Case Study

SingingWater Vineyards — Forge Solar Performance Audit

SingingWater Vineyards is a family-run winery with a rooftop / carport solar system of roughly 100 kWDC, producing around 126,000 kWh per year in the Texas Hill Country. After a complex install with multiple vendors, the owner needed a clear answer to a simple question: “Is my solar investment actually doing what it should?”

Forge used installer telemetry, Enphase cloud exports, and Bandera Electric Cooperative billing data to build a site-wide performance and ROI story — without direct LAN access to the gateways. This engagement became the first production use of the Forge Solar Performance Audit.

The Challenge

On paper, the system looked great. In practice, the owner was seeing:

  • • Utility bills that didn't seem to reflect the promised solar offset.
  • • Multiple data silos: Enphase app, Apolloware meter on the LAN, and no clear single source of truth.
  • • The primary PV gateway connected via LTE, blocking any direct on-site telemetry capture from an edge device.
  • • No long-term O&M plan beyond basic workmanship coverage and OEM warranties.

The core issue: no trusted baseline. Without a clean view of production vs. consumption vs. tariff, it was impossible to quantify how well the asset was performing or where improvements should start.

Forge's Approach

1. Data Collection & Normalization

Under the owner's authorization, Forge ingested:

  • • Enphase Enlighten production data exported from the cloud.
  • • Bandera Electric Cooperative monthly utility bills.
  • • Site configuration details and installer documentation where available.

Because the Enphase PV gateway was on LTE and not the local LAN, Forge treated the cloud data as the primary production source and focused on reconciling that with utility billing rather than forcing direct device-level comms.

2. Site Configuration & Assumptions

A structured site_config for SingingWater captured:

  • • Site identifier and notes about the Enphase system and metering setup.
  • • Local currency and an initial effective tariff assumption.
  • • Flags indicating current limitations — for example, no direct gateway access on the LAN.

3. Performance Audit & ROI Story

With the data aligned, the Forge Solar Performance Audit generated:

  • • A month-by-month view of solar production (~126 MWh/year) vs. site consumption and utility charges.
  • • An estimated effective cost of energy from the utility.
  • • A baseline of how much value the system is delivering today, and how much is at risk if performance drifts.

The result wasn't just a prettier graph. It was a defensible story about how the system is performing, where the uncertainty sits, and what questions to take back to the installer and utility.

Outcomes

  • • A clear, consolidated performance baseline for the site — independent of any single vendor portal.
  • • A reusable Forge Solar Performance Audit template that can be applied to other C&I sites.
  • • A roadmap for next steps: resolving install questions, planning future repower options, and wiring the site into Forge Edge once network constraints allow.

SingingWater is now a long-term pilot site for Forge. Future work will quantify Prevention Credits (avoided underperformance and downtime) and extend the analysis into repower and decommissioning scenarios.

If you operate C&I or utility-scale solar and want the same clarity for your assets, start with a Forge Solar Performance Audit on one site.

Use the contact form and mention “SingingWater” to route your message directly to the Forge team.