The PV market is growing, with an expected 58.3 GW to be installed in 2015. However, the installed assets and investments require constant, solid and traceable PV plant data monitoring in order to determine actual performance and fulfil owner/investor expectations. Juergen Sutterlueti of Gantner Instruments Environment Solutions GmbH, takes us through the issues.
Photovoltaic project investments require continuous, accurate and traceable plant monitoring data in order to determine the actual versus design performance and to fulfil owner/investor expectations. Operators are interested in identifying errors and losses in a reliable way to trigger appropriate actions for maximizing energy harvest during the total system lifetime.
That’s why investors are seeking products and solutions to:
• Reduce the risk for owner/investors
and operators
• Provide comprehensive financial KPIs
for investors
• Have one unified platform for effective and automated PV plant management
• Deliver vendor-independent PV
Plant monitoring
• Provide interfaces for energy prediction (day ahead) and energy trading
• Comply with upcoming international standards like IEC 61724 Ed.2: ‘Photovoltaic System Performance Monitoring Guidelines for Measurement, Data Exchange and Analysis’
• Ensure optimised PV production, which leads to increased asset value
These functions and services are expected from monitoring solutions and the the price of the service will be defined based on the added value.
