This paper presents the concept and operating principles of a low-cost and flexible monitoring system for PV plants. Compared to classical solutions which can require dedicated hardware and/or specialized data logging systems, the monitoring system we propose allows parallel monitoring of PV plants with different architectures and locations by taking advantage of the intrinsic monitoring capabilities of the inverters and their internet connectivity. The backbone of the system is a software system capable of collecting production measurements and current-voltage (I-V) characteristic curve measurements from the inverters within each PV plant. The monitoring software stores the PV measurements in a data warehouse optimized for managing and data mining large amounts of data, from where it can be later visualized, analyzed and exported. By combining PV production measurements data with I-V curve measurements the diagnostic and condition monitoring capabilities of the PV system can be greatly enhanced. The practical implementation and operation of the monitoring system is demonstrated with a study case system deployed at Aalborg University.
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