Integrated monitoring and management solution for solar power plants

White paper

Solar plant monitoring: A standards-based approach to evaluate and improve performance

MSc, MBA, Senior Product Manager

By Mr. Ioannis Grammatikakis

Integrated monitoring and management solution for solar power plants

White paper

Table of contents
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Overview IEC 61724 based approach Using derived parameters to evaluate and improve performance Alarming based on standard KPIs Actual example of fault detection utilizing the PR Using corrected performance ratio Conclusion 4 4 5 5 6 6 9

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Integrated monitoring and management solution for solar power plants

White paper

5 points about integrated monitoring and management solution for solar power plants
1
How can the IEC 61724 standard, act as a basis of an advanced solar plant monitoring system How can I compare plants with dierent conditions and dierent equipment in a standards-based way

How can I use the KPIs of the solar plant to improve performance

How standards-based KPIs and fault detection are connected

The importance of a standardized method for calculating Performance Ratio (PR)

Integrated monitoring and management solution for solar power plants

White paper

Overview

The best possible performance and uninterrupted operation are among the top priorities for investors and stakeholders in solar plants. These parameters dene the economic viability and protability of their projects. Centralized management systems for large solar plants are the essential solution for having a global, detailed and up-to-date view of each solar asset, bringing monitoring and control for solar plant owners, installers and O&M contractors.

IEC 61724 based approach

Using an international standard ensures consistency, repeatability, reproducibility, and data quality across PV plants with dierent equipment and dierent conditions. The International Standard IEC 61724 recommends procedures for the monitoring of energy-related PV system characteristics such as in-plane irradiance, array output, storage input and output and load voltage & current. Also, the IEC Standard recommends procedures for the exchange and analysis of monitored data. The purpose of these procedures is to assess the overall performance of PV systems. More specically, according to the IEC 61724 standard, there are specied parameters that must be at least measured in real time by the data acquisition system and other parameters that shall be calculated from the measured data. According to the standard, the real-time data are acquired from the eld-deployed equipment and sensors every 1 minute or less. Once the real-time data have been acquired, certain processing is applied on them in order to yield primary parameters for further use. Those primary parameters are produced every recording period using a mean operation and are stored for further use. Apart from that, derived parameters are calculated using a specic mathematical formula which operates on a specic set of values or vectors of values of primary (and/or other derived) parameters covering a set of specic time spans (always in multiples of the recording period), which are called reporting periods within the IEC Standard, which also denes the necessary derived parameters, together with the formulas to be used for their calculation.

Integrated monitoring and management solution for solar power plants

White paper

Using derived parameters to evaluate and improve performance

Such standardized parameters oer the most valuable help in the pursuit of maximum and optimal plant operation. For example, by comparing a key performance indicator over a long period and across dierent sections of a plant the operator can have a clear idea of the eect of local topology, local climate, technology factors and time. The tolerance of rated power, aging of modules, reection losses, soiling, shadowing, thermal losses, wiring losses, inverter and transformer eciencies, MPP tracking performance are only some of the most important ndings and evaluation criteria that can be extracted. As a real world example, we have detected cases where array capture losses showed a signicant increase over the normal state. This enabled a speedy response and resolution from the O&M team.

Image 1

Monthly graph of array capture losses, system losses and nal yield of a solar plant

Alarming based on standard KPIs

In a solar plant monitoring system, alarming is one of the most signicant features. Malfunctions, failures or defects are immediately communicated to solar plant operator in order to be interpreted and solved. Alarms considering KPIs of the IEC 61724 standard are of great importance. For example, performance ratio of a specic array with values under the expected threshold mark possible issues that have to do with soiling, partial shading or damaged panels. However, alarming is useless if a ood of trivial alerts bury signicant issues. Alarms' thresholds must be attentively calibrated so as to avoid frustration and careless handling of problems related to the PV plant. Alarms based on over-sensitive parameters or misjudged time periods can lead to a large number of alarms and consequently to a possible disregard of a major issue. Apart from that, frequent alarms may be produced from wrong components' installation in the rst place. For example, a pyranometer placed in a frequently shadowed spot may be the nding of frequent alarms concerning unreasonable values of performance ratio.

Integrated monitoring and management solution for solar power plants

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Actual example of fault detection utilizing the PR

Performance ratio is always mentioned among the most important factors of a PV plants' performance analysis and comparison. For this reason it is necessary to have a standardized method of calculating this index. This enables comparison of PV systems of dierent congurations and at dierent locations. Normalization of yields for rated array power and of system eciencies to array area facilitates comparison of dissimilar plants. PR indicates the overall eect of losses on the arrays nominal energy output due to array temperature, incomplete utilization of irradiation, system component ineciencies or failures. As it is visible in the image 2, a comparison view of the performance ratio of various inverters of a single plant can easily help to detect the inverter or inverters that are under performing and reduce the plant's overall yield.

