Solar Industry Magazine

The following is an excerpt from this piece.  To read the entire original article, please click here:  Performance Monitoring Systems

Performance-monitoring systems are designed to provide stakeholders with peace of mind about whether their solar energy systems are working as expected and to help troubleshoot problems when they are detected.  Using Web-based interfaces and analytics, these systems synthesize a wealth of performance and environmental data that can be used to optimize solar energy production and minimize downtime.  Solar PV monitoring is arguably a mission-critical application for commercial- and utility-scale plant owners and operators, because underforming assets can result in a significant economic loss due to lower incentive payments and billable energy.  In addition, plant owners may be financially liable if contractual performance guarantees are not met.  The good news is that monitoring systems can help mitigate these risks by highlighting anomalies that may require immediate attention.  The primary tools used to ensure system health and troubleshoot problems are the monitoring system's alarms, performance analytics and reports, which are the focus of this article.