PV Monitoring: More Economic Efficiency Through Continuous Monitoring

Solar systems are an important element of renewable energy. In contrast to wind turbines and hydroelectric energy generation, photovoltaic systems can be installed and operated by private individuals.

Depending on the usage model, part of the energy generated is used for your own needs and the rest is fed into the general power grid. It is therefore important to read out the yield data regularly.In addition to its informative nature, the data obtained provides information about possible system malfunctions.

There are different approaches to PV monitoring. The simplest is the manual self-reading of all meter readings. The automatic monitoring that continuously records the performance of the PV system is modern and convenient.

Which Data Is Interesting?

A photovoltaic system is equipped with three meters. A feed meter is provided for feeding into the general power grid. The amount of feed-in is important for billing with the energy supplier. Every household has an electricity consumption meter that provides information about how much electricity is drawn from the grid.

This data can be used to determine the household's total electricity consumption. The system includes the yield meter, which measures the electricity generated by the system. The data from the yield meter is particularly important for operators of a PV system. This data provides information about whether the system yield is correct. Deviations are an indication of malfunctions or damage.

• Share Of self-consumption of solar Plpower : data from the yield Meter – data from the feed-in meter

• Total electricity consumption: data from electricity consumption meter – self-consumption of solar power

A typical course develops over the operating period, which shows fluctuations due to weather conditions. If there are deviations, the time has come for an error analysis

The Manual Reading

The simplest and most cost-effective form of monitoring is to manually read the three meters. The data determined is noted and, if possible, evaluated in an electronic form. Spreadsheets allow the data to be evaluated and visually implemented. An alternative is to transfer the meter readings in templates that are available specifically for PV monitoring. Anyone reading manually should also record the weather data. Poor yield data may be due to long periods of rain or winter snow.

The big disadvantage of this method is the amount of time it takes. Depending on the choice of reading intervals, the days of data collection must be consistently adhered to, otherwise a reliable data picture will not emerge. This cannot be observed during the holiday period. In addition, with a weekly reading cycle, disruptions may only become apparent after a few days and reduce the yield.

Automatic Data Collection 

Automatic monitoring systems continuously measure the relevant system data. It is worth first taking a look at the features of the inverter. If the amount of data displayed is sufficient, it can be displayed with an additional wall display.

Operators who want fully automatic data analysis will find the perfect solution in a data logger. The data logger records, analyzes and saves the measured values. The daily results are clearly visualized. PV monitoring can be monitored remotely and is ideal for frequent travelers.