A Cyber-Physical Photovoltaic Array Monitoring and Control System

A cyber physical system approach for a utility-scale photovoltaic (PV) array monitoring and control is presented in this article. This system consists of sensors that capture voltage, current, temperature, and irradiance parameters for each solar panel which are then used to detect, predict and control the performance of the array. More specifically the article describes a customized machine-learning method for remote fault detection and a computer vision framework for cloud movement prediction. In addition, a consensus-based distributed approach is proposed for resource optimization, and a secure authentication protocol that can detect intrusions and cyber threats is presented. The proposed system leverages video analysis of skyline imagery that is used along with other measured parameters to reconfigure the solar panel connection topology and optimize power output. Additional benefits of this cyber physical approach are associated with the control of inverter transients. Preliminary results demonstrate improved efficiency and robustness in renewable energy systems using advanced cyber enabled sensory analysis and fusion devices and algorithms.