Solar power plants (PV)
Solar PV plant automation and monitoring (SCADA)
In ground-mounted, rooftop and floating PV plants, inverter, string, weather station and transformer data come together in one SCADA. When the performance ratio drops, it separates the cause (soiling, shading, failure or curtailment) and sends it to your team as a work order.
Automation scope
- Inverter and string monitoring: current, voltage, power and fault codes
- String combiner boxes and DC insulation monitoring
- Weather station: plane-of-array (POA) and global horizontal irradiance (GHI), module and ambient temperature, wind
- MV switchgear, transformers and protection relays
- Solar tracker systems
- Energy meters and grid connection point metering
- Integration of camera, fire and intrusion alarms
- Auxiliary services and UPS monitoring
Control functions
- Active power limitation and ramp control with a power plant controller (PPC)
- Reactive power, cos φ and voltage control
- Automatic compliance with grid operator setpoints
- Remote inverter start, stop and reset
- Tracker position control and wind stow commands
Analytics and maintenance
- Deviation detection against an expected generation model
- Ranking of underperforming strings and inverters
- Soiling analysis to schedule panel cleaning
- Fault events automatically turned into work orders
- Monthly investor and operations & maintenance (O&M) reports
Grid and reporting
- Data transfer for TEİAŞ telecontrol requirements in licensed plants and distribution company requirements in unlicensed plants (IEC 60870-5-104)
- Archiving meter data for settlement and invoice checks
- Transfer of renewable generation and avoided emissions to the ESG report
Performance indicators
Performance ratio (PR)Specific yield (kWh/kWp)Availability (%)Soiling lossInverter efficiencyCurtailment lossExpected / actual generation
How do plant automation projects work?
01
Survey and engineering
Defining the signal list, communication architecture and grid operator requirements.
02
PLC and SCADA software
Preparing control software, SCADA/HMI screens and the alarm philosophy.
03
FAT and SAT
Factory and site acceptance tests; end-to-end verification of all signals.
04
Grid integration
Telecontrol data transfer tests, power plant controller settings and commissioning.
05
24/7 monitoring and support
Remote monitoring, periodic reporting and continuous performance improvement.
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