Development of Low-cost Real Time Solar PV Power Monitoring System using IoT

Renewable energy (RE) sources are the best choice for supplying our projected energy needs because they have been proven to be sustainable. Among the different kind of RE, one of the most interesting and promising clean technologies in the modern era with no carbon emissions is solar photovoltaic electricity. However, monitoring solar photovoltaic systems is crucial for maximizing their performance. The use of the Internet of Things to track solar photovoltaic energy production can considerably enhance plant operation, monitoring, and maintenance. Technological advancement is driving down the cost of renewable energy equipment globally, which is encouraging extensive solar photovoltaic installations. Because most of the solar PV installations are in inaccessible places like rooftop or hilltop or desert to access sufficient sunlight and cannot be monitored manually from a specific location; meanwhile, the advanced methods for automating the plant monitoring remotely utilizing IoT-based interfaces are required. The discussion on this paper is implementing a low cost IoT based real time solar PV power monitoring system for performance evaluation. This will facilitate preventive maintenance, fault detection, historical analysis of the plant in addition to real time monitoring.