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Resource, yield and losses
Translate sun, wind, water or heat into a defensible net-energy estimate.
- Level
- Applied
- Reading time
- 12 min
- Reviewed
- 2026-08-24
- Next review
- 2027-08-24
- Jurisdiction
- Global
What you will learn
- 01Separate resource quality, conversion efficiency and availability.
- 02Build a transparent loss tree.
- 03Recognize uncertainty in long-term yield studies.
Core concepts
GHI · POAWind distributionAvailabilityPRP50 / P90
01
Resource is not production
Resource data describe what is available at a place and time. Equipment curves, layout, temperature, wake or shading, electrical losses, clipping, outages and grid constraints convert that resource into gross and then net energy.
02
Evidence and uncertainty
A bankable study documents dataset vintage, measurement period, corrections, model versions, loss definitions and probability basis. P50 and P90 are probability cases under stated assumptions, not guarantees.
Decision notes
- 01Never add percentage losses without defining whether they are sequential.
- 02Name the energy boundary: gross, inverter, meter or delivery point.
Primary sources
Open the official source and confirm its current edition, jurisdiction and adoption before applying it.