Hello!
In this video,
I will share the typical monitoring requirements
for building electrical installations
with photovoltaic self-consumption.
And I will show digital architecture
to achieve these requirements.
Let's start with the monitoring functions
typically required by energy
or facility managers.
First,
to understand how the energy is used
and how it can be optimized,
you have to be able to do
to do two related things:
Track how the photovoltaic energy produced is used
consumed by the loads,
stored or injected to the grid,
and follow and analyze the trends
of the photovoltaic production
alongside the loads' consumption.
The following key performance indicators
are commonly used:
the self-consumption ratio,
which represents how much
of the energy produced
is consumed by the loads,
and the self-sufficiency ratio,
which indicates how the photovoltaic production
covers the building's energy needs.
The monitoring system should also calculate
the related economic benefits,
because photovoltaic production
reduces the energy consumed from the grid.
Asset management features
should also be provided
by the monitoring system.
In particular,
it should assess the photovoltaic system performance,
detect drifts or malfunctions,
and notify about faults immediately.
It should also monitor the inverters,
to make sure they are running properly
and optimizing energy production.
Photovoltaic inverters
can also have an impact
on the power quality of the electrical installation,
and
are sensitive to poor power quality themselves.
The monitoring system should therefore
measure power quality disturbances,
especially for harmonics and unbalance.
I explain that in another video.
Now,
let's review the digital architecture
that can meet these monitoring requirements.
First, you need to collect input data,
such as photovoltaic production
and inverter status,
from the photovoltaic inverters,
power measurements, energy usage,
and power quality data,
from the power meters,
and information on weather conditions,
such as temperature and irradiance,
provided by sensors.
This data is then centralized
using communication networks.
The high-end power measurement devices
and the photovoltaic inverters
are usually connected directly through Ethernet.
For sensors and other devices,
gateways may be needed.
For monitoring purposes only,
the data acquisition frequency
can be every 10 minutes on average.
But when local control functions are required,
the data should be collected more frequently.
Examples of control functions are:
limiting photovoltaic production,
managing power factor,
and shifting loads,
as I explain in another video.
The data collected are then used
by on-premise or cloud-based software
for visualization,
analysis,
reporting,
and for control if required.
In addition,
advanced cloud-based analytics
allow to further optimize
the usage of local electricity produced,
taking into account complementary criteria
such as changing electricity tariffs,
weather forecast,
and expected consumption.
Optimized source configuration and set points
are then transmitted
to the local control system.
In summary,
to maximize the benefits of a photovoltaic system
for self-consumption,
you need to set-up monitoring functions
and track key performance indicators.
You have now seen typical monitoring functions
and the digital architecture needed to achieve them.
Installations with photovoltaic self-consumption
raise many technical questions
on design, monitoring and control.
Discover more in our other videos.
Thank you for watching
and see you soon!!