Enhancing Warehouse Sustainability through Solar Panel Performance Analysis

Abstract

In today’s world, the growing use of solar photovoltaic (PV) systems especially in the logistics sector has provided companies with new opportunities to produce renewable energy, improve their sustainability performance, and reduce carbon emissions from their operations. Importantly, the deployment of solar systems also helps contribute to broader environmental goals such as the European Green Deal and net-zero emission goals in the long run, since these corporations can decrease their environmental footprints. However, in reality the actual performance of PV systems often differs from their theoretical energy output because of some technical, operational, environmental, and system-level factors that will be explored in this entire study.
The performance analysis of some selected PV installations across the logistic facilities located in Belgium, Sweden, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, Thailand is presented in this study. The main objective of this study is to evaluate the gaps between expected and actual performance of PV systems, identifying the key root causes behind performance deviations, translate those performance gaps into business opportunities, and recommend measures that support to improve performance. The research uses a multi-case study design using both qualitative and quantitative methods. Initially, With the given production data, performance evaluation is done using standard performance metrics such as Performance Ratio (PR). Then, further analysis is supported by data gathered through questionnaire responses, interviews with site stakeholders, and benchmarking from literature sources. Our root cause analysis groups the causes into four key dimensions like technical, operational, environmental, and contractual /system constraints.
The findings of this study show significant performance gaps between several sites. Even though root causes behind these gaps may vary in local conditions as well as operational practices. While many previous studies have mainly focused more on the impact of environmental and technical dimensions, this study shows that along with technical and environmental losses, operational and contractual / system issues are the most important dimensions behind solar PV systems underperformance. Based on the results, this study suggests further portfolio-level recommendations including improving monitoring systems, Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) based performance monitoring, predictive maintenance, inclusion of proactive cleaning, and improved integration of photovoltaic systems, Battery Energy Storage System (BESS), and grid constraint can significantly enhance the performance.
Overall, the research contributes by giving a broader and more integrated perspective on PV systems, especially within logistics operations. Also, the proposed framework will support structure and scalable decision making for future PV portfolio management. Importantly, study highlights the importance of combining technical, operational and business aspects in order to maximize sustainability benefits.

Popular Abstract

Sustainable Clean Energy Left Unused - Finding Hidden Potential in Warehouse Solar Photovoltaic (PV) Systems By Sumit Gaikwad and Tianchan Yang (June, 2026).
Division of Engineering Logistics, Lund University, Faculty of Engineering (LTH)

Solar panels are becoming a common sight on warehouse rooftops as many leading logistics companies strive to reduce their carbon footprint and move towards a cleaner and stable sustainable future. But the question is what happens if these solar systems do not generate as much electricity as expected?
Basically, installing solar panels is not enough, since they need to function efficiently during their lifespan in order to achieve their full environmental and financial benefits.This study screened 54 rooftop solar PV sites across 22 countries and six continents, with a total installed capacity of approximately 41.5 MWp. Among the 26 sites with usable data, only five were classified as excellent performers, while nine were either underperforming or critically underperforming. Most strikingly, several UK sites operated below a 20% Performance Ratio, meaning that some systems generated less than one fifth of their expected potential. Understanding why such differences occur became the starting point for exploring how such logistics companies can get better returns on investments in renewable energy.
At first glance, it is easy to assume that poorly performing solar systems always suffer from technical and environmental factors. However, this story turned out to be far more complex. Underperformance is also driven by some operational and management-related factors. Basically, it includes examples such as lack of monitoring, no performance records, delayed maintenance practices, inverter downtime, and restrictions on exporting electricity to the grid.
Actually, what makes this surprising is that some of the largest energy losses did not come from the solar panels themselves, but rather it depends on how the systems are being controlled, managed and monitored. In some instances, poor performance went completely undetected due to lack of operational data and specific key performance indicators (KPIs) monitoring or automated monitoring systems in place. Also, in many cases there were restrictions on the amount exported to the grid, while others struggled to make full use of the energy they had generated.
These hidden energy losses have implications that go far beyond electricity production. Importantly, when solar energy is lost, these logistics companies not only miss out on financial savings but further lose opportunities to reduce their environmental impact as well as their carbon emission.
On the other hand, the good news is that many of these losses can actually be prevented. So, simple actions such as better monitoring, smarter cleaning schedules, predictive maintenance practices, and improved coordination between solar panels, battery storage systems, and energy management systems can unlock energy that is currently being left unused and wasted.

With the rising number of logistics companies adopting renewable energy solutions for their operations, there will be many sustainability and economic benefits from learning about what makes solar power installations inefficient. Hence, sometimes the most sustainable source of energy is not created through additional new infrastructure, but by unlocking the energy that is already being lost on the roof above us.
This popular scientific article is derived from the master thesis project: “Enhancing Warehouse Sustainability Through Solar Panel Performance Analysis" by Sumit Gaikwad. and Tianchan Yang. (2026)”

• author: Yang, Tianchan and Gaikwad, Sumit Sanjay
• supervisor: Sandeep Jagtap
• organization: Production Management; Engineering Logistics
• course: MTTM02 20261
• year: 2026
• type: H2 - Master's Degree (Two Years)
• subject: Technology and Engineering
• keywords: Photovoltaic systems (PV), PV performance analysis, performance loss, root cause analysis, curtailment, energy management systems (EMS), self-consumption, recoverable energy, predictive maintenance, battery energy storage systems (BESS), return on investment (ROI), industrial sustainability, Portfolio, Logistics Sustainability, Installed Capacity
• other publication id: 6055
• language: English
• id: 9232757
• date added to LUP: 2026-06-09 15:31:43
• date last changed: 2026-06-09 15:31:43