Intelligent monitoring and maintenance of solar plants using real-time data analysis

Abstract

In the recent years, we have seen a rapid increase in installation of solar plants worldwide. The overall energy generation and performance of solar plants depends upon effective and timely maintenance of different devices such as strings of solar panels, inverters and transformers. These devices can degrade over time or due to specific malfunctioning in the equipment. Energy production at the plant is not only affected by internal factors but also due to external factors such as dust, irradiation, module temperature etc. In this paper, we present a system to identify various malfunctioning and possible breakdowns of such devices based on real-time monitoring and various real-time anomaly detection techniques. Once the anomaly is detected, it is immediately informed to the appropriate service engineers for timely action. It helps in providing increased plant performance and efficiency for the solar plants.