IOT Based Energy Monitoring of PV Plants - An Overview

Abstract

With the increasing demand of electric power and pressure of mitigating GHG emissions, electric utilities are inclined towards increasing the renewable capacity in their electricity mix. Solar photovoltaic systems, being one of the major contributors in sustainable energy production, cover a vital portion of global cumulative installed renewable capacity. To ensure the optimal efficiency and avoid any forthcoming outage, monitoring of photovoltaic plants is an essential element of integrating renewable into current generation systems. Authors review the types of photovoltaic plants based on configuration and the parameters that are optimal for energy monitoring. It also includes the measuring techniques for the different parameters of monitoring. Familiarity with these parameters and their measuring techniques is essential in development of an efficient photovoltaic energy monitoring system. Various components of these monitoring systems are exposed to extreme weather conditions which reduce their life span. In addition, the efficiency of the photovoltaic modules degrade over time and the cost and complexity of energy monitoring systems limits their usage at a larger scale. © 2021, ICST Institute for Computer Sciences, Social Informatics and Telecommunications Engineering.