[vc_row][vc_column width=”1/1″][vc_column_text]It is essential that solar photovoltaic power plants have some form of remote monitoring. Many people would be shocked with the number of solar installations in the UK that have no remote monitoring to notify the system owner if there is a problem. It is not uncommon to hear of commercial PV installations over 25kWp to have no form of monitoring that would alert the site manager if the system goes offline. In some cases the fault is only discovered the next time a reading is taken from the meter when it becomes apparent something has gone wrong. Either because the meter has powered down, or the reading has barely moved since last time it was manually read. Relying on manual meter readings means it can be several months before a fault is discovered, which can mean significant lost income and lost energy generation that has instead been imported from the grid.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column width=”2/3″][vc_column_text]By using a smart generation meter users get meter readings daily to show how much energy has been generated, the peak output, latest total meter reading, and will send any alerts to indicate if the system has a fault. Plus there is no need to physically visit the meter anymore to take a manual reading. Whats more, with the depth of information sent from the GSM smart meter you can analyse energy yield in fine detail to find out what the daily, monthly, weekly and annual solar energy generation is.
Using systems such as the Openmetrics web portal from DEC Metrics, system managers will be automatically notified by email when a system goes down. Or if the solar power plant is significantly underperforming which may indicate an underlying problem.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][vc_column width=”1/3″][image_with_animation image_url=”3199″ animation=”Fade In” img_link_target=”_self”][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column width=”1/1″][vc_column_text]Smart generation meters have integrated communication modems that use a network roaming SIM card to connect to the GSM mobile phone network. Readings are sent by GPRS packets over TCP/IP to the Openmetrics data collection server where they are stored in a database. The meters have network roaming SIM cards and external signal boosters can be used to improve signal quality. This enables a robust meter reading service for optimal monitoring. The meter itself is fully MID approved for MCS accredited feed-in-tariff metering. To find out more or to purchase a meter, visit the store.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]
