Real-Time Monitoring System for a Utility-Scale Photovoltaic Power Plant

There is, at present, considerable interest in the storage and dispatchability of photovoltaic (PV) energy, together with the need to manage power flows in real-time. This paper presents a new system, PV-on time, which has been developed to supervise the operating mode of a Grid-Connected Utility-Scale PV Power Plant in order to ensure the reliability and continuity of its supply. This system presents an architecture of acquisition devices, including wireless sensors distributed around the plant, which measure the required information. It is also equipped with a high-precision protocol for synchronizing all data acquisition equipment, something that is necessary for correctly establishing relationships among events in the plant. Moreover, a system for monitoring and supervising all of the distributed devices, as well as for the real-time treatment of all the registered information, is presented. Performances were analyzed in a 400 kW transformation center belonging to a 6.1 MW Utility-Scale PV Power Plant. In addition to monitoring the performance of all of the PV plant’s components and detecting any failures or deviations in production, this system enables users to control the power quality of the signal injected and the influence of the installation on the distribution grid

Web-based Monitoring System for Power Electronics Devices on Off-grid Solar Power Generator

Power electronic devices are the main component of the solar power generation system. This study proposes a web-based monitoring system which presents power electronic performance parameter in a real-time across an internet connection. The investigation takes ACS712 and PZEM-004T for the power converter performance measuring and Arduino Mega 2560 with an ethernet shield for data acquisition and transmission. This paper describes the schematic design of the hardware and also explains the software work-flow and structure. The test and calibration on the sensor's voltage and current to standard digital multi-meter Tektronix DMM4050 show the sensor able to accurately read the converter performance parameter and meet the standard IEC-61724. The functionality test on the web-based information system indicates the designed user interface to present the power electronic performance parameter of the solar power generator.Keywords: Monitoring System, Power Electronics and Solar Powe

Monitoring for Photovoltaic in Outer Island

Photovoltaic is a renewable energy source that can optimally be used on outer islands and areas that are difficult to reach by the main electrical system network. With good solar energy intensity on a daily, it adds to the advantages of using photovoltaics. In this regard, it is necessary to make a prototype for monitoring the photovoltaic output parameters to measure photovoltaic performance. The parameters that will be monitored on 50 Wp photovoltaic used in this research are voltage using a voltage sensor, current using an ACS712 sensor, and the real power generated. The monitoring results are stored in a database and monitored in realtime based on the website's setting. So that this prototype can be used in several outer islands in Bangka Belitung, which is geographically an archipelag

Three-level modified sine wave inverter equipped with online temperature monitoring system

Research and development on power converters are getting more interesting in recent years. It is also buttressed by rapid development in related fields, such as power semiconductor, digital advanced control, magnetic material and use of power converters in many sectors.  In addition to the power quality matter, simplicity of inverter circuits is another notable aspect that should be considered toward economical feature. Adding the quantity of power switches will increase complexity of overall inverter circuits. This paper discusses a circuit configuration of three-level modified sine wave neutral point shorted power inverter which work converting dc power into ac power with less number of power switches. To improve the performance and feature of inverter circuits, the inverter was equipped with online temperature monitoring, and overheat protection based on internet of things. Adding online temperature monitoring system makes easier in monitoring of circuits to prevent the excessive faults of inverter. Some computer based test data are shown and discussed. Furthermore, experiment results of the inverter prototype, and its online monitoring system are presented. Test outputs demonstrated that the proposed system worked properly generating a three-level modified sine wave voltage, with online temperature monitoring system

Impact of demand profiles on grid-interactive photovoltaic systems in Bloemfontein: A case study

Conference ProceedingsIn this paper the impact brought by different demand sector profiles on the daily operational cost and optimal scheduling of grid connected photovoltaic system with bidirectional power flow is analysed for the specific case of Bloemfontein in South Africa. For this purpose, residential, commercial and industrial daily load curves are used to estimate daily load demands. For comparison purposes, three load profiles representing the demands from the residential, commercial and industrial sectors, have been used and normalized to display the same daily energy consumption level with different demand patterns. The results of the simulations, obtained using Matlab 2016, have revealed that for the same energy consumption and renewable resources, the running expenses of any proposed scheme are mainly dependent on the demand sector. Consequently, it can be recommended that in Bloemfontein and South Africa in general more focus should be on implementing grid-connected renewable hybrid energy with storage system in the commercial and industrial sectors instead of in the residential sector

Pengaruh Cahaya Ruang pada Pembangkitan Energi Solar Panel

Salah satu sumber energi baru dan tetbarukan yang mudah sekali dikembangkan adalah sumber melalui Solar Cell atau lebih dikenal dengan photovoltaic. Solar Cell sendiri pada umumnya hanya mengandalkan cahaya yang dihasilkan oleh matahari sedangkan cahaya tidak hanya dihasilkan oleh matahari saja akan tetapi cahaya yang dihasilkan oleh lampu penerangan ruanganpun bisa dimanfaatkan untuk pemabngkitan energi menggunakan photovoltaic. Dalam makalah ini mencoba Melakukan pembangkitan energi photovoltaic dengan memanfaatkan cahaya ruangan atau harvesting energy dengan media cahaya ruang. Metode penelitian yang digunakan yaitu dengan memanfaatkan papan solar cell dengan spesifikasi 100Wp serta cahaya ruang kerja yang berasal dari gabungan lampu penerangan ruang dengan pantulan sinar matahai. Sebagai data analisis beberapa besaran dilakukan pencatatan secara realtime antara lain besaran tegangan, arus, serta daya yang terbangkitkan oleh solar cell. Selain itu juga besaran intensitas cahaya ruang atau lumens ruang

