Solar PV Installation Monitoring Software

This demo shows how sensors can be used to watch over an unmanned solar farm with co-located battery energy storage. The site has a PV field, battery containers, an inverter station with solar and battery inverters, a substation and a comms cabin. Field and container sensors connect to AKCP Wireless Tunnel connectors, which send their readings over a private LoRa network to a single server in the comms cabin, so no sensor cabling has to be trenched across the site. The same server reads the solar inverter, battery management system (BMS), battery inverter and export meter as virtual sensors. We have set up 10 physical and 4 virtual sensors. Select each one to see the alarm condition, the readings, the route the alert takes, and the alert sent to your engineers and control room by email and SMS. Alerts can also go into your SCADA or network management system by SNMP, MQTT or Modbus, and smoke and security alarms set off a siren and strobe on site. We show 14 sensors here, but most clients start with one or more of the most important: inverter and BMS alarms, off-gas detection and container temperature.

Typical Solar and Storage Site Problems

Solar farms with battery storage are usually unmanned and often remote, and a fault in one part of the site can quietly cost money in another. Serious incidents and lost revenue rarely happen without warning signs that automated monitoring could have picked up. Dead strings, soiled modules and inverter trips cut generation, and leave the battery with less to store for the evening peak. When the battery inverter trips or the BMS limits charging, the battery can no longer absorb the midday surplus, so solar output above the export limit is curtailed and wasted. Battery containers need watching closely: a failing lithium-ion cell gives off hydrogen and carbon monoxide before it smokes, heatwaves push container temperatures up while the batteries are charging hard, and fire suppression can be left isolated after maintenance. Storms, flood water, grid protection trips and panel or cable theft can all take the site offline for days if nobody is told. Our systems capture data, compare it automatically with thresholds and send alerts to predefined contact lists. That gives you time to respond, keep the site safe and keep it generating, storing and trading.

Do You Want This System Monitoring Your Solar PV and Battery Storage Sites?

This configuration is typical of the wireless monitoring systems we supply for solar farms and battery energy storage sites. They watch over generation, battery safety, plant status and site security, and give you a full overview of every site on one of our dashboard solutions. Wireless connectors with a range of up to 3 km report back to a single server, so sensors can be added anywhere on site without trenching. Digital and analogue information from inverters, battery management systems, export meters, fire panels and protection relays can be collected using dry-signal (volt-free) contacts, SNMP, Modbus and other protocols. We design, install and help you monitor the most critical aspects of your solar and storage sites to keep them safe, available and earning. We work nationwide, with 24/7 service for maintenance contract customers.