and the industry insights.

05 How it is scored

Simple rules, applied the same way to everyone.

Area level
mean(question levels)

Each area’s level is the average of its questions.

Not applicable
not rated ≠ 0

Areas marked not applicable are not rated, rather than scored zero.

Comparison
area by area

You are compared with your peers one area at a time.

Gap
target − today

The distance from where you are to the level you said you want to reach.

Priority
importance × gap

The areas that matter most to you and are furthest from your target come first.

Weighting
equal

Areas are weighted equally.

Instrument 01 · Solar O&M Maturity Survey

See where you stand, area by area.

Take the survey