Monitoring Systems

Solar gets Smart

The Solar Industry has been evolving over the years and has now come to point of no return with all governmental and non-governmental players maximizing power generation using the inexhaustible power of the Sun. At the same time, the solar industry is watching the CAPEX drop, feed-in tariffs and PPAs decline but the OPEX remains high and is still going up. The cause – the quality of modules deployed (over 40% of all modules demonstrably has problems) and the human intervention required during O&M. Various international agencies including the below have confirmed that PV Modules are the biggest risk factor in solar plants:

PV Tech: http://www.pv-tech.org/technical-papers/technical-failures-in-pv-projects

Solar Bankability Project: http://www.solarbankability.org/results/september-2016-financialmodelling-of-technical-risks -in-pv-projects.html

International Energy Agency: http://iea-pvps.org/index.php?id=57

Hardware

Our SunSniffer® system comprises several hardware components and a complex software.

All our products are subject to strict and multi-leveled quality control, to ensure the functionality of our SunSniffer®. Each component is checked online automatically. We can produce all over the world, as we control all steps of the processes online in Germany, and every single product is trackable.

Only with those elaborate efforts our extreme reliability and measurement accuracy is possible – that’s what we call quality!

SunSniffer® Sensor

SunSniffer® Retrofit Upgrade Clip

SunSniffer® Retrofit Box

SunSniffer® String Reader

SunSniffer® Gateway <10kWp

SunSniffer® Gateway

Our sensor is readily integrated into junction boxes as well, now even with rapid shutdown functionality:

SunSniffer junction box ANALYTICS

SunSniffer junction box RAPID SHUTDOWN

Can Sunsniffer Deliver The Same Result as Infrared Thermography?

The common and well-proven way to inspect a PV plant for failures is infrared thermography. This method detects temperature differences. Heatings can point to errors, so this method can locate potential errors easily. Using drones for aerial inspection even accelerates and facilitates examination of a plant. IR images must be interpreted by experts, as heatings can also be caused by reflexions or bad ventilation. And the prerequisites, like weather conditionsneed to be suitable for taking IR images. But: defects not only reveal themselves in changed temperature, but even more so in changed power – and even more precisely. Measuring the individual modules power can determine exactly, which module has how much power loss and needs to be swapped. This process being automated, no expert interpretation is needed. In a typical IR image all temperature differences are marked. But information about power losses is not available on IR. Assuming that you are not an expert: Does it help you decide about warranty cases, for example? If you cannot see the degree of power losses? How much are such images supporting you to manage plant issues, without expert comments?