Evaluation of Solar Capacity Factor of ~2000 Solar Plants Across the United States Using Multilayer Perceptron Regressor Models

The measured and budgeted solar capacity factor for ~2000 fixed tilt and HSAT sites were collected from the Power Factors database. Both budgeted and measured capacity factors were fit to multilayer perceptron regressor models using the age of the plant and 192 monthly climate features. The model for the measured data shows several regions in the United States where capacity factor is predicted to be higher, particularly the Southwest. Comparison between the models for measured and budgeted data shows budgets for the eastern United States may be more inaccurate than budgets for the Southwestern United States.