Rapid growth of distributed small scale Photovolatic (PV) systems has increased the need for tools that can undertake reliable real time monitoring of system performance with the capability to detect and diagnose underperformance at the earliest possible stage.
This project refined the system performance algorithms within Solar Analytics, a PV systems monitoring tool offered by Suntech, to improve their accuracy and to test their ability to predict the performance of residential and commercial PV systems. It also developed an initial set of algorithms to detect and diagnose underperformance. The project also investigated the feasibility of (1) including forecasts of PV system performance within Solar Analytics and (2) the integration of commercial building energy management systems with Solar Analytics to provide a holistic energy management platform for the small to medium sized commercial office buildings market.
rp1007 pv monitoring crc final report (861575 PDF)