Techno-commercial analysis of wired and wireless monitoring in operational solar PV plants

Abstract

This paper presents results of techno-commercial feasibility study comparing wireless over wired monitoring in installed solar photovoltaic (PV) plants. As subsidies for Solar PV projects are declining world-wide, the solar industry is looking for opportunities to reduce both the up-front capital expenditure (capex) and the operations and maintenance expenditure (opex) for solar PV plants. In addition, with increased penetration of renewable energy power plants, there is an ever-increasing need for greater levels of monitoring and control of renewable energy assets for better yield predictions, failure detection & resolution and grid integration purposes, to name a few. This paper addresses the paradox of improving cost-efficiency while simultaneously achieving increased level of monitoring of Solar PV assets by presenting results of a comparative study conducted on three operational solar PV plants. The cost-benefit model presented could serve as the basis for similar analysis for other geographies of the world in order to achieve reduced capex & opex of renewable energy plants while simultaneously monitoring greater level of details of the operating plants. Interestingly, the findings are applicable not only for solar PV plants but also other forms of power plants like wind farms, conventional power plants. The comparative analysis takes following aspects into account: 1) Technical specifications 2) Ease of installation 3) Reliability 4) Ease of Operations and Maintenance 5) Installation cost. Finally, a cost benefit break-even analysis for a range of project sizes is presented.