Image 2

Comparison of the performance ratio of all inverters of a solar plant

Using corrected performance ratio

In some cases during the process of performance evaluation, it is useful to examine corrected performance ratio indicators, such as a temperature corrected PR. For example, it is often noticed that in very warm climates, some solar plants may be wrongly characterized as underperforming during the late-spring & summer months due to their performance ratio values. Since site weather conditions aect the module temperature which,in turn, aects the PV module output power, module temperature is a factor to be taken into consideration in the PR calculation. According to the data sheets of well-known in the international market PV panels, the temperature coecient representing the eect of module temperature on the power output of the PV panel varies between -0,40 %/C and -0,45%/C for mono- or polycrystalline PV panels and between -0.25%/C and -0.30 %/C for thin lm PV panels. These values (especially for the dominant-in-the-market crystalline PV panels) lead to signicant PR dierences when it comes to PV plants installed in areas where the micro-climate triggers a large uctuation of module temperature. The eect of module temperature over the PV panels eciency can be easily viewed by the following scatter graph example of Mean array eciency Vs Module Temperature for the month of May 2013 of a 10 MWp solar plant in SE Europe.

Integrated monitoring and management solution for solar power plants

White paper

It is obvious that the accuracy of the module temperature data is critical to the extraction of a reliable temperature-adjusted PR. Necessarily, the monitoring system must be in place to sense damaged module temperature sensors that will contaminate the calculation formula with wrong values. If the module temperature coecient is entered in the equation of performance ratio, analysis of solar plant performance becomes more precise and reliable not only in the case of juxtaposition of dierent seasons of the year for one solar plant but also for various solar plants located in sites with dierent weather conditions.

Following the same logic, an availability corrected PR optimizes the role of this essential index as a tool for getting a more precise view over the performance of a PV plant under its actual operating conditions. Short or long periods of time where a solar plant faces technical failures, grid disconnection or downtime due to scheduled maintenance works are periods that could be excluded from the calculation of performance ratio. By following this procedure, performance ratio shows how a fully operational PV plant performs in relation to design and system components eciency only. More specically, in this case, the performance ratio shows how the PV plants performs in relation to factors such as the tolerance of PV modules rated power, shading, modules conversion eciency, wiring, MPP tracking eciency, inverter/transformer losses and soiling.

Integrated monitoring and management solution for solar power plants

White paper

A combination of module temperature and availability correction can be applied in order to have Performance Ratio values without the inuence of these two parameters.

Finally, in cases with various slopes and orientations, such as in solar plants installed in buildings roofs or facades with dierent orientations, the PR index must appropriately be adjusted in a way that PR calculation includes the actual fraction of the solar energy received by each of the PV modules surface. More specically, since the nominal plan output is part of the PR calculation equation, the annual incident solar irradiance for each dierent module surface must be dened. Irradiance received on a tilted plane varies with orientation and tilt of the plane of PV modules and in order to be a correct input, its two components, the direct and the diuse irradiance, must be calculated separately since their dependence on the global irradiance changes is dierent. Apart from the above, the incident irradiance reected from the ground can also be important to calculate, especially for surfaces with great tilts and areas of high-ground reectivity such as grounds with frequent snow coverage.

Integrated monitoring and management solution for solar power plants

White paper

Conclusion

Nowadays, there is a progressively growing need for comprehensive and continuous operation management of PV plants all over the world. IEC 61724 Standard has set the requirements for a detailed monitoring of a PV plant performance. It presents the minimum set of real-time data measurements and the appropriate method to retrieve them, together with all the derived parameters that characterize performance. Inaccesss vendor independent solution for the centralized management of geographically distributed solar plants complies fully with IEC 61724 Standard. The alarm features have been engineered to focus on the issues of highest relevancy and eliminate transient or nuisance conditions. Inaccess has developed signicant familiarity in all areas addressed in this white paper and can assist its customers in studying and evaluating the condition of their solar assets. Coupled with a robust hardware solution and depth of experience gained from years of serving utility scale plants in the international market, this makes inaccess a wise partner for maximizing your return.

Integrated monitoring and management solution for solar power plants

White paper

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Inaccess was founded in 2000, with a focus on renewable energy and telecom infrastructure management. We design and develop state-of-the-art products and solutions, which give our partners invaluable access to information, enabling them to maximize the viability and eectiveness of their investments through performance optimization and OPEX reduction.