A Study Regarding Failure Detection for String Monitoring Systems in Photovoltaics. Field Trial at the F Onomichi Photovoltaic Power Plant.

SUMMARY Solar power business has been expanding rapidly in Japan since the new feed-in tariff began in July 2012. Generally, monitoring for failure detection and total electric generating capacity is performed by the power conditioning system (PCS) in a large-scale photovoltaic (PV) power plant. Although PCS monitoring can detect its own failure or a reduction in power generation amount, it is difficult to monitor in a PV string/panel. In this paper, a new failure detection method effective for detection in PV strings, by collecting the current value of each string measured at each terminal and analyzing these data, is proposed. The data collection is performed utilizing the Digital Enhanced Cordless Telecommunications wireless communication method, realizing easy installation in both existing and new PV power plants. Finally, the effectiveness of this proposed method is shown in real-facility demonstration experiments using the F Onomichi PV power plant. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]