Tools: Module-level monitoring and IR cameras

摘要

My family installed our 1700-watt PV system late in the summer of 2006 (see Creating a Brighter Future in Home Power 118). We were immediately impressed with our system's performance and continued to check actual output versus our projected production each season. The result of our data-gathering revealed that our annual kWh production was about 10% less than projected. We attributed the energy loss to array shading. In the summer, an overhang partially shades the eastern-most modules until 10 a.m., and a willow tree on the west starts to shade the western-most modules as early as 3 p.m.