Wireless Zigbee system for perormance monitoring of photovoltaic panels

In this paper, a solar photovoltaic (PV) performance monitoring system is introduced by utilizing a wireless Zigbee microcontroller. The proposed system can be used to monitor the performance of an array of PV panels to detect non-ideal operating conditions. Various studies have shown that significant reductions in power output and degradation of the performance of Maximum Power Point Trackers (MPPT) are possible under non-ideal conditions. Hence, monitoring and detection of non-ideal conditions is a critical issue in PV modules. In this paper we present the development of a low-cost small form factor electronic hardware consisting of a wireless Zigbee-enabled microcontroller. The system consists of a back end embedded program and a front end graphical user interface (GUI) that can provide remote monitoring of voltage, current, and power for an array of PV modules. The results of implementation on a proof-of-concept testbed consisting of two embedded controllers installed on two PV modules are presented. The experimental results indicate that the proposed system can provide a low-cost and reliable performance monitoring system for small and large scale PV power plants.