Remote
Monitoring System for Health Tracking &
Monitoring of Solar Systems under KPUP School
Solarisation project.
Proposed by: Vu Solutions (Pvt) Ltd.
Table of Contents:
Problem Statement
Existing Solution and its drawbacks:
No Third party Tracking and Monitoring
No Customized Reports and Statistical Analysis
No Internet, No Monitoring
No Current Ownership of O and M
Proposed Solution:
Remote Monitoring System Overview
Problem Statement:
The aim of KPUP School Solarisation project is to reduce load of Schools
of Punjab on national Grid. KPUP project ensures the self-sustainability of
ON and OFF Grid Schools of Punjab that are selected in Phase 1 under
Packages 5, 6, 7 and 8.
This proposal devises a mechanism of efficient and effective Tracking &
Monitoring of Solar Systems’ performance that are to be deployed in
10,000 schools under KPUP Project.
Existing Solution and its drawbacks:
No Third party Tacking and Monitoring:
Currently, there is no mechanism of a third party monitoring of solar
systems’ performance. The inverters installed as a part of the solar
system component come with an SNMP (a network management
protocol) card of an additional price. The purpose of the SNMP card is to
track and monitor some of the important parameters of the system and
upload the same information to the vendor’s Cloud server via Wi-Fi,
Ethernet and other ports available for communication.
Figure 1.0 SNMP Card for optional Monitoring offered by Vendor.
No Customized Reports and Statistical Analysis:
Although the information collected and uploaded to the vendor’s server
would be authentic, the vendors would neither be bound to generate
customized data reports for either Energy Department nor for the
package winners.
No Internet, No Monitoring:
Another drawback of using the Vendor’s built in tracking and monitoring
system is that it cannot incorporate off grid sites, where there is no
Internet Coverage. If there is no internet connectivity there would be no
monitoring of Solar system performance whatsoever.
No Current Ownership of O&M:
Currently, there is no ownership of Operations & Maintenance of
Monitoring Health of the “to be deployed solar systems” at KPUP Schools
Sites. There is no Remote Monitoring System that can generate
customized reports based on the saved and stored data on the cloud
server for graphical representation of acquired data.
Proposed Solution:
Remote Monitoring System Overview:
The proposed RMS comprises of following components:
1. Wi-Fi device with internal Storage
2. GSM Module for data push to server via SMS
3. A smart phone on premises with installed Android Application (of
RMS) for Communication with Wi-Fi Device.
4. A Software Platform with Web Portal (Access to Client)
5. Reports & Analytics Module.
The proposed RMS covers all the aspects and is designed to operate with
or without LTE coverage considering the location of Schools in rural areas
where even the GSM (Voice) Signals are weak and do not reach the site
where the Solar system’s Inverter is placed.
The Remote Monitoring System’s Wi-Fi device is integrated with RS-232
port of the inverter installed at site. The RMS is compatible with any
brand of inverter, which means it’s a universal solution of Tracking and
monitoring the health of Solar systems (once the technical data sheet of
the inverter at hand is provided to us for protocol design). Once the
protocol is designed for a specific brand, the RMS can be deployed to any
inverter of that brand.
Once the protocol has been designed, the Wi-Fi device is connected to the
inverter on site. The device has an internal storage that stores the data by
extracting the PV system’s health (PV Produced, PV Used, Battery
Charging status, battery’s health etc.). The Wi-Fi device then
communicates with the android application via hotspot tethering of the
smart phone. The Android application once connected with the Device,
stores all the data as input and stores on the smart phone’s storage till the
information is uploaded to the cloud server as well as translated into sms
and forwarded to the Client.
Figure 2.0: Screenshot of Power Data Dashboard
The stored information is automatically translated into a short message
and forwarded to the client on daily basis for effective tracking and
monitoring. However, weekly data is uploaded to the Cloud server via
LTE network by the following mechanism:
The data is already extracted from the inverter via the Wi-Fi device
installed. The Wi-Fi device in turn transfers the data to the registered
Smart phone via Wi-Fi hotspot. Once a week’s data is stored in the smart
phone, the Monitoring Officer takes the registered smart phone to either
the head office or to the nearest LTE Coverage site. The Android
application, as soon as it identifies an LTE signal, uploads the stored
information to the Cloud Server from where it can be accessible to the
Client for Data Analytics.
The Collected Data is then used to generate Customized reports for all
practical purposes such as a weekly progress report, graphical
representation of PV Produced and used at certain required instant,
monitoring of Battery health and status, Solar panels efficiency
monitoring etc.
Figure 2.1: Monthly Consumption Graphical Analysis and
Comparison Screenshot taken from Software platform
Figure 2.2: PV Details as received from various Inputs, screenshot
from Software platform
Different Data analytics can be performed on the acquired data once it is
uploaded on the Cloud server for presentation to the end Client. This
would ensure availability of the data anytime and anywhere for the client
to perform and present data either to the Energy Department or Head
offices for all practical purposes without requesting data from the
Inverter Vendors which may be offshore and offline at the time of data
request. The data might no be available with the Vendors as there is no
LTE Coverage on site.
Figure 2.3: Ac Details as received from various outputs, screenshot
from Software platform.
Figure 2.4: Battery Details (P, N and Capacity details) Screenshot of
Software platform dashboard.
The Remote Monitoring System would act as a third party Monitor and
tracker of the installed Solar systems. The proposed RMS is almost the
same price as an SNMP Card that is installed in the inverters with a slight
amount that is added for customized reports and 24/7 round the clock
services for database management for the period of a specific contract.
Figure 2.5: Grid Details Data Screenshot.
Figure 2.6: Other Relevant Details’ Screenshot.
Figure2.7 : Figure shows the Weekly Average graph of all required
parameters.
The following table provides a comparison of both Systems with respect
to the needs of the client for KPUP Solarisation Tracking and Monitoring
of Solar systems:
Remote Daily Incorporation 3rd Party Customized Monitoring
Monitoring Reporting of Sites with Monitoring Reports &
Systems no LTE and Data Reporting
Name Coverage Analytics with No
GSM
Signals
reaching
Inverter
SNMP RMS
System for
inverters NO NO NO NO NO
(Vendor
specific)
Proposed “
KPUP T&M YES YES YES YES YES
RMS”
Table 1.0 Comparison of SNMP System of Vendor and Proposes KPUP
Tracking & Monitoring System.
GSM Module:
Provision of GSM Module has been given in the RMS System. The KPUP
Sites having a GSM Signal reaching the inverter shall be facilitated with
the GSM Module within the device so that the data received by the device
from the inverter can be pushed to the Server after every thirty minutes
to make the system in line with the RFP Documents. A Pre devised mobile
number would receive the SMS. The device having that number would
have an application installed in it that would push the data to the server
accordingly in the same format in which data from other sites that do not
have GSM Signals is being pushed to the server.
GSM Data Acquisition modes are as follows:
1. Mode 1: When GSM signal is available to the Inverter:
When GSM is available, it pushes data via SMS to the cloud server
periodically. GPRS not required.
2. Mode 2: When LTE Connectivity is ensured @ the Inverter Site:
If 3G/LTE or any other Internet service is available at the site then
the Invertilizer device WiFi can connect to the Internet device and
pushes the data in real-time to the cloud server. It does not require
App in this case.
3. Mode 3: When neither GSM nor LTE signals are available to the
inverter:
If GSM is not available then data is stored on the device locally. An
Android application is provided to retrieve this data at any time.
Smart phone connects with the device through WiFi and runs the
App. App downloads the file from the device and can upload to the
server later on as the Internet connection is available.
