Monitoring of remote PV-systems via satellite

A vast majority of autonomous PV systems are used to supply electricity in regions with no grid, no telephone coverage, and often with difficult accessibility. Commonly systems in such regions are supervised by yearly visits in conjunction with a data logger. Over the lifetime of a PV system costs for supervision often exceed the cost of the system itself. Response time for failures is very poor. To overcome these disadvantages a data satellite transmission system was set up. It is compatible to the ARGOS protocol, facilitates small transmitters and has full equatorial coverage. The satellite data is transferred from the ground station to the Internet, providing worldwide access via WWW. The advantages are manifold: sponsors (NGOs, foundations, world bank, public etc.) have an immediate access to the projects, manufacturers can use the data to improve their products, and the online monitoring system may provoke more public interest in the PV area.