Farsight® allows you to create alarm triggers that automatically monitor your renewable energy fleet and alert you when something needs attention. There are three levels of alarm complexity: Preset, Advanced, and Expression. Each gives you increasing control over the conditions that trigger an alarm.

These are ready-made alarm types that require minimal configuration. You select an alarm type from a dropdown, assign it to one or more assets, set a severity level (1 = most critical, 5 = least severe), and enable it. The system handles the underlying logic — you don't need to define conditions manually. These are ideal for standard monitoring scenarios like faults, silent outages, or warnings.

Advanced alarms let you define custom conditions using criteria. Each criterion consists of three parts: an Indicator (the signal you want to monitor), an Operator (e.g., greater than, less than, equals), and a Value (your threshold). You can combine multiple criteria using AND/OR logic.

​Example 1 — Blade Pitch Misalignment (Wind):
The condition checks two things simultaneously:

At high wind speeds, the blade pitch should be adjusted to regulate power output and protect the turbine. If the blade angle is unusually high while wind is strong, it suggests a misalignment that could cause mechanical stress or energy loss.

​Example 2 — Turbine Overheating (Wind):
The condition monitors four temperature sensors:

Using OR logic means the alarm fires if any single component exceeds the threshold. Generator rotors and stators are critical electrical components — overheating in any of them can indicate bearing failure, insulation degradation, cooling system issues, or overloading.

Expression alarms are the most powerful option. They use a formula-based syntax that references signals directly from the OEM data using standardized codes. These codes are available in the Expression Glossary, organized by manufacturer.

Wind Turbine Expression Examples

Underperforming Turbine (v1):

This calculates a simple expected performance ratio: for every 1 m/s of wind speed, the turbine should produce at least 10 kW. The second condition (WdSpd > 5) ensures the alarm only fires when there's enough wind for meaningful generation. If the turbine produces less than this baseline at moderate-to-high wind speeds, something is likely wrong (curtailment, yaw misalignment, component degradation).

Underperforming Turbine (v2):

NomP refers to the turbine's nominal (rated) power capacity. The alarm triggers when the turbine is producing less than 70% of its rated power while wind conditions are in the high-performance range (10–25 m/s). The upper limit of 25 m/s excludes storm shutdowns. This catches partial curtailment, pitch system faults, or significant efficiency losses.
Solar / Inverter Expression Candidates
While the documentation focuses on wind examples, the solar signal glossary enables similar expression-based alarms. Here are typical calculations you could build:

Inverter Underperformance:

This checks whether the inverter's active power output falls below 60% of its nominal DC capacity (NominalOutputPower in kWp) while daily irradiation is high enough to expect strong production. Low output under good sun conditions may indicate inverter faults, string failures, soiling, or shading.

Inverter Overheating:

Module temperature (MdulTmp) and internal enclosure temperature (EnclTmp) are key indicators of inverter health. Excessive heat can lead to derating (automatic power reduction), premature component failure, or shutdown. This alarm catches thermal issues before they cause downtime.

Insulation Degradation:

Insulation resistance (InsRis or MMDC1.Ris, measured in MΩ) dropping below a safe threshold while the system is actively producing power may indicate cable degradation, moisture ingress, or ground faults — all of which are safety concerns that require prompt investigation.

Low Performance Ratio:

The performance index (available in the Inaccess glossary) compares actual energy output against theoretical output based on irradiance. A value below 70% indicates the plant is significantly underperforming relative to conditions, which could point to widespread string issues, inverter problems, or tracker malfunctions.
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Common across Enercon, Vestas, and Nordex:

Enercon has the most extensive signal set, including detailed temperature monitoring for individual blade pitch systems (heat sinks and control boxes for blades A, B, C), multiple power cabinet temperatures (up to 11 cabinets), dual stator and rotor temperature readings, and average power calculations.

​Vestas (including Vestas UA) provides hub temperature, gearbox oil temperature, transformer phase temperatures (per-phase granularity), and in the UA variant, converter phase temperatures and per-phase stator temperatures — useful for detecting asymmetric electrical faults.

​Nordex has a more compact signal set focused on core operational parameters: wind, blade angle, rotor speed, converter power, and frequency.
Solar / Inverter OEMs

​Inaccess has the broadest solar signal set, covering:

Gantner provides a focused set of inverter-level signals: active power, frequency, internal temperature, insulation resistance, rated power, daily energy yield, peak power of day, and daily irradiation. It also includes a standalone teleindication signal (GGIO.Ind1) for generic binary status monitoring.

​Automa extends the monitoring capabilities with meteorological station data (wind speed, direction, multiple rainfall metrics), battery voltage monitoring, GHI irradiance measurements, accumulated irradiance, and string-level energy export measurements. This makes it particularly useful for sites where weather correlation with performance is important.

You can reference operational status constants in expressions across all asset types:

These are useful for building expressions that combine performance thresholds with device state — for example, triggering an alarm only when the device reports OK status but output is still abnormally low. This helps distinguish between a known maintenance window and an unexpected production loss.

When building alarms, consider combining conditions to reduce false positives: for wind, always pair a performance threshold with a wind speed range; for solar, pair output thresholds with irradiance conditions to avoid alerts during cloudy or nighttime periods. Use severity levels strategically — reserve severity 1 for conditions that require immediate intervention (overheating, insulation faults) and use 4–5 for informational alerts. The trigger delay and minimum time between triggers settings help prevent alert fatigue from transient fluctuations like passing clouds or brief wind gusts.