E3 Consulting hosted a complimentary 30-minute webinar focused on improving Typical Meteorological Year (TMY) solar resource selection for PV projects.
TMY datasets frequently differ in both underlying assumptions and uncertainty, yet selection is often based on simple averaging or vendor preference. These practices can introduce bias into energy estimates and lead to mispriced project risk.
In this webinar, Rounak Kharait, Executive Director of Solar at E3 Consulting, presents an approach using maximum likelihood estimation (MLE) applied to plane-of-array (POA) irradiance to improve confidence in long-term energy projections. The session is hosted by Daniel Tarico, Director of Renewables at E3 Consulting, and includes an investor perspective from Simone Marletti, Lead Development Engineer at Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners (CIP).
The discussion concludes with audience Q&A.
Key Topics Covered
- Why TMY datasets can diverge and how uncertainty impacts PV modeling
- Common pitfalls of averaging datasets or relying solely on vendor preference
- How an MLE-based POA approach can improve resource selection rigor
- Implications for long-term energy yield projections and project risk assessment
- Investor considerations in evaluating uncertainty and exceedance levels
Speakers
Rounak Kharait (Executive Director, Solar)
Rounak Kharait has over 15 years of solar industry experience spanning EPC, development, and owner’s and lender’s engineering roles, with more than 40 GW of solar and storage projects assessed across North America and internationally. He has held leadership positions at NextEra Analytics, DNV Energy USA, and Ørsted, where he helped finance over 10 GW of solar and solar-plus-storage capacity, led industry practice on solar energy assessment (including the widely adopted Hourly Modeling Correction), and supported tax equity transactions for over 2 GW of Ørsted’s U.S. solar portfolio. A 2022 “40 under 40 Cleanie Awards” finalist and active industry voice, he frequently presents and co-chairs sessions at IEEE PVSC, NREL, RE+, and the American Clean Power Resource & Technology conference. Rounak is passionate about data, analytics, and building effective teams, and is the author of Building High-Performance Resilient Teams; he holds an MS in Mechanical Engineering from the Colorado School of Mines and a master’s degree from Kingston University.
Daniel Tarico (Director of Renewables)
Simone Marletti ( Lead Development Engineer), Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners (CIP)
Simone Marletti is an engineering professional with more than ten years of experience in the development, pre-construction analysis, and engineering of utility-scale renewable energy projects. He currently serves as Technical Project Director with the execution team of renewable energy platform of Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners (CIP), where he provides technical leadership and engineering expertise across all phases of project delivery, beginning with early-stage feasibility and design through construction support.
In his role at CIP’s Terra Technologies division, Mr. Marletti contributes to the engineering and design of large-scale solar and battery energy storage systems, supporting projects across North America with capacities extending into the multi-gigawatt range.
Prior to joining CIP, he was Director of PV Design at RWE Clean Energy, where he oversaw engineering activities for RWE’s extensive portfolio of solar, and energy storage assets in the United States. Before that, Mr. Marletti gained industry experience as a Project Engineer at UL LLC, supporting technical due diligence, design review, and preconstruction energy modeling for photovoltaic projects.
He is active in the renewable energy community, frequently participating in technical panels and industry events focused on advancing methodologies for solar resource assessment and project bankability. Mr. Marletti has a MS in Civil and Environmental Engineering from Sapienza University of Rome and post-graduate master in Renewable energy system from University of Siena.
Upcoming Event
Rounak Kharait will also be presenting at the PV Performance Modeling Collaborative (PVPMC) Workshop 2026, held in Albuquerque, NM (May 12–14, 2026).
His presentation topic will be:
“Climate-Dependent Differences in Energy-Yield Exceedance Levels: Parametric (PVsyst) vs Monte Carlo Uncertainty for Four U.S. PV Sites.”
PVPMC is co-hosted by Sandia National Laboratories and GroundWork Renewables.
For additional information, please reach out to Rounak directly below.
Contact
If you have any follow-up questions or would like to discuss how this approach could apply to your projects, please feel free to reach out to Rounak by phone at 864.650.3440 or via the form below.