Design and Test of a High-Performance Wireless Sensor Network for Irradiance Monitoring

Cloud-induced photovoltaic variability can affect grid stability and power quality, especially in electricity systems with high penetration levels. The availability of irradiance field forecasts in the scale of seconds and meters is fundamental for an adequate control of photovoltaic systems in order to minimize their impact on distribution networks. Irradiance sensor networks have proved to be efficient tools for supporting these forecasts, but the costs of monitoring systems with the required specifications are economically justified only for large plants and research purposes. This study deals with the design and test of a wireless irradiance sensor network as an adaptable operational solution for photovoltaic systems capable of meeting the measurement specifications necessary for capturing the clouds passage. The network was based on WiFi, comprised 16 pyranometers, and proved to be stable at sampling periods up to 25 ms, providing detailed spatial representations of the irradiance field and its evolution. As a result, the developed network was capable of achieving comparable specifications to research wired irradiance monitoring network with the advantages in costs and flexibility of the wireless technology, thus constituting a valuable tool for supporting nowcasting systems for photovoltaic management and control

Adaptive real-time routing protocol for (M,k)-firm in industrial wireless multimedia sensor networks

© 2020 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. Many applications are able to obtain enriched information by employing a wireless multimedia sensor network (WMSN) in industrial environments, which consists of nodes that are capable of processing multimedia data. However, as many aspects of WMSNs still need to be refined, this remains a potential research area. An efficient application needs the ability to capture and store the latest information about an object or event, which requires real-time multimedia data to be delivered to the sink timely. Motivated to achieve this goal, we developed a new adaptive QoS routing protocol based on the (m,k)-firm model. The proposed model processes captured information by employing a multimedia stream in the (m,k)-firm format. In addition, the model includes a new adaptive real-time protocol and traffic handling scheme to transmit event information by selecting the next hop according to the flow status as well as the requirement of the (m,k)-firm model. Different from the previous approach, two level adjustment in routing protocol and traffic management are able to increase the number of successful packets within the deadline as well as path setup schemes along the previous route is able to reduce the packet loss until a new path is established. Our simulation results demonstrate that the proposed schemes are able to improve the stream dynamic success ratio and network lifetime compared to previous work by meeting the requirement of the (m,k)-firm model regardless of the amount of traffic

An Alternative Internet-of-Things Solution Based on LoRa for PV Power Plants: Data Monitoring and Management

This paper proposes a wireless low-cost solution based on long-range (LoRa) technology able to communicate with remote PV power plants, covering long distances with minimum power consumption and maintenance. This solution includes a low-cost open-source technology at the sensor layer and a low-power wireless area network (LPWAN) at the communication layer, combining the advantages of long-range coverage and low power demand. Moreover, it offers an extensive monitoring system to exchange data in an Internet-of-Things (IoT) environment. A detailed description of the proposed system at the PV module level of integration is also included in the paper, as well as detailed information regarding LPWAN application to the PV power plant monitoring problem. In order to assess the suitability of the proposed solution, results collected in real PV installations connected to the grid are also included and discussed.This work was partially supported by the Spanish agreement (2017) between the Institute for Development of the Region of Murcia (INFO) and the Technological Center for Energy and Environment (CETENMA). The paper includes results of activities conducted under the Research Program for Groups of Scientific Excellence at Region of Murcia (Spain), the Seneca Foundation, and the Agency for Science and Technology of the Region of Murcia (Spain). This work was also supported by project AIM, Ref. TEC2016-76465-C2-1-R (AEI/FEDER, UE). The authors thank the staff of the Universidad Politécnica de Cartagena (Spain) for services and facilities provided

Models, detection methods, and challenges in DC arc fault: A review

The power generation of solar photovoltaic (PV) technology is being implemented in every nation worldwide due to its environmentally clean characteristics. Therefore, PV technology is significantly growing in present applications and usage of PV power systems. Despite the strength of the PV arrays in power systems, the arrays remain susceptible to certain faults. An effective supply requires economic returns, the security of the equipment and humans, precise fault identification, diagnosis, and interruption tools. Meanwhile, the faults in unidentified arc lead to serious fire hazard to commercial, residential, and utility-scale PV systems. To ensure a secure and dependable distribution of electricity, the detection of such hazard is crucial in the early phases of the distribution. In this paper, a detailed review on modern approaches for the identification of DC arc faults in PV is presented. In addition, a thorough comparison is performed between various DC arc-fault models, characteristics, and approaches used for the identification of the faults