Solar Project Development
Solar sized from your building’s measured load profile
Orijtech measures consumption at your own boards — hour by hour, shift by shift, season by season — and sizes the array and the inverter against what the facility actually draws in daylight. We then develop the project through to commissioning and keep measuring what the system delivers against the figures the business case was approved on.
How the system size is decided
Array size, inverter selection, roof loading, the payback figure and the board paper all inherit the accuracy of one input: the load profile the system is sized against. These are the two ways that input is usually produced.
Sized from an estimate
The inputs a bill-based sizing uses
- A monthly kWh total from the utility bill, divided by 30.
- Nameplate ratings of the equipment, which almost never run at nameplate.
- A generic daytime load assumption carried over from another site.
- An irradiance figure and a standard performance ratio.
These inputs describe a facility in general, not yours in particular. They carry no information about when in the day the load occurs, so the array is commonly specified larger than the site can absorb.
Sized from measurement
The inputs Orijtech uses
- Interval consumption at 1-minute resolution, per feeder, across a full operating cycle.
- The daytime load shape specifically — because that is the only part of the bill solar can reach.
- Measured peak demand and when it occurs, so the effect on the demand charge is calculated from the profile.
- Off-peak, shoulder and peak consumption split, so the saving is valued at the tariff that actually applies to the displaced units.
- Transformer loading and phase balance at the point of connection, which decides what the site can accept.
If you already have interval data — from your own metering or ours — we size from it immediately. If you do not, we meter first, over a period long enough to cover your operating cycle, and the sizing follows from what it recorded.
Client result
UGX 300M
Solar over-investment prevented — Jesa Farm Dairy, Busunju
A solar proposal sized on estimated demand would have commissioned a system larger than the plant needed. Measurement across the New and Old Plant transformers and the major loads showed the real consumption profile, and the investment was right-sized before a single panel was bought.
Read full case studyHow the project runs, end to end
Orijtech develops the project and holds the client relationship throughout. The physical construction is carried out by a specialist installation contractor engaged for the works and managed by us — you sign with Orijtech and deal with Orijtech.
01
Measure the load
Metering at the incomer and the major loads, logged continuously across a full operating cycle. Where monitoring is already installed, we start from the existing data set.
02
Size and specify
Array and inverter capacity derived from the measured daytime profile, with the grid-connection arrangement, protection philosophy and export behaviour defined. Roof or ground area, structural loading and cable routes confirmed on site.
03
Build the business case
Annual generation modelled against the measured load, savings valued at the tariff bands the displaced units actually sit in, and payback calculated as total project cost divided by annual savings. Assumptions are stated in the document. Savings are never guaranteed.
04
Procure and contract
Equipment and installation are procured against the specification we wrote. Where your procurement rules require competitive tendering, the specification is issued in a form that can go to the market and bids are evaluated against it.
05
Install and commission
A specialist installation contractor executes the build under Orijtech project management. We hold the programme, the interfaces with your engineering team, the isolation windows, and the commissioning tests. Sign-off is against the specification issued at stage 02, clause by clause.
06
Measure the result
Generation and site consumption stay on the same monitoring platform after handover. You see what the array produced, what it displaced, and what happened to peak demand — against the pre-installation baseline, on the same meters. The projection in the business case stays checkable for the life of the system.
Grid-tie and zero export
Most commercial installations in Uganda are grid-tie: solar supplies the site during the day and the grid covers the rest. Where export back into the network is not permitted or not wanted, the system has to be actively held at zero export by a control scheme, not left to stay below the threshold on its own.
Orijtech designed and delivered a zero-export control scheme for GP Global at Kiira between February and April 2022, using inverter control combined with current sensing at the grid connection point. The control loop is driven by measurement at the point of connection, on the same principle as the metering work.
Two ways to pay for it
Outright purchase
You fund the system and own it. Suited to organisations with capital budget and a long horizon on the site.
No upfront cost
A financier funds and installs the system and you pay from the savings it produces. The payment depends on the saving being real, so both sides need the generation and the displaced consumption measured on the same meters.
Cost depends on capacity, roof or ground conditions, connection arrangement and model. We quote against the specification, after the measured sizing.
One of three service lines
Solar development runs on the same measured record as the monitoring service. The meters that size the array also verify what it delivered, and an energy audit will usually tell you whether solar is the right first move at all.
Size the system from your own load profile
Send us your last three utility bills and tell us what you are trying to decide. If you already have interval data, send that instead — it is worth more than the bills.
Discuss a solar project