The Estimates chart

The Energy Chart's Estimates view puts what your solar actually produced next to what SolDial expected for the same period — so one glance tells you whether your system is beating its forecast.

The Estimates tab of the Energy Chart, on the dashboard.

How to read it

The gold bars are your actual solar production; the small dash over each bar is the estimate for that same bucket. The tick turns green when you beat the estimate and red when you came in under it. Buckets follow your time filter — days for a month view, months for a year view.

The summary row above the chart totals the selected period: solar generated, estimated solar, and the difference in energy and percent.

Future periods show the estimate alone

When your selected range extends into the future — the rest of this month, the rest of the year — the chart keeps drawing estimate ticks past today. That's the production SolDial expects for the periods that haven't happened yet, so a year view reads as one continuous picture: what you did, then what's likely coming.

Where the estimate comes from

Estimates come from SolDial's solar forecast model: a physics simulation of your actual roof — each string's size, tilt, and azimuth — calibrated once to your system's own measured history. The full method is on the Solar forecasts & calibration page.

Most gaps between actual and estimate are weather. The estimate for a future month is built on typical conditions for your location, so a cloudier-than-typical stretch reads red and an unusually sunny one reads green — neither says anything is wrong with your system. What's worth a closer look is a gap that grows steadily month after month in similar weather; that pattern can point to shading, soiling, or a string producing less than it should.