Key Concepts

Understanding the following concepts before using PATCH will help you make sense of each screen.

Plant Hierarchy

Structured as Plant > Inverter > String > Panel (Module). Each block in the dashboard represents a panel, grouped by inverter.

Organizations & Permissions

Plants belong to an "organization." Each user has access to different organizations, so available filters may vary.

Anomaly 3 Levels

Danger — Directly impacts generation; immediate action required
Warning — Some impact but lower severity; periodic monitoring
Attention — Isolated anomaly; review alongside other issues
Priority score = Danger x9 + Warning x3 + Attention x1

4 Loss Types

Shading — Shadows from surrounding environment
Soiling/Weeds — Panel surface contamination, vegetation
Failure — Equipment malfunction
Indirect — Other indirect factors

Measurements

Absolute vs Relative: Relative values are normalized for panel-to-panel comparison
kW (instantaneous capacity) vs kWh (cumulative generation) vs h (generation hours)

Dashboards & Widgets

A dashboard is a combination of widgets. Besides the default, you can switch between inverter, plantmap, panel-table, and more, or create your own.

MLPE (Module Level Power Electronics)

Power electronics installed at the panel level. PATCH supports device registration and command transmission.

Virtual Plant

A feature that logically groups multiple physically separate plants into one for unified management.