Monitoring System for a Hybrid Photovoltaic-Diesel Power System: Web-Based SCADA Approach

Abstract

This paper presents a low-cost open-source web-based SCADA monitoring system that will provide a new application of real-time instrumentation for monitoring a hybrid photovoltaic-diesel power system. The system’s purpose is to monitor parameters such as the voltage and current of the AC and DC buses. A cheap Arduino acquisition board is the foundation for the system design, as documentation of the board is widely available. Data are displayed through a local host Node-Red and web real-time database system, and the acquisition is accomplished using a reasonably priced current and voltage sensors. To improve the stability and operability of the newly constructed monitoring system, a secure and cost-effective internet connection has been created between external clients and the primary network webserver. Amazon web server is configured to allow access to remote clients when credentials and certificates are verified. The proposed system shows its ability to acquire real-time data by monitoring the hybrid system and storing the data in the client database for future access. Since the proposed system is less costly and time-consuming, and can assimilate and record data more easily, it can readily replace human intervention to avoid errors associated with multimeters’ readings. Eventually, analyzing such data, will lead to enhance both the performance and operational efficiency of the monitored hybrid power system.