Solar Performance

What to measure. Traditional metrics vs protocol-era metrics.

Performance Categories

Category	What It Measures	Traditional	Protocol-Era
System	Generation efficiency	Nameplate vs actual	On-chain verified yield
Financial	Return on investment	IRR, payback period	Token yields, LCOE
Operational	Efficiency	O&M costs	Protocol automation %
Community	Flourishing	N/A	Operator distribution, GCC issuance

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System Metrics

Yield Performance

Metric	Traditional	Protocol	Why Better
Actual vs Predicted	Engineering models	IoT + satellite verification	Real-time accuracy
Performance Ratio	Annual calculation	Continuous monitoring	Faster diagnosis
Specific Yield	Estimated	Verified on-chain	Trustless

Quality

Metric	Target	Diagnosis If Below
Actual vs Predicted Yield	±5%	Design error or equipment issue
Performance Ratio	>80%	Shading, soiling, or degradation
System Availability	>99%	O&M or inverter problems
Specific Yield	1,200-2,000 kWh/kWp	Location or orientation issue

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Financial Metrics

Traditional Solar

Metric	Benchmark	What It Shows
LCOE	$0.02-0.15/kWh	Cost competitiveness
IRR	8-15%	Investment return
Payback Period	5-10 years	Time to break even
Capex/kW	$800-2,500	Installation efficiency

DePIN Protocol

Metric	Glow Benchmark	What It Shows
Protocol Revenue	$25M ARR	Sustainability
Growth Rate	80% MoM (beta)	Traction
Capital Multiplier	20x recursive	Capital efficiency
Network Size	70 farms	Scale
Claim Legitimacy	>85% target	Trust
CO2 Avoided	300K tonnes lifetime	Impact

Transformation

Traditional	Protocol-Era	Shift
IRR	Token yield + GCC value	Multiple value streams
Capex/kW	Protocol subsidy leverage	Community financing
Payback period	Token-accelerated returns	Faster economics
O&M margin	Protocol automation	Lower operational burden

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Operational Metrics

Metric	Traditional	Protocol	Improvement
Verification cost	5-10% of revenue	Near-zero	90%+ reduction
Carbon credit fees	30%+	<5% (GCC)	80%+ reduction
Settlement time	Monthly/quarterly	Instant	99%+ faster
Data transparency	Periodic reports	Real-time on-chain	Full visibility

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Community Metrics (Flourishing)

New metrics for community-owned solar networks:

Metric	What It Measures	Target
Farm operator count	Participation breadth	Growing
Geographic distribution	Coverage equity	Multiple countries
Token holder concentration	Ownership equity	<0.5 Gini coefficient
Additionality rate	New vs existing capacity	100% new construction
Local employment	Community benefit	Growing

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Opportunity Assessment

Scoring Dimensions

Dimension	Weight	Solar Score	Evidence
Market Attractiveness	20%	8.0	$300B+ market, 20%+ CAGR
Technology Disruption	20%	7.5	Late adoption, Glow model proven
VVFL Alignment	25%	7.0	Loop works, AI optimization gap
Competitive Position	20%	6.5	First-mover advantage
Timing Risk	15%	6.5	IRA tailwinds, interconnection backlogs

Aggregate: 7.1/10 — Monitor Closely

Opportunity Matrix

Opportunity	Score	Timing	Key Risk
DePIN solar farms	7.5	Now	Interconnection delays
Geographic arbitrage	8.0	Now	Regulatory variance
Tokenized carbon credits	7.0	Now	Market acceptance
AI dispatch optimization	7.5	1-2 years	No proven player
Virtual power plants	6.5	2-3 years	Grid integration

Watch Signals

Signal	Bullish	Bearish
Glow network growth	>100 farms	Stagnates
GCC adoption	Major buyers	Limited demand
IRA policy	Extended	Reversed
Interconnection reform	Streamlined	Status quo
AI optimization	Breakout player	No traction

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Principles → Performance Mapping

Principle	What to Measure
Sun angle determines yield	Specific yield, capacity factor
Degradation is inevitable	Year-over-year decline rate
Inverter efficiency caps output	Performance ratio, clipping
Grid connection is bottleneck	Queue time, curtailment rate
LCOE is the honest metric	Levelized cost across portfolio
Verification creates value	Claim legitimacy, GCC issuance

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Context

• Principles — What truths guide measurement
• Players — Who's measured
• Energy KPIs — Broader energy metrics
• Opportunity Scoring — Cross-industry methodology