A Decentralized Wireless Solution to Monitor and Diagnose PV Solar Module Performance Based on Symmetrized-Shifted...

Area of Science:

• Renewable Energy Systems
• Electrical Engineering
• Sensor Networks

Background:

• Photovoltaic (PV) solar module performance monitoring is crucial for efficient energy generation.
• Existing methods often involve costly equipment and offline data processing.
• There is a need for integrated, real-time, and cost-effective PV monitoring solutions.

Purpose of the Study:

• To propose and assess an integrated solution for real-time monitoring and diagnosis of PV solar modules.
• To develop a system utilizing decentralized wireless sensor acquisition for comprehensive data collection.
• To enable immediate performance comparison against a validated PV module model.

Main Methods:

• Deployment of low-cost, energy-efficient wireless sensor nodes for collecting DC electrical and environmental data at the PV module level.
• Real-time local data processing and comparison with expected performances derived from a symmetrized-shifted Gompertz function PV module model.
• Utilizing a multi-hop wireless sensor network architecture for data transmission to a centralized sink-computing module.

Main Results:

• The integrated system provides extensive analysis of PV installations without the need for off-line tests or post-processing.
• The solution is cost-effective, has non-critical performance constraints, and is suitable for large-scale PV power plant deployment.
• Successful implementation and assessment in a grid-connected Spanish PV power plant, demonstrating accurate PV module performance estimations.

Conclusions:

• The proposed decentralized wireless sensor system offers an efficient and economical approach to PV module monitoring and diagnosis.
• The system's ability to perform real-time, integrated analysis simplifies performance assessment and fault detection in PV installations.
• The solution is easily implemented in existing PV infrastructure due to its wireless nature and lack of additional wiring requirements.