The photovoltaic monitoring platform Enmova connected more than 1,200 commercial PV systems to its system in one fell swoop. These PV systems are serviced by a joint operations management company which has now switched to Enmova with a large part of its asset pool. This increases the photovoltaic portfolio monitored by Enmova in its IoT monitoring to more than 2,000 commercial rooftop systems with an output of 293 MW. "Especially commercial system operators who have to monitor large photovoltaic portfolios have the highest demands on the monitoring software," says Björn Müller, Managing Director of Freiburg-based Enmova GmbH, a spin-off of the Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems ISE.
The platform used by Enmova is based on communication between the components. Mondas GmbH developed the IoT monitoring platform - also a spin-off of Fraunhofer ISE - and adapted and extended it by Enmova for the needs of commercial PV system operators.
A significant advantage of the technology: if new systems are added, they can be connected to the platform quickly and easily. Data analysis begins immediately. This is particularly important when solar power plant capacities are growing dynamically, as is currently the case.
A monitoring platform should be easy to use, tie up few human resources, and allow for more precise analyses. With conventional remote monitoring, this was not possible to the current extent. The IoT monitoring platform displays a "health index" for the photovoltaic systems. The system calculates this in the background in real-time. In this way, operators can quickly see which systems require special attention. Other apps from Enmova are designed to help prioritize system errors and necessary maintenance trips according to economic criteria.
Mondas' Managing Director Volkmar Boerner also emphasizes the openness to technology as a unique selling point. In the future, PV operations management companies could therefore analyze not only solar power plants but also the associated electricity storage, heat pumps, or e-charging stations on the common platform and optimize the interaction of the components.
Monitoring software is a key to economic success for commercial plant operators. The quicker errors are found and rectified, the more profit the PV systems generate. To evaluate the systems, the providers are always using new digital strategies. @via enmova.
