IoT-Based Data Acquisition and Remote Monitoring System for Large-Scale Photovoltaic Power Plants

Abstract

The amount of solar capacity deployed worldwide has doubled in the past decades. The increasing use of solar energy makes photovoltaic (PV) power plants substantial. In PV power plants, reducing maintenance and operating costs positively affects efficiency. A failure in any module can reduce or interrupt the production of electrical energy, causing significant losses in both efficiency and revenue. Therefore, responding to a fault as quickly as possible in PV power plants is critical. The ability of the PV plant operator to react to potential faults is directly related to the rapid detection of faulty modules. In this paper, IoT-based data acquisition and monitoring system is designed to diagnose module failures and remotely monitor for PV power plant's performance. The current, voltage, module surface temperature, and solar radiation values are measured for each PV module. These data are transmitted wirelessly to long distances with LoRa modules. All data acquired in the central recording unit device are transferred to the Internet, enabling online access and also stored on the memory card